₦airaland Forum

The new governor of Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf, popularly known as Abba Gida-Gida, after his inauguration yesterday issued several executive orders believed to have heralded several probes of his immediate predecessor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

In his inaugural speech, the governor ordered the security agencies in the state to immediately take over all public properties sold by Ganduje’s administration.

“I am announcing, today, that all these public places and assets that were immorally plundered and sold by the Ganduje administration should be taken over by law enforcement agencies, led by the Police, the DSS, Civil Defense, and Hisbah pending the final decision of government,” he said.

Some of the properties the governor was referring to include “lands in and around schools, religious and cultural sites, hospitals and clinics, graveyards and green areas, and along the city wall of Kano”, as well as other landed properties and assets belonging to Kano State within and outside the state to their cronies and agents.”

He said judicial commission of inquiry would be empaneled in the coming days “to ensure that all perpetrators and those that aided and abetted them are brought to justice.”

He also ordered that “all political appointees heading government MDAs and companies are hereby relieved of their appointment with immediate effect.

“Similarly, all boards of MDAs, companies and institutions of higher learning are hereby dissolved with immediate effect,” he added.

He said all the actions he would be taking in the next few days were targeted towards resetting the state and repositioning it on the path of honour and dignity, respect and responsibility, as well as on the path of progress and prosperity.

Earlier, during the handover ceremony, the new governor berated his predecessor for delegating his (Ganduje) Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Usman Alhaji, to make the handover of government, a move the new governor described as “disappointing” and a departure from the established democratic process of handing over of government.

In the report read by the outgoing SSG, Ganduje said in the eight years he held reign, the state government received a cumulative of N1.2trillion and also had a cumulative expenditure of N1.2trillion while leaving behind a total debt profile of over N241bn.

He, however, said the state government left behind some funds through some of its agency including about N740m in the Kano Energy and Hydro Power project and about N703m in the Kano Energy and Hydropower Operational.

But Yusuf said it was disheartening that Ganduje left a debt profile of over N241bn for the incoming administration, saying this would be probed accordingly.

“It is so disheartening that the government left a debt profile of over N241billion for us. Where are we going to source the money the IGR they talk about is nothing to write home about.

“The money they realized through Kano Internal Revenue Service was nothing to write home about. Why the use of so many consultants? Just like rain conduit for the resources of people Kano State. We are going to look at it. I am not satisfied!

“I pray Almighty Allah reward him (Ganduje) according to what he did for the state. We are not here to steal money, we are not here to grab their lands. We are here to work and by the grace of Allah, we will achieve all we set out to achieve within the next four years,” the governor said.

Sets up task force against phone snatching, another for sanitation

The governor also announced the formation of a taskforce to tackle the menace of phone snatching and other violent crimes perpetrated on the streets of the state.

“We are aware that one of the major factors that fuels these criminal activities is the consumption of illicit drugs.

“I am, today, announcing the formation of a Special Joint Taskforce to prevent phone snatching and other street crimes comprising of teams of law enforcement agencies and mobile courts that would work together to clear our streets of these criminals and bring all of them to justice swiftly.

“The Kano State Reformatory Institute, Kiru will be reopened soonest for the purposes of rehabilitating drug addicts,” he added.

Daily Trust reports that immediately after the inauguration, the governor visited the institute and met with the staff on ground to prepare them for the works ahead.

He also announced the immediate set up of a Taskforce on Refuse Disposal, Evacuation of Drainages and Streets Cleaning (Operation Nazafa) comprising yet-to-be unveiled different stakeholder groups.

“In the coming days, I will officially launch a state-wide campaign with self-help groups to drive the operation. In the next few weeks all the dumps will be cleared, all our streets will be clean, all our drainages will be desilted and a sustainable system of maintaining the cleanness and clearing the dumps will be in place,” he said.

To drive the campaign to keep Kano clean, he announced that from June 1, all vehicles plying the roads of the state must have a dustbin in them, and all businesses – including shops and stalls – should also have dustbin for collecting and proper disposal of wastes and refuse.

… Vows to reopen Doguwa’s murder case,

The governor vowed to reopen the case of murder against the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa.

The immediate past Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice of the state, Musa Lawan, had, last week, announced that the state government had resolved to drop all charges bothering on murder and arson earlier preferred against Doguwa.

Doguwa was earlier arrested, arraigned and remanded for allegedly ordering and taking part in the alleged killing of about 15 persons during the February 25 Presidential/National Assembly Election in Tudunwada, one of the two local government areas that make up his Doguwa/Tudunwada federal constituency. He has vehemently denied this allegation.

Yusuf said he would review the case as well as other electoral offences perpetrated during the past eight years of the administration of his predecessor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

“We shall investigate all cases of political violence that led to loss of lives and properties across the State in the last eight years.

“The infamous case of Alhassan Ado Doguwa, who allegedly sponsored the maiming and murder of over 15 innocent souls in Tudun Wada Local Government will be pursued to its logical conclusion,” he said.

He added that “The numerous victims of the Ganduje campaign of violence, using thugs that were being intoxicated with drugs will not be left unchecked.”

“In order to prevent future occurrence, a judicial Commission of Inquiry will be put in place to ensure that the perpetrators and their sponsors are brought to justice and the families of the victims of political thuggery are also entitle to justice,” he said.

Yusuf also said his administration will pursue the case of Dadiyata, a member of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, who was kidnapped and last heard of five years ago.

By Tope Alabi


Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Chairman of Daar Communications has reportedly died.

According to reports, Dokpesi, who was a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) died at the age of 71 in Abuja.

A source who spoke with our correspondent revealed he died in an Abuja hospital after he suffered a stroke. This reportedly happened after the recent Ramadan fast.

The AIT boss had since then been managing his health and was placed on occupational therapy to improve his daily activities before his sudden death.

President Muhammadu Buhari today delivered his farewell speech in a televised broadcast to Nigerians as he hands over to the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday, May 29.

In the farewell speech, President Buhari made several claims on how he revived economy and improved social wellbeing of Nigerians especially the rural poor.

He also said he was confident that he was leaving Nigeria better than he met it in 2015.

Daily Trust fact-checked some of the claims of the President on the backdrop of the reality in the country today.


[b]Claim 1:[/b]Nigeria’s economy became more resilient

President Muhammadu Buhari said that Nigeria’s economy had become resilient to external shocks due to policies put in place by the outgoing administration.

“The Nigerian economy has become more resilient due to the various strategies put in place to ensure that our economy remained afloat during cases of global economic downturns,” Buhari said.

Verification: Checks by Daily Trust show that under Buhari’s reign, Nigeria’s economy went into recession twice, the worst run of recession in 33 years of the country’s existence.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced in August 2016 that Nigeria slipped into recession primarily due to inability to address structural adjustments that will avert the recession.

GDP growth figures for Q2 2016 showed that the economy contracted by 2.06 per cent, following the negative growth of 0.36 per cent recorded in Q1 2016.

A recession occurs when an economy records two consecutive negative growth.

Subsequently gross domestic product figures released by the NBS on Saturday showed that the economy recorded a contraction of 3.62 per cent in the third quarter of 2020.

The cumulative GDP for the first nine months of 2020 stood at -2.48 per cent.

The previous time Nigeria recorded such cummulative GDP was in 1987, when GDP declined by 10.8 per cent.

While Analysts attributed the 2016 economic recession to a massive decline in oil prices, and poor management of the currency crisis, the 2020 economic recession however was blamed on the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected many economies of the world.

Daily Trust analysis further shows that other monetary and fiscal factors have also made Nigeria’s economy fragile and susceptible to external shocks.

For instance, the country’s debt (domestic and foreign) in 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari took over power was N9.8 trillion. However with the recent securitisation of the CBN loans to the federal government, Nigeria’s debt has now skyrocketed to N77 trillion, showing an increase of almost 700 per cent.

Also, the country’s local currency, the Naira, is currently experiencing the worst depreciation at the parallel market due to inability to manage foreign exchange policies and activities that will improve the naira against other currencies especially the dollars and pounds.

In 2015, naira was trading against the dollar at N180-N190 to $1, dollar today is trading around N700 to $1 at the parallel market and about N470 at the official exchange rate.

Verdict: False

Claim 2 : Provide succour for poor Nigerians to earn a living

President Muhammadu Buhari also stated that his government provided poor Nigerians with a new lease of life and granted women opportunities to earn a living.

He said, “Furthermore, we increased the ability of the poor and rural Nigerians to earn a living, provided more food for millions in our villages and gave our women opportunities to earn a living.”

Verification

Daily Trust checks show that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari introduced some empowerment programmes to alleviate poverty and improve skills and social wellbeing of Nigerians.

These programmes include the N-Power, Graduate Entrepreneurship Empowerment Programme, school feeding programme, Conditional Cash Transfer to poor Nigerians, tradermoni, marketmoni, among others.

These programmes formally domiciled in the office of the Vice President were later moved to the ministry of humanitarian affairs.

The federal government has said it spends at least N500 billion annually to execute these social welfare projects.

However, since inception of these programmes in over six years, it has made little or no impact to reduce poverty or make Nigerians earn good living.

This is corraborated by the recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics on poverty.

The “National Multidimensional Poverty Index” report released recently said six out of 10 persons are multidimensionally poor.

The report, which is the first poverty index survey published by the NBS since 2010, said that 65 per cent of the poor (86 million people) live in the North, while 35 per cent (about 47 million) live in the South.

The report also noted that multidimensional poverty is higher in rural areas, with 72 per cent of the people living in poverty and 42 per cent in urban areas.

What is multidimensional poverty?

According to the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, multidimensional poverty entails poor health, lack of education, inadequate living standards, and living in environmentally hazardous areas, among others.

This means that under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, 63 per cent of Nigerians are poor because they lack access to health and education and suffer poor living standards, alongside unemployment and other economic shocks.

Consequently, this entails that any Nigerian that cannot afford more than one of the essential survival needs as stated in the report, such as good health, basic education, good living standards and gainful employment, is multidimensionally poor.

Verdict: Largely false

Claim 3: Provision of enabling environment for private sector business

The President in his speech also said his administration provided a conducive environment for businesses to grow and make profit.

“Our administration also provided an enabling environment for the private sector to engage in businesses for which their return on investments is guaranteed,” Buhari said.

Verification

Contrary to Buhari’s claim, records have shown that under his administration, many businesses have fared badly, suffering multiple taxation and other harsh economic challenges that saw some of them fold up.

Also, a recent report by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) revealed that the number of MSMEs dropped from 41 million to 39 million. The drop was attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and other economic factors.

Also, inflation and monetary policy rates have reached an over 20 year high at 22.22 per cent and 18.5 per cent respectively, a development analysts and stakeholders say will further worsen Nigeria’s MSMEs growth

A finance analyst, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, said the decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria to further hike monetary rates in May 2023 would stifle credit to Nigerian businesses.

According to him, “The hike in MPR to 18.5% is not in the interest of output growth. Access to credit for MSMEs is further stifled,”

Speaking further, he said there is no certainty that the further hike of rates would impact on inflation.

“Besides, it may do little to halt upward trend in inflation as recent experience has shown.

“Any significant moderation in inflation rate can only come from dealing with supply side factors and structural issues fuelling rising prices such as insecurity, electricity and fuel challenges,” Uwaleke added.

In the same vein,hthe Organised Private Sector (OPS) recently cried out that increase in taxes and other tariffs are killing businesses in the country.

Taiwo Adeniyi in his address during the association’s 65th Annual General Meeting said that members of the OPS are greatly concerned by the dangerous trend of continuous introduction of new levies, taxes and charges at all levels of government.

According to him, in the last one-year, organized businesses have been faced with increase in electricity tariff without corresponding improvement in service delivery; sky-rocketing diesel and other energy costs among many others.

He said, “We also call on the tax authorities and, indeed, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning that rather than the introduction of new taxes to fund the national budget and other developmental projects, efforts should be stepped up to expand the tax net and block the numerous leakages in Government institutions.”

Adeniyi said that the impact of the increase in the price of diesel on cost of operation is due to the country’s poor power situation and the reliance on the importation of diesel.

He advocated that in the short run, the government can support businesses by providing financial support to SMEs to survive the current high operating cost induced by high diesel prices.

“In the medium and long term, the government needs to focus on the power and refinery production capacity adding that an improvement in the power situation would reduce businesses’ reliance on diesel to power their operation.

“Also, the government needs to intensify efforts to increase the number of functioning refineries in the country thereby increasing domestic production of refined petroleum products, including diesel.

“Improvement in the power situation and an increase in domestic diesel production would reduce expenditure on diesel, and reduce their overall cost of operation,” he added.

Veridict: Largely false

Claim 4: Reducing terrorism and banditry

In the same vein, the outgoing President in his speech said during his reign, the federal government has been able to curtail terrorism and banditry in the country.

He said, “As I complete my term in office, we have been able to reduce the incidences of banditry, terrorism, armed robbery and other criminal activities considerably.”

Verification

When President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn into office in 2015 to begin his first term and in 2019 following his re-election, his three-point agenda was to tackle insecurity, improve economy and curb corruption.

While terrorism has been considerably put under check in the North East, the government has not been able to decimate banditry in the North West and analyses show that security situation in the country has generally worsened despite trillions of naira spent on security.

At least 54,948 people have been killed in Nigeria due to violent acts, within seven years from May 2015 to May 2022 under the President Muhammadu Buhari, data from the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST).

The Council on Foreign Relations, which collates the data describes the data as a conservative estimate, based on numbers reported by the press.

By implication, it means that at least 21 people have been killed every day during the period.

While deaths attributed to Boko Haram have dropped, by some accounts, up to 90 percent, other violent actors have kept the death rate increasing.

Bandits have increasingly become brazen in kidnapping and killing innocent Nigerians, so as the activities of unknown gunmen in the South East as well as herder/farmer clashes in the North Central part of the country.

Verdict: Partly true

Claim 5: Completion of Second Niger Bridge, other legacy infrastructure projects

The outgoing President also highlighted some legacy projects which he completed to include Second Niger Bridge and other important roads linking other states.

“Mindful of the need to ensure adequate infrastructure to drive economic growth, we completed age-long projects and processes notably amongst which are the Petroleum Industry Act, completion of some power projects, completion of the second Niger bridge and various important roads linking cities and states,” he said.

Verification

President Buhari actually completed the Second Niger Bridge, a major bridge that links many states of the South South and South East.

The Second Niger Bridge was conceptualised in 2005. In 2014, there was an attempt to begin the project through Public Private Partnership (PPP) but this was not successful.

The construction began in 2016 with the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF). It was however completed and commissioned on May 23, 2023 and was later renamed President Muhammadu Buhari Bridge. The bridge is said to be 1.6 kilometer long.

Under the reign of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Loko-Oweto Bridge was completed across River Benue to link Benue to Nasarawa State and the Ikom Bridge in Cross River State.

Similarly, major road projects completed include the section of the over 200 kilometres of Kano-Kaduna Dual Carriage Expressway. Others include three new Federal Secretariats in Anambra, Zamfara and Sokoto.

Verdict: True

Conclusion: Daily Trust analysed some of the claims by President Muhammadu Buhari and found that while some are true, others are largely false owing to the current socio-economic realities in the country.

By Adeola Badru


Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has disclosed that he is twelve per cent poorer since he became the governor of the state in the last four years.

The governor, who visited the office of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in Ibadan at the weekend, submitted a copy of the end-of-tenure assets declaration form and declared his assets ahead of the beginning of his second term in office.

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While speaking with the newsmen, Makinde said that the details of his assets will be made known to the public through his media team soonest.

He said: “Statutorily, you have to declare your assets on the assumption of the office and end of tenure.”

“So, since one tenure is ending at midnight on Sunday, and by law, I have to declare assets before assuming office for the next tenure.”

“In view of this, I came to submit my end-of-tenure assets declaration form
for the first term and declared assets for the beginning of the second tenure.”

“In the last four years, I am 12 percent poorer, because I have not really had the chance to look after my businesses. I have been looking after Oyo State business,” he posited.

For eight years, Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari has remained an interesting newsmaker. On many occasions, the outspoken wife of Nigeria’s outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari has made bold and courageous statements that are sometimes seen as publicly criticising her husband, the President.

In an interview with the BBC in October 2016, Aisha had said Buhari did not know most of the people he appointed to top government positions.

Her words: “The President does not know 45 out of 50, for example, of the people he appointed and I don’t know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years. Some people are sitting down in their homes folding their arms, only for them to be called to come and head an agency or a ministerial position.”


That interview would lay the foundation to the popular phrase uttered by her husband– in the other room.

While responding to his wife’s claims at a joint press conference in Berlin, Germany with the then German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, Buhari had said: “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.”

For long, The Sun’s State House Correspondent, JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, had been seeking an interview with the First Lady, but her pursuit never yielded any fruit until recently.

In this no-holds-barred chat, Aisha Buhari reflects on her time managing the home front of the First family; her passion for philanthropy through her non-governmental organisation, Aisha Buhari Foundation and why she launched Future Assured Initiative; her leadership role with the African First Ladies Peace Mission; combining her roles as a wife, mother, grandmother and First Lady, among others.

She speaks of lessons learned in her journey as First Lady with some advice for her successor.

After eight years in the Presidential Villa, what would you miss?

After eight years in the villa, I used to say that I would miss taking a walk in the evening. You know, they have a very long stretch and a beautiful garden, I think I’m going to miss that. Apart from that, we are leaving happily. And we thank God.

You have been used to all these meetings, secured in the villa, attending to women. Your life for eight years has not really been private. So, how will you cope as a private citizen?

Yes, I think at the back of my mind, I know that I am going to rest. And then when women need my help, anytime, I am ready to offer assistance, but I know it is not going to be as busy as it is now.

To what extent have you achieved your vision through official and private activities as Nigeria’s First Lady?

As a woman, as a mother and grandmother, I am very passionate about women’s health, the newborn child and adolescent. So, I have achieved a lot in the area of health care, especially, and other areas as well. Through the Future Assured Programme and the Aisha Buhari Foundation, we have made a lot of impact with the help of development partners and wives of governors. We handed out palliatives during COVID pandemic, conducted open heart surgeries because as you know, the cost is too expensive for the average Nigerian to manage, leading to avoidable morbidity and mortality. We have also conducted skills acquisition programmes to give people the opportunity to learn trades. So we have made an impact and even after office Future Assured will still be functioning by the grace of God.

How much impact have you made as the president of the African First Ladies Peace Mission?

As the ninth president of the African First Ladies Peace Mission, we have done a lot but unfortunately, we’re having some crisis in some countries left, right and centre in which the African Union is still talking to the affected countries’ leaders, stakeholders, while I am with the African First Ladies, doing my best. We have done a lot of activities, especially sending some relief materials to African countries that need help. Although, the help may not be much, at least, it is just a gesture, you know. We have sent relief materials to about 10 to 11 countries. The materials also contain exercise books, with the mission and vision of the peace mission printed on them to educate the school children, so as not to allow themselves to be used as child soldiers, or things like that. And, for the malnourished children, we have some nutritional packs here in Nigeria produced locally. We have produced a lot and sent to various countries, and a lot of them want to come to Nigeria, to see how we produce them locally, and this is really making an impact. In fact, one of my grandchildren is using the nutritional packs and he is doing very well.

You have been known as a strong advocate of affirmative action for women. How did you feel when the National Assembly members killed the pro-gender Bills before them late last year? And what is the way forward?

I felt bad. But you know what? It is a matter of time. You know, very soon we are going to have our 35 per cent or even 40 per cent by the grace of God. But going forward, you know, unless you develop the communities, the nation will continue to suffer. Once communities are developed, you will consider you are living in a developed country. So when women are given a chance to participate at the decision-making bodies at the local level and at the state level, then the central level will speak for itself. You understand what I mean? So, we should not be aiming at you know, there and then saying that we want this, we want that, yes, we have the right to, to request for more. But we must insist on getting a space at the grassroots level in order to develop the communities.

For example, like Europe in general, the United Kingdom in particular, and then part of America, wherever we go, whether you are in New York, or you are in one of the counties it is still the same. You can have good access to medical healthcare. The same services rendered in New York and London, the same you will get in the local government or county, even in Europe. So why can’t we copy that? We must develop the communities by first putting women at the decision-making table.

How will you rate your husband’s performance in the last 8 years as an active participant?

Compared to what we met on the ground, he has done wonderfully well. But if one is to compare with the zeal that we came into power, we have achieved 50 per cent in all the areas captured in his campaign promises. Especially in the areas of works like road constructions, bridges, you know, infrastructure in general. He has made a lot of difference.

Including security?

Yes, of course. You know, in every aspect. Yes, on security, I think maybe we scored 70 per cent. I say so because before now, there were a lot of barricades, a lot of roadblocks, but now there are no more roadblocks, nothing. Even the kidnapping that is happening now is being organised among the family members. It is a deliberate thing, you know. And then the insurgency or the banditry may be organised by some local people, you know. But if there is no connivance, I can say that we have achieved 90 per cent on security. Secondly, he received Nigeria intact, and he is going to hand over Nigeria intact.

You are in close proximity with your husband, and you see first-hand how he works. When you read papers and see criticisms, people saying he has not done enough, accusing him of human rights abuse, what do you say about that?

In terms of human rights or whatever, I think being a civilian president is different from the military one. And for the first time, we saw protesters coming to the doorstep of the presidential villa, to make a protest and then go freely. So which freedom are they looking for more than that? Really?

President Buhari is known to tell this story about how he won the fourth time after three previous attempts. Can you recall how you felt when he won?

Actually, it was mixed feelings because age was not on his side, and then there were a lot of expectations. So, it was from there I knew that we were in a different phase of life. Okay.

Were you mentally prepared for this?

I was not. Because I am sure whatever happens, I will tackle it and I have tackled it, at least the ones that concerns me. Right?

What are your most fulfilling moments as a First Lady?

One of my most fulfilling moments as First Lady was when 10 mothers lost hope that they were going to lose their children to heart disease. But we organised open heart surgeries led by a team from Italy. The 10 children were operated upon within the period of just one week. And today, seven of the 10 survived and they are doing very well. In fact, when I came back from a medical trip recently, you need to see the joy on the faces of the parents. And now the women are complaining that the children are keeping them on their toes all the time, unlike in the past that they were just lying down. But now they are all over the house. They want to go to school, you know. So, it is quite fulfilling. That is the most memorable moment for me.

Any regrets?

Not at all.

Any difficulties on the job you might want to share with others?

Not at all, because our job is voluntary. It is not part of the Nigerian constitution that we must do it or we have a budget. No, we are just doing it to complement the effort of the government.

How has your life changed in the last 8 years?

Yes, our lives have changed because we do not have enough time for our immediate family members, like our children. Before, we used to sit together, eat, travel together, spend holidays and so on but for the past eight years, you can hardly see us, you know, having a family moment. Maybe once in a month and so on. But it is even better now with just days until our departure. The pressure has moved to the president-elect. So now, we are having peace.

What lessons have you learnt in the State House, and which will you want to share with your successor?

You know, my experience with hers may differ, because the presidential villa is like a university or school without the teacher. You teach yourself everything. My experience and hers will definitely differ. So, she should just be herself. Already, I have given her a tour of the villa, and how it operates. The basics she needs to know, I have led her into it.

How were you able to combine being a wife, a mother, grandmother as well as the First Lady?

Well, we thank God. As you are aware, being the First Lady is not part of our constitution. You do not have a constitutional role to play. So that one is our burden. For instance, some few years ago, my children were having kids, one after the other. They started their families. So I had to create time for them. Two months for each one of them. Most of the time I was not around, and some people were making noise, oh she left her husband, or oh maybe they are divorced or no they are no longer together, all sort of stories, you know. But I have that culture of being with my children before and after they give birth, to stay with them.

What are your plans after leaving office?

Mostly to continue with the Future Assured. That’s number one. Number two, to be with my last born, who for the past eight years we never had enough time for.

How did you cope being an outspoken critic in the Villa?

For me, any decision that is taken for the interest of one person and not for the general public’s interests, I normally step aside and go against it. Because they did not know how we came in, we came in because of the love Nigerian people have for my husband, the trust, you know, and then after coming in, the expectations. So, I told myself we cannot afford that, I just knew my husband needed help.

So are you saying your criticisms were to help your husband?

Yes, to help us maintain the name that we came in with. Right? That is why I am here as a First Lady and as a wife. I don’t like people who want to make money to rubbish the image of the family, the hard-earned name of my husband, you know, and then we keep quiet and look at the person. So that’s why I normally step in and speak up

What would you want to be remembered for?

I want to be remembered for my humanitarian activities because I enjoy doing them.

More than 3,000 asylum seekers could be detained and deported from the United Kingdom every month to enforce Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s flagship asylum bill, leaked documents have revealed.

As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced a backlash from Conservative MPs over record levels of net migration, briefing papers have revealed the government has drawn up plans to remove 3,163 asylum seekers every month from January 2024.

According to the Guardian UK, the documents, which focus on the implementation of the illegal migration bill, also make clear ministers could face crippling legal action without a substantial increase in legal aid fees for lawyers who advise refugees.

It is the first detailed glimpse of the scale of the task facing Whitehall if it is to implement Braverman’s bill, which is currently before the Lords. The Home Office has until now refused to release the impact assessment of the bill.

The disclosure came as net migration and the backlog of asylum claims reached record highs.

Sunak was compelled to concede that numbers should fall after figures from the Office for National Statistics showed overall migration into the UK for 2022 was 606,000, which represents a 24% increase on the previous high of 488,000 in 2021.

More than 100,000 people seeking asylum have waited longer than six months for an initial decision on their case, the latest figures showed, while more than three-quarters of all small-boat asylum applications since 2018 are still awaiting a decision.

The leaked documents, marked “urgent”, were prepared this week for Alex Chalk, the lord chancellor, the junior justice minister Lord Bellamy and the Ministry of Justice permanent secretary, Antonia Romeo.

The aim was to ensure there were enough lawyers on hand to provide advice at immigration detention centres if the bill passes into law.

Under the bill, those who arrive in the UK without permission will not be able to stay to claim asylum but will instead be detained and removed, either to their home nation or a third country such as Rwanda.

The documents, prepared using data from the Home Office, say the department should prepare for 1,600 people to be held under the bill in detention centres from September, rising to 3,163 every month from January.

One document said, “Steers are required as soon as possible to engage legal aid provider and – if you agree it is necessary – start implementing fee increases in time for September 2023 when we are expecting to provide access to legal aid to 1,600 individuals (scenario B) and scale to 3,163 individuals a month (scenario C) from January 2024.”

Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the documents show that the government, contrary to its claims, is preparing for mass deportations.

He added, “While the government has been rigorously sticking to the line that its new bill would ‘act as a deterrent’, this information shows that it is well aware that vulnerable people will keep arriving in the UK in search of protection.

“It is appalling that it is preparing to lock up and kick out thousands of men, women and children, most of whom would be found to be refugees if their claim was heard on UK soil.”


In the documents, civil servants recommend increasing legal aid fees by at least 15% in order for the government to be able to attract solicitors to represent thousands of asylum seekers. But the document also puts forward a possible increase of 200%, which is not recommended.

Chalk is warned by civil servants that a judicial review could be launched if he fails to provide legal advice to detainees.

The briefing said: “You (lord chancellor) will have a statutory duty to secure that legal aid is available to this cohort … Not addressing capacity issues could mean that there are not sufficient legal aid providers to carry out this work. This could be challenged by way of judicial review.”

According to one document, current hourly rates for immigration solicitors are between £53 and £74. Civil servants held a meeting with specialist firms in the sector who “were clear that unless legal aid rates are substantially increased they would not be able to justify allocation of IMB work in any volume over privately paid casework,” the document said.

Assuming that ministers approved of an increase in fees, the document recommended a 15% increase to up to £86 an hour, which would result in an increase in expenditure on fees from £53m to £61m a year.

Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has explained that the state government took over the land of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) because the corporation refused to maintain the buildings on the land.

Insisting that the land was taken under public policy, the governor said his administration used part of the property to construct the South-South liaison office of the Federal Judicial Institute.

Wike spoke during the foundation laying ceremony of a new Federal High Court complex, also located within the converted NRC land, located along Forces Avenue, Old GRA, Port Harcourt.

The governor declared that the adjacent building, also owned by NRC which has just been recently painted, instead of being rebuilt, will be taken over.

He assured that the public policy order will be signed to revoke their ownership of the land.

Wike declared that the new Federal High Court complex when completed will reflect the quality and standard known of projects it has always delivered to the judiciary.

The governor made an offer to the federal government asking it to consider relinquishing the premises of the current Federal High Court to the state government to enable it build more structures for the State High Court.

He said, in exchange, the state government will build befitting residences for judges of the Federal High Court, which will be within the Old GRA, Port Harcourt, and they would cease paying rents anymore.

Laying the foundation stone for the new complex, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, thanked the Rivers State government for the benevolence, and said the administration of justice will become more efficient and effective.

Such efficiency, Tsoho noted, is what will certainly strengthen the judiciary because without such capacity democracy cannot also survive.

The price of tomato has crashed in most Nigerian markets as supplies from Ghana and Cameroun have arrived the county’s markets.

Daily Trust findings revealed that due to the recent tomato scarcity that hit the nation as a result of the Tuta Absoluta pest attack on tomato plantations, tomato merchants have resolved to import the crop from Ghana and Cameroon to complement the supply in Nigeria, and as a result the price of tomato which had gone up initially has crashed.

A check revealed that a big basket of tomato which was selling for over N50,000 recently is now selling for N18,000 to N20,000 in Kano State due to its availability.

The Kano State Chairman of Tomato Out Growers Association of Nigeria (TOGAN), Alhaji Sani Danladi Yadakwari, disclosed that the scarcity experienced initially was as a result the pest attack, adding that with supplies from Ogun State in Nigeria and two other African countries, tomato supply had been stabilised relatively and the price crashed.

He said, “With supplies now coming from Ogun State and the two African countries, Cameroon and Ghana, tomato merchants have succeeded in crashing tomato price, and availability is now stable.”

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has alerted Nigerians about the new threat posed by electronic fraudsters, who now target telecommunications networks to disrupt service delivery to perpetrate their illicit trade.

The executive vice chairman of the Commission Prof. Umar Garba gave this warning at a Consumer Protection and Advocacy Programme held at Kofar Goriya, Keffi, Nasarawa state, on Wednesday. He described as alarming the rise of electronic frauds in the country, and warned citizens against falling prey to the activities of fraudsters.

Danbatta was represented at the event by the Head of Consumer Protection and Advocacy Unit, Mr. Clement Omife with the theme: ”Shine your eye, don’t fall mugu”.

He also advised citizens to avoid opening suspicious e-mail messages, or respond to unfamiliar enquiries online, stressing that Information from the CBN indicated that e-fraud in Nigeria remains the biggest risk at the moment.

He added the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, the Nigeria Police Force and the Central Bank of Nigeria have upscaled their mandate in collaboration with the NCC to fight electronic frauds.

He said electronic fraudsters also infiltrate people’s data bank SIM swaps and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, USSD, to carry out nefarious activities.

Danbatta said: ”As the telecom industry evolves, there is a growing concern over the rising trend of fraud on telecom (electronic fraud) across sectors of the Nigerian economy.

“The menace which follows wide acceptance of new methods of mobile money and electronic banking and payment systems has been discovered to cost the country whopping sums of money.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rates electronic fraud as the biggest risk in the sector which has widely incorporated electronic payment solutions such as Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBBS) Instant Payment and mobile banking.”

He stressed that the Consumer Advocacy and ongoing enlightenment campaigns across were aimed to curb e-fraud, and ensure security and integrity of telecoms industry in relation with the nation’s financial system.

“Attackers are now targeting telecom networks with the intent to disrupt service delivery and infiltrate their data bank SIM swaps and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, USSD e-payment frauds, are currently some of the serious cyber threats in the telecom industry.

“Fraudsters conduct SIM swaps of individuals and then conduct USSD-based transactions which cost victims huge losses.

“A lot of people are highly ignorant to how losing their phones to fraudsters can lead to a complete clean-up of their bank accounts. These fraudsters do this by stealing victims’ identities; name, address, bank information.

“Consumers are advised to be careful not to open unfamiliar email or respond to unfamiliar inquiries and report suspicious E-fraud to your bank and telecom service provider,” the NCC boss added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m50dFgeiZi8

The speakership race for the 10th House of Representatives has caused a rift between Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and his deputy, Idris Wase—the latest being an open confrontation on Wednesday over the sitting of the House.

For four years, Messrs Gbajabiamila and Wase had a harmonious working relationship since 2019 with little or no public disagreement over issues. However, that has changed since the latter announced his bid to become the speaker of the 10th House.

Mr Gbajabiamila was said to have overlooked his deputy to endorse Tajudeen Abbas, a lawmaker from Kaduna State. Since then, the relationship between them has deteriorated.

At the close of plenary on Wednesday, Mr Gbajabiamila directed the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Hassan Fulata (APC, Jigawa), to include a few items on the agenda for Thursday’s plenary, citing a need to close plenary before 2 p.m. in order to attend the commissioning of the permanent site of the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS).

“Chairman Business and Rules, let’s make the Order Paper light for tomorrow because we have this NILDS commission; it is very important — the permanent site of the NILDS. It is at 2:30. So it will be good if we close by 2 p.m,” he said.

But Mr Wase raised a point of order, questioning the rationale for the House to adjourn to commission a project instead of using the time to conclude the business of the 9th House ahead of the final adjournment of the House.

“Mr Speaker, I am getting to see this getting so funny, and we have lost quite a number of times. For the commissioning of projects, for God’s sake, why do we have to shelve a lot of activities that we have just to go and witness the commissioning of a project of NILDS? I want to beg, sir that we should do our functions.

“Those who have the interest to go, they have the right to. But our main primary function is this parliament and making the citizens a priority,” he stated.

The point of order raised by the deputy speaker caused a back-and-forth between the duo.

“Perhaps DS (Deputy Speaker), you don’t appreciate the importance of NILDS like some of us do. I think NILDS is very important,” Mr Gbajabiamila told his deputy.

Mr Wase, who was at this point on his feet, interrupted the speaker; “I have every information and idea of what NILDS is.”

Mr Gbajabimaila responded, “It was set up by this same institution by statute. We are not adjourning the House to go to NILDS. What I said was, let’s try and make it light and leave here by two (p.m.). If you want, we can resume by 10 (a.m.). We will do our work, but we will adjourn this House at 2 p.m. I will witness NILDS because it is important to me.”

Once again, the deputy speaker interrupted, noting that, “The parliament is about us, not about I.”

The speaker was visibly vexed with the open confrontation and said no deputy speaker has ever confronted the speaker in the open since the return of democracy.

“Mr Deputy Speaker, this is the first time in history – I have been in this House for many years, perhaps even longer than anybody here – this is the first time in history that a deputy speaker will be challenging what the speaker is saying,” he said.

Following another bout of back and forth, the speaker moved a motion that Mr Fulata should ensure that his directive is complied with. The Leader of the House, Ado Doguwa, seconded the motion.

Mr Doguwa was also in the race for the speakership but withdrew last week to obey the party’s directive on zoning and endorsed Mr Abbas.


Background into the race

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, endorsed Mr Abbas and Ben Kalu as speaker and deputy speaker.

The party’s decision is currently being challenged by Mr Wase and other candidates who formed the G7 coalition. The aggrieved lawmakers in the coalition, all APC members, include Yusuf Gagdi, Sada Soli, Muktar Betara, Aminu Jaji, Miriam Onuoha and Mr Wase.

Over the past couple of weeks, the G7 members have publicly challenged Mr Gbajabiamila, accusing him of trying to impose Mr Abbas on the next House.

Regarding parliamentary business, the row between Messrs Gbajabiamila and Wase has been affecting the business of the House as Mr Gbajabiamila often adjourned the House whenever he was not available to preside.

The rules of the House allow the deputy speaker to preside in the absence of the speaker. Before the speakership tussle, Mr Wase often presided in the speaker’s absence.

Two weeks ago, Mr Gbajabiamila adjourned the House indefinitely, citing the ongoing induction of members-elect of the 10th House. He was equally challenged by his deputy, who stated that the induction of members was not a genuine reason for adjourning the House.

Meanwhile, there has also been speculation of an impeachment plot targeted at Mr Gbajabimaila over the power tussle.

With the Dangote Refinery set to deliver its first products in July, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said yesterday that the refinery would be persuaded to sell foreign exchange earnings to banks at a good rate.

Speaking at the end of the 291st Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, meeting in Abuja, Emefiele said his team would engage the promoter of the refinery, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, to ensure that Nigerians benefitted from the venture, adding that the CBN, the Federal Government and, indeed, the country helped him set up the refinery.

The CBN boss expressed optimism that the refinery would ease the foreign exchange scarcity in the country, noting that with local refining, about 20 per cent cost of the total cost of importing petroleum products could be saved, thereby reducing prices in the long run. He, however, said it was time to exit the fuel subsidy regime.

His words: “By the time the Dangote Refinery comes on stream, the price at which it (fuel) will be dispensed will be lower than what it is when we spend dollars to import because there will be no freight cost, no storage and all other logistics expenses.

“So we will be lucky to be having about 20 per cent savings from refining locally, rather than importing.

“But the important thing is that we have reached a point, whether we like it or not when we must exit subsidy.

“Dangote Refinery coming at this time gives us the confidence that even if we exit subsidy, the products will be available. And eventually, the interplay of market forces will also moderate the prices to a level that will help the country.

“So we are expecting that, no doubt, by the time he produces for domestic consumption, the excess will be exported by the numbers that he talked about, which we agree with.

‘’We should be able to save, conservatively, close to about $5 billion to $10 billion in foreign exchange that will come into the country.

“Whether it comes to our reserves or not is not the point, it is the fact that the dollar is available and it will be sold in the domestic market so that customers of banks who need to import do not necessarily resort to CBN for dollars.

“They can go to their banks and Dangote will sell dollars to their banks and we are going to ensure that it is done at a good market rate.

“What I would have loved to say on Monday (at the Dangote Refinery Commissioning) which I didn’t say was that the CBN, the government and the country have helped Dangote to set up that refinery.

“He is a Nigerian; Nigerians must benefit from that venture and we are going to engage him and talk to him and I am sure that being the richest man in Africa, he is going to throw a few crumbs so that the price will be lowered.”

N8trn interventions in 5yrs

Meanwhile, Emefiele revealed that the CBN had given out about N8 trillion in interventions to the private sector in the last five years.

He said: “In the last four to five years, we have done about N8 trillion in interventions to the private sector of the economy. The loans have been granted for 10 years, with a two-year moratorium and at single digit”.

The CBN boss disclosed, however, that going forward, the apex bank would reduce its quasi-fiscal activities.


MPR jerked up to 18.5%

At yesterday’s meeting, the MPC raised the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) to 18.5 per cent from 18 per cent.

Emefiele said the strategy, which started in May last year, had been working as it had moderated the rate of inflation in the economy.

He admitted that the interest rate hike was constraining credit to the real sectors of the economy but that it remained the best option in tackling inflation.

He stated: “The current trend in price development would continue to be monitored by the bank with greater collaboration with fiscal authority to address the drivers of inflation.”

Meanwhile, the committee voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -700 basis points around the MPR.

It also retained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5 per cent and equally left the Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent.


We look forward to cost reduction — IPMAN

Reacting to the CBN’s declaration that Dangote would sell Dollars to banks at good rate, the National President of the Independent Petroleum Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, could not be reached for comments, yesterday.

But National Operations Controller, IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi, said: “Oil marketers are very happy about the Dangote Refinery. We were tied to the global market for several decades. Now, everyone will be free to patronise the refinery.

‘’We look forward to a significant cost reduction, apparently because freight and shipping costs will not apply anymore.
“With the coming onstream of the plant, the Federal Government will be encouraged to end fuel subsidy. This might be affordable to Nigerians, unlike what it could have been in the past.”


Dangote Refinery comes with multiplier effects — OGSPAN

Similarly, the National President, Oil and Gas Service Providers Association of Nigeria, OGSPAN, Mazi Colman Obasi, said: “On a serious note, Alhaji Aliko Dangote should be commended for making this gigantic investment.

“Every patriotic Nigerian and African should be proud of this refinery. It is very huge and it comes with a lot of multiplier effects for Nigeria.

“I completely agree with the CBN governor that it will culminate in the generation of additional foreign exchange into Nigeria as well as assist the nation to conserve foreign exchange currently expended on massive importation of petroleum products.

“As a major crude oil producer, Nigeria should not have been involved in the importation of petroleum products. ‘’The nation was compelled by circumstances to go into importation. I am happy that this big refinery will enable us reduce or completely stop dependence on the global market.”


CBN should merge forex rates — NACCIMA

Also commenting, Sola Obadimu, Director General, Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, while acknowledging the capacity of Dangote Refinery to generate forex, said CBN should rather focus on merging forex rates.

He said: “Honestly, my take is that CBN should merge these forex rates to avoid whatever might be called ‘good’ or ‘bad’ rates. And that’s the responsibility of CBN – to determine the true value of the Naira. Various exchange rates are basic ingredients for grandiose corruption as we know it.

“Yes, this is a very commendable project that has the capacity to generate forex whenever it starts to export and the proceeds would be convertible to Naira.

“At present, exporters through official channels are complaining that conversion for forex generated from exports is only available to them at official rates which may be unfair, given the fact that they never get enough forex at official rates when they need it either for imported inputs or machinery/parts.

“That’s the danger of dual or multiple exchange rates, particularly when the gaps are too wide as we have it now. But then, the government now has some stakes in the project.

‘’So they may reach some agreements on that level. But it might be preferred to have policies that encourage export activities by all as much as possible.”

President Muhammadu Buhari says he closed the country’s land borders to encourage Nigerians to produce food for their consumption.

He said although the move was initially criticised, Nigerians eventually appreciated it.

Buhari spoke on Tuesday while inaugurating the new customs headquarters that reportedly cost N19.6 billion to construct.

The edifice is located in the Maitama district of the federal capital territory (FCT).

“Please note that from Lake Chad to Benin Republic is more than 1,600 kilometres, only God can effectively guard the borders. So you need a person who has the energy and the competence to supervise. I deliberately closed the borders because knowing Nigerians, they order rice, give some to Niger and the rest, and then they bring the rice here,” he said.

“With our potential, we have people, we have land, and weather – how many nations are as lucky as Nigeria in the world, very few nations.

“So closing that border, 1,600 kilometres, Nigerians insist they eat boiled rice – you eat what you grow or you die. I tried to make my point and later Nigerians appreciated it.”

Buhari said he nominated Hameed Ali as comptroller-general of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) because of his experience and competence.

The president said the late Sani Abacha, a former military head of state, gave Ali “problematic” tasks to accomplish.

“As for Hameed Ali, I asked him to be in charge of customs. No matter what people say about the late Sani Abacha, may his soul rest in peace,” he said.

“I knew him very well, when somehow he became president of this country, head of state, the biggest problematic area was around Kaduna. He picked Colonel Hameed Ali and dumped the problems on him. My decision for Hameed Ali to come to customs was a deliberate one.

“[I brought] Colonel Hameed Ali to ensure that I have peace of mind.”

On his part, Ali said the increase in the salaries of customs personnel has made them less susceptible to corruption.

“We must mention the game-changing intervention of Mr President to rid the NCS of corruption and put it on a path of integrity,” the comptroller-general said.

“The 100 percent increase in the remuneration for officers and men of the service decisively made them less susceptible to corruption.”

There are strong indications that the transition process is not going smoothly in many states as the outgoing governors are allegedly not cooperating with their successors.

Following the development, the panels set up by the incoming governors are asking questions on the financial conditions of the states, thus generating tension.

In Zamfara State, Governor Bello Matawalle was accused of not cooperating with the incoming administration of Dauda Dare ahead of the inauguration on May 29.

The Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, Faruku Ahmed, in an interview with The PUNCH on Monday, stressed that since Matawalle lost his re-election bid, he had abandoned the state and had been avoiding the governor-elect.

Ahmed further alleged that Matawalle left the state two months ago and was not cooperating with the incoming administration in terms of the transition programme.

Ahmed said, “The incoming administration of Dauda Lawan Dare has been trying to get some relevant information from the outgoing administration, but Governor Bello Mattawalle is not willing to cooperate with the committees appointed by the incoming governor to find out the true picture of things.

“Based on this, the incoming governor appointed sub-committees to go round the ministries, departments and other agencies in order to get relevant information because Governor Matawalle is not willing to prepare handing over notes.”

He condemned those condemning the committee appointed by the governor-elect to investigate ministries, departments and other government agencies in the state.

He said Dare had every right to appoint committees to furnish him with relevant information on the activities of the outgoing administration ‘’so that he would know where to start and how to recover some government properties and funds allegedly diverted by the outgoing administration of Governor Bello Matawalle in the last four years.’’

The incoming governor recently constituted a committee under the leadership of a former Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, to ensure the smooth handing and taking over of government on May 29.

“Since Governor Matawalle is not ready to cooperate with the incoming administration, the appointed committees will find out the true situation of things for the incoming administration.

“So, we will not wait until the handing over date. We will continue to invite top civil servants and public office holders to come and make clarifications,’’ the PDP spokesman declared.

APC faults gov-elect

But the Publicity Secretary of the Zamfara State All Progressive Congress, Yusuf Idris, faulted the allegation that Mattawalle had abandoned the state, describing the claim as untrue.

Speaking to The PUNCH on the phone, Idris explained that the governor had only travelled outside the state for important functions.

He said it was not possible for Ahmed to know whether the governor was in the state or not.

He noted, “Governor Matawalle has been coming to the state but goes back to attend some important functions for the progress of the state. Whoever told you that he has been away since the time he lost the election is only saying so to tarnish his (Matawalle’s) image.

“I want people to understand that whether the governor is in the state or not, the government’s activities are going on smoothly without any hindrance.”

The state Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Ibrahim Dosara, also criticised Dare for appointing committees to get information on the activities of ministries departments and agencies.

Dosara in a statement said this was illegal as Matawalle was still the governor until May 29.

He, therefore, asked the MDAs and other agencies to desist from releasing any information to the incoming administration without the consent of the transition committee appointed by the outgoing administration.

The statement read in part, “This is to inform the general public that it has come to the attention of Zamfara State government that some members of the incoming government transition committee are currently going around ministries and departments of the government collecting information and conducting investigations into the activities of the MDAs.’’

In Benue, there seems to be no love lost between the governor-elect, Rev Father Hyacinth Alia and the outgoing administration following the controversy trailing the two transition committees set up by Governor Samuel Ortom and Alia.

The APC Publicity Secretary in the state, Daniel Ihomun, who spoke on behalf of Mike Iordye, the Chairman of the transition committee, said he was not enjoying the cooperation of the state government’s committee headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Tony Ijohor, SAN.

He further lamented that the presidential lodge, the expected temporary lodge for the governor-elect had not been renovated.

He said, “The outgoing administration has been recruiting more people at a time it cannot pay those who are in the service for over 10 months; it cannot pay pensioners, yet it is recruiting more people to add to the burdens of the incoming government.

“This is a government that did not recruit for over seven years; so, the question is, why now?’’

Ortom plans handover

But the state government has declared it will formally hand over power to the incoming administration on May 28.

Addressing journalists after the State Executive Council meeting, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mike Inalegwu, said this was to enable the incoming administration to celebrate and reduce the cumbersome transition processes on May 29.

In Kano State, the outgoing government of Governor Umar Ganduje was also accused of not collaborating with the New Nigeria Peoples Party transition committee under the chairmanship of Dr Bappa Bichi.

The committee recently addressed a press conference where it alleged that Ganduje was undermining the transition programme by not providing the necessary cooperation.

Speaking to our correspondent, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor-elect, Sanusi Tofa, stated, “It was after that press conference we started getting cooperation but not full cooperation or as expected.’’

But a top government official of the state government, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The PUNCH on the telephone on Monday that the Ganduje administration had provided the NNPP transition committee with all what it needed.

The official, who expressed satisfaction with the committee’s performance so far, called for understanding in order to ensure a hitch-free transition of power on 29th May, 20.

The same situation is being experienced in Abia State where the transition committee set up by the Governor-elect, Alex Otti is reportedly having issues with the outgoing Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.

Otti’s representative in the Abia State Government Handover Committee, Rev. Fr. Christian Anokwuru disclosed that there was a snag in the committee’s work due to the delay in providing the handover documents.

Getting insight into the finances of the state may be a problem as according to Anokwuru, “It is expected that the outgoing administration would avail the governor-elect the handover documents early enough to enable him to study the content before May 29.

“The handover documents covering the government’s activities from 2015 to April 2023, ought to have been ready.

“Unfortunately, the government committee appears to be more preoccupied with preparations for the swearing-in ceremony rather than the documents. If the government insists that the handover documents would only be made available on May 29, it means the governor-elect has to take some time to study them.’’

The situation in Plateau State appears to be slightly different as the transition committee said the transition programme was on course.

But the Chairman of the Publicity Sub-committee, Yiljap Abraham, complained that no funds had been released by the outgoing administration to facilitate the inauguration.

He said, “We are still awaiting the government in that regard(release of funds). We just hope that they will cooperate. We have a date already fixed for the inauguration of the governor-elect and that is May 29. But for now, no funds have been released to the transition committee.”

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has disclosed that the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has started repaying some of the loans used in financing the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals.

While giving his address at the commissioning of the project in Lagos on Monday, Emefiele noted that the refinery which was initially estimated to cost about $9 billion when it started in 2013, was completed with a total of $18.5bn with funding distributed into 50 percent equity investment and 50 percent debt finance.

Emefiele, who noted that the commercial loan component of the project was financed majorly by domestic banks with the balance sourced from foreign banks, added that the CBN provided about N125 billion to cover domestic currency requirements for the venture.

“What you may not be fully aware of, Your Excellencies, is that the Dangote Group has started repaying some of the commercial loans even before the commissioning of this facility. This reflects the commercial capability of the Group and its Chairman. I am pleased to inform everyone today that, following extensive repayments, outstanding debt has dropped appreciably from over US$9 billion to US$3 billion.”

“I must at this juncture appreciate all the participating local Nigerian banks, who did not only partner with the project through effective financing but were keenly aware of the importance of the project for our nation. They provided immense support and exceptional understanding, even when interest payments and principal repayment had fallen due,” he said

The Dangote refinery which has the capacity to process 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, is the largest single-train refinery in the world. Given this processing capacity, the refinery is more than able to meet all of Nigeria’s domestic fuel consumption, which is about 450,000 barrels per day; whilst the excess production will be available for export.

A head of Monday’s inauguration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the 16th president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, experts and stakeholders in critical sectors of the country have set an agenda for the incoming administration.

The inauguration of Tinubu will mark the end of the eight-year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Across the country and beyond, Nigerians are awaiting the taking over by Tinubu, who has promised to address the myriad of challenges facing the country as encapsulated in his Renewed Hope agenda.

Key sectors enumerated by experts and stakeholders as yearning for immediate attention are security, economy, power/energy, infrastructure, health, education and agriculture.

Top on the agenda is the issue of insecurity, which encompasses the raging banditry, kidnapping, insurgency, oil theft, secessionists’ agitations, cult clashes, farmers/herders’, communal clashes/killings and internet fraud as key problems confronting the sector.

Each of the six geopolitical zones of the country has its fair share from the unabated security challenges bedevilling the nation despite military intervention over the years.

For instance, some states in North West and North Central are battling banditry and kidnapping. The challenge of oil theft is attributed to the Niger Delta region, in the South South of the country.

Findings showed that the North East zone still suffers from attacks by insurgents.

Stakeholders in the security sector, who spoke to one of our correspondents, said there are ways out of the present quagmire if the incoming administration has the political will and wherewithal to combat the menace.

Abdullahi Umar, a counter-terrorism and security expert, noted that it is imperative for the incoming administration to set up a think-tank immediately to tackle the root of the matter.

He also advised that the present security architecture be restructured, saying bad eggs within the security forces jeopardizing the ongoing fight against insurgency must be made to face the wrath of the law.

Another security expert, Sunday Oni, said that the president-elect should work closely with lawmakers to make ranches a must for owners of cows.

In the same vein, he called on lawmakers to make legislations that would allocate roles to traditional rulers regarding peace in their domains, saying the law should also include how to tackle incessant communal clashes.

Subsidy, power grid crashes dog energy sector

The removal of the petrol subsidy, the crashing or hike in the petrol price presently at over N190 per litre, as well as making petroleum products available are the immediate hurdles the incoming Tinubu administration must resolve after May 29.

In the power sector, the new president must find ways to raise the power on the national grid above the 4,500 megawatts (MW) nominal availability that has caused a perennially low supply to consumers, experts have said.

The outgoing government of President Buhari recently expanded a committee to include members of the incoming government in deliberating on the removal or sustenance of petrol subsidy after June, just a month after Tinubu stepped in.

So far, the government has spent over N6 trillion as petrol subsidy in less than 18 months but Nigerians have endured over a year of petrol scarcity amidst multiple hikes in the product’s price from N165 per litre to N195/l official rate in less than one year.

The price of petrol must be stabilised rather than juggling from N165 per litre to between N179/l and N189/l across various regions, and then to N180/l before rising to N195/l officially. The product still sells for over N250/l in some states. For diesel, the price has remained at over N800/l after rising from about N250/l in 2022.

Analysts said it will be a tough decision for Tinubu to sustain the subsidy and not fully liberalise the downstream petroleum sector to allow other players to import petrol instead of the sole reliance on NNPC Limited.

The Dangote Refinery has been slated for commissioning today. It is expected to cushion supply issues as NNPC will now buy from the plant in Lagos rather than relying on a three-week freight duration from Amsterdam, Belgium where it gets refined product from refineries operated by Shell and Mobil.

Nigerians have not had a national grid beyond 5,600MW so far and even at an average daily peak power of 4,000MW generation, there are complaints of multiple daily outages across states along with an increasing tariff.

Experts and electricity users have decried the rigidity in deploying meters by the Distribution Companies (DisCos) with key advocacies that the meter device acquisition be liberalized to be purchased at the market freely by consumers so they can monitor their consumption and reduce their complaints of high estimated electricity bills.

There is also an over N3trn market shortfall with a worsening situation that has caused several DisCos to be given 60 days, ending in June 2023, to remedy their defaults in the remittance of energy revenue collections to the Market Operator (MO) of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

The Siemens Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), a brainchild of Buhari has not yielded the much expected results. So far, raising the grid to 7,000MW from the 5,000MW did not happen in 2022 and the target of reaching 11,000MW this year may be elusive with seven months left.

Although some power transformers have been sold to Nigeria by Siemen from its Italy and German factories, they have not translated to improved grid power.

A financial expert, Paul Alaje, said the incoming government must first focus on energy to stimulate the economy as no economy has survived without having abundant energy at its disposal.

N77trn debt amid rising inflation

The first glimpse of the Nigerian economy Tinubu will catch will be a portfolio of an inherited N77 trillion federal and state debt along a rising inflation highway at 22 per cent.

Although President Buhari, who is leaving office on Monday along with state governors, is leaving a N77trn debt portfolio, the federal government is seeking fresh permission to borrow $800 million (about N330 billion) from the World Bank after securing approval for $800m as palliatives for previously planned petrol subsidy removal.

With the integration of these loans by the Debt Management Office (DMO), the debt profile is sure to rise higher at a time government officials and the World Bank said over 90 per cent of revenue Nigeria earned is used to service debt and to pay salaries.

Due to the enormity of the cash crunch, Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State recently told workers that the federal and state governments may not be able to pay workers’ salaries beyond June unless it either resorts to “massive printing of money” which is the Ways and Means (W&M) or removing fuel subsidy.

Buhari’s government had gathered N23trn local debt through the CBN W&M which the national assembly approved to be integrated into the debt profile and dragged it to N77trn. DMO’s breakdown shows that the CBN debt was N23.7trn, adding to Nigeria’s total debt stock of N44.06tr, which DMO said largely reflected the weakness of the local unit, the naira.

One area that the masses feel the impact of the government is around food security but Nigeria has failed in this with super high food inflation. The World Bank recently projected more food crises with Africa to be mostly hit and the majority of the African population is in Nigeria.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s annual inflation rate rose to 22.04 per cent in March from 21.91 per cent in the previous month. The food inflation rate rose to 24.46 per cent in March from 24.35 per cent in February. To tame this, CBN has been hiking banks’ interest rates but that has not cushioned the inflation figures.

On foreign exchange, the naira has remained under continued pressure as many Nigerians scramble for dollars to pay tuition fees, medical and import bills. CBN has also failed to meet the demands in the official market, forcing many to turn to the black market, causing price hikes.

Agriculture

Experts say the incoming president needs to concentrate on six major issues that prevent Nigeria’s agriculture sector from reaching its full potential.

The issues include addressing the fertiliser conundrum, herder/farmer conflicts, gaining access to finance, expanding irrigation infrastructure, and increasing mechanization access.

Farmers and other relevant stakeholders agreed that these six major areas have restricted the country’s agro-economy’s potential in every aspect of output.

Architect Kabiru Ibrahim, national president of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), said an all-year-round farming programme should be encouraged by investing in irrigation, mechanization, smart agricultural practices, and STI (Science Technology and Innovation) to attain the desired results by the incoming administration.

“The incoming administration should meticulously incentivize farmers by carefully analysing agricultural competencies and the regions possessing comparative advantage in producing them and go on to subsidize the products directly as well as decisively.

“Each of the six geopolitical zones should be appraised and its staples identified with a view to optimizing the productivity of all those staples such that the impact will be felt within the first year of the administration,” he said.

On his part, Chief Dan Okafor, national president of Potato Farmers and Processors said the incoming government should address first and foremost security, electricity, irrigation, rural roads and provide insurance schemes to farmers.

An agro-economist, Mr Dele Adebisi, said the incoming government must look at various ways of ensuring that farmers have good access to inputs including mechanization, adding that mechanisation will ultimately reduce the cost of production.

Health

Nigeria’s health sector is bedevilled with a lot of challenges and the incoming administration has a lot to do in improving the health system, as well as making healthcare affordable and accessible to millions of Nigerians who cannot access the care they require.

Experts said there is a need for the incoming administration to urgently address the challenges.

Some of them are massive brain drain, manpower shortage, poor budgetary allocation to health, dependence on donors to fund healthcare, over 70% out-of-pocket expenditure for health, poor primary healthcare delivery, medical tourism and poor immunisation coverage, rivalry among health professionals, poor infrastructure and obsolete equipment across health facilities among others.

The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), on its part, said the country’s healthcare delivery system currently faces challenges of big funding gaps, infrastructure deficits, and a demoralised workforce.

The association’s president, Dr Victor Makanjuola and Secretary General, Dr Yemi R. Raji said, “The poor motivation of healthcare workers has resulted in the ongoing emigration of our scarce healthcare workforce to more developed countries.” Ifedilichukwu Innocent of Save the Children called on the new administration – from local, state and national levels – to prioritize health and also budget in line with global recommendations.

Education

The education sector is one of the critical areas where Nigerians’ expectations are high considering that it has been challenged by inadequate funding, incessant strikes at the tertiary level, a high number of out-of-school children and inadequate qualified teachers among others.

While some experts say the government has taken some positive steps in collaboration with local and international partners and other stakeholders to address the challenges in the sector, they however recommend that a lot of work still needs to be done.

This year, with a new government in view, it is expected that the sector should do more in closing the gaps and addressing the challenges to bring it to the level of international best practices.

Educationists and other stakeholders have said appointing the right person as minister is a priority the incoming president should consider. They expressed the belief that an academic who knows the challenges of the sector should be considered this time around.

The Director, Ibrahim Usman Jibril Institute for the Built Environment, Nasarawa State University Keffi, Professor Nasiru Medugu Idris said: “We need the political will to change the narrative of the education sector so that we can tackle them holistically for development if we still want to be respected among the comity of nations.”

Also, an educationist, Michael Sule, said an academic should be the new minister as obtained in Ghana and other places where their education sector is working.

ASUU strike

The feud between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the federal government due to the failure of the latter to meet the demands of the union on welfare, infrastructure, among others has always led to strike action grounding activities of both federal and state universities in the country.

The strike always affects students learning who in most cases stayed at home for months. The new government should find ways to put this to permanent rest, the stakeholders said.

Buhari’s uncompleted projected

One of the uncompelled projects of the outgoing administration is the $1.96bn Kano-Katsina-Jibiya-Maradi Rail Line for which a virtual ground-breaking ceremony was performed by President Buhari on February 9, 2021.

The plan for the construction of the 284km Kano-Maradi rail line linking Nigeria to neighbouring Niger Republic is to boost the Lagos-Kano-Jibiya (LAKAJI) economic corridor, which both the World Bank and the US have been highlighting.

$3.02bn Port Harcourt/Maiduguri rail line

Another project which requires the attention of the incoming government is the $3.02bn Port Harcourt/Maiduguri rail line.

Ground-breaking was done by President Buhari for a complete revamp of the Port Harcourt–Maiduguri Narrow Gauge Rail. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a factsheet released on the seventh anniversary of the Buhari administration, said work kicked off in 2022.On October 7, 2020, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the sum of $3.02 billion for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Eastern Narrow Gauge railway project.

Kaduna-Kano standard gauge rail line

Another important project expected to be of priority for the incoming Tinubu administration is the Kaduna-Kano Standard Gauge Rail Line. Construction commenced on the Kaduna-Kano Standard Gauge Rail Line following the ground-breaking by the president in July 2021. Also, some segments of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road are yet to be completed.

By Amarachi Okeh


A Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an order requiring the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), and his regime to answer for how a $460 million Chinese loan was used to fund the failed Abuja Closed-Circuit Television project.

According to the court’s judgement, the regime must publish the total amount of money paid to Chinese and local companies and contractors, precise details of the identities of the companies and contractors, and the status of the implementation of the project.

Hon. Judge Emeka Nwite issued the directives in his ruling in the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project’s FHC/ABJ/CS/1447/2019 Freedom of Information lawsuit.

The suit followed the disclosure in 2019 by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, that “Nigeria was servicing the loan,” adding that she had ‘no explanations on the status of the project.’ She reportedly said, “We are servicing the loan. I have no information on the status of the CCTV project.”


In his judgement, Justice Nwite agreed with SERAP that “there is a reasonable cause of action against the government. Accounting for the spending of the $460 million Chinese loan is in the public’s interest. It will be inimical for the court to refuse SERAP’s application for judicial review of the government’s action.”

Justice Nwite also said that “the Minister of Finance is in charge of the finances of the country and cannot by any stretch of imagination be oblivious of the amount of money paid to the contractors for the Abuja CCTV contract and the money meant for the construction of the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau.”

He also ordered the government “to provide the details clarifying whether the sum of N1.5 billion paid for the failed contract meant to construct the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau was part of another loan obtained from China.”

Justice Nwite’s judgement, read in part, “SERAP’s core objectives are to promote human rights, transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption in Nigeria.

“I am of the humble view that there is a reasonable cause of action against the government [through the Minister of Finance], and I so hold that SERAP has made out a case to be entitled to the reliefs sought.

“The law is well settled that where a document or letter is sent by post, it is the law that same is taken or presumed to have been delivered.

“Following this principle of law and relying on exhibit OS2, SERAP’s Freedom of Information request sent to Ms Ahmed is deemed to have delivered. Therefore, the averment by the government [through her] that they were not served with the letter is hereby discountenance. I so hold.”

Joined as defendants in the suit are Ms Ahmed and the Minister of Police Affairs.

Justice Nwite granted some orders of mandamus against the Nigerian government, saying, “ An of mandamus is hereby made directing and compelling the government [through the Minister of Finance] to provide and make available to SERAP information on the total amount of money paid to contractors, with specific details of names of companies local contractors involved, from the $460 million loan obtained in 2010 from China by the Federal Government of Nigeria to fund the failed Abuja CCTV contract.

“An order of mandamus is hereby made directing and compelling the government [through the Minister of Finance] to provide the details of the local companies and Chinese contractors that have received funds from the $460 million loan for the finance of the Abuja CCTV contract as well as details of the status of implementation of the project.

“An order of mandamus is hereby made directing and compelling the government [through the Minister of Finance] to provide the details clarifying whether the sum of N1.5 billion mobilisation fee reportedly paid to the contractors for the construction of the Headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau in Abuja was part of another loan from China. This is the judgement of the court.”

SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare said, “The onus is now on President Buhari to immediately comply with the court’s orders. We commend Justice Nwite for his courage and wisdom, and urge President Buhari and Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to immediately obey the court orders.”

“This is a victory for justice, rule of law, transparency and accountability. The judgement shows the way forward in the fight against corruption and impunity of perpetrators. We will do everything within the law to ensure full compliance by President Buhari with this ground-breaking judgement on Chinese loans.

“We call on President Buhari to use the judgement as the basis for publishing details of spending of all Chinese loans and other loans obtained by his government since May 2015.”

Data from the Debt Management Office show that between June 2015 and December 2022, Nigeria’s overall borrowing from China increased from $1.39 billion to $4.29 billion.

The Federal Government will spend nearly 74.6% of its anticipated revenue of N6.31 trillion in 2023 on debt payment, according to the Nigerian government’s 2023–2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.

If Nigeria doesn’t repay loans it received from China, China could seize important national assets from it.

According to a report, Nigeria may not have paid back its debt to China and may be subject to a penalty of N41.31 billion. The debt Nigeria owes China, which has grown to N110.31 billion over the past two years, has not been properly serviced, according to the Debt Management Office, which was quoted in the story.

It would be recalled that SERAP had in December 2019 filed a lawsuit against Ms Ahmed over failure to “disclose information and specific documents on the total amount of money paid to contractors from the $460 million loan obtained in 2010 from China to fund the apparently failed Abuja CCTV project.”

The suit number, read in part: “Servicing Chinese loans for failed projects is double jeopardy for Nigerians—they can neither see nor benefit from the projects; yet, they are made to pay both the loans and the accrued interests.”

“The $460 million loan got for the failed Abuja CCTV project and the N1.5 billion for the construction of CCB headquarters, which may be part of another Chinese loan, may have been mismanaged or stolen, and in any case, remain unaccounted for.”

“Transparency in the spending of Chinese loans is good for everyone, as this would help to increase the effectiveness, legitimacy, and contribution of the loans to the development of public goods and services, and the general public interests.”

“The information being requested does not come within the purview of the types of information exempted from disclosure under the Act. The Respondent has no legally justifiable reason for refusing to provide SERAP with the information requested.”

“Democracy cannot flourish if governments operate in secrecy. The citizens are entitled to know how the commonwealth is being utilised, managed and administered in a democratic setting.”

Can you just imagine watching a football match inside a stadium and having fun in looking at your team scoring goals and suddenly you are distracted by the sound of a train passing right in front of you in the stadium?

Such is the spectacle at a football stadium in a country in Europe where a rail track was builf close to the spectators stand with train passing on a regular basis while matches are being played in the stadium.

In Slovakia, a football team known as team TJ Tatran Čierny Balog have a strong claim to the strangest as its pitch lies to the side of a railway track, with a stand on the other side of it. Trains continue to use the line every time, even whenever matches are being played inside the stadium.

According to the Independent of UK, the movement of the trains does not affect matches as players continue to ply their trade on the field while the spectators have two things to watch—-the soccer artistry and the movement of trains on the track in front of them.

According to reports, Cierny Balog Stadium was built sometime during the 1980s, at a time when the old railway was not in use anymore. It’s unclear why the municipality chose that exact location to build a football stadium, but for an entire decade, the train tracks passing through it were just part of the decor.

Things however changed in the early 1990s when a group of Slovakian enthusiasts started repairing the train tracks. In 1992, it was officially reopened as a heritage railway for tourists and since then, trains have been passing while matches continues to be played.

Cierny Balog is believed to be the only stadium in the world with an active railway track passing straight through it while players try to ignore the train and its powerful whistling signal during matches, just as in the stand, some spectators wave to the train, while others try to keep their focus on the game, supporting their teams.

By Deborah Tolu-Kolawole


Despite allocating huge resources to the health sector, Nigerian leaders and politicians have continued their mistrust for the sector by abandoning it to rot, while flying abroad to treat the commonest of ailments at taxpayers’ expense in what stakeholders have described as medical tourism.

The health sector, like other major sectors in the country, has continued to suffer ups and downs, including industrial actions, low funding and low access to basic healthcare facilities among poor Nigerians.

The Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors, the umbrella body of doctors undergoing residency, announced the commencement of a five-day warning strike on Wednesday, May 17, 2023.

The strike, which has grounded activities in government-owned hospitals and health facilities, has left poor citizens, who cannot afford treatment in private health facilities, stranded.

This is not the first time doctors and other categories of health workers will embark on strike in the life of the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).

In 2016, NARD, under the leadership of the then National President, Dr Muhammad Askira, embarked on an 18-day strike.

In 2017, the association, under the leadership of Dr John Onyebueze, again went on strike. The strike, which commenced on September 4, was suspended on September 17.

In 2020, NARD members, under the leadership of Dr Aliyu Sokomba, again embarked on a one-week nationwide strike on June 15 over the disengagement of 26 resident doctors at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, salary cuts and issues surrounding the Medical Residency Training Fund. The strike was eventually called off on June 22.

A year later, NARD initially embarked on a 10-day strike from April 1 to 10, 2021. Later in July of the same year, the association proceeded on a 60-day strike.

While the strikes persist, Buhari and his wife, Aisha, and their son, as well as the incoming President, Bola Tinubu; and the consensus candidate of the All Progressives Congress to become the Senate President in the 10th National Assembly, Godswill Akpabio, among other prominent politicians, continue to enjoy seamless healthcare in hospitals abroad.

Some of the benefiting countries of medical tourism by Nigerian politicians include the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France and India.

Though the amount spent by the politicians on medical tourism could not be obtained by our correspondent as of the time of filing this report, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority in 2021 said citizens spend an average of $1bn annually on medical tourism for a range of healthcare needs across four key specialities of oncology, orthopaedics, nephrology and cardiology.

In May 2019, Sergius Ose Ogun, a member of the House of Representatives, sponsored a bill seeking to prevent public officials from seeking medical treatment abroad. The bill sought to amend Section 46 of the National Health Act thus: “(1) A public officer of the Federal Government shall not embark on medical trip abroad without approval; or be sponsored for medical check-up, investigation; or treatment abroad at public expenses except in exceptional cases on the recommendation and referral by the medical board and which recommendation or referral shall be duly approved by the minister or commissioner as the case may be; or embark on medical trip abroad unless he satisfactorily proves to the office where the officer is working, that such ailment cannot be treated in Nigeria.”


Buhari’s family trips

Before he was sworn in as President eight years ago, Buhari, whose mantra was ‘Change’, visited the Chatham House in London in 2015, where he said, “What is the difference between me and those who elected us to represent them? Absolutely nothing! Why should a Nigerian President not fly with other Nigerian public? Why do I need to embark on foreign trip as a president with a huge crowd with public funds? Why do I need to go for foreign medical trip if we cannot make our hospitals functional? Why do we need to send our children to school abroad if we cannot develop our universities to compete with foreign ones?”

Eight months after assuming office in February 2016, Buhari embarked on a medical trip to the UK, where he spent a total of six days.

In April 2016, months after his first medical trip to London, Buhari condemned the use of Nigerian resources for international medical expenses.

Amidst criticisms, the retired general embarked on his second medical trip on June 6, 2016. He spent 10 days treating an undisclosed ear infection, after which he rested for three extra days before returning to Abuja on June 19, 2016 despite the availability of the National Ear Centre in the country.

On January 19, 2017, the President embarked on his second longest medical trip. Before leaving, however, he wrote to the Bukola Saraki-led Senate revealing his plan to travel to London for a 10-day vacation.

In the letter, Buhari said he would hand over to his deputy, Prof Yemi Osinbajo. Though the medical holiday was due to commence on January 23, 2017, the President left Abuja the same day.

He returned to Abuja on March 10, 2017, after spending 50 days away.

In May of the same year, barely two months after his last trip, the President departed for London for his longest medical pilgrimage lasting 104 days.

It is still unclear what ailment he was being treated for, but Nigerians were asked to “pray” for the President.

What followed were speculations and misinformation about his health status, with some presuming him dead and replaced with a body double.

The long treatment must have helped as the President would not visit London for another medical check-up until a year later in May 2018 when he spent four days on “medical review.”

In late March 2021, Buhari departed for London again for a “routine medical check-up” that lasted 15 days.

His trip came amid a labour crisis in the health sector, which saw members of NARD embarking on an indefinite strike over unpaid allowances.

On March 6, 2022, the President jetted out to London again for a medical trip, which lasted 12 days.

Earlier, Buhari was scheduled to visit London from Nairobi, Kenya, where he was attending the United Nations Environmental Programme at 50.

He, however, returned to Nigeria on Friday March 4, 2022 but departed for London two days later.

The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, had announced that Buhari would proceed to London from Kenya for “routine medical checks that will last for a maximum of two weeks.”

On October 31, 2022, the President departed Owerri, the Imo State capital, for London for another medical check-up lasting about two weeks and returned to the country on November 13, 2022.

The President’s spokesman had, times without number, defended Buhari’s medical trips abroad, saying he “has used the same medical team for about 40 years.”


Recently, the Presidency noted again that Buhari visited a hospital abroad to take care of his tooth.

The President is not alone in medical tourism as his wife, Aisha, was flown to Dubai in August 2020 over a “persistent neck pain.”

Similarly, their son, Yusuf, was in 2018 flown abroad for treatment after he was involved in a power bike accident.

In August 2020, Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura, was also flown to the UK for medical treatment.

The President-elect, Bola Tinubu, is no stranger to medical tourism.

The former Lagos State governor spent a total of 90 days in the UK in 2021 following a knee surgery.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, was flown to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in December 2015.

Similarly in October 22, 2023, Atiku also jetted out to France for what was simply tagged “medicals.”

Earlier, the former vice-president in December 2022 noted that the limitations in the healthcare system at home would not allow him to patronise hospitals in the country.

In June 2022, former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, was flown to an undisclosed hospital abroad for back surgery.

The outgoing Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, in 2020 was flown to Berlin, Germany, for treatment. He has undertaken multiple medical trips abroad since then.

Akpabio, in a letter sent to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on March 27, 2023, disclosed that he did not honour the anti-graft agency’s invitation because he was undergoing medical treatment abroad.

In September 2015, Akpabio, who was the then Senate Minority Leader, travelled abroad for medical treatment after sustaining injuries in a car crash.

In March 2022, the Governor of Yobe state, Mai Mala Buni, returned from a medical trip to the United Kingdom.

In August 2020, a former military dictator, Abdulsalam Abubakar, returned to the country after spending about three months abroad for medical treatment.

The Nigerian Army in April 2018 announced that seven of its men, who sustained injuries fighting Boko Haram, were flown to India for proper care.

In June 2018, the senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District of Ekiti State, Opeyemi Bamidele, was flown to the UK for treatment in a private jet belonging to Tinubu.

Bamidele and five others were shot at a reception rally organised for the All Progressives Congress candidate.

In November 2017, the Presidency announced that Buhari approved an immediate overseas medical treatment for former Vice-President, Alex Ekueme.

In August 2016, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Economic Matters deployed to the Vice-President’s office, Ayodele Adu, died in an Indian hospital.

A former governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, confirmed the death of the presidential aide in a condolence message issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Olayinka Oyebode.

The list of prominent politicians and Nigerians who have embarked on medical tourism over the years is inexhaustible.


NARD condemns medical tourism

A former Vice-President of NARD, Dr Julian Ojebo, in an interview with Saturday PUNCH flayed politicians for travelling abroad for medical conditions that could easily be diagnosed and treated in Nigeria.

Ojebo lamented the poor state of health institutions in the country.

He said, “When it comes to the amount spent on medical tourism, the data available is underreported. We need to understand that the population is divided into low, middle and upper classes. Members of the low and middle classes, who are forced to go abroad for treatment, go to low income Asian countries like India and they spend roughly $800m to $900m.

“However, we have the rich and politicians, and these are the one per cent of the one per cent. These ones go to Europe. Recently, the President-elect went to France. For that category of people, we cannot even get the data.

“Medical tourism has impacts on our economy, how the world views us and on the quality of healthcare service delivery at home. When these politicians go abroad and they get their medical treatment, they tend to forget and not care about the situation back home. Yes, we also have good private institutions now like Duchess Hospital and Nisa Premier, but how many of those at the lower class can afford their services?

“How many of our public hospitals have functional MRI machines? Our politicians cannot continue to go abroad for medical conditions that can be diagnosed and even treated in Nigeria. The money taken abroad, if injected into our health system, will go a long way in reviving the sector.”

Similarly, the National President, Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, Dr Victor Makanjuola, said, “Medical tourism is a scourge with a very negative impact on the Nigerian health sector. It has been estimated that this phenomenon costs the country over $1bn annually.

“Other than the direct benefits to the ill individuals, medical tourism impairs the corporate health of the nation.

“It is partly responsible for the poor funding of the health sector with attendant poor healthcare delivery to average Nigerians. This is because most of the people who engage in medical tourism are politicians and senior public servants (usually at the expense of taxpayers) and are also the ones expected to mobilise resources for the local health sector. This results in chronic underfunding of the health sector.

“Indirectly, medical tourism negatively impacts the economy of the country through capital flight, increasing the demand for foreign currencies significantly, and contributing to a negative trade balance for the country.”

A senior officer of the Nigerian Army recently received more than one-quarter of a billion naira from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

DAILY POST exclusively obtained a copy of the two-page letter written to the Army authority and the screenshot of the N270,000,000 credit alert enclosed as evidence.

Colonel MS (surname and service number withheld) addressed a memo dated April 14, 2023, to the Commandant of the Army War College (WU Bassey Barracks) in Asokoro, Abuja.

Titled “Request For Investigation Into The Payment Of Large Sum of Money Into My Salary Account”, he recalled receiving the money on April 3.

The Colonel’s bank account was credited with N270,000,000 paid through the CBN Alert System (reference number withheld).

The officer explained that he decided to call the attention of his superiors due to the alarming rate of fraud perpetrated in some government institutions.

“Sir, to the best of my knowledge, my emolument is by no way close to the amount paid, and I am not entitled to such payment from the CBN.

“Additionally, going by the current trend of financial fraud and sharp practices by various institutions, this raises alarm and concern for me,” he wrote.

The Colonel urged the Commandant to uncover the motive behind the payment “with a view to formally reverse it to the Federal Government coffers”.

Although it is early to speculate, a thorough probe is expected to reveal why the CBN erroneously transferred such a huge amount to a personal account.

Speaking on Friday on condition of anonymity, an officer at the War College told DAILY POST that the Army institution received the petition.

The serviceperson, who said the Commandant had already swung into action, praised the Colonel for displaying patriotism and putting the armed forces in a good light.

“I can confirm that the Commandant is working on the matter; he has informed higher authorities for further action”, he disclosed.

“The officer has done very well and we commend him for his honesty. This would no doubt go a very long way in helping the system.”

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said that the Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso’s administration in which he served as deputy governor began the sales of government properties in the state.

Ganduje, who made this statement in a recent viral audio, was reacting to moves by the incoming government of Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) to probe all sales of government property by the Ganduje administration.

Daily Trust reports that the transition committee set up by Yusuf, a protege of Kwankwaso, has issued “public warnings” to developers that bought government properties to stop developing or working on the properties, hinting at plans to review such sales when the governor-elect is sworn in on May 29.

But reacting to these statements by the governor-elect, Governor Ganduje said sale of government properties was nothing new and that the governor-elect should go and ask his political father (referring to Kwankwaso) on how they began the policy.

Ganduje served as Kwankwaso’s deputy for two terms of 1999-2003 and 2011-2015 before succeeding him. They, however, fell out shortly into his first term.

In the now viral audio, Ganduje could be heard saying, “Kwankwaso and Ganduje’s government, we are the ones who brought that policy, we sold out houses, most of them to workers, some to politicians.

“They are saying that we have sold government houses not knowing that his father in politics, his grandfather in politics was the one who started selling government houses.

“If he said it’s not true, let him go to a radio station and will get the list of the government houses his grandfather sold. Government houses that his father in politics sold out. This is not the time to enter that chapter.

“If I am to call out names of senior government workers and politicians that bought government houses, we can spend the night counting.”

The governor added that the sale of government properties was “nothing new”, adding “it has not started now, will not stop now and it is not a crime.

“This is nothing new. I worked in Abuja, I resided in a government house and at last, the federal government sold it to me.”

The governor added, “From the Federal to state level, the government is no longer building houses for its workers to reside. The ones it has have been sold to workers. It is nothing new.

“Government workers residing in its houses, most of them have been sold but those who bought them couldn’t reside because government workers are occupying them.

“Because there are new houses, government workers are being transferred into these kinds of offices and leave the houses to those who bought them.”

Facts emerged on Wednesday that the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, might have commenced the constitution of his cabinet and economic management team.

Tinubu will be inaugurated on May 29, 2023 as the nation’s 16th president.

According to a source who confided in the Nigerian Tribune, Tinubu is particular about hitting the ground running and is determined to put strong hands together to help him actualize his renewed hope agenda.

“The president-elect knows that the expectations are high and is also aware of how impatient Nigerians can be. He does not want to fritter his goodwill, so he wants to have his team ready by May 29. He wants to have the names of those who will form his cabinet as well as members of his economic management team ready ahead of the inauguration,” the source, who is close to the president-elect, said.

According to the source, some of those being considered for appointment include Kano State governor, Alhaji Abdulahi Ganduje; Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike; former Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; a former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian University Commission (NUC), Professor Peter Okebukola; and a former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

Others are 2023 APC gubernatorial candidate in Adamawa State, Senator Aisha Benani; a Professor of Energy/Electricity Law, Yemi Oke; a lawyer and former member Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Babatunde Ogala; a former Lagos State commissioner for finance, Mr Wale Edun; a director at Oando Plc, Mr Mofe Boyo; a financial expert and management consultant, Mr Ayo Abina; co-founder of Flutterwave, Mr Iyin Aboyeji; APC National Youth Leader, Mr Dayo Israel; a former presidential aspirant, Mrs Uju Ohanenye; and a former Executive Secretary and CEO of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Ms Yewande Sadiku.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, is said to be the choice of the president-elect for the position of Chief of Staff.

According to the source, while Alhaji Abdulahi Ganduje is being considered for the position of Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Wike is likely going to emerge as Interior Minister, Dr Fayemi as Foreign Affairs minister, Professor Okebukola as education minister, and Ribadu as Police Affairs minister.

Mr Ogala is being considered for Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Edun is being considered as the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, while Mr Ayo Abina is being tipped to be the Minister of State for National Planning. Ms Yewande Sadiku is likely to emerge as Minister of Industry, while Senator Aisha Benani is being considered for the Minister of Power and Mr Mofe Boyo may likely be named as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

The source said some among the mentioned people who may not get cabinet appointments would be constituted into the Economic Management Team, while others would be considered for headship of some critical revenue-generating agencies.

The source stated that while the president-elect would prefer to pick members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for cabinet and other critical positions, he is not averse to looking beyond the party to get capable people to help him in the actualization of his plan to revamp the economy.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila on Wednesday adjourned plenary indefinitely over fear of a possible impeachment plot by some lawmakers.

Mr Gbajabiamila, who presided over plenary after weeks of recess, called for adjournment over speculation of his impeachment.

He hinged the adjournment on the current induction by members-elect.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that some lawmakers had perfected plans to impeach Gbajabiamila over the imposition of Rep. Tajudeen Abbas as the consensus candidate for the 10th House of Reps. Speaker

Some of the lawmakers who spoke with NAN on the impeachment plot under the condition of anonymity alleged that the speaker adjourned the plenary because of the fear of impeachment.

Rep. Ahmed Wase, the Deputy Speaker had in a swift move opposed Gbajabiamila, claiming the adjournment was needless but it was rejected.

Wase said the adjournment was not proper; adding that the induction could be going on simultaneously with plenary just like it was done at the Senate.

According to Wase, I respect the view of distinguished colleagues, Rep Ibrahim Isaka, who moved for the adjournment, but I think Mr Speaker this institution has a lot memories.

“There has never been a time because of induction the House suspended plenary.

“I don’t know the rate of attrition in terms of those who are back to the House compared to those who are now not returning, that we have to adjourn the House because of induction.

“I think there are many issues in the country that we need to face and tackle; we are running out of time Mr Speaker, we have just today and tomorrow for the week.

“We lost yesterday, I want to beg my brother to consider his own stand, he should know that in any way that there is nowhere in our own rules that says that we are doing induction.

He said the days for sitting in the House were clearly stated out in the House order.

Earlier, Rep. Isaka (APC-Ogun) had come under Order 6, 1 and 2 for mater of privileges to move his motion.

According to him, my point of order is that today as we speak, induction programme is on-going at the ICC center, which I am privileged together with other members to be part of Batch B.

“Last week because of this same programme the House adjourned, the plenary was not in session but today because of the plenary I have to be here while this programme is ongoing.

“I cannot be properly accommodated on the programme at the induction ground alongside plenary.

“That is why I am coming under order of privileges order 6,1,2,3. Mr Speaker, my prayer is that the House do adjourn to allow us participate in the programme,” he said.

Isiaka urged the House to reconvene after the programme, saying, “I am not the only victim of this, there are other members who are complaining about their privileges. I so move.”

Rep. Yusuf Gagdi (APC-Plateau), one of the aspirants for the 10th National assembly speaker raised his hand and attempted to speak but was equally ignored.

Meanwhile, the Senate has been sitting since the induction of lawmakers began, while the House of Reps which reconvened on May 17, immediately called for adjournment after many postponements.

Also, Rep. Benjamin Kalu (APC-Abia) was chosen as the consensus candidate for the post of a Deputy Speaker.

This was said to have angered some of the aspirants who now constituted themselves as G-7 to oppose the consensus candidate allegedly imposed by Gbajabiamila.

Among the G-7 are: Rep. Ahmed Wase (APC-Plateau) Rep Yusuf Gagdi (APC-Plateau) Rep. Sani Jaji (APC-Zamfara), Rep. Sada Soli (APC-Katsina), Rep. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa (APC-Kano) and Rep. Aliyu Betara (APC-Kano).

Speaking on the issue, Rep. Abubakar Nalaraba (APC-Nasarawa) said he was aware of the alteration made in the house rule to favour Gbajabiamila’s preferred candidate.

“There are some agitations by members because there is a particular alteration from the house rule which was conspicuously inserted and has never been deliberated upon at the plenary or in the vote and proceedings.

Sequel to this, he said, “some members promised to take it up with him and to bring it as Order of Privilege in the house so that members would discuss why would the insertion be in the House rule in the 10th Assembly.

“I think that might be the reason why he adjourned the house and that insertion was done probably to make the election seamless for his preferred candidate.’’

The doctored standing rules referred to as the 10th edition cited, has a new provision for electing the Speaker and Deputy through an open ballot instead of the existing rule of secret ballot that has been in use since 1999.

Section 2 (f) (iii) of the controversial clause captioned “election of presiding officers” stated that, “every member voting shall name clearly and in the open the candidate of his choice.”

Gbajabiamila is being accused of single-handedly manipulating the rules of the House to edge out more credible aspirants in favour of his preferred candidate Rep. Tajudeen Abbas.

Attempt by NAN to get the reaction of Lanre Lasisi, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Gbajabiamila was abortive as he did not reply the SMS sent to him.

Mustapha Audu, a son of former Kogi State governor, late Prince Abubakar Audu, tendered apology to the presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, over a false claim of having telephone conversation with him.

Spokesman of the Obi-Datti Media Office, Mr. Diran Onifade, said this in a statement.

There were reports that Obi called Mr Audu and that during the conversation, when Audu was asking some questions, Obi rudely hung up on him.

But Onifade said nothing of such happened, adding that Audu’s son spoke with an impostor.

“For the benefit of those who have been hyperventilating all day over the false allegation that Peter Obi dropped a phone call on the son of former Governor Abubakar Audu of Kogi, please note that no call took place between the two this morning.

“The young man was brought to the presence of Peter Obi at the court premises today and he was convinced he spoke with a scammer as Peter Obi was still airborne on his way from London at the time the so-called call was said to have happened. The young Audu apologised profusely,” Onifade said.

Ibrahim Dankwambo, a former Gombe State Governor, has narrated how an ex-governor missed his flight while awaiting his aides to remind him of boarding time.

Speaking at a farewell dinner for 18 outgoing governors in Abuja, Dankwambo said the former governor kept sipping coffee in the departure lounge of a Nigerian airport, not knowing that the plane had taken off.

However, he didn’t name the ex-governor but said the flight he was to Benin, capital of Edo State.

“The former governor who had a flight to catch to Benin City, kept sitting and sipping coffee in the departure lounge of the airport until the plane took off,” he said.

He told the new governors to begin to prepare for retirement from day one

“I urge the incoming governors to begin to prepare for retirement as soon as you are sworn in. As soon as you are sworn in, begin to prepare for your exit by planning your re-election if you are a first-term Governor or retirement if you served the constitutionally allowed two terms.

“Ensure meticulous record keeping of major decisions and policies especially proceedings of the Executive Council. Be prepared for the visits of such institutions like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) who may ask some questions that need answers,” he said.

He also urged outgoing governors to bear with the pressure of friction likely to occur between them and their successors.

Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, said the event which is in its third edition was meant to provide vital information for easy adaptation for both the incoming and outgoing governors through interactions with the former governors.

By Esther Blankson


The President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, have urged the Presidential Election Petition Court to dismiss the application by Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party for a live broadcast of proceedings.

They argued that the relief sought by the applicants are not such that the court could grant it.

“With much respect to the petitioners, the motion is an abuse of the processes of this honourable court,” the respondents stated.

Besides describing the application as frivolous, they said the court is not a soapbox, stadium or theatre where the public should be entertained.

Through their team of lawyers, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, they wondered why a petitioner would file an application to distract the court and waste its precious time.

They stated, in the counter affidavit, that the application relates to policy formulation of the court, which is outside the PEPC’s jurisdiction as constituted.

“The application also touches on the powers and jurisdiction invested in the President of the Court of Appeal by the Constitution, over which this honourable court as presently constituted cannot entertain.

“The application touches on the administrative functions, which are exclusively reserved for the President of the Court of Appeal.

“The application is aimed at dissipating the precious judicial time of this honourable court.

“The said application does not have any bearing with the petition filed by the petitioners before this honourable court.

“It is in the interest of justice for this honourable court to dismiss the said application filed by the petitioners,” they said.

In an attached written address, the respondents faulted the applicants’ reference to the fact that virtual proceedings were allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They argued that Atiku and his party failed to draw the court’s attention to the fact that practice directions were made by the respective courts for the exercise.

“Another angle to this very curious application is the invitation it extends to the court to make an order that it cannot supervise.

“The position of the law remains, and we do submit that the court, like nature, does not make an order in vain, or an order which is incapable of enforcement,” the respondents stated.

More so, they stated that “At the very best, this application is academic, very otiose, very unnecessary, very time-wasting, most unusual and most unexpected, particularly, from a set of petitioners, who should be praying for the expeditious trial of their petition.

“Petitioners have brought their application under Section 36(3) of the Constitution which provides that the proceedings of a court/tribunal shall be held in public.

“The word ‘public’ as applied under Section 36(3) of the Constitution has been defined in a plethora of judicial authorities to mean a place where members of the public have unhindered access, and the court itself, sitting behind open doors, not in the camera.

“Even in situations where a class action is presented, the particular people constituting the class being represented by the plaintiffs or petitioners are always defined in the originating process.

“Here, in this application, the public at whose behest this application has been presented is not defined, not known, not discernable.

“Beyond all these, it is our submission that the court of law must and should always remain what it is, what it should be and what it is expected to be: a serene, disciplined, hallowed, tranquil, honourable and decorous institution and place.

“It is not a rostrum or a soapbox. It is not also a stadium or theatre. It is not an arena for ‘public’ entertainment.

“With much respect to the petitioners, the motion is an abuse of the processes of this honourable court.”

The University of Ibadan, the University of Nigeria, the University of Lagos and the Ahmadu Bello University have been ranked among the best universities in the world according to the Centre for World University Rankings, The PUNCH reports.

A total of 20,531 universities were ranked with 2,000 making the global list according to the list published on the website of the global organisation on Monday.

The University of Ibadan was ranked first in Nigeria and 1,163th position in the global 2,000.

UNN was ranked second in Nigeria and 1,784th position on the global list.

UNILAG was ranked third in Nigeria and 1,875th globally while ABU was ranked fourth nationally and was placed number 1,881 on the global list.

The top five universities in the world according to the ranking are; Havard University, United States; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States; Stanford University, United States; University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Accordingly, the rankings were based on research, employability, faculty and education rank.

Commenting on the national picture, the President of the Center for World University Rankings, Dr Nadin Mahassen said: “While it is encouraging to see Nigeria making gains in the rankings, funding to further promote the development and reputation of Nigeria’s higher education system is vital if the country aspires to be more competitive on the global stage.

Efforts must be made to ensure that Nigeria attracts top academics and students, that increasing enrollment numbers at universities come alongside increases in teaching capacity, and that tertiary education expenditure as a percentage of the national GDP steadily grows in the years to come.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given banks and other financial institutions a 30-day timeline to close accounts without Bank Verification (BVN).

Data from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) showed that 57.39 million customers’ accounts have been linked to their BVNs as at April 8.

A review of the ‘Regulatory Framework for Bank Verification Number (BVN) Operations and Watch-list for the Nigerian Banking Industry’said the move was driven by the demand for effectiveness of Know- Your-Customer (KYC) and Customer’s-Due-Diligence principles, and promotion of more safe, reliable and efficient banking and payment systems.

The policy was also meant to address increasing incidence of frauds and to enhance public confidence in the banking industry and provide a guide for BVN operations and watch-list activities carried out by financial institutions in Nigeria.

As part of the policy implementation plan, the CBN directed banks to link customer’s BVN to related accounts/wallets (except Tier 1).

This requires using the customer’s BVN generated after his/her enrollment to link accounts/wallets to which he or she is a signatory, after validation.

“No new account/wallet shall be allowed to operate without BVN (except inflows), however, any account/wallet without BVN shall be closed within 30 days,” the framework said.

It said delinking of customers’ BVN from accounts/wallets involves removing the BVN of a signatory (except for Directors/Beneficial owners) that is linked to an account/wallet.

The CBN said the BVN shall be delinked upon the approval of the Chief Audit Executive of the customer’s bank.

“This delinking is for corporate or joint accounts and for activities not associated with breaches. Returns on delinked accounts/wallets (except Tier 1) shall be rendered to the Director, Payments System Management Department on a monthly basis,” it said.

Also, “Where there is no linked account, a nil report should be submitted while fraud management is a process aimed at using BVN to deter, prevent, detect and mitigate the risks of fraud in the banking industry,” it added.

A watch-listed individual is barred from entering into new relationship with any bank. The apex bank said that in a situation that a bank chooses to continue business relationship with an account holder on the watch- list, an account holder shall be prohibited from e-channels, issuance of third-party cheques, shall not provide reference to another customer, shall not be allowed to access credit facility or guarantee credit facilities.

Also, individuals shall remain on the watch list for up to 10 years and penalties that applied to such shall apply to their accounts.

“Once a Watch-Listed BVN has served its term on the Watch-List, the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) shall automatically delist the BVN and notify the stakeholders. Where a bank realised that an individual was placed on the watch-list in error, the bank shall apply in writing, with supporting documents to the Director, Risk Management Department of the CBN, for approval to delist,” it said.

The supporting documents shall be duly authorised by the MD/CEO and the Chief Audit Executive of the bank. Upon approval from CBN, the bank shall forward the approval to NIBSS for delisting. Only the institution that placed an individual on the watch-list can request for such delisting.

According to the framework, it is the responsibility of the CBN to conduct oversight on BVN operations and systems, monitor other stakeholders to ensure compliance, issue circulars to regulated institutions on the operations of the Watch-List, review framework for the operations of the Watch-List, as the need arises and apply appropriate sanctions for non-compliance with the Regulatory Framework.

The NIBSS is expected to collaborate with other stakeholders to develop and review the Standard Operating Guidelines of the BVN, initiate review of Guidelines, as the need arises, subject to the approval of the CBN, ensure seamless operations of the BVN system, maintain the BVN database, ensure adequate security of the BVN information; an maintain an on-line real-time Watch-list Portal.

As part of the efforts to build bridges and ward off the incessant attacks on the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, by the former Deputy National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, the loyalists of the former Lagos State governor yesterday visited George in his Lugard Road, Ikoyi office to solicit support for the incoming President of Nigeria.

George, a fierce critic of Tinubu, had vowed to go into exile if the former Lagos State governor who was the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged as Nigeria’s president in the 2023 general election.“I have not changed my mind, if he (Tinubu) is the president I will go.

“If Tinubu wins, by that time I will be 80 years old. What am I doing here? I will wish you people well,” George had told ARISE NEWS Channel in November 2022.Speaking after Tinubu was declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election, the PDP chieftain said although he was yet to decide on his destination, his self-imposed exile remains in the works.

George added that he plans to retire to “anywhere in any part of the world” because Tinubu’s victory “might be a hell of a problem.”“That is still on my plan. If I decide on what to do, I wish you well. I’m not looking for a job, I have everything I want and how much can I eat? I also have my children and they are no longer kids,” he said.

“They are all mature so what am I looking for? My wife is there. She will take good care of me. I will stay in Nigeria depending on the outcome of this (post-election litigation) because I know there might be a hell of a problem.

“You know I am a military lord so I can go anywhere in any part of the world and I will be looking at you people.“I have even decided that having put 25 years each in the military and politics which is 50 years of my life in the public domain, I need rest so whatever I see at the end of this thing. I’m retiring from partisan politics and will be enjoying the rest of my life.”

But in an apparent move to ward off further criticism, Tinubu’s loyalists and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos yesterday met with George. The delegation was led by the chairman of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC), the foremost political platform in the state, Prince Tajudeen Olusi. The GAC is an influential group comprising critical stakeholders of the APC in Lagos State.It determines who gets what in Lagos politics.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who was supposed to be part of the delegation could not make it for undisclosed reasons. Also on the delegation is the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs and former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Adoke Orelope-Adefulire. Though the meeting was closed-door, THISDAY was reliably informed that the APC leaders were seeking George’s support for Tinubu as he assumes power on May 29.

It was also gathered that the APC leaders were mounting pressure on George to cease further media attacks on Tinubu. At the meeting, George said that he was happy that the delegation visited him and insisted that he had nothing personal against Tinubu. Accompanied by former Deputy Governor, Mrs. Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor, and Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (rtd), among others, George, however, made it clear that because of his position and membership of an opposition party, he would not congratulate Tinubu until after litigations related to the election are concluded.

George who expressed appreciation to the delegation, admitted that “we had detailed discussions on the unity of this great state of Lagos. I must say we established the fact that the culture of Lagos is to accept and accommodate all kinds of people and tribes. And if you get to Lagos State, there is no known tribe in Nigeria that does not reside here. That’s what makes Lagos the commercial nerve centre of the whole of West Africa.“Secondly, on the details of us working together, because a divided house cannot stand, we will work together on this. And I’ve said I have absolutely nothing personal between me and Tinubu,” George added.

The Presidency has said it was unaware of the purported decision of President Muhammadu Buhari granting study leave to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said this while reacting to inquiries from Daily Trust on Sunday.

He said his position as reported by another national paper on Saturday morning had not changed.

The presidential spokesman had earlier said: “If the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has been granted study leave supposedly by President Muhammadu Buhari, this is unknown to us.

“It is also unknown to the President’s secretariat headed by the Chief of Staff.”

An online news medium, SaharaReporters, had said the CBN Governor had been granted study leave by President Buhari to flee Nigeria before the inauguration of the president-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on May 29.

It added that the opportunity for Emefiele to flee the country before Buhari leaves office comes amid corruption and terrorism-financing allegations against him.

The online news medium said the country’s secret police, the Department of State Services, which made futile attempts to arrest and detain Emefiele in the past over the damning allegations against him, was not happy about the prospect of seeing the CBN governor evade justice.

Emefiele who made attempt to secure the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, was accused by Tinubu of introducing the Naira redesign and cashless policy through the CBN to sabotage his presidential ambition.

Ahead of next month’s inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, there are indications that two governors and a sitting principal officer deliberately arm-twisted the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone and micro-zone leadership positions in the Senate and the House of Representatives to their preferred candidates.

On Monday, May 8, rising from an NWC meeting, APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, told the media that the party zoned the office of the new Senate President to the South South (Senator Godswill Akpabio), deputy to the North West (Senator Barau Jibrin), the new Speaker to North West (Tajudeen Abbas) and deputy to South East (Benjamin Kalu).

Saturday Sun gathered in Abuja, yesterday, that the governors played a role in getting their candidates nominated for the positions “perhaps to compensate for their efforts before during and after the presidential election. The principal officer, who may likely not come back to the chamber, also played a significant role in influencing the list of the proposed principal officers for the House of Representatives. He ensured only his candidates were considered.

“For instance, when it came to the deputy speaker position, during several meetings convened to consider a southern candidate for the position, there were pleas that the South East should be considered.

“When that plea scaled through, based on the principle of inclusion, the principal officer insisted it must come from a particular state and a particular member. This same principal officer made sure other qualified aspirants from the South East were not considered. In fact, it got to a level when it became personal, whipped up bogus academic qualifications for his candidate and derided the status of any other candidate who was being considered for the deputy speaker position.

“The arguments became so heated that he was accused of favouring a particular candidate from the South East for the position so as to jettison the chances of Senator Orji Kalu from contesting the leadership position in the 10th Senate.”

Saturday Sun also gathered that, although the APC has promised to address agitations against the zoning and micro-zoning of the leadership positions, four members of the speakership aspirants in the House of Representatives, known as G7, have vowed to “take matters into our hands on Inauguration Day. If the party refuses to review the zoning of leadership positions in the House, in a way and manner that is acceptable to members, they should be prepared for a re-enactment§ of the ‘Dogara and Tambuwal’ scenario.”

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of dissent from leadership aspirants in both chambers, a highly-placed party source disclosed that the APC National Working Committee (NWC) met this week “to review the rejected zoning formula, having taken the protests into consideration and they are coming up with a new report. The report would be reviewed by party leaders before it would be released.”

Asked when the report would be ready, he simply replied: “All I know is that the NWC has met on the protests from those aspiring to leadership positions in the Senate and the House of Reps. They met this week and have reviewed the zoning list they released earlier. You know the President-elect is not in the country. But I can assure you that the report would be ready and presented to him when he returns. It is only after that has been agreed upon that all the aspirants would be invited and they would know the new zoning arrangement before it is released to the public.”

Telecommunications Operators in Nigeria say they have been granted approval by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to disconnect banks over N120 billion Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, USSD, debt.

This was made known in a statement signed by Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, on Friday in Lagos.

He said that Mobile Network Operators, MNOs, would disconnect banks if they failed to pay the debt owed.

Mr Adebayo said that the approval was granted because in spite of the multi-party stakeholder efforts to resolve the situation and prevent any impact on services, banks continued to incur greater debt, without making the commensurate payments.

He said members of the public would recall that MNOs and banks had protracted disagreements concerning the appropriate USSD pricing model for financial transactions, transparency of charges, mode of collection and liability for payment of the outstanding and continuous service fees due to the MNOs.

“Due to the inability of MNOs and banks to reach an agreement on the issues, MNOs in 2021 sought to disconnect banks due to the unpaid debts which stood at N42 billion as at that time.

“However, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, intervened and asked the MNOs not to disconnect banks as the action will negatively impact on the digital and financial inclusion policy of the Federal Government.

“Unfortunately, the patriotic intervention of the minister and the NCC have been taken for granted by the banks, as two years after, the banks have failed to sign a final agreement,” he said.

Mr Adebayo noted that It was pertinent to note that the contract between MNOs and banks on the use of USSDs for banking transactions was strictly commercial and MNOs were at liberty to withdraw the services if the transaction was unprofitable to them.

He noted that MNOs have invested billions of naira in expanding their systems to accommodate the USSD needs of banks over the years.

Mr Adebayo said this had resulted in more Nigerians having access to banking services in addition to enabling banks to trim down costs by requiring less branches to service their growing customers.

He said that unfortunately, MNOs were not getting paid for their services and the debt that stood at N42 billion in 2021 had now risen to over N120 billion.

“It is obvious that the level of debt is unsustainable given the time or value of the huge cost of the continuous upgrade, operation of the systems and infrastructure dedicated to supporting USSD transactions of banks.

“In view of the foregoing, unless banks meet their debt obligations, MNOs will disconnect all banks indebted to them for USSD services rendered,” Mr Adebayo said.