Kingsley Aondona, one of the 20 medical and dental students and a House Officer kidnapped by gunmen in Benue State, has cried out for help from kidnappers' den.
The student posted on his social media page:
We were kidnapped on our way to Enugu for a convention @Nigerian_Doctor there are requesting for 50 million for 20 of us medical students please help us and we haven't eaten for two days 08163420157- pius that is who we are gathering the money with
Nigerians dig up old pictures of Bashir Hadejia, one of the alleged "major sponsors" of #EndBadGovernance protest, hours after he was arrested for traason, subversive activities, gun-running and transnational crimes.
Bashir Hadejia was a special assistant to Bello Matawalle when he was governor.
In some videos circulatting online last month, Bandit kingpin, Bello Turji, insisted that the current Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, is sponsoring terrorism in the North-West
Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye, a Nigerian cyclist who recently represented the country at the Paris Olympics, has revealed that athletes in the country are denied access to sports facilities in the country for training by the relevant authorities.
The cyclist who spoke after the global sporting event said her country has one of the best facilities for cycling but it is always being rented out for religious events by sports administrators in the country.
Ukpeseraye emphasised that the continued misuse of the velodrome would lead to the extinction of cycling in Nigeria because of the lack of opportunities to train.
She said: "We have a very beautiful track; our track is the best in Africa, but we don't use it. They don't permit us to use it.
"One of the most expensive sports venues in the world is in Nigeria, which has a beautiful wooden velodrome. But since it's rented out for religious services and other activities for most of the year, bikers are not permitted to train there," she told cyclingnews.com
Eze Ukpesereye had earlier revealed that she borrowed a bike to compete at the Keirin Sprint event in the ongoing Olympics via her post on social media.
This situation generated a backlash from Nigerians who accused those in authority of incompetence.
But in a long statement issued on social media, the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John said Ese was misunderstood.
He had written, “My attention has been called to a post on social media by Ese Ukpeseraye. After reading the post and some follow up comments I swung into action.
“Ese's post seems to have been grossly misunderstood, perhaps also because it didn't seem to give proper context to the matter in perspective. It is important I make some clarifications.
“Abinitio, Team Nigeria qualified for one road race in cycling and prepared for it in terms of training and the appropriate competition equipment. Team Nigeria was fully prepared for this road race until two weeks ago after the Cycling team with the rest of Team Nigeria had already left for the Olympics, that a communication from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) was received reallocating additional slots to the Cyclist Federation of Nigeria (Kerin and individual sprint).
“This reallocation to Nigeria was due to the disqualification of a country, leaving Nigeria as the next eligible to make the list of qualified countries to compete. Unfortunately, this additional slot required the use of a different competition equipment in terms of biking.”
The Nigeria electricity trading is changing from a perceived single-buyer to a bilateral trading framework.
In simple english, NBET (read as govt) has initiate a gradual and quick plan to exit the market and allow independent players to operate.
THREAD!!!
Based on the diagram you saw above, the industry is operated by various contract across all levels.
The contract in red are not fully effective because of one reason or the other.
It is good for us to know where we are now, where we want to be in the immediate future and our plan for the long term future.
This is a demonstration of how trading and contract is currently being operated in the market.
@NERCNG is pushing the market to a bilateral trading in the next 60 days where GenCos will begin to trade directly with DisCos eliminating NBET as the Govt agent.
Based on the below table, NBET will only supply c. 35% of energy while GenCos and DisCos should trade between them the remaining 65%
This is how the market would be based on the above regulatory Order.
Considering NBET would still hold about 35% of the contracted capacity for DisCos based on the July MYTO Order, the market will witness significant deviation in terms of electricity availability.
If this gradual process proved to be working, NBET will totally exit the market making the structure be like:
Look at the representation of all the 3 contractual trading framework below:
We are in option A.
We want to change to option B in the next 60 days.
If option B proves to be working, we move to option C.
In simple english, bilateral trading means...
Ikeja DisCo buying power from Egbin Power Plant
Kaduna Electric buying power from Kainji Dam
PH Disco buying power from Geregu Power Plant
All of these transactions is direct without the interference of NBET......
How does that affect me or you?
1. If this is implemented, it means the DisCo serving you should secure contract with any GenCo available or else, risk losing almost 60% of the supply in the DisCo coverage area. E.g Yola would get 50MW from NBET while the remaining 63MW
must come from a GenCo or else the entire states under Yola DisCo would have to manage 50MW.🤷♂️
2. This would either be absolutely good for you or totally bad for you depending on how the DisCo under your coverage area performs. For example, Abuja need to seek a bilateral contract of energy totalling 449MW which is more than 70% of its energy supply.
Let us do some minor calculation considering the indices below for AEDC:
NB: This is for May 2024
You need 449MW from a GenCo.
Generation cost is N87.33/Kwh Transmission Cost is N8.9/Kwh Total Cost of power is N96.23/Kwh
449MW x 1000 = 449,000 Kwh
449,000 * N96.23 = N43 million per hour
If customers under AEDC consumes 449MW every day for at least, let's say 23 days The total cost of power would be N43m * 24 hours * 23 days which is equivalent to N23.8 billion naira ONLY as cost of power.
This N23 billion is excluding opex cost (fixed & variable), depreciation and return on investment.
I considered 23 days because there are failures. You can have light for 72 hours straight and go blackout for another 10 hours.
Also, the reason why you saw that cost of power is around N96/Kwh is because its grid power, which is cheaper because of economies of scale.
Trading bilateral between GenCos and DisCos would definitely increase the cost because the GenCo has to recover his cost in full from the offtaker.
The average selling price based on the data above is N156.9, which would make your total revenue to be N38b for that month. Remember there are cost which I did not factor like Opex, Depreciation and ROI which can be up to N10 billion or more because of the complexity, manpower, operations & Maintenance of DisCos activities.
SP of N156/Kwh is realistic average than using band A or band B-E prices.
This mathematics is just based on the 70% of AEDC energy supply.
Fun fact - AEDC never collected up to N20 billion from customers prior to increasing band A tariff, highest is in March 2024 totalling N16.7b based on 100% energy supplied NOT the 70% that I just did.
After adjusting tariff for band A, they have collect around N22 billion in May 2024, leaving around N5b on the table as collection losses (bad debt).
DisCos like Kano Electricity collected N6.8 billion from customers leaving N6.4 billion as losses for the month. check others:
Why am I doing all this calculations?
Simple, it is just to tell you that the DisCos cannot afford to make those losses any longer and if they do, Government is not around to carry the liability hence, GenCos would cut them off immediately rendering you in darkness.
In trading bilateral, every single Kwh of energy consumed must be paid for, either by the customer or from the DisCo's purse. Payment default is not possible because 80% of the GenCos are using gas and if they default, gas companies would cut them off.
This is part of the reason why before you secure a contract, you must provide a bank guarantee (BG).
Getting bank guarantee is one of the difficult things all the DisCos are battling because of poor financial position. Most, if not all, are finding it hard to secure a BG. NERC will fully support them recover generation cost to avoid payment default.
It means those customers on average N60/Kwh may likely witness an increase sooner rather than later.
The post is already too long but let me summarise the two (2) kind of contract currently in the industry:
1. Take-and-pay 2. Take-or-pay
Take-and-pay is what is in effect for most GenCos and DisCos and NERC has advised all the participant to prepare shifting from Take-and-pay to Take-or-pay fully.
Take-and-pay it means you can only pay for the light that is generated and delivered to you as a DisCo.
Take-or-pay means either GenCo provide you with light or he pay damages for failing to do so, and if the GenCo provides the light, the DisCos must consume the light or risk paying damages to the GenCos for inability to consume the power generated.
It is a close-ended system, every player must perform or risk being punished.
The Federal government through the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has announced the deployment of 10,000 agro rangers across the country.
This is in a move to curtail insecurity across the food producing belt of the country which has negatively impact food production across the country in recent times.
The Special Assistant to President Tinubu on New Media, Olusegun Dada disclosed this in a post on his official social media handle.
According to the statement, the agro-rangers initiative is a partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) noting that agro rangers will help protect farmers against malicious destruction of farmlands as well as farmer herder conflict.
The post reads, “As part of ongoing efforts to enhance food security in the Northern region and other parts of the country, the FG through the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps(NSCDC) has deployed over 10,000 Agro Rangers across 19 states and the FCT.”
“The Agro Rangers will, among other things; safeguard farmlands and protect farmers from escalating attacks, mediate conflicts between farmers and herders, and prevent malicious destruction of farmlands. While the food inflation crisis in the country is a function of many factors, insecurity has been a long term challenge and this collaboration between the NSCDC and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is expected to solve a major challenge faced by farmers across the country.”
Backstory The deployment of agro-rangers stems from earlier plans by the federal government through the National Economic Council (NEC) in February this year to establish agro-rangers as a short-term solution to the insecurity in the country pending when the long-term solution of state police is achieved.
Widespread insecurity, particularly in the northern region, has forced many farmers to abandon their lands, resulting in a significant decrease in food production and contributing to the rising food prices nationwide. Just last week, attacks on farming communities in Benue State, known as the nation’s food basket, led to the tragic deaths of over 20 people.
As of July 2024, food inflation has surged to 40.87%. In response, the federal government has floated the idea of establishing state police forces. However, this proposal cannot be implemented through executive orders or solely by an act of parliament from the National Assembly, even though the bill to create state police has already passed its second reading in the legislature.
The Brazilian airline Voepass has confirmed that a plane carrying 62 people crashed in Vinhedo, near the city of Sao Paulo.
In a statement on Friday, the airline said it had no information about the fate of those on board, but Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said it appears that all passengers are presumed to be dead, without offering further details.
“Very sad news,” he said in a social media post. “All my solidarity to the families and friends of the victims.”
The Brazilian airport authority has yet to confirm details of the incident, but the news outlet Globo shared images of the flaming wreckage of the plane in the state of Sao Paulo. The airline said the flight had 58 passengers and four crew on board.
Firefighters, military police, and the country’s civil defence authority have despatched workers to the site of the crash.
“The general director of the Federal Police, Andrei Passos, reported that an investigation and forensics team, with experts in identifying disaster victims,” Globo reported. The outlet also said Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas is traveling to the site of the crash.
The air traffic tracker Flightradar24 said in a social media post that the aircraft was a ATR72-500 built in 2010 and was en route to Sao Paulo from the Cascavel airport in the southern state of Parana.
Germany's Yemisi Ogunleye claims stunning victory in women’s shot put
Germany's Yemisi Ogunleye let the shot put fly at Stade de France, claiming victory in the women’s shot put at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Friday, 9 August.
Her throw of 20.00m was enough to claim a thrilling gold, with New Zealand's Maddison-Lee Wesche earning a silver medal after throwing 19.86m.
Song Jiayuan of the People's Republic of China left Stade de France with the bronze medal throwing 19.32m.
Bismarck Rewane, an economist and the Executive Director of Financial Derivatives, has said the prices of tomatoes and pepper dropped to N60,000 per basket amid the hunger protests.
Rewane, who is also a member of the Presidential Economic Coordination Council, disclosed this on Thursday in an interview with Channels Television.
According to him, the drop represents a significant price reduction when compared to the N130,000 to N150,000 a basket of tomatoes and pepper sold two to three weeks ago.
He, however, noted that the food items were sold out at perishable value.
According to him, the prices of tomatoes and pepper may increase again as business activities return to normalcy in Nigerian markets post-protests.
“Our team went into the market Yesterday (Wednesday), percent drop in the price of tomatoes to down to N60,000 per basket, the price was bold two to three weeks ago.
“Pepper has come down to N60,000 by 57 percent. I think that these are perishable goods. Because of the protests and the restrictions on movement, the goods that are on the farm are not getting to market and the ones in the market are being sold off.
“What I think will happen is that in the next few days, the price of tomatoes and peppers will increase again. Right now it is the perishable value that will be seen in the market,” he said.
Recall that in the past week, protesters had taken to the streets in major Nigerian cities, demonstrating against the rising cost of living in the country.
Music/Radio › Re: Life & Times Of Jim Reeves(August 20, 1923 – July 31, 1964); by nlfpmod(mod): 9:40pm On Aug 18, 2024
