₦airaland Forum

The body of Nigeria’s Second Republic Senate President, Senator Dr. Joseph Wayas, has arrived Nigeria 33 months after his death in the United Kingdom.

The remains of the elder statesman, which arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Wednesday morning, were received by his family members; Cross River North Senator, Jarigbe Agom; Hon. Peter Akpanke; kinsmen, and other stakeholders.

The body was thereafter deposited at the morgue of the National Hospital, Abuja, after opening two years and nine months at a London morgue.

Senator Jarigbe, Hon. Akpanke and the family members of the late former two-time Senate President, were full of praises for Cross River State governor, Senator Prince Bassey Otu, for his spirited efforts in facilitating the transportation of Wayas’ remains to Nigeria.

They also commended the efforts of the Convener of the Who is Who Forum of Cross River North, Papa Dorn Cklaimz Enamhe and his Co-convener, Mr Johnny Agim, SAN, in mobilising Cross Riverians and Nigerians to ensure the successful return of the remains of the former Senate President.

LEADERSHIP recalls that Senator Wayas, who hailed from Cross River State, was Nigerian Senate President between 1979 and 1983.

Late Wayas was born on May 21, 1941. He died on November 30, 2021 in the United Kingdom following a protracted illness. Disagreements among members of his immediate family had delayed his burial rites since then. Two years and nine months later, his body was flown home from Heathrow Airport in London aboard a British Airways flight 083 and arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, Wednesday at about 4:40am.

Speaking to journalists on arrival of the body of the elder statesman, the Senator representing Cross River North, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, expressed appreciation and thanked the Governor of Cross River State, Prince Bassey Otu, for facilitating the return of the body of the late former Senate President from London, adding that he was confident that the governor will give the elder statesman a befitting burial.

Jarigbe said: “We have come to receive the body of late Senate President, Joseph Wayas, who died two and half years ago, and we just succeeded in bringing the body back to the country through the efforts of the Governor of Cross River State, His Excellency, Prince Bassey Otu.

“We are going to prepare for the funeral, report back to the Governor, and the Governor is going to take it up from there because the late statesman is the responsibility of the government and he will be accorded a state burial.”

However, he said the issues that caused the delay for flying in the body of the late Senate President for all this while “have been sorted out finally.”

Meanwhile, the lawmaker also thanked the leadership of the Who is Who in Cross River North led by the Convener, Dr Doncklaimz Enamhe, for their collaborative effort and support as he proceeded to sign the condolence register at the Wayas’ Asokoro residence in Abuja.

Also speaking, the member representing Obanliku/Bekwarra/Obudu Federal Constituency, Hon. Peter Akpanke, also said, “We are here to deposit the corpse of our political father, mentor, and former Senate President, Dr Joseph Wayas. His body was flown today into Abuja from the United Kingdom, UK, and was received by the Distinguished Senator and all of us. So we came to the mortuary and the corpse has been deposited.”

On the contributions of Late Senate President to his people and national development, Hon. Akpanke noted that, “He was a two term Senate President without impeachment, impacted the lives of most of the people today, and he brought them up. Like FC Obudu, he brought that school, and built a lot of leaders today, and he was our political leader.”

Meanwhile, the Convener, Who is Who Forum of Northern Cross River, Dr Doncklaimz Enamhe, expressed gratitude to God for resolving everything that caused the delay, and immensely appreciated the Governor of Cross River State, Senator Bassey Otu for his intervention that made everything to go well in ensuring that the body of the former leader and statesman is flown back to Nigeria, and for befitting burial soon.

“The people of Northern Cross River under the aegis of Who is Who Forum of Northern Cross River realised that our father and our leader who had passed on two years and nine months back was still in a London morgue. So the first thing we did was to allay the fears of Nigerians by going to view the corpse, which we did in London, then now we have brought back our father.

“We want to thank our Governor, Prince Bassey Otu, for all that he has done to make this possible. Governor Otu has been very visible in making sure that the corpse of our leader is brought back home and making sure that it is given a befitting burial, he even promised a State burial when we paid him a courtesy call.

“Everything has been resolved because the family is back, our leader is here, now we will bury him, and every family has issues once in a while, the good is that God has a way of resolving issues. When all of us met the corpse of our father we all became sober, weeping and crying, and to God be the glory our Senator, House of Rep Member, and Governor, they are all together with the Federal Government, the Senate President, and everybody is going to give Rt Hon Joseph Wayas, two term Senate President and acting President a befitting burial.”

He also acknowledged the enormous contributions made by the former Nigeria’s Senate President, “The greatest impact he made was more in education and building people; the Federal College in Obudu is the greatest employer of labour in northern Cross River, and this is one of his greatest achievements as a leader from our extraction, we owe him that; people have graduated, working, families have seen their living through there, and there are so many things he did.

“Most of all, he was a wonderful man, a giver, kind hearted person, he loved people, and he did not want controversy, and that is why we are going to bury him in peace.”

Other stakeholders and family also took turns to appreciate the Cross River State Governor in his active role by ensuring the successful return of the elder statesman’s body to Nigeria and his kinsmen.

Family members, followers, friends, and associates could not control their emotions as the body of the late lawmaker was being deposited at the Morgue.

Other stakeholders and leaders in attendance included; Senator Eteng Jonah Williams, Rt. Hon. Mike Etaba, Ntufam Fidelis Ugbo, Jonny Agim, SAN, Hon. Cletus Obun, and amongst others.

AS Nigerians hit the streets to protest hunger, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen Abubakar Kyari, Wednesday, disclosed that in 180 days food prices will crash.

Kyari stated this on his social media handle, where he unveiled measures that will be implemented over the next 180 days.

He said: “Our administration has unveiled a series of strategic measures aimed at addressing the high food prices currently affecting our nation. These measures will be implemented over the next 180 days;

“150-Day Duty-Free Import Window for Food Commodities

•Suspension of duties, tariffs, and taxes for the importation of certain food commodities through land and sea borders. These commodities include maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas.

“Imported food commodities will be subjected to a Recommended Retail Price (RRP). We understand concerns about the quality of these imports, especially regarding their genetic composition. The government assures that all standards will be maintained to ensure the safety and quality of food items for consumption.

“The Federal Government will import 250,000 metric tons of wheat and 250,000 metric tons of maize. These semi-processed commodities will be supplied to small-scale processors and millers across the country.

“Engagement with relevant stakeholders to set a GMP and purchase surplus food commodities to restock the National Strategic Food Reserve.

“Ramp-Up of Production for the 2024/2025 Farming Cycle

•Continued support to smallholder farmers during the ongoing wet season farming through existing government initiatives; Strengthening and accelerating dry season farming nationwide;

“Embarking on aggressive agricultural mechanization to reduce drudgery, lower production costs, and boost productivity.

; Collaborating with sub-national entities to identify irrigable lands and increase land under cultivation; Working closely with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation to rehabilitate and maintain irrigation facilities under river basin authorities across the federation.

“Developing strategic engagement for youth and women for immediate greenhouse cultivation of horticultural crops such as tomatoes and pepper to increase production volume, stabilize prices, and address food shortages; Fast-tracking ongoing engagements with the Nigerian Military to rapidly cultivate arable lands under the Defence Farms Scheme and encouraging other para-military establishments to utilize available arable lands for cultivation.

“Renewed Hope National Livestock Transformation Implementation Committee; This committee has been inaugurated on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, to develop and implement policies prioritizing livestock development in alignment with the National Livestock Transformation Plan, and a ministry of Livestock Development has been created.

“Enhancement of Nutrition Security

•Promoting the production of fortified food commodities.

•Supporting the scale-up of the Home Garden Initiative by the Office of the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, he also explained that, “Over the next 14 days, in close collaboration with the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU) and the Economic Management Team (EMT), we will convene with respective agencies to finalize the implementation frameworks. We will ensure that information is publicly available to facilitate the participation of all relevant stakeholders across the country.”

However he said, “The success of these measures hinges on the cooperation and collaboration of all relevant MDAs and stakeholders.

“As our nation confronts this critical food security challenge, I reiterate President Tinubu’s unwavering commitment to achieving food security and ensuring that no Nigerian goes to bed hungry.

“My team and I will work swiftly and diligently to actualize these crucial policies, ensuring food security for everyone in the immediate term while continuing our strategies for long-term interventions to address underlying causes and ensure sustainable and resilient food systems in Nigeria.

President Bola Tinubu has offered a fresh appointment to former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega.

The appointment was announced when Tinubu inaugurated the Presidential Committee on Implementation of Livestock Reforms at the presidential villa in Abuja, on Tuesday/

He named Jega as co-Chairman of the Committee established to address obstacles to agricultural productivity and open up new opportunities which benefit farmers, herders, processors, and distributors in the livestock-farming value chain.

President Tinubu emphasized that the implementation of the reforms will require the collective efforts of members of the committee, drawn from the public and private sectors, state governors, and all Nigerians.

“From here, I will appeal to everyone to remove every iota of partisan politics from this. I will assume the chairmanship of the committee as President and appoint Professor Attahiru Jega as my deputy or co-chair.

“This is not about politics; this is about opportunity. This is about our nation. While I may be absent, Jega will preside and continue to promote our objectives,’’ the President said.

Inaugurating the committee in the Council Chamber at the State House, the President thanked the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje for his efforts in assembling experienced and reputable experts to ensure the activation of opportunities in the livestock sector.

“When we have great opportunities in our states, why should Nigerians continue to experience conflicts?

“With the calibre of people that are here, this presents a unique opportunity also to delineate and establish a centric ministry called the Ministry of Livestock Development. It will give us the opportunity so that our veterinary doctors can have the necessary access to research and cross-breed. We can stop the wanton killings,’’ President Tinubu stated.

The President noted that the traditional method of livestock farming will need to be reviewed and repositioned with the support of stakeholders, which include state governments, in order to open up new opportunities for growth and prosperity.

President Tinubu said the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), will ensure the removal of all legal obstacles to the implementation of the reforms, while the Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani will provide support with automation.

“Modern technology is available to us. We are ready to work. I said at the beginning, with you, all of you, the solution is here, and we must run with it. Any law that might inhibit the promotion and actualization of our objectives, the Attorney-General is here, please give it a priority; and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning is here; create a budget for it to grow, and the Minister of Finance is here as well to work out the money,’’ the President stated.

The President also said the reforms will be comprehensive and collective, urging the support of all stakeholders.

“We need to provide the incentive to enable Nigeria to finally take advantage of livestock farming; dairy products and cold-chain logistics collectively offer substantial commercial and economic advantages. We have seen solutions and opportunities. With these adversities that have plagued us over the years, I believe that prosperity is here – in your hands.”

The presidency is concerned over the failure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to fulfill milestones critical to the goals of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, TheCable understands.

According to insiders, Hadiza Bala Usman, special adviser to Tinubu on policy and coordination and head of the central results delivery coordination unit (CRDCU), expressed these concerns during a review of the quarterly performance assessment of the ministry of petroleum resources (oil).

Usman said the government is worried about key uncompleted projects by NNPC, a source told TheCable.

Specifically, the government official said the NNPC has continued to delay the completion of state-owned refineries — including the Port Harcourt refinery.

This, according to Usman, followed the “mechanical completion” of the rehabilitation work on a section of the refinery on December 21, 2023 — with assurance that operations would commence after the Christmas break.

The NNPC shifted the commencement of operations to April 2024 — of which Usman noted that there has not been any update on whether production at the refinery would commence this month, the source said.

Usman was said to have stressed that the endless changes in timelines for the commencement of production at the refinery was concerning to the government and Nigerians.

“This continued shifting in timelines is eroding the confidence of Nigerians in the government, and as an administration, we cannot allow that,” Usman was quoted as saying.

“This is why Mr President mandated the CRCDU to track the deliverables and performances of all MDAs, and we have no option but to identify and engage the Ministry of Petroleum NNPC Ltd on the situation at hand.”

According to the source, Usman also said the rehabilitation of the refinery was meant to bring the facility to optimal capacity for production rather than “attain tokenistic and marginal production milestones”.

Furthermore, she expressed worry about the decline in crude oil production from 1.351 million barrels per day (mbpd) in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023 to 1.265 million bpd in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024.

In addition, the source said the government official emphasised the need for the NNPC and the security agencies to work together to improve daily production and achieve the government’s target of 1.65mbpd for the second half of 2024.

She also identified the importance of ramping up efforts to expedite the speedy completion of the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben (OB3) gas pipeline project, which has been lingering.

Usman, it was learnt, said the CRDCU would employ the support of all stakeholders to ensure that the NNPC delivers on its performance indicators as directed by the president.

Spend 130% of yearly IGRs on wage bills
Kano, Imo, others spend about 40% of total revenue on personnel

Govs need to create revenue-generating activities to prevent crisis, says Owoh
Worry over undocumented borrowings as domestic debts fall by 32% in three months

An increasing number of states are falling deeper into the historical cesspit of fiscal crisis with Kano, Imo, Adamawa, and Taraba state governments funding personnel costs with about 40 per cent of their retained revenue last year.

While the fiscal sustainability crisis has reached a worrisome level in some states, many states are affected to a significant degree, spending most of the internally generated revenue (IGRs) to pay salaries, gratuities and allowances.

Last year, the wage bills of the 36 states were 108 per cent of their IGRs, revalidating the claim that only a few states can pay without the monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) receipts.

According to data obtained from BudgIt, a fiscal sustainability advocacy organisation, states incurred a total of N1.94 trillion on personnel costs last year alone, the figure is 108 per cent of the total N1.8 trillion the states realised from IGRs in 2022, the most recent data available at press time.

The cost is almost 130 per cent of the average yearly IGRs of the states from 2018 to 2022, which was N1.49 trillion.

That period could be described as the golden era of the state IGR performance. But the anaemic growth trend in the period raises doubt about the consistency of the expansion seen in the period.

For instance, the figure grew from N1.1 trillion to N1.56 trillion in 2019 only to cave in by nearly N350 billion as it slid to N1.21 trillion in the COVID-19 year. But the crisis of consistent growth of Nigeria’s revenue profile as demonstrated by the states goes beyond the systemic disruption caused by COVID-19.

Recent history is replete with a rise and fall in revenue performance at both the state and federal levels.

In the past five years, for instance, the states have not improved significantly in their IGR performance, especially in real terms. Data suggest that most states’ revenue targets underperform their performance by as much 40 per cent, a trend that has kneecapped the spending power of the subnational unities and made debt funding almost unavoidable.

Last year’s state budget estimates put the composite independent revenue target at N2.64 trillion with Lagos State looking to break the N1 trillion for the first time. The scanty performance data point to a huge underperformance. Lagos State, for instance, has exceeded previous records. Yet, its first half (H1) record points to N800 billion annualised mark.

Many states, even those managed by renowned businessmen, fell far below their self-set targets. For one, Abia State, in its 2023 budget performance, reported N33 billion in revenue, which was 33.3 per cent of its target (N86.4 billion). The state is managed by a former bank managing director, Alex Otti, who many hold in high regard as one of the new breed politicians.

Abia and Lagos are not isolated cases but show typical trends across states. In some cases, revenue performances are 80 per cent below working targets, forcing the majority to live on federation accounts, which accounted for 50 per cent of their retained revenue last year.

In the most recent BudgIt report, only 14 states score 30 per cent and above on the sustainability index.

In the last decade, they have not recorded much progression in actual IGR performances. For instance, since 2019, the sub-national IGRs only grew by 15 per cent in nominal terms – from N1.56 trillion to N1.8 trillion. When discounted for inflation growth and naira depreciation, the real growth of the earnings is in negative territory.

Implementation of the much-expected new minimum wage could force the states to reduce the sizes of their payroll by as much as 50 per cent or worsen the payment default level. A BudgIt survey puts the total number of direct employees in 35 states at 1.176 million as of 2021.

Taraba is not captured in the data published by BudgIt, but an independent finding by The Guardian puts the figure of Taraba public servants at about 23,000. Assuming the average number of the estimated 35 states (33,595) for Taraba, the total number of employees of state bureaucracies could be roughly pegged at 1.2 million.

There are no current data on the subject, but informed observers said the up-to-date figure would be too far from what it was three years ago. A 50 per cent slash in the number owing to the inability to pay could throw as many as 600 million into the labour market and compounds the unemployed level, which was estimated at nearly 40 per cent by the KPMG and the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) until the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) introduced a tensely contested methodology that cut the number to five per cent.

Even a 20 per cent cut in the payroll would increase the number of unemployed Nigerians, most of who are breadwinners of their families, by 240,000. But some analysts said the state governors, for political reasons, might retain the number of public employees. That may increase the level of indebtedness at the state level, a situation that would have similar impacts with retrenchment – chief of which is an increase in poverty level.

Already, state governors have dismissed as unrealistic the N62,000 wage floor offered by the Federal Government and the private sector while they came up with their proposals, some of which are a far cry from the demands of the organised labour.

The 36 states have offered an average of N52,000, according to the collation of what the governors considered as an affordable wage floor. At N30,000, Zamfara state offers the least while Rivers state’s N80,000 is the highest.

While the minimum wage discussion is at abeyance, The Guardian reported that President Bola Tinubu would likely settle for between N69,000 and N72,000. Sources from state bureaucrats told The Guardian that the President is not likely going to drift too far from the N70,000 mark.

Apart from the consideration of the sustainability factor, the Federal Government is said to have also come under external pressure – from members of the international financial community and development partners who think that more-than-reasonable top-up in the current wage level would be self-defeating considering the current inflationary level.

Domestic economists have also warned that an unreasonably high wage floor is an invitation to uncontrollably high inflation. An economist, Prof. Femi Saibu said the economy would suffer price shock in two ways – one from higher wage cost and mostly likely higher cost of borrowing that would follow.

A demand-pull inflation would embolden the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to continue its monetary tightening regime, which will feed into the commercial interest rate, which is already way above 30 per cent.

Labour could heed the current warning, abandon the money illusion syndrome and accept the N62,000 offered by employment providers. But that may not stop some states from falling off the fiscal cliff if there are no salary bailouts like the one granted by the CBN a few years ago.

Godwin Owoh, a professor of applied economics and debt management expert, said the governors would need to do away with the notion that “states cannot business” and get involved in revenue-making activities to save their state from insolvency.

“States cannot sit on huge resources as claimed that government has no business in being in business. That is a lame excuse, we must stop. Most states are not viable because the only the majority of governors know how to do is to fly to Abuja to collect allocation. We must begin to interrogate the governors’ entrepreneurial skills when they offer themselves for election. Interestingly, some of them are doing well in their private businesses,” Owoh suggested.

Amid falling or stagnating revenue, governors continue to indulge their states in debt. Though the domestic debt components of the state dropped significantly in the first quarter, from N5.86 trillion to N4 trillion in three months, those familiar with the financial activities said the big elephant is in the components of debt not filed with the Debt Management Office (DMO). These include unpaid salaries, contracts, ‘backdoor’ borrowings from commercial banks and other contingencies that have become a drain on state purses.

Three infamous Nigerian Internet fraudsters with strong social media and political influence are currently serving out their sentences at the same prison facility in the United States, with Bidemi Rufai set to be released on Valentine’s Day in 2025, Peoples Gazette can report.

Ray ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas, 41, Jacob Olalekan Ponle, or Mr Woodberry, 33, and Mr Rufai, 46, are all being held at Fort Dix low-security prison near Joint Base McGuire Burlington County, New Jersey, where they will presumably serve out the rest of their jail terms.

Mr Rufai, a close ally of Governor Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), was arrested in May 2021 at the John F. Kennedy airport, where he had booked a Royal Dutch ticket to flee the U.S. to Nigeria.

FBI special agent Heidi Hawkins coordinated the arrest after uncovering a scheme showing how Mr Rufai stole the identities of thousands of U.S. citizens to claim their COVID-19 benefits running into half a million dollars. He lavished the stolen funds on luxury cars and watches to shore up his extravagant lifestyle.

He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. The U.S. government ordered him to pay $604,000 as restitution to victims of the scam, majorly government institutions like the Washington Employment Security Department ($350,763), Arkansas Division of Workforce Services ($10,166), Maine Department of Labour ($8,205), Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency ($44,216), among others.

Mr Rufai, with prison number 83912-053, was moved from a facility outside Seattle, Washington, to Fort Dix in Burlington County ahead of his release on Valentines’ Day in 2025.

His compatriot and comrade-in-crime, Mr Woodberry, had also been moved from the notorious Danbury correctional centre in Connecticut to Fort Dix. Mr Woodberry, 33, with prison registration number 54314-424, is set to be released on October 17, 2027, and would, after that, be deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Judge Robert Gettleman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago convicted and sentenced Mr Woodberry to eight years and three months in jail over one count of fraud in July 2023. He was handed a lighter sentence that shaved off seven other counts in a plea bargain.

Mr Woodberry, a socialite with over a million followers on his now-deactivated Instagram page, was arrested on June 10 2020, alongside fellow fraudster Hushpuppi, at a Dubai apartment. The court ordered him to return $8 million to seven victims, and prosecutors recommend he forfeit his diamond-studded necklace and rings and all gold jewellery.

The last crook of the triad, the sensational Hushpuppi and serial Internet fraudster who once enjoyed uploading pictures and videos of his designer wearing posh rides and luxury parties on Instagram, has also been shipped to Fort Dix detention facility.

Hushpuppi, 41, with prison number 54313-424, was moved from a facility outside Los Angeles to Fort Dix, where he is expected to serve the rest of his sentence until August 6, 2029.

Arrested in June 2020 in Dubai and extradited to the U.S. to defend himself against Internet scam charges, Hushpuppi was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2022 by United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II.

It was not immediately clear whether the U.S. prison officials were aware that the Nigerian trio they transferred to the same facility were allies from Nigeria and Dubai.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons did not return requests for comments.

President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, on Saturday, voluntarily slashed his salary by 40 per cent.

Mr Boakai, who was quoted in a statement published on Liberia’s government website on Saturday, said this move was “aimed at setting a precedent for responsible governance and nation-building.”

“In fulfilment of his commitment to fiscal integrity and national financial security, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. has announced a voluntary 40 per cent reduction in his salary,” the statement added.

According to Mr Boakai, the announcement reflects his determination to lead by example in strengthening government accountability and demonstrating solidarity with the people of the nation.

This followed Mr Boakai’s public declaration of assets last month.

The Liberian leader said his action is in fulfilment of his commitment to upholding the constitution and laws of Liberia, in addition to his dedication to fostering a culture of accountability, integrity, and good governance.

Charles Soludo, governor of Anambra, says the consolidation of the Nigerian banking sector has permanently changed the system — but the process was a dangerous war.

Soludo spoke on Saturday at the launch of a book, titled, ‘Power of One Man: How the Soludo-Engineered Consolidation Transformed Nigerian Banks to Global Players’.

Launched on Saturday in Lagos, the book was written by Ray Echebiri, chief executive officer of Centre for Financial Journalism, according to NAN.

Soludo, who served as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from 2004 to 2009, spearheaded the consolidation policy of the Nigerian banking system.

According to the CBN, consolidation is the reduction in the number of banks and other deposit-taking institutions with a simultaneous increase in the size and concentration of the consolidated entities in the sector.

It often involves a process where banks merge with or acquire other banks, resulting in fewer but larger institutions.

Reflecting on the banking sector’s transformation, the Anambra governor said it was a dangerous “gambling and war”.

He said his family went into exile after facing multiple threats and attacks from various people following the restructuring policy he introduced as the CBN governor.

Soludo, however, said the consolidation exercise was a major revolution that transformed the industry forever.

“Let me start by a disclaimer, I have not read the book. My gratitude goes to the author of this book and I appreciate my major incredible team,” the governor said.

“I also thank the Nigerian stakeholders for the massive support because it was like a revolution time; today, we are celebrating the possibility of Nigeria.

“The revolution changed the Nigerian banking system forever.

“As a leader, you must be self-sacrificing and ready to pay the prize to avoid personal interest.

“The major message of today is the revolution for the banks themselves, who are now giants, such as Access and Standard Trust Bank.

“I want everyone to know that what is stopping and limiting us from developing is our mind. If we can dream it, we will achieve it.”

In his remarks, Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria, urged all economic players and government at all levels to collaborate in order to improve the country’s current situation.

Obasanjo, who was represented by Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River, said the weight of the government is important in improving the economy.

“Like the title of the book says, without the team we cannot win the match; the captain is Soludo, with his team, and I take pride in all the team,” the ex-president said.

“Yes, CBN governor made a policy but the weight of the government is also important.

“When Soludo took over, I could tell the difference between a banker and an economist and we need someone who sees the country holistically.

“We appreciate the author of this book and we look forward to the volume two of the book.”

Also speaking, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos state, said the current leadership of the CBN should utilise the gathering to “test the blood pressure and temperature” of the system.

Sanwo-Olu expressed hope that there would be another review of the consolidation of the banking sector in the next 20 years.


‘NIGERIA’S ECONOMY GOING THROUGH TURBULENCE’

Dapo Abiodun, governor of Ogun state, said the country’s economy is facing turbulence, urging CBN stakeholders to take action.

Abiodun said appointing the right people to serve in public sectors is crucial for the growth of the economy.

“Currently, the country’s economy is going through turbulence; we need the stakeholders in CBN to do something, so that in the next 20 years we can gather like this,” the governor said.

“Soludo was not an accidental CBN governor because he was so cerebral that he won several prizes all through in his academics.”

Akpan Ekpo, former director-general of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, said the event was crucial because consolidation in the banking sector is becoming stagnant.

He said the banking sector is crucial to the economy and requires highly skilled individuals to drive the system effectively.

First Lady Oluremi Tinubu has urged women to take the lead in the food security campaign, emphasising the importance of individual contributions to addressing food insufficiency.

Unveiling her own vegetable garden at the State House Residence, First Lady Tinubu encouraged first-time women farmers to participate in the Every Home A Garden Competition.

A statement issued by her Senior Special Assistant on Media, Busola Kukoyi, said the competition, open to women across Nigeria, aims to promote smart gardening and enhance communal living.

The First Lady’s garden, featuring seven vegetables, showcases the potential for individual efforts to make a significant impact.

The vegetables in the First Lady’s garden include spinach, water leaf, bitter leaf, ewedu, lemon grass, scent leaf and okro.

She emphasised that every small contribution can collectively drive the food security campaign forward.

First Lady seeks joint action to eradicate FGM
The First Lady said: “This little garden will be able to provide healthy vegetables enough for my household and I would definitely be able to let some of my staff have as well.

“The solution to any problem lies in everyone contributing their own quota to getting that solution. As a leader, I must show example and plant my own garden.

“This will also enhance communal living and help drive the food security campaign of the Federal Government. The vegetables are medicinal and the garden is to lead by example for other women to embrace smart gardening.”

She showed off the garden to the Wife of Imo State Governor, Chioma Uzodinma, and Wife of the Minister of State for Defence, Mrs Aisha Matawale.

The competition, which closes on September 25, 2024, and offering a N25 million prize for the winner, is open to first time women farmers all over Nigeria

The statement said entries must be submitted in a 30-second video format to the Office of the Wives of State Governors.

With over 1.2 million barrels per day of oil refinery capacity expected in the country, the loggerheads between oil producers and refinery owners in the nation, especially Dangote Refinery, over crude supply will go from bad to worst amid lack of due diligence by refinery owners and the inability of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) to enforce Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligations (DCSO).

With the recent outcry by Dangote Refinery, backed by Crude Oil Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria (CORAN), that International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the country were frustrating local operators, stakeholders are beginning to raise concerns over the approval process of refineries in Nigeria, especially the contractual agreement that should have existed for a guaranteed feedstock before refineries are completed considering that the oil sector operates with a future business model.

They also questioned why the Federal Government permitted the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to take the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) syndicated $3.3 billion crude oil loan where the state oil company would pay back a total of 164.25 million barrels of crude oil, which is worth $14.6 billion going by the price of Nigeria’s Brass River and Qua Iboe grade of crude, which sold at $89.49 per barrel yesterday.

While Nigeria’s crude oil was about two million barrels per day in 2013 when Dangote was announcing financial facilities to build its refinery, the nation’s oil production declined to a meagre 1.2 million bpd, of which if NNPC alone takes out the 445,000 bpd meant for its refineries, which are being repaired, the nation would not guarantee 650,000 bpd to Dangote not to mention the upcoming BUA Refinery and other modular refiners.

The Vice President of Oil and Gas at Dangote Group, Devakumar Edwin, had said the IOCs were struggling to give crude to the refinery.

Speaking to S&P Global Commodity Insights on June 24, Edwin alleged that the IOCs active in Nigeria want extra $6 on every barrel compared to market price.

“The IOCs are deliberately and willfully frustrating our efforts to buy the local crude. They are either asking for ridiculous/humongous premium (s), or they simply state that crude is not available,” he said.

Edwin’s assertion came barely three weeks after the chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, voiced out the company’s frustration in getting crude oil from the IOCs during a programme on CNN.

“The NNPC is doing its best, but some of the IOCs are struggling to give us crude; everybody is used to exporting and nobody wants to stop exporting,” he said.

Renowned energy companies expert, Ademola Adigun, however said there were indications that the IOCs were not frustrating refining locally.

“The issue is that Nigeria’s crude is insufficient to meet needs at the moment. The simple solution is to produce more crude,” Adigun said, adding that while the DCSO in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) is robust, the NUPRC needs to properly implement it.

While Nigeria produces one of the best grades of crude oil, mainly light, which is better than the heavy crude from the U.S., Nigeria’s grade is usually about $10 higher than U.S.’ WTI and slightly higher than the UK’s Brent. Most stakeholders, however, believe that Dangote’s modern refinery with configuration for different crude would prioritise price optimisation and profitability even as the imported heavier crude could be cheaper than Brass River and Qua Iboe or Bonny Light.


Yesterday, while Brent was trading under the OPEC quoting for about $93 per barrel, some U.S. crude was going for $68 per barrel; a difference of $25.

Currently, Dangote Refinery with 650, 000 per day refinery is relying on imported crude, especially from the U.S., BUA Refinery within the South South region would need about 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil when it comes on stream. NNPC is also looking to bring back its 445,000 barrels per day refineries while existing modular refineries require 27,000 barrel per day.

Although the NUPRC had moved to enforce Section 109 of the PIA, which introduced Domestic Crude Supply Obligation (DCSO) to Nigeria’s oil industry in an attempt to ensure domestic refineries are not starved of crude oil supply, it appears that the prevailing situation may not allow the regulation to work.

NUPRC was expected to fine defaulting IOCs and other violators $10,000, a penalty of 50 per cent of their fiscal price per barrel of crude oil not delivered to refineries; and denial of export permits. But a clause in the regulations allows the producers to offer cogent reasons why they could not comply with the regulation.

Most oil producers had said there were unresolved commercial issues affecting the supply of crude to local refineries. They had also openly told the NUPRC that the logistics side of supply and safety of their data had not been addressed; even as they claim that local refiners would need to convince them that the off-takers have dollars to pay for crude oil not just on the immediate but sustainably.

Currently, about 18 per cent of Nigeria’s oil reserve is in the deepwater, where the IOCs operate; 25 per cent is in the offshore, 26 per cent in swamp and 31 per cent on land. In terms of production, 30 per cent is produced in the deep water, 29 per cent on land, 26 per cent offshore and 15 per cent in the swamp. Governed mainly by Joint Venture Agreements and Production Sharing Contracts (PSC), NNPCL has over 50 per cent share of oil production across the joint ventures. The joint venture accounts for about 70 per cent of the entire operation while the PSC, which is predominantly operated by the IOCs, accounts for about 30 per cent going by statistics from NUPRC.

Sadly, production from the deepwater where the IOCs spend their money for exploration and production and then recover their cost before paying Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Royalty and other bonuses/levies to the government has been under threat.

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report covering 2021 showed that only 12 of the PSC blocks recorded production, while 23 other blocks, representing 66 per cent of the total number of PSC blocks, had no output.

The last major investment from the IOCs also came over 10 years ago with TotalEnergies’ Egina except for the $550 million Ubeta Final Investment Decision (FID) that was taken last month.

Country Chairman and Managing Director, TotalEnergies Nigeria, Matthieu Bouyer, had said while Nigeria has large deepwater assets, all significant deepwater projects in the country were developed with past contractual and fiscal conditions, adding that increased levy and changes in fiscal terms and the lack of contractors’ competition, which were pushing costs high, were affecting the segment.

Besides, most of the producers are divesting as investing into the oil sector continues to cripple the nation’s oil production on the backdrop of crude oil theft, insecurity in the Niger Delta region and other problems bedeviling the oil and gas sector.

Group Chairman/CEO at International Energy Services Limited, Dr. Diran Fawibe, said it remained surprising why Dangote did not properly address the feedstock plan when the refinery was being built.

According to him, the country needs to be very careful in giving bad names to the IOCs, who are already on their way out for Nigerian independent oil producers.

“There must be a serious error of omission in the development of refineries in Nigeria either Dangote or any other if the feedstock becomes a problem. It is a fundamental requirement that when a refinery is being planned, the refinery owners must consider the issue of feedstock. As a matter of fact, it should be a critical part of the feasibility study or viability analysis,” he said.

Fawibe said there must have been agreement with producers as well as analysis of the different crude that would be produced immediately the refinery is being planned, adding that it is not enough to build refineries because the country produces crude oil.

The challenge of crude oil, according to him, should not ordinarily happen where proper planning was done, stressing that refiners, especially in the country, must have been following the trend regarding oil production as well as the uniqueness of the oil market.

Fawibe noted that there is a need to have a market that would guarantee dollar supply to the oil producers as well as a pricing structure that won’t shortchange the producers.

He urged NNPCL to step in to address the differences between the refiners and producers, noting that the state oil firm has the larger share of the crude and has a level of control over its other partners.

“If Dangote wants crude oil, the bulk of it must come from NNPCL, not even the IOCs. This could be complemented with crude from Nigerian companies. NNPCL, the national oil company, should be able to manage the situation. There must be a guaranteed level of crude supply to the local refineries between NNPCL and all the oil companies,” Fawibe said.

Former President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and Professor of Economics, Prof. Segun Ajibola, said if all the public refineries are operational and more private ones debut, the current local crude production would be overstretched.

Stressing that Nigeria has the capacity to produce close to three million bpd if the challenges confronting the upstream operations are nipped in the bud, Ajibola said this could go a long way to meet the local demand for crude and for export.

While Nigeria’s capacity to improve production has been impaired due to product import, which cripples resources for cash that would have been reinvested, Ajibola said if the refineries are working effectively, it would save the country the humongous amount of scarce foreign exchange being deployed to import refined products.

He said: “The regulatory agencies in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy should rise up to the occasion and ward off the seeming threats confronting Dangote Refinery, and the perpetual moribund state of the four public refineries in the country. Dangote Refinery can help change the narratives with its positive multiplier effects on the economy and should be protected from the real and imaginary predators.”

The Chief Executive of NUPRC, Gbenga Komolafe, did not immediately respond to The Guardian’s enquiry to clarify the challenge the regulator has with the implementation of DCSO and the efforts or sanctions that the commission is mandated to enforce.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has suspended the permits of 10 private jet operators over illegal operation.

The affected operators which had their Permit for Non-Commercial Flight (PNCF) suspended had failed to undergo a recertification process as directed by the regulatory authority.

This was after revelations that most of the operators were abusing the PNCF and using their jets for commercial flights or what is simply called in aviation parlance as hire and reward.

Daily Trust reports that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations 2023 Part 18.3.4 forbids holders of PNCF from using their aircraft for CARRIAGE OF PASSENGERS, CARGO or MAIL for HIRE or REWARD (commercial operation or charter services).

Following the flagrant disregard of this rule, the NCAA had earlier directed all holders of PNCF to undergo re-evaluation which should have been concluded by the 19th of April 2024.

To this end, the NCAA has suspended the permit of 10 operators.

Those affected include:

Azikel Dredging Nigeria Ltd

Bli-Aviation Safety Services

Ferry Aviation Developments Ltd

Matrix Energy Ltd

Marrietta Management Services Ltd

Worldwide Skypaths Services

Mattini Airline Services Ltd

Aero Lead Ltd

Sky Bird Air Ltd

Ezuma Jets Ltd.

In a statement by its Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, the NCAA told the public “that it is illegal to engage PNCF holders for commercial purposes.”

“The NCAA will not hesitate to initiate enforcement actions against any PNCF holder found guilty of illegal operations.

“Furthermore, NCAA officials have been deployed to General Aviation Terminals (GAT) and private wings of the airports to monitor activities of the PNCF holders,” the statement added.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he did not discuss the issue of releasing Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) during his discussion with the South-East Governors, on Tuesday.

Our correspondent reports that Governors under the umbrella of the South-East Governors’ Forum met in Enugu, on Tuesday, and resolved to meet with President Bola Tinubu to seek the release of Kanu.

Hope Uzodinma, governor of Imo and chairman of the forum, announced the resolution at the end of a meeting of the governors held in Enugu.

The governors at the meeting were Hope Uzodinma of Imo, Alex Otti of Abia, Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra, Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi, and Peter Mbah of Enugu.

Obasanjo and another elder statesman, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, also reportedly met with the governors on an invitation to discuss regional development issues.

The former President in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, on Wednesday, stated the regional development issues include that of security and infrastructure.

He added that other issues were economic and cooperative/collaboration, which was meant to complement the national economic development agenda.

“The meeting with them was at my invitation and of Chief Emeka Anyaoku before their summit begins. The issue of Nnamdi Kanu was not on the agenda and was not discussed in my presence,” Obasanjo said.

The commencement of merger, relocation, and winding up of some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in line with the revised Steve Oronsaye Report, is unsettling many across the federal government bureaucracy.

After the review, as mandated by the President, The Guardian learnt some concerned departments and agencies have been issued official notices, raising the air of apprehension and uncertainty of the fate that awaits concerned workers in MDAs that are pencilled for scrap, relocation or merger.

A credible source yesterday informed that the implementation committee had, as of last week, informed some of the affected MDAs about its decision but some.

With the notices delivered, heads of affected agencies to be scrapped or merged went on intense lobbying of politicians and members of the National Assembly.

Recall that the Federal Government had on March 7 inaugurated the Akume-led committee with a 12-week deadline to submit its report on the planned merger and scrap of some MDAs.

Previous efforts by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan to implement the Steve Oronsaye Report ended at the National Assembly even after the administration had issued a White Paper on the Report to prune down bureaucracy in Nigeria.

The Report proposed to merge, scrap and relocate various government agencies as a pragmatic approach to addressing the bloated and ineffective duplicative nature of Nigeria’s bureaucracy and reduce the cost of governance.

The Director of Information in the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (OSGF), Shegun Imohiesen, confirmed that the process of merging the MDAs was underway and would be announced soon but could not give details of the affected offices.

According to the report submitted, some agencies have been merged. Among them is the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria which is merged with the Voice of Nigeria, while the National Commission for Museum and Monuments will be merged with the National Gallery of Acts.

The National Theatre will merge with the National Troupe of Nigeria, while the National Meteorological Development Centre will merge with the National Meteorological Training Institute.

The National Agency for Control of HIV/AIDS (NACA) is to be merged with the Centre for Disease Control in the Federal Ministry of Health, while National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is to be merged with the National Commission for Refugee Migration and Internally Displaced Persons.

The Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa will be merged with the Directorate of Technical Aid to function as a department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission is to be merged with the Bureau for Public Enterprises. The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission will merge with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, while the National Agency for Science and Technology and Science and Engineering Infrastructure will merge with the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation and the Project Development Institute.

Similarly, the Air Force Institute of Technology also will be merged with the Nigerian Defence Academy to function as the faculty of the Nigerian Defence Academy. The Border Communities Development Agency will be subsumed to function as a department under the National Boundary Commission.

The National Salaries Income and Wages Commission is to be subsumed into the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission while the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution is to be subsumed under the Institute for International Affairs.

The Public Complaints Commission is to be subsumed under the National Human Rights Commission while the Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis is to be subsumed into the Institute for Veterinary Research.

Among the agencies to be relocated, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company is to be relocated to the Ministry of Power while the National Agricultural Land Development Agency will be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.

However, while the Akume-led committee was delaying in making public its recommendations, an ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives on restructuring of government agencies and commissions, yesterday, summoned the SGF to shed light on the veracity behind the decision to implement the Oronsaye Report.

Also to appear before the lawmakers, alongside stakeholders from MDAs and the public, is the Head of Service of the federation, Dr Folasade Yemi Esan, to share their opinions on the issue on July 10.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr Ibrahim Isiaka at a press conference held at the National Assembly complex in Abuja insisted that it is only the National Assembly that is empowered to review, repeal, or legislate on the establishment of MDAs.

Faulting the notions that the National Assembly is being influenced to halt the decision to scrap or merge some agencies of government, he maintained that the exercise being embarked upon is in tandem with the quest to strengthen the functions of the MDAs.

The lawmaker ruled out the possibility of the committee inflicting job losses on workers.

He said: “Any agency of government, ministries, department, or parastatal that is created by an act parliament, no man can add A or remove A, except through the National Assembly. It is either it is going to come through an amendment, repeal, reenactment or enactment.

“So, if that is the standard practice or position of the law, there is no point anybody trying to lobby anyone because whatever we do will still be subjected to the concurrence of the Senate. So, there is no shortcut. There is no point insinuating that anyone would be going behind to lobby anyone,” Isiaka said.

He noted that some agencies were created with certain exigencies of time in the past. Perhaps, some of them have outlived their functions and the national assembly must review them.

“If it is to strengthen them and look for more functions for them, so be it. We are going to ensure that people do not lose their jobs. That will not come up. What we are doing is just to avoid duplication. We need to delineate all these. It is not about driving people out of their jobs. The Head of Service and Secretary to the Government of the Federation are going to be at the public hearing.

“We are not asked to rationalise works in ministries, departments and agencies and that is what we are about to do to the best of our ability.

“It is imperative for us to revisit the recommendations of the Oronsaye Report and other pertinent White Papers to ensure that we are aligning our government structures with current realities, best practices, and the changing needs of our society. The world is evolving rapidly, and our government agencies and commissions must be structured in a way that enables them to deliver on their mandates effectively and efficiently,” Isiaka said.

The Guardian checks revealed that as of 2012 when the Oronsaye Report was released, there were 541 statutory and non-statutory Federal Government MDAs. It however, recommended that 263 of the statutory agencies be slashed to 161; 38 agencies be scrapped; 52 be merged and 14 be reverted to departments in various ministries, among others. However, within 12 years, the MDAs have increased to 1,316.

The immediate past Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr Ben Akabueze, disclosed that there are also 561 federal-owned corporations whose duplicated functions had significantly shot up the cost of governance. He said the multiplicity of ministries and extra-ministerial bodies had become a huge drain on the economy.

If the Oronsaye Report had been implemented about 12 years ago, the government could have saved more than N862 billion between 2012 and 2015.

However, experts said if President Tinubu-led administration properly implemented the Report, it would save the government over N1.5 trillion per year.

Lead Partner, Cardinal Professional Services, Emmanuel Onasanmi, said given the current reality, there is potential for an excess of N1 trillion from the implementation of the Report, and tasked the committee on transparency and accountability.

Akabueze, in August 2023, revealed that the Federal Government’s personnel cost was over N5 trillion, with 1.5 million workers on its payroll.

Out of the N28.7 trillion budgeted for 2024, N8.7 trillion was appropriated for recurrent expenditure.

But Onasanmi noted that even though the need to reduce the cost of governance is sacrosanct, beyond scoring political points with the implementation of the Oronsaye Report, the first thing to identify is that if Nigerians want to get the benefit of the Report, there is no way there won’t be job losses.

He called for a win-win approach, saying, “The objective of the report is to streamline bureaucracy in the civil service and the inefficiency that is inherent in it to cut down drastically the cost of governance. Transparent communication around the implementation is therefore needed and carrying stakeholders along in a manner that leads to a win-win outcome for everybody.”

An expert in Public Administration and World Bank consultant, Prof. Ladipo Adamolekun, said the government must be consistent in its policies and actions to assist the implementation committee in achieving its objective, noting that appointing new executives to the agencies to be scrapped or merged is a wrong signal about the political will of the government to implement Oronsaye Report.

The former university don noted that the three-month deadline for the implementation committee to complete its assignment was too short for the staff audit and other tasks involved in public service reform. He said the committee needed at least six months to do a thorough job.

According to him, “The composition of the implementation committee is rather too weak. Out of ten only the Head of Service, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan; Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reform, Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi and the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination Hadiza Bala Usman are professionals. I am suggesting that they need one or two external experts to join them. From my experience all over the world, the task of public service reform is not easy and many governments that started it barely complete it.

“Also, I expect the committee to have made public the guideline for the implementation of the Oronsaye Report, which must have been with the Bureau of Public Service Reform. However, there are concerns about the inconsistency of the government by the number of political appointees at the state and federal level and what they want to achieve with the implementation of the Oronsaye Report. There will be a reduction in staff to reduce cost in governance but appointment of many commissioners and ministers may erode the gains.”

Also speaking, an economist, Kalu Aja urged President Tinubu to restructure his government to enable him to deliver on his promises, saying, “If the purpose of the government is to grow the economy through agriculture, the government should be adjusted to focus on it, it doesn’t have to be what Orosanye did some years ago, but what the President wants to do going forward to make his span of control tighter and to reduce unnecessary cost.”

He argued that the number of ministers is high, saying there is a lot of waste in government while calling for a deliberate approach on the part of government and the people to ensure a balance.

Emmanuel Addeh


Nigeria and not President Bola Tinubu needs a presidential private jet for several reasons, including the fact that the current one being used by the president was purchased during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration and has been used by four other Nigerian leaders, THISDAY can report.

There have been controversies over the proposed purchase of a new presidential jet, following the problems encountered by the airplane on separate trips to Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands and South Africa.

However, THISDAY can tell that aside from the fact that the presidential jet of any nation remains, in some way, the country’s projection of its national brand to other nations, for leaders of all modern democracies, a good presidential fleet also serves as a boost for robust international engagements.

The House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence had recently asked the federal government to purchase two new aircrafts for President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.

Contained in a report of the committee’s investigation into the status of the aircraft in the presidential air fleet, the committee stressed that it was in the best interest of the country to procure the aircrafts to avoid a situation that would create a national crisis.

The committee was mandated by the lower chamber of the National Assembly in May to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the aircraft in the presidential fleet to ascertain their airworthiness and technical status.

The assignment followed a motion by the House Committee Chairman on National Security and Intelligence, Satomi Ahmed.

It led to a heated debate on the floor of the House, when some lawmakers suggested that the president should travel via commercial aircraft or by road.

Also, the senate is said to be in agreement, with the Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Shehu Buba Umar, said to be supporting the recommendation by the lower chamber’s committee.

The decision to purchase the aircraft has recently led to a national debate, with some Nigerians saying it was the wrong time to think of making any investment in any new presidential jet.

But many people have also argued that the pros outweigh the cons for not purchasing the aircraft.

“The point is that people are mistaking a national jet for a personal jet. It is far from it. The nation’s presidential jet is a brand from Nigeria to the world and it can boost a robust foreign policy and global engagements.

The jet is not personal to Tinubu, it is for Nigeria.

“Leaders of most modern democracies have their jets or robust national carriers, which provide a fleet for the presidency, like British Airways does. We don’t have a robust national carrier.

“So the presidential jet is what we have used in the 25 years of democracy to champion our return to the world. Despite recent hiccups in the economy, which happen periodically, we should not lose sight of why Nigeria needs a presidential jet,” a THISDAY expert said, albeit anonymously.

For the record, 737 Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) was acquired during the Obasanjo administration at a cost of $43 million and has since become a source of financial liability to the country due to old age and excessive use.

The continuous maintenance of the close to 25-year-year-old aircraft, according to sources, has become a guzzler of public funds running into several millions of dollars at a time the economy is also facing critical challenges.

For instance, the Buhari administration, towards the end of the government took the same aircraft abroad for a detailed maintenance in preparation for the inauguration of his successor, but it wasn’t enough to put the aircraft back in a sound state.

“After the Sani Abacha misrule, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, re-launched Nigeria to the global space, where we acquired a new Boeing Business Jet, Boeing BBJ and that was used to revamp Nigeria’s pride of place globally.

“After eight years, that jet continued to be used by four presidents after: Umar Yar’ Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari and now Bola Tinubu.

“It is time to change it for both safety and national security reasons. The other day, the vice president of Malawi died in a plane crash, an aging fleet. We cannot wish that for our leaders. Should we, God forbid, lose a leader by such circumstances, it will hit Nigeria in a bad way.

“There will be battles and there will be growing instability and then there’s the national security implication of such an incident.

“So, after so many years, the right thing for National Assembly to do is to pass a legislation and give a proper budget for a proper and fitting presidential jet,” the expert added.

THISDAY has further gathered that aside the one-off wholesale payment, there could be other creative ways to ensure that the purchase doesn’t negatively hit the national coffers, given the arguments in certain quarters about the state of the economy.

The expert contended that, “There are many ways it can be done cost-effectively. It could be done by having a long-term lease, which will involve periodic payments, by having engine programmes and insurance, which will ensure that parts of the aircraft are duly insured and paid by insurers. So, there are many means of doing it. Sometimes, it is cost-effective.

“And we have enough central bankers and corporate finance gurus to support it, such that it’s not a whopping amount.

“So, besides the current economic challenges, we should not lose sight of a jet for Nigeria. It is not for president Tinubu, personally. It is for Nigeria. The last one, currently in use, was bought by the former president Obasanjo. We need another one at this time.”

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited says it has declared a state of emergency on oil production.

It said this was a move towards increasing Nigeria’s crude oil production and growing its reserves.

Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Mele Kyari, disclosed this in a keynote address at the opening of the 23rd edition of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition Week in Abuja, on Tuesday.

“We have decided to stop the debate. We have declared war on the challenges affecting our crude oil production. War means war. We have the right tools. We know what to fight. We know what we have to do at the level of assets. We have engaged our partners. And we will work together to improve the situation,” Kyari declared.

According to him, a detailed analysis of assets revealed that Nigeria could conveniently produce two million barrels of crude oil per day without deploying new rigs.

Still, the major impediment to achieving this is the inability of players to act in a timely manner.

He added that the “war” will help NNPCL and its partners to speedily clear all identified obstacles to effective and efficient production, such as delays in procurement processes, which have become a challenge in the industry.

Captain Sadiq Shehu (rtd), a security analyst, has said that some of the suicide bombers who killed people in Gwoza, Borno State, were given as low as N20.

Captain Shehu stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today.

He said that the Saturday attacks, which had claimed about 30 lives so far, were an indication that Boko haram cannot carry out conventional attacks.

He said, “Suicide bombing is relatively a very cheap thing to do. And to be honest with you, if you followed some of the interviews we had with some of the girls who were intercepted and did not detonate their bombs, they were given something as low as N20.

“For Boko Haram members, suicide bombing carries a lot of advantages. One, it is low cost. Second, the suicide bomber has the advantage of hiding the bomb. You know how people in the north east dress in hijab. It is very easy for a lady to conceal [explosives].

“And culturally even there is a tendency that even the security personnel don’t search women too closely the way they can search a man. In our culture it is difficult to search women that way even though there is a solution as you can assign a woman to do that.”

Gwazo attacks indicates laxity in screening exercise –Commissioner

Meanwhile, the Borno State Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Sugun Mai Mele, said the attacks were an indication of laxity in screening exercises by security personnel.

He said, “They smuggled the blasts through the women who went to the farm. They usually go to their farms early in the morning, pass through the military gate and when returning they come through the military gate again. But they smuggled it through the women who were coming back from the farm.

“There is a level of laxity on the part of the security in the screening exercise. Before now when farmers were going out to the farm, they issued tags and they would be registered. In the evening when they came back, they showed their tags and the security personnel marked them. So anybody that did not come back during the closing hours then they should be arrested or they would not be allowed in.

“But these women entered and disguised themselves as farmers. I learnt that one of them was even carrying a baby. When she went to the venue of the incident she started begging and people had even started giving her alms, she suddenly detonated the bomb.”

For the second week, most ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government located in the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, have been without electricity supply from the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

A LEADERSHIP investigation showed that most of the MDAs are heavily indebted to the AEDC, which forced the power firm to disconnect them after several reminders, including publishing such debtors on some national dailies.

Last Thursday, LEADERSHIP exclusively published that the power outage had hit the secretariat for one week.
When our correspondents visited the secretariat yesterday, the situation had not changed as the affected MDAs were still in darkness.

It was learnt that the situation forced some ministers and other top officials to work from home.

Some workers who spoke with our correspondents yesterday lamented that the outage had been allowed to enter the second week, making them completely unproductive in their offices.

A senior director in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation who preferred anonymity said that the office was not experiencing the outage because of the solar system installed by the Head of Service.

He said that most major offices attached to the Office of the Head of Civil Service were connected to solar power to avoid redundancy in the office.

“The only areas in Block A and C that have electricity supply from the solar system is the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, but others that are not attached to it are in complete darkness, except you can afford to buy fuel or diesel for your generator,” he said.

However, some senior civil servants who have offices on the second and third floors of Block A and C, which host the Office of the Head of Civil Service, said that they could no longer stay inside their offices to work because of the prolonged power failure.

“I wonder why this power failure issue is taking a long time to resolve. The Federal Secretariat is the engineroom of the nation’s socio economic development, and I wonder why the authorities have failed to do something about it.

“We thought that, by now, this whole thing would be over, but from the look of things, we do not know when the power outage problem would be resolved,” one of the senior civil servants said.

Senior officials in the Phase 1 section of the Federal Secretariat confirmed that they had been without electricity for a week, a situation attributed to unpaid bills owed to the AEDC.

A source within the secretariat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the blackout commenced last week.

According to the source, the outstanding electricity bills have accrued over an extended period, leading to the power firm’s decision to cut off the power supply.

“The accumulated bill is significant, and AEDC had no choice but to cut the light,” the source explained.

The source further disclosed that while Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Secretariat were also initially affected by the power outage, Phase 3 resolved its outstanding debts and had electricity restored. As of now, only Phase 1 remains in darkness.

The ministries affected include the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, and the Federal Ministry of Communications,

This prolonged blackout has disrupted daily operations within Phase 1 of the Federal Secretariat, causing inconvenience to employees and visitors alike. Pending the settlement of the outstanding bills, it remains unclear when the power will be restored.

The disconnection that cuts across the central business district does not affect the activities of the Federal Ministry of Finance, which still has a regular power supply.

A senior official in the ministry, who refused to be named, told our reporter yesterday that the workers are used to running on standby power generating sets to power their entire ministry, which also houses the Budget Office of the Federation.

While he refused to confirm if the ministry was disconnected by the AEDC, he said, “As you can see, we are on gen (generator). Whenever light comes, we are fine, too.”

He, however, failed to tell us how much the ministry had spent on fueling the power-generating sets.

When our reporter visited the ministry yesterday, the generators were heard humming from the car park wing.

The Ministry of Finance is one of the MDAs that AEDC served a disconnection notice earlier this year for failing to pay an outstanding electricity bill of N367.67 million. This newspaper could not confirm whether that backlog has been cleared.

At the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, an official (name withheld) said inquiries regarding the power situation at the secretariat should be directed to the Head of Service of the Federation.

According to her, the ministry is not responsible for managing the power outage resolution.

She said, “I am just a civil servant. I don’t have anything to say about it. My job is to go to work and close at the right time. Please direct your questions to the head of service.”

Over 34 ministries, departments, and agencies, including the Nigerian Army headquartered in Abuja, were encouraged to circumvent budgetary allocations. Consequently, substantial unpaid electricity bills, totalling over N10.01 billion, have accumulated despite specific provisions in the annual national budgetary allocation.

Education, Health Ministries Enjoy Power Supply

The Federal Ministry of Education has restored electricity within its offices while neighbouring ministries remained engulfed in darkness.

According to sources in the ministry, the outage affected the Ministry last week due to unpaid NEPA bills, leaving several departments grappling with disrupted operations.

When our reporter visited the Ministry yesterday, sources within it revealed that the management worked and restored the light after the bill was cleared.

“It was critical for us to maintain our services, but thank God the light was restored, as you can see it now,” he said.

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare was also not affected by the power outage and breakdown of solar power in the Federal Secretariat as there was electricity in the office when our correspondent visited the ministry on Monday afternoon.

Sources in the ministry told our correspondent they were shocked to hear that the entire Federal Secretariat had not had power for two weeks.

A deputy director in the ministry who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent that there is power supply in the ministry, adding that whenever power from the national grid is not available, the ministry uses inverters or generators.

According to her, the inverter covers the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th floors, which are where the minister’s offices and the conference hall are located.

“Whenever there is no power supply during work hours, those in other offices go to these floors using inverters if they need to use light”, she added.

Another ministry staff member who pleaded for anonymity told our correspondent that the ministry has had power supply in the past two weeks.

“If there is no power supply and the inverter is down, how come the elevators work?” she asked.

When LEADERSHIP contacted AEDC head of Marketing and Corporate Communications, Adefisayo Akinsanya, there was no response despite repeated phone calls, SMS and WhatsApp messages.

There are concerns among workers and officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) following discoveries that a number of directors in the secret police have refused to vacate their offices despite retiring from the service.

Such practice of remaining in office after retirement is reportedly common among DSS directors against the public service rules.

Sources told SaharaReporters on Monday that the development was causing internal wrangling in DSS as workers and officials of the Nigerian security outfit were said to be demotivated and angry about it.

"There are three notorious cases involving Adeleke S. Ayodele, Mohammed Al Hassan Ndatsu, and Kamba Damana, as directors who have chosen to retain their offices years after their retirement," one of the sources said.

Records showed that Adeleke S. Ayodele was enlisted in the service in August 1984 and retired in 2019 after 35 years of service.

Staff are, however, surprised that Ayodele is still serving as the Commandant, National Institute for Security Studies (NISS) owned by the DSS.

Another case is that of Mohammed Al Hassan Ndatsu, who was enlisted in the service in October 1988 and retired in 2020 after attaining 60 years old.

But Ndatsu is still serving as the State Director of Security (SDS) in Kano State.

Also another case of Kamba Damana, who joined the service in April 1990 and retired on 25th June 2020 was said to be baffling as he continues to serve as the director of DSS Ikoyi Office.

It was gathered that the practice had portrayed the DSS in bad light as it was said to be stifling growth, promoting mediocrity and demotivating workers.

"This is a flagrant abuse of internal processes, laid-down procedures and rules of engagement. They are doing it without anybody challenging them.

"It is killing the morales of other officers, who are aspiring to reach the pinnacle of their careers in the service", one of the officials said.

Some of the officers called on President Bola Tinubu to compel the DSS management to sanitise its records by immediately sending the retired directors out of the system.

They also demanded that all the salaries and allowances paid to them from the year of their retirement till date should be retrieved to act as a deterrent for others plotting to do the same.

SaharaReporters' efforts to get the DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, have not been successful as of press time.

Kayode Adesile did not prepare for the fate that befell him when he visited his new wife, Oluwaseun Omolara Olusola, on June 25, 2024 at her residence in the Powerline area of Meiran, a Lagos suburb.

Unknown to Adesile, an automobile technician, he had incurred the wrath of Esther, his wife’s 15-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, for reprimanding on an occasion she disrespected her mother.

Esther, it was said, invited hoodlums to teach her stepfather a bitter lesson for meddling in her matter. The hoodlums, who were around when Adesile was visiting Esther’s expectant mother, pounced on him while he was about to enter the house, dealt him blows and recorded the scenario with their mobile phones.

“I verbally reprimanded her recently for being rude and disrespectful to her mother, who is my wife. I didn’t know that she was upset by my action which I took in good faith.

“They had carefully plotted the assault on me, knowing that I usually visit my wife’s home three times in a week.

“It was when I came around on Wednesday, June 26, 2024 that I was accosted by Esther who beckoned on the hoodlums to beat me up.

“I was badly beaten and humiliated as they took their time to make videos of the assault.”

It was said that after Adesile was assaulted, his attackers ran to the Meiran Police Station to lie that he attacked them. By the time Adesile reported the matter at the same police station he was detained.

The police, according to sources, would later find out that he was actually the victim of the assault, contrary to the complaint made by his attackers.

“The hoodlums invited by Esther were led by one Oluwakemi a.k.a. Honour, who supervised the brutality meted out to me and even filmed the scene with his boys.

“I was severely punched and battered by the hoodlums and left helpless as there was no one to save me from them.

“Even my wife who tried to save me was slapped silly by the boys and pushed to the ground.

“The hoodlums then left for the station and lied that I had attacked them.

“The police detained me when I went there to complain about the assault.

“It was later discovered that the hoodlums had lied and that they were the aggressors in this case.

“Hence, I was released on bail on Thursday June 27.”

He further said: “I started dating my wife six years ago before her mother died, and there was no problem between us.

“Her mother had asked her to bring me home for proper introduction after she told her that we were in a relationship.

“I later went to see her mother and we had a very cordial relationship before she died two years ago.

“When her mother was sick, my wife and I took very good care of her by taking her to a hospital in Abeokuta.

“She died shortly after we brought her back to Lagos.


“My wife is currently pregnant for me. I was the one that raised money to send her to school after she finished her JSS 3.

“I did not do anything to deserve the brutality meted out to me by the hoodlums she invited in connivance with a disgruntled family member of her mother to dehumanise me and even ran to the police to further detain me when in actual fact they were the aggressors.

“I was released on bail this morning (June 27) and the leader of the hoodlums is the leader a cult group in the community.”

Speaking with our correspondent, Adesile’s wife, Oluwaseun, who is also Esther’s mother, said her daughter was being brainwashed and used by her unscrupulous family members and neighbours.

Oluwaseun said: “Esther Adekunle is a product of my former marriage. Her father humiliated me and was fond of brutalising me till we parted ways.”

She said she had struggled and weathered the storm to ensure that Esther and her two siblings got a good life and education after she parted with their father.

“There is no work that I have not done to give Esther and her siblings education. I am into cleaning services just so that I can have money to ensure that they feed well and go to school since their father abandoned them for me.”

The 36-year-old woman said that Esther had formed the habit of disrespecting and insulting her in public.

“Yet, despite all my struggle to make ends meet and raise them, Esther disrespects me in public and refused to heed my instructions.

“She would leave home without my consent and return when she wishes. She bedwets and exhibits dirty habits at home.

“It was recently when she insulted me openly that my new husband called her out and verbally reprimanded her for her misguided attitude.

“It was for that reason that she further became recalcitrant and planned with my mother’s family members and neighbours to invite the hoodlums to brutalise my husband.

“My new husband is not a gold digger. I have been dating him before my mother passed on two years ago.

“He was the one that provided the money we spent in processing admission for Esther to proceed for her Senior Secobdary education.

“Yet, he is the same person my daughter brought hoodlums to humiliate in public on June 25.

“While the boys were beating my husband, they also slapped me when i tried to stop them.

“”To my surprise, the boys came back the next day, June 26, and further assaulted me and there was no one to save me from them.

“They rushed to the police station and lied to the police that my husband attacked them. The police later detained my husband.

“The leader of the hoodlums, who is the husband of my daughter’s boss, was also detained when my husband indentified him as the leader of the gang that attacked him.

She added: “My husband was freed after the police discovered that the hoodlums were the culprits.”

In an audio recording obtained by our reporter, Esther, confronted by some persons on her complicity in the assault on her mother’s husband, accused Adesile of handling her breasts about two months earlier.

“He (stepfather) fondled my breasts about two months ago,” Esther said.

Asked why it took her two months to avenge her purported molestation and why she did not tell her mother about it, she said: “I told my mother’s family members about it.”

Adesile and Esther’s mother however described the allegation as a tissue of lies.

“She is lying. I have never molested her. She is acting a script handed to her by the people that are guiding her to disrespect her mother and myself over my wife’s inheritance which they want to dispossess her of, ” Adesile said.

Esther’s mother also said her daughter was misguided and told to lie against her stepfather after it dawned on them that their action was criminal and could have consequences.

She said: “My daughter was told to lie that my husband recently molested her.

“The truth is that she is doing a hatchet job for some people who are planning to take over my late mother’s property at all cost.

“My husband has never molested Esther. She is being used without her knowing.”

Contacted for comments, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Lagos Command, Mr. Benjamin Hundeyin, did not answer his call and also had not responded to the inquiry sent to his WhatsApp at press time.

Some air force personnel from the Sam Ethnan Air Force Base, Bolade, Oshodi, have allegedly invaded the premises of critical power infrastructure in Lagos state, rough-handling them in the process and forcibly taking others away.

People in the know of the matter revealed that the air force personnel carried out the act as a result of the disconnection carried out at their base, arising from unpaid electricity bills running into billions of naira.

An eyewitness account revealed that the air force personnel, whose pictures, names and identity available, were withheld, stormed the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) station, and Eko Distribution Company (Disco) Mushin Business Unit, both situated in Isolo as well as the Ikeja Electric’s Oshodi Business Unit, Okota Road.

During the attack, distribution substation operators on duty at the transmission station were said to have been overpowered, while the power supply to some feeders was removed, while insisting on the restoration of theirs.

It was learnt that the Ikeja Electric’s Oshodi Business Unit office situated on Okota Road, Isolo was not spared either as employees on duty were assaulted and abducted to the barracks and beaten like common criminals.

From John Akubo, Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Sodiq Omolaoye (Abuja) and Azeez Olorunlomeru (Abeokuta)


Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, yesterday, gave an anticipatory approval to a non-existing request for the purchase of jets for President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.

It followed widespread insinuations that yesterday’s sitting at the National Assembly would, besides other matters, witness lawmakers’ approval for the purchase of presidential jets for Tinubu and Shettima.
The Senate President affirmed that no request for new jets came before the chamber.

He, however, said the Senate would without delay approve any such request if it came, to avert the fate suffered by the vice president of Malawi and the president of Iran who both died in air crashes.

He declared that the Senate would not fold its hands and watch Tinubu die like the aforementioned.

Akpabio gave the indication at an emergency session, which was convened to consider an extension of the implementation period for the capital components of the N21.83 trillion 2023 budget and those of the N2.17 trillion 2023 supplementary budget.

He also reacted to reports in a section of the media where he was credited with saying that the Senate would approve the purchase of a new presidential jet regardless of the economic hardship faced by Nigerians.
Akpabio said: “We will also take cognisance of the duties of Mr President. If his vehicle is bad, we will repair the vehicle. If his plane is bad, we will approve money for repair of the plane. So, that is not an issue.

“I was in Zanzibar attending the inter-parliamentary union meetings when that information went out, that the Senate President said he will approve a brand new plane for the President, irrespective of whether Nigerians are suffering or not suffering.

“There was never a time such a statement came from me because I’ve never had any correspondence to approve a plane or not approve a plane, and I did not want to answer. But they went further to generate it, and then they went round as if I was saying that I did not care about Nigerians. I did not do this .

“We care about the President. We care about the Nigerian people. We will approve things that will benefit the Nigerian people. We will approve things that will improve the living standards of the people. There is nothing before us. I don’t think you should worry about it.”

The Senate President added: “When you hear stories such as the death of the vice president of Malawi as a result of a defective plane, and then you hear stories such as the death of the president of Iran, as a result of a defective aircraft, in fact, this time it was a helicopter and all that.

“We shouldn’t ever dream and allow such to be our portion. It wouldn’t be. The Senate is very responsible. The National Assembly is very responsible. “We will look into issues that will benefit the governance of the country, irrespective of anticipatory blackmail. They know very well that something like that may come in the future. And if it’s a necessity, the Senate will look into it. But there is nothing like that before us now. So, they can go ahead and blackmail the Senate President, it will not affect me.”

THIS came as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu, justified extension of the lifespan of the 2023 Appropriation Act and the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act till December 31, 2024.

The resolution came after a request by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through an executive bill.

The lifespan of the 2023 Appropriation Act and the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act was expected to terminate on Sunday June 30, 2024.

Addressing journalists after the bill was passed Adaramodu said the motive of the Senate was to stop the menace of abandoned projects.

He said: “We want to stop the spate of abandoned projects. We want to ensure that what was captured in the 2023 budget was executed to the letter. It was because of that the Senate decided to tinker with the Appropriation Law, so that money spent on projects not completed would not go down the drain. We want to make sure that all the provisions in the budget were adhered to. That’s why the exercise of today (yesterday) became pertinent.”

ALSO, despite opposition from some lawmakers, the House of Representatives, yesterday, passed bills extending implementation of the 2023 Appropriation Act and the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act until December 2024.

The lawmakers expressed reservation about the propriety of giving accelerated passage to the bills.

Recall that the Acts were first extended on December 31, 2023 for a period of three months. The extension was sequel to a request by President Tinubu via a letter to the two chambers of the National Assembly.

Shortly before the expiry date, the President made another request for extension of the two budgets until June 30 2024, which the lawmakers gave speedy passage.

In order to attend to the president’s request, the lawmakers cut short their Sallah holiday to convene in Abuja to beat the June 30 expiry date.

The lawmakers were initially scheduled to resume on July 2.

Debating the bill, Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), expressed concerns that the country would be running three to four budgets until the end of the 2024 financial cycle, if the request of the President was granted.

He said: “We understand the implications from the letter we received. It is mainly on capital projects, and we cannot ask that capital projects should be abandoned. We cannot deny our country the benefits of capital projects.

“In principle, we might not oppose it but in terms of procedure, I feel a little bit worried. A situation where we have three budgets running concurrently is not good. This will even mean four budgets running simultaneously.”

He recommended that the House step down the bill and go back to the drawing board by moving the uncompleted projects in the 2023 supplementary budget to the 2024 supplementary budget.

Chinda’s suggestions received applause from his colleagues but sparked a robust discussion among members.

The speaker appealed to the lawmakers to reconsider the President’s request. But this fell on deaf ears.

He said: “We are aware that the supplementary budget of 2023 is largely security related, and it is the intention of Mr President to secure Nigerians. I want us to please urge our members to support this, to enhance the security of our country.”

Supporting the minority leader, Doguwa, said the move by the House to extend the validity of the 2023 supplementary budget was legal, but it had never happened in the history of the National Assembly.

He said: “Whatever we are doing, we must be accountable to the people. Each and every member here is representing a community and when we are discussing matters of the budget, we should call a spade a spade.

“I agree with the submission made by the minority leader. This has nothing to do with the APC. It has never happened. When you have something unexpected, like this, then we should expect that people will ask questions whether overtly or covertly.

“Even if it is legal, it is unexpected. We have two budgets, and a supplementary budget. It is legal but that moral aspect, for us as a House, I will appeal we allow this to go for now but the message has to be sent that the government should do the needful.”

Aware that his colleagues were not ready to shift their grounds, the Speaker called for a closed-door session to allow lawmakers to address the issues.

Following their deliberations, the lawmakers dissolved into the Committee of Supply to debate the various clauses in the money bills, all of which were carried.
Subsequently, the House reverted to plenary where the bills were read for the third time and passed.

MEANWHILE, an aviation expert, Dr Godwin Emmanuel, has expressed concerns over recent developments that caused President Bola Tinubu to travel abroad on chartered flights.

Emmanuel described the public shame that befell Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, as its president flew abroad for engagements in chartered flights, as unquantifiable. He urged the Presidency to prepare a supplementary budget with a view to providing new aircraft for Tinubu and Shettima, and pass it to the National Assembly for legislative approval without delay.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday, Emmanuel said President Tinubu’s trip on chartered flights reduced his personality, image, and security, as Nigerians could not guarantee the safety of a hired aircraft.

He said: “Nigeria must not toy with the safety of the President. It is on record that most of the planes in the Presidential Air Fleet are already old, and some of them are in deplorable conditions.”

He said a 23-year-old Gulfstream GV is reportedly due for a major engine overhaul, while a Falcon 7x, which is 13 years old, is undergoing C check, as two of the three engines require an overhaul.

“Nigerians must also note that the 19-year-old B 737 is also undergoing major maintenance. It is a national shame and disgrace that the Presidency has no functional aircraft.”
Emmanuel said it is on record that the President cannot use the aircraft in the fleet for his foreign trips to woo investors, build goodwill, and communicate with the external world in Nigeria’s interest.

“Of late, the Vice President, who was going to the United States of America, had to shelve the trip because his plane developed technical faults. The President’s wife, Oluremi Tinubu, suffered a similar fate. This is a terrible development.

“God forbid that bad things should happen to the President, Vice President, or their spouses. The President and Vice President represent the image, integrity, and symbol of the Nigerian government, and we should save ourselves from this shame by ensuring that they have functional aircraft,” he said.

The Federal Government has issued six licences to different firms for the independent distribution of electricity in Nigeria, data obtained from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission showed.

An analysis of the recent licensing and permits’ sections of the commission showed that the regulator issued the Independent Electricity Distribution Network licences to the six companies in 2023.

The commission explained that the networks were designed to be independent of the main transmission system and operate on a smaller scale, providing electricity to specific areas or communities.

It said the development of independent electricity distribution networks is seen as a viable solution for improving electricity access and reliability in Nigeria.

The commission stated that it authorised the issuance of two new Independent Electricity Distribution Network licences and amendment of an existing IEDN licence in the first quarter of last year.

In the second quarter of 2023, the commission did not issue licences for power distribution networks, but stated that it “issued two new trading licences in 2023/Q2.”

The commission also stated that out of the 36 licences, permits and certifications issued in 2023/Q3, one was for the establishment of a new Independent Electricity Distribution Network, while one was a licence renewal for an IEDN.

The other licences, according to NERC, include a trading licence and certifications for Meter Service Providers and Meter Assets Providers.

The commission also issued 36 licences, permits and certifications in 2023/Q4. Three of the licences were for new Independent Electricity Distribution Network, while the others were trading licences, and certifications for Meter Service Providers and Meter Asset Providers.

All together, the commission issued six new Independent licences for the distribution of electricity in Nigeria. This, however, is different from the privatised 11 power distribution companies that emerged from the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria in November 2013.

Although the issuance of licences and creation of Independent Electricity Distribution Networks by NERC is viewed as a means of improving electricity access and reliability in Nigeria, there have been resentments about the initiative.

State governors, for instance, recently declared that the Independent Electricity Distribution Network and distribution franchisee models developed by the Federal Government through NERC had not been effective.

Recall that due to this, the governors had said State Electricity Regulatory Commissions should come up with new models that would open the retail electricity space for companies to compete and tackle the poor power supply situation nationwide, as reported by Sunday PUNCH recently.

They disclosed this in their latest document on the power sector, titled, ‘Development of the National Integrated Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan Policy Recommendations by State Governments,’ which was submitted to the Federal Ministry of Power.

They made this known to the Federal Government through the document put together by their umbrella body – the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

State governments have now been empowered under the Electricity Act 2023 to operate and regulate their own electricity markets outside the control of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, an agency of the Federal Government.

The governors further described the IEDNs or distribution franchisee models as outdated models.

“The Independent Electricity Distribution Network and Distribution Franchisee models developed by NERC have not been effective, hence the need for SERCs (State Electricity Regulatory Commissions) to evolve new retail and supply licenses, and business and commercial models which would open the retail electricity space to new companies that would compete to address the poor power situation within their states,” the governors stated.

Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2 (MMA2) in Lagos is set to host the country’s first-ever airport wedding.

The ceremony, which will take place at the MMA2 terminal’s ticketing hall, is set to hold this Saturday, June 29, 2024.

The soon-to-be-married couple, Alli Olamide Miracle and Agboola Abiodun Qudus, will exchange their vows amidst the backdrop of departing and arriving flights, surrounded by their families, friends, and well-wishers.

Dubbed ‘My Airport Wedding,’ the initiative aims not only to celebrate love but also to showcase MMA2 as more than just a terminal for flight operations.

According to Ajoke Yinka-Olawuyi, Head of Corporate Communications at Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), the event promises to leave a lasting impression on the aviation and entertainment industries.

“We are thrilled to pioneer this unique event at MMA2,” Yinka-Olawuyi remarked. “It’s a testament to our commitment to innovation and creating memorable experiences for our passengers and terminal users.”

The ceremony is expected to draw attention from both local and international audiences, highlighting Nigeria’s growing prominence in the global aviation sector. Attendees, whether physically present or joining virtually through online platforms, are poised to witness a spectacle that blends romance with the dynamic atmosphere of an airport terminal.

“With our slogan ‘More than a terminal’, Bi-Courtney continues to redefine airport experiences,” Yinka-Olawuyi added. “This event underscores our dedication to offering more than just travel convenience.”

LEADERSHIP reports that MMA2 is Nigeria’s first and only privately-funded Airport, operated by Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited.

President Bola Tinubu has signed an executive order to introduce zero tariffs, excise duties and value added tax (VAT) on imported pharmaceutical inputs.

In a statement on Friday, Muhammad Ali Pate, coordinating minister of health and social welfare, said the order is aimed at revitalising the Nigerian health sector and increase production of healthcare products.

“In a transformative move to revitalize the Nigerian health sector, His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR @officialABAT, has signed an Executive Order aiming to increase local production of healthcare products (pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, devices such as needles and syringes, biologicals, medical textile, etc.),” Pate said.

“The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation @FedMinOfJustice, Prince Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi SAN, @LOFagbemi, is to now take the next steps towards codifying the new Order.”

Pate said the order is crucial to the success of the initiative for unlocking the health care value chain (PVAC_NG), which was approved in October 2023 by the president.

“The Order introduces zero tariffs, excise duties and VAT on specified machinery, equipment and raw materials, aiming to reduce production costs and enhance our local manufacturers’ competitiveness,” he said.

“Specified items include Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), excipients, other essential raw materials required for manufacturing of crucial health products like drugs, syringes and needles, Long-lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) and Rapid Diagnostic Kits, among others.

“The Order also provides for establishing market shaping mechanisms such as framework contracts and volume guarantees, to encourage local manufacturers.”

According to the minister, the order mandates collaboration among the ministers of health, finance, as well as industry, trade and investment, to develop a harmonised implementation framework — expediting regulatory approvals and reducing bottlenecks.

Pate said agencies including the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) “will ensure swift implementation, with special waivers and exemptions effective for two years”.

“The implication of this order is pivot towards market-based incentives to encourage medical industrialization, reducing costs of medical products through import substitution over time, creating and retaining economic value and enabling job creation in the healthcare value chain,” the minister said.

Pate thanked Tinubu for his courage and commitment to ensure Nigeria is put back on the path to prosperity.

He also expressed gratitude to everyone who contributed to the ideas that culminated in the consensus that resulted in the significant milestone.

The development follows an appeal sent by TheCable on May 23 to Tinubu and other political leaders in the country for policy and legislative actions on the escalating cost of medications, also known as “drugflation”.

The publication identified key proposals from its webinar — which was held in April 2024 — in the appeal and requested the approval of an unambiguous executive order to tackle the identified health sector issues, and encourage patronage of local manufacturers.

PREMIUM TIMES can report that barring any change in plans, the Nigerian government will purchase an Airbus A330 aircraft seized from an unnamed Arab prince and businessman who could not pay hundreds of millions of dollars he owed a German bank.

Presidency officials have kept their lips shut about plans to buy a new presidential jet. However, this newspaper has obtained information that the government has already identified an aircraft for purchase but is scrambling for funds to consummate the transaction.

The identified aircraft is said to be a repossessed one recovered from a troubled oil sheikh who used the aeroplane as collateral for a loan he obtained from an unidentified German bank to buy it. When a bank loan is taken to purchase an aircraft, the aircraft is usually pledged as collateral.

Our sources said the bank repossessed the aircraft from the debtor businessman but found it challenging to sell due to its executive customisation.

The aircraft is now in the possession of L & L International LLC, an American aviation firm based in Miami, Florida. L & L International LLC is trying to help the German bank sell it to the Nigerian government.

The multi-engine prestige jet, which has an elaborate VIP configuration, is said to be worth $600 million. But the Nigerian government is offering “a little over $100 million.” Our sources say they are unsure if that offer is acceptable to L & L International LLC.

“If L & L International accepts the amount offered, it will be an excellent deal for Nigeria,” one of our sources, an aviation expert, said. “Nigeria can resell it twice or triple that amount. And it is a perfect aircraft.” An L & L International spokesperson told PREMIUM TIMES Thursday that he has no details to share concerning the transaction.

Another source said AMAC Aerospace AG, a Swiss aviation company, is coordinating the Nigerian government’s purchase of the aircraft. AMAC Aerospace AG has a long-standing aircraft maintenance contract with Nigeria’s Presidential Air Fleet (PAF).

According to the source, the company identified the aircraft and recommended that the Nigerian government purchase it, citing its affordable cost and reliability. The company is now coordinating the purchase by liaising with L & L International and Nigeria’s presidential air fleet officials. When contacted, Alexis Ott, AMAC Aerospace’s director of maintenance sales and key account management, declined comment, saying he could not discuss his company’s business relationships with unrelated parties.

Multiple presidential sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the government is now scrambling to find the funds to buy the aircraft. While the government has put three of the aircraft in the fleet for sale, it is believed that they may not fetch enough money to settle the cost of the aircraft to be acquired as a replacement.

An official said some of the money to purchase the plane would come from the N180 billion contingency fund provided for a service-wide vote in the 2023 supplementary budget. On Thursday, the National Assembly approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to extend the lifespan of the 2023 supplementary budget to December 31.

“The government did not envisage the purchase of aircraft this year, so there is no provision for it in the 2024 budget,” one official said, asking not to be named because he has no permission to speak on the matter. “But with the airworthiness of some aircraft in the presidential air fleet now suspect, at least one aircraft will have to be replaced to resolve that emergency.”

In a June 4 report forwarded to the presidency after an investigative hearing, the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence asked the federal government to immediately procure two aeroplanes for Messrs Tinubu and Shettima to secure the transportation of the country’s top officials.

The House Committee’s call immediately triggered widespread criticism from some Nigerians, who questioned the wisdom of buying new aeroplanes when Nigeria faces severe economic hardship.

However, a few days later, the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence supported the recommendations made by its House of Representatives counterpart. The Chairman of the Committee, Shehu Buba, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES exclusively from Saudi Arabia, where he performed this year’s hajj, said not quickly overhauling the presidential air fleet could endanger the president’s and his deputy’s lives.

Mr Buba said, “It is true that our country is facing economic difficulty, but that will not justify jeopardising or endangering the lives of our president, our vice president, other top government officials, and any citizen for that matter.

“We are all aware of the air mishaps in Iran and Malawi recently, which claimed the lives of the president and vice president of those countries, respectively. We commiserate with the people and governments of those countries. But we must also, as a people, do whatever is necessary to lower the possibility of such disasters in our country.

“No sacrifice is too much to pay for the safety of our leaders and citizens. We elected them. So, we have a collective responsibility to protect them at all times.”

When asked why lawmakers are pushing for new aircraft for the nation’s top leaders but uninterested in calling on the government to pay workers a decent minimum wage, the Senator said, “The recommendations they (House Committee) made are related to those matters. The safety of our leaders and the health of the presidential air fleet are matters of national security concern. Raising those matters does not mean the committee members do not care about the issue of minimum wage, which is already being well handled by government and organised labour.”

A senior aide to Mr Tinubu told PREMIUM TIMES Thursday night that the government could not heed the National Assembly’s call to purchase two new aircraft.

He said, “The best the government can do is to go for one at the moment, and it is gladdening that we are getting a good second-hand aircraft at a good price.”

The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) spokesperson, Zakari Minjiyawa, declined to comment on Thursday when asked about the status of the presidential jet transaction. He said the Presidential Air Fleet, domiciled in ONSA, had yet to brief him on any development on the matter.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, on Thursday in Abuja inaugurated a ministerial task force to address illegal chartered private jet operations in the country, alleging that many of them are used for money laundering and drug trafficking.

“There were security and safety concerns raised by these illegal operations, including their role in money laundering and drug trafficking,” he said while speaking at the inauguration of the task force.

Keyamo said this action by his ministry was targeted at private jet operators who run commercial services without proper licenses, resulting in significant revenue losses for the federal government.

He said, “I am compelled to take decisive action today in alignment with our five-point agenda. When I assumed office, I outlined a five-point agenda focusing on safety, infrastructure, support for local operators, human capacity development, and revenue generation, and have identified key issues in the aviation industry that need immediate attention.”

He said the task force members include individuals from various sectors, including the Office of the National Security Adviser.

The task force has been assigned to take inventory of all PNC (Private Non-Commercial) and ANC (Airline Non-Commercial) holders nationwide, investigate why illegal charter operations by PNC holders persist despite regulations, and review the authenticity and validity of professional licenses for pilots and crew members.

They are also to recommend additional regulatory measures and sanctions for non-compliant operators and monitor private aircraft activities more effectively.

Chairman of the task force, Captain Ado Sanusi, said, “We will do everything within our power to address these challenges and bring them to resolution.”

By Abubakar Sadiq Isah


The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command has paraded a Point of Sale (PoS) operator, Sunday Musa, also known as Dan Gwari, who allegedly specialises in supplying sex workers to bandits in their camp, as well as distributing money to their families in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Benneth Igweh, the commissioner of police in the FCT, who disclosed this while parading the suspect at the command in Abuja on Tuesday, said he was arrested during a coordinated clearance operation by operatives of the anti-kidnap unit of the command at Kagarko.

He said the suspect was also the chief informant and logistics supplier to banditry groups under the general command of one Ardo, who he said was on the run.

He said the suspect confessed to also being the facilitator of the movement of nurses, hard drugs and sex workers on request by the banditry groups.

“The suspect has also confessed to being a financial courier through which money is distributed or shared to the bandits’ families. He confessed to have so far distributed over N20 million on behalf of the bandits,” CP Igweh said.

He added that the suspect further confirmed that the bandits, led by Ardo (general commander), have over 15 members, all with AK-47 rifles.Igweh further disclosed that the police had also arrested a 41-year-old housewife, Ruqquaya Ibrahim, who allegedly supplies foodstuff and other logistics to the bandits.

He said the suspect, who is a resident of Sabon-Wuse, Niger State, had confessed to supplying food items to one of the groups under the commander of Shumau, who is currently on the run.

The commissioner of police revealed that the suspect was arrested at Gidan-Dogo forest on her way to supply food to the bandits, adding that she led the police to Shumau’s residence, where 14 rustled cows were recovered.

Nearly 2,000 petrol outlets were shut in Nigeria’s North-east yesterday to protest against an anti-smuggling operation that targeted some operators, the local head of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN) said, forcing motorists to buy from the black market.

IPMAN Chairman for Adamawa and Taraba states, Dahiru Buba, told Reuters that petrol stations stopped operations after the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) impounded tanker trucks and shut some fuel outlets on suspicion they were smuggling petrol to neighbouring Cameroon.

Black market fuel vendors in Cameroon, Benin and Togo have for years relied on cheap gasoline smuggled from Nigeria, the report said.

When Nigeria scrapped a petrol subsidy last year, that black market trade collapsed, but the product has become cheaper again after Nigeria capped the price since June 2023 despite its currency sharply weakening.

Under “Operation Whirlwind”, Customs initially impounded some tanker trucks belonging to IPMAN members and released them after the association protested. But more trucks were seized and several fuel stations were shut, forcing fuel station operators to close outlets en-masse in protest, said Buba.

“We wrote to them (Nigeria Customs) again but there were no responses that is why we decided to go on strike,” he said, adding that over 1,800 outlets had ceased to operate.

“This is our business and we cannot be quiet when our members are treated this way,” Buba added.

Customs spokesperson for Adamawa and Taraba, Mangsi Lazarus, told Reuters that tanker trucks were seized because they were being used to smuggle petrol.

In Adamawa capital Yola, black market traders quickly took advantage of the shortages to sell petrol for N1,400 ($0.9459) a litre, compared to between N650 and N750 at the pump.

Meanwhile, oil prices edged higher yesterday, spurred by the prospect of strong driving demand in the coming season and as tensions in the Middle East and drone attacks on Russian refineries led to concerns about supply. An easing US dollar added to the crude price strength.

Brent futures for August delivery were up 80 cents to $86.04 a barrel, or a 0.9 per cent gain, by 1:45 p.m. while US crude gained 90 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $81.63 per barrel.

Both benchmarks advanced about 3 per cent last week for their second consecutive weekly upswing.

“The chief underlying reason behind the price strength … is the growing confidence that global oil inventories will inevitably plunge during the summer in the northern hemisphere,” said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM, referring to seasonal demand for oil products.

After last week’s big decline in US crude and petrol inventories, , traders are waiting to see whether the report due tomorrow will provide further evidence of sustained strong petrol demand, said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York.

“It has to sustain for this positive narrative to continue in the market,” said Yawger, adding that the growing electric vehicle market is eroding petrol share of the transportation market.

Geopolitical risks in the Middle East and an increase in Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries also underpinned oil prices, Reuters said.

EU countries on Monday agreed on a new package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including a ban on reloading Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the EU for further shipment to third countries.

An easing US currency made dollar-denominated commodities such as oil more attractive to buyers using other currencies.

The dollar weakened from a near eight-week high as traders went back on alert for intervention to support the yen after the Japanese currency danced with the 160 per dollar level.

The dollar index, measuring performance against six major currencies, had climbed on Friday and was up slightly on Monday after data showed US business activity at a 26-month high in June.

Barring any last-minute change of plan, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is expected to meet today to deliberate on salient matters aimed at tackling some of the problems bedevilling the country.

Daily Trust gathered that the meeting is expected to consider some serious matters of state including the vexed issue of the minimum wage impasse that had been ongoing between the federal government and organized labour.

The tripartite committee set up by the federal government recently submitted its report to President Bola Tinubu.

While the federal government has agreed that it can pay N62,000 minimum wage, the organised Labour consisting of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) said Labour will only settle for N250,000.



The meeting, Daily Trust gathered, is expected to consider the stand of labour, what the government can conveniently pay, before putting in place measures towards an executive bill that will be presented to the National Assembly. The last FEC meeting was held on the 13th and 14th of May, 2024.

Before now, the Federal Executive Council meetings of the present administration were always held on Mondays.

President Bola Tinubu was said to have approved the conduct of FEC to be held every Monday.

Before the advent of this administration, the weekly FEC meeting, presided over by the president and attended by cabinet members as well as other top aides to the president, was always held every Wednesday.

Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye has revealed that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration lavished the initial $100 million of a $500 million World Bank loan for women empowerment on meetings.

Ohanenye made this revelation in an interview with Arise Television on Monday.

According to the minister, Buhari’s government “lavished” the $100 million on meetings, advocacy and consultancy.

Recall that the World Bank on June 27, 2023 approved a fresh $500 million loan for Nigeria to help improve the livelihood of women in Nigeria.

Ohanenye commended President Bola Tinubu for his proactive involvement in the project, particularly his scrutiny of the initial $100 million expenditure.

The minister noted that the funds were a loan, not a grant, and stressed the importance of proper management to ensure repayment.

She said, “About the Nigeria for Women Project, let me first tell Nigerian women to clap for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who came in after the first $100 million had been expended.

“That was when he came in and when he came in, he looked at it with me and we were not satisfied with how the $100 million was used.

“Let me make it clear. This is not a grant, it is a loan and when some monies are loans, they must have to be managed well so that the loans can be paid back. If you don’t manage it well, how do we pay back the loan?

“And when money is a loan, we expect whoever you are giving loan to be allowed to utilise that loan properly in a way that it can yield back the money to be paid, so that Nigeria will not continue owing.

“The first 100 million, when I came in, I was not satisfied. It didn’t augur well with the vision of the new President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

“It was mainly used for advocacy, meetings, consultancies and that was it. They shared it among the states.”

NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA


Kano’s Judicial Service Commission has taken disciplinary actions against three magistrates and a registrar of the Kano High Court over misconduct, with a magistrate caught attempting to steal funds from a frozen bank account.

This was announced in a statement signed by the spokesman for the JSC, Baba Jibo-Ibrahim, on Monday.

“The Judicial Service Commission, at its 72nd meeting held on June 11, 2024, considered petitions against the three magistrates and one registrar in the state. The magistrates are Chief Magistrate Talatu Makama, Senior Magistrate Rabi Abdulkadir, Chief Magistrate Tijjani Saleh-Minjibir, and Senior Registrar Abdu Nasir.

“These disciplinary actions underscore the Judicial Service Commission’s commitment to maintaining highest standards of judicial conduct and ensuring the integrity of the legal system,” Mr Jibo-Ibrahim said.

The statement said that the Judiciary Public Complaints Committee’s investigation of three petitions filed against Ms Makama found her guilty of misconduct.

According to the statement, the investigation revealed that she ordered GTBank to transfer money from a petitioner’s already frozen account into her personal account, which she clearly admitted in her response.

It said the second petition also found elements amounting to judicial bias in her handling of matters.

According to the statement, in the third petition, she was found to have received a case and made an order to the police even before the case was assigned to her.

“The commission subsequently held that Chief Magistrate Talatu be recalled from the bench and relieved of all judicial duties effective immediately,” Mr Jibo-Ibrahim said.

He said the JSC also indicted Senior Magistrate Rabi Abdulkadir of judicial recklessness.

“The commission has resolved to recall the magistrate and relieve her of judicial duties for a period of one calendar year and has instructed her to cease all duties at Magistrate Court No. 48,” Mr Jibo-Ibrahim said.

He further said that the investigation revealed that senior registrar Abdu Nasir received payments of fees meant for court records into his personal account, which constitutes serious misconduct.

“The commission issued a strong warning to Nasir and also deferred his promotion for one year,” the spokesman said.

The statement added that the commission also deliberated on the petitions received against Chief Magistrate Tijjani Saleh-Minjibir at its 73rd meeting.

“The response to the queries issued were found unsatisfactory and the commission viewed the actions of the magistrate amount to serious misconduct and judicial recklessness. Saleh-Minjibir is recalled from judicial duties for a period of one year, effective immediately, and is ceased of all judicial activities,” Mr Jibo-Ibrahim said.

He said the suspended magistrate was to report to the Kano High Court for posting.

The statement said the commission would continue applying appropriate sanctions against any erring staff, particularly those saddled with judicial responsibilities.

It said the measures were intended to safeguard the integrity and accountability of the judicial system and maintain the public’s confidence.

(NAN)