₦airaland Forum

YorubaDemonswag:
This people won't even make any noise over their achievement,God bless arewa nation


God bless great Yoruba nation and all Yoruba demom with swag

Grasshopper is a tropical insect which feeds on plants and other grasses in tropical and semi-arid regions which favours its existence. Over the years, this insect has become a tasty delicacy/snack consumed in Katsina and other parts of northern Nigeria and beyond. Daily Trust on Sunday spotlights this tasty snack.

Grasshopper, which undoubtedly poses great danger to farmers, especially in its swarm, as it devours plants and other crops, is seen as a goldmine for some, as it is a sought-after commodity for residents of Katsina and other places. Young men and women pick, process, fry and sell it as a tasty delicacy.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that residents take advantage of the abundance of grasshoppers in Katsina State to run a lucrative business for domestic consumption as well as for export to make ends meet.

In addition to its great taste, grasshopper also has some nutritional value according to a nutritionist, Fatima Maikaita.

“For those who cannot afford meat or fish, grasshopper is a good replacement because it has a lot of nutrients. It is part of protein diet,” she said.

Many believe that grasshopper tastes great when prepared well with ingredients as asserted by Hussaini Musa, after tasting the delicacy.

“Wow! This grasshopper tastes good! Let me tell you something you may not know. At times, some people are asked to avoid meat by doctors, especially those that have gout or uric acid. But such patients could take grasshopper without any problem, while deriving the same satisfaction.

“Considering the harsh economic situation in Nigeria today, many families, even well-to-do ones, now prefer grasshopper to chicken and beef. The secret is for you to find out,” he said.

There are over one million youths within the value chain of grasshopper business from supply to processing, distribution and so on. Those selling the product in Katsina are cashing out on a daily basis.

Abdul Hassan is physically challenged but has quit begging to start processing and selling fried grasshopper at several spots in Katsina city. Hassan is happy with the business.

“I am fully satisfied with this business. From it I bought houses, plots of land, got married, pay my children’s school fees and above all, I’m now an employer of labour.

Abdul Hassan is not only self-reliant now but has employed over 40 youths who work under him and from the business they pay school fees and meet other basic necessities.

These grasshoppers are not only consumed in Katsina but in other places like Kano, Kaduna, Abuja, Lagos and other cities in Nigeria.

Beyond that, thousands of bags of grasshoppers delivered to Katsina from Niger Republic and nearby bushes around Katsina are processed for export to England, America, Saudi Arabia and other African countries such as Cameroon, Ghana and Central Africa Republic.

Another young man who is into the grasshopper processing and selling business, Abubakar Abdulaziz, said “I have over 17 people working under me and we sell from N50, N100, N200, N500, N1000 up to N20, 000 and N50, 000 worth of the processed delicacy to customers.

“In fact, I have some merchants who buy and send it to their customers in Europe, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, USA and other countries.

As the business booms by the day, stakeholders decried high cost of vegetable oil and other ingredients as their major constraints, calling on the government to assist them at least with empowerment, in order for them not to be self-reliant only, but to employ more people, thereby helping the government to keep a lot of jobless youths off the streets.

MDBAKP:
B4 kor. Very soon you go know say nor be only you get kpekus. Dem nor dey tell deaf say people dey run b4 she dey tulee.

The federal government is meticulously pursing its refinery rehabilitation deal with Saudi Arabia despite fears expressed by some analysts with industry knowledge.

The deals included a pledge by Saudi officials to fix Nigeria’s four broken oil refineries, which haven’t worked in years, forcing the country to import all of its fuel.

The federal government say it will finalise the details of the deal with Saudi Arabia within six months as many doubt the positive outcome of the agreement.

A report published by VOA, quoted Emmanuel Afimia, founder of Enermics, a Lagos based oil and gas consulting firm, as being skeptical about the success of the deal.

“This administration is showing a reasonable level of political will to make things happen. I’ll most definitely like to wait until the technical details of this deal comes out but from where I’m looking at it, I don’t think it’s gonna be possible,” he said.

If the refineries functioned, Nigeria could process around 450,000 barrels of crude oil into fuel every day.

However, Nigerian experts are hopeful that deals reached last week with Saudi Arabia will boost local oil production and help grow the economy.

The agreements between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia were made on the sidelines of the first ever Saudi-Africa summit held in Riyadh last week.

President Bola Tinubu met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman as part of his government’s efforts to attract investors, in a bid to reverse Nigeria’s economic slide.

Saudi officials pledged to fix Nigeria’s four refineries, located in Rivers, Delta and Kaduna states. None of the refineries have worked in years, forcing the country to rely on imports for fuel despite producing more than a million barrels of crude oil per day.

Fixing the refineries is expected to take about two years, according to a government official who spoke to journalists after last week’s agreement.

Saudi Arabia also pledged to deposit huge sums of foreign exchange to boost Nigeria’s dwindling reserves worsened by the government’s floating of the national currency in June in a bid to unify the exchange rate system.

Faith Nwadishi, the executive director of the Center for Transparency Advocacy in Abuja, welcomes the Saudi deal.

“Considering the success that Saudi Arabia has made with their refineries and the natural resource that they have, one thing this will be able to achieve is to help Nigeria meet its production quota, help Nigeria resolve some of the conflicts around this issue of subsidy and non-operationalisation of the four refineries that we have,” said Nwadishi.

Upon taking office in May, President Tinubu embarked on bold economic reforms including scrapping of the popular but expensive fuel subsidy, in a bid to decrease debt and attract more investments.

Fuel prices since then have soared, lending urgency to the need for domestic fuel production.

President Bola Tinubu has scrapped a decades long government-funded subsidy, leading to long lines at fuel stations as drivers scrambled to stock up before costs rise.

Nwadishi said the government first needs to be careful and subject the Saudi agreement to public scrutiny.

“What are the terms? Will government be willing to make these terms available to Nigerians so that we can really look and be able to assess them very objectively? What is it that we’re giving away? Are we giving over the entire management of our refineries to Saudi Arabia or they’re coming to give us technical assistance? Right now, it’s not very clear what the terms are,” she said.

Governors will henceforth draw their security votes from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The development followed the agreement reached earlier in the year between the 36 governors and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

With the agreement, the governments in the states were mandated to open dedicated accounts for their governors’ security votes with the apex bank.

The opening of such accounts will enable the NFIU to monitor cash withdrawals for security purposes by the governors.

Prior to the NFIU January 5, 2023 directive, banning cash withdrawals from public accounts, governors were getting their security votes from the monthly subventions from Federal Accounts Allocation Committees (FAAC).

But, the states were forced to steer away from commercial bank channels by the NFIU.

A source at the NFIU told The Nation: “Under this arrangement, states governments have established accounts with the CBN specifically designated for their security votes.

“The rationale behind this decision, the NFIU official said is to facilitate fast and easy access to funds during security exigencies.”

State authorities have argued that denying them access to cash from their security votes in times of crises could hold them unduly accountable for any security lapses within their jurisdictions.

The consensus among state governments has led to compliance with the directives against cash withdrawals, aligning with the Federal Government’s preference for non-cash dealings.

However, challenges persist, primarily rooted in certain state governments’ insistence on retaining cash reserves to tackle pressing security issues. Despite this, the NFIU will ensure oversight and monitoring mechanisms are in place for these funds.

Addressing concerns over the withholding of cash palliative meant to cushion the impact of subsidy removal, the NFIU official emphasized that investigating such actions falls within the purview of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

The high-ranking NFIU official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, highlighted the protocol for initiating investigations into such cases, noting that the EFCC or ICPC would need to request pertinent details from the NFIU before any probe commences.

Amid mounting concerns from Nigerians, regarding alleged withholding of cash palliatives, the NFIU’s recent statement has underscored the critical need for transparency and accountability in managing public funds.

In January, the NFIU imposed a ban on cash withdrawals from all public accounts held in banks across federation, state, and local government levels.

The decision was prompted by the alarming rate at which cash was being withdrawn from these accounts, often in contravention of anti-money laundering laws and for potentially corrupt purposes.

From 2015, until the imposition of the ban in January, state governments withdrew approximately N701 billion from their respective accounts.

The Federal Government bodies and local government council authorities respectively withdrew N225 billion and over N156 billion in cash, during the same period.

The federal government granted state governments a grace period, till April 15, 2023, to withdraw cash for security votes only.

The NFIU granted the extension to the state governments after intense negotiations.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Mr. Wale Edun said the source of the cash palliative fund is “a blend of grant to and borrowing by the state governments”.

The minister said: “On the issue of the N5 billion, it’s a combination of grant from the federal government and borrowing by the states. Though the sum of N5 billion is the amount, you will agree with me that to release such fund at once across all the states will be self-defeating because it could lead to an inflationary spiral, exchange rate changing.

“So, it is two billion naira that has been released as an initial intervention and the FCT will be included” he said..”

Since the cash was released in August, many state governors have remained silent on what they have done with the money.

Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke admitted that he had not spend anything out of the money, despite the urgent need to alleviate the sufferings of the people because of the pain of petrol subsidy withdrawal.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria has been selected by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League as part of a special delegation mandated to initiate immediate international action to halt the ongoing war in Gaza.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, in a statement said the message was communicated to Nigeria by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja.

Tuggar said the the decision was taken in furtherance to the resolution adopted at the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people, which took place in Riyadh on Saturday.

According to the minister, the resolution that bears Nigeria in the inclusion in the peace team states the following:

“Assign the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in its capacity as the presidency of the 32nd Arab and Islamic Summit, along with counterparts from Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Palestine.

“Any other interested countries, and the Secretary-General of both organizations to initiate immediate international action on behalf of all member states of the OIC and the Arab League to formulate an international move to halt the war in Gaza.

”To pressure for a real and serious political process to achieve permanent and comprehensive peace in accordance with established international references.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria was invited for the emergency joint Arab-Islamic summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss the war taking place in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories.

At the summit, Tuggar said Nigeria stood firmly with the two states solution prescribed by the UN to help bring a stop to the Israeli, Palastinian war.

Tuggar said Nigeria was ready to work collectively to bring and end to the violence and find lasting solutions to the war.

According to him, Nigeria welcomes the intervention by the OIC to emphatically add it’s voice to the call for an end to the violence and loss of lives of innocent civilians.

Tuggar said the disproportionate use of force against the people of Gaza begs the question “how many more must die to avenge the act of aggressor.”

He said the war against the people of Gaza cannot be contemplated in the same breath of the “Just War Doctrine” and has to stop for the sake of humanity.

“Where is the rule of law.

“Today live in a dated driven world, and the question is where is the evidence that the violence melted out by Israel on Gaza is having any effect on Hamas.” (NAN)