₦airaland Forum

dre11:
20 Nigerian Crude Oil Ships Stranded In International Market Over Reduced Demands In France, Spain, India, Others



https://saharareporters.com/2023/04/04/20-nigerian-crude-oil-ships-stranded-international-market-over-reduced-demands-france

The Federal Government says President Muhammadu Buhari has delivered on his pledge to leave behind a legacy of free, fair and credible elections in the conduct of 2023 polls.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this in Washington DC during his official engagements with some international media organisations.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the minister is in Washington to engage with international media organisations and Think tanks on the just-concluded 2023 polls.

NAN also reports that the minister has so far engaged respectively with the “Washington Post”, Voice of America, Associated Press and Foreign Policy Magazine.

The minister said in fulfilment of the President’s pledge to restore sanity into the electoral process, he resolved that he would not confer special advantage on any political party, including the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) during the election.

He said during the past elections, the President ensured that nobody used the security agencies to rig the election in his favour but created a level-playing ground for the elections to take place.

“A proof of this resolution is that the President’s party lost the presidential election in Katsina, his home state.

“Equally, the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, lost in his state, Lagos, while the Chairman of the Party, Abdulahi Adamu, lost in Nasarawa State to the Labour Party.

“The Director-General of the Campaign Organisation of our party also lost to PDP in Plateau State.

“Nothing gives this elections more credence than those facts because there was no rigging in states where our big wigs come from,” he said.

The minister added that APC lost in the four states with the highest number of votes in the elections – Katsina, Kano, Kaduna and Lagos even when they were the ruling party’s controlled states.

Mohammed said the allegations of fraud being bandied by the opposition and naysayers did not add up.

According to the minister, the controversy was generated because of the inability of INEC to upload the results of the Presidential election real time.

Happycharles:
I think twitter is gradually turning into another thing, with the rate of fake news and insults peddled on twitter.

Share your toxic experience with twitter.

Kingsmeal:
Labour Party's Performance Showed Youths Are Tired Of Those In Power— APC’s Sen. Ndume




https://www.channelstv.com/2023/04/02/lps-performance-showed-youths-are-tired-of-those-in-power-apcs-ndume/

To say that it is ‘appalling and disheartening’ that Nigeria’s power sector is yet to witness the needed improvement for greater impact on the people and the economy despite the huge amount of money sunk into it by successive governments is an understatement.

That, however, was how the Executive Chairman, Board of Directors, Geregu Power Plc, Mr Femi Otedola described the state of the power sector during the week.

Otedola who though, who acknowledged that the sector has its challenges, noted however that, they are surmountable problems. The major problem he pointed out, is transmission and everyone wonders as he did, why it has seemed impossible for successive governments to fix the issue of transmission.

Baring his mind on the sector while speaking at the “Closing Gong ceremony” and commemoration of the first Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) in Lagos, Otedola revealed the hard truth that if the power sector was well organised it would be cheaper and have a lot of positive impact on the manufacturing sector as well as the entire economy of the country.

“The power sector has a lot of problems but they’re surmountable problems. It’s a matter of leadership in the country and willpower. If power is well organised, it’s even cheaper.

“We will get there, it’s a matter of time.”

The business mogul queried why it’s difficult for the country to improve on the amount of power it generates when an individual like Aliko Dangote, has built 2000 megawatts for his plants. “Aliko, an individual has built 2000 megawatts of power for cement, fertilizer plants and refinery. And the country where I was born, has only 5000 megawatts. “So it’s appalling and disheartening that all the successive governments have failed in this regard but I believe we are now at the stage where the power sector will get a lot of attention and priority. We have new plants still sitting idle that the government built years ago and the real problem is transmission, there is a need to look in this direction,” he said.

He further said that Geregu was taking necessary steps to expand its capacity to deliver improved performance and maximise shareholders’ wealth, stressing that the challenges in the sector could be tackled if the government sets its priority right. For starters, he believes that the best way would be the engagement of investors in the sector.

“Any government that thinks well will look for entrepreneurs in this sector that have committed so much capital and time and let them sort out the problem.

“If the government then did not invite Aliko to build a cement factory and create an enabling environment, today we’ll still be importing cement.”

While celebrating Geregu’s achievements on its first anniversary as a listed company, Otedola emphasised that for any company to sustain its wealth, there was a need for it to be listed on the stock exchange.

“To sustain wealth, you need to list your company on the stock exchange”, he stated, adding, “We’ve come with a lot of firsts; the first power company to list on the Exchange, the first power company to embark on an aggressive 300 % expansion drive; the first company to release its results on the stock market.”

In a related development, Doron Grupper, a director of the power holding company, who is satisfied with the achievements of the power company so far, disclosed that Geregu boasts of professionals and good management to increase its capacity. “I’ve been with Geregu for years now since we started the power station. I think this power station according to my experience, works on natural gas. We have a great team of professionals, and good management to increase our capacity.

“We are producing today, 450 megawatts but we have the potential for the next two years to increase to 1300 megawatts. We have the money, and we have the people but we need the assistance of the government of Nigeria to solve some problems with the gas issues.

“We have a huge potential to increase and to contribute to Nigeria in the power sector and to increase the quantities and capacity of electricity to the people of Nigeria.”

Grupper who spoke to Arise, TV correspondent, on the sideline of the NGX event on Tuesday, stated that the gas challenges have to do with the price of gas which he noted, is still low so there’s a need to increase it. The challenges also have to do with the quantity of gas and, “the pressure of the pipeline; we need to increase it. These are the three main issues that the government need to take care of and to assist us to increase the capacity.”

“I hope that in the near future, we will come into a new era of electricity here in Nigeria,” he added.

On how much investments have been put in Geregu, he said, “When we bought the power station back in 2015 we produced 113 megawatts. We made a major overhaul to get to 450. Now, we are doing a major overhaul again…more than 250 million dollars altogether.”

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has challenged the Department of State Services (DSS) to disclose identities of those planning to instal an interim government.

On Wednesday, the secret police, in a statement by its spokesman, Dr. Peter Afunaya, said it had confirmed a plot by some key players to install an interim government and stop the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu from being inaugurated on May 29.

The DSS said the plot includes embarking on violent protests nationwide to engineer the declaration of a state of emergency as well as securing frivolous court injunctions to stall the inauguration.

But Atiku, in a statement by his media aide, Timi Frank, alleged that the alarm of a plot to prevent Tinubu from being sworn in as president was a calculated move to arrest the PDP presidential candidate and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and clampdown on protesters before May 29.

“The DSS’ purported intelligence is fake. It is a plot to crackdown on protesters and arrest opposition political leaders before May 29,” he said.

“We have credible information that the DSS issued the statement in preparation for its planned disruption of ongoing protest by Nigerians who are demonstrating peacefully to demand justice and the restoration of their stolen mandate.

“Where was their intelligence when the Independent National Electoral Commission and Mahmood Yakubu were compromised to rig the 2023 general election?,” he asked.

He contended “Nigerians have been under siege by bandits, kidnappers and terrorists for a long time now, but the DSS never gave intelligence to foil kidnapping, heinous attacks, maiming and killing of innocent Nigerians.

“The only time you see the DSS coming up to talk about intelligence is whenever Nigerians are preparing to either protest against obnoxious government policies, rules, human rights abuses or carrying out lawful political activities.

“The DSS must stop this method of intimidating Nigerians, especially politicians, whenever they want to exercise their constitutional rights.

“In fact, we dare the DSS or any other security outfit in the country to arrest Atiku and Obi before May 29 and see the wrath of Nigerians.”

He called on protesters not to be intimidated by “this DSS’ fake intelligence of a phantom ING plot.”

He enjoined the UK, US and EU to immediately call on the Nigerian government to allow Nigerians to exercise their democratic rights which are to ensure that the stolen mandate of the Nigerian people is restored through peaceful protests and the judicial process.

“We are aware that the DSS is planning to sponsor counter-protests across the country to clash with the peaceful protesters and use that as an excuse to clampdown on them.

“We dare the DSS to name those involved in the phantom plot if they genuinely have the ‘intelligence’ about a plot to instigate an ING so the world will know those who plan to stop the inauguration of the president.

“But we know they are not being sincere. This is often their style whenever they want to engage in propaganda and do a hatchet job.

“On the contrary, let them name the purported politicians involved in the plot. Their real intent is to clampdown on protesters and arrest Atiku and Obi before May 29. Nothing more.

“We use this opportunity to call on the international community to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the DSS to order and stop them from meddling in the democratic process.

“The DSS is the one that is about to scuttle democracy in the country at this moment by plotting to arrest Atiku and Obi and other top opposition politicians,” he said.

He admonished the DSS not to allow the agency to be used to truncate democracy or as purveyors of fake news.

He claimed that the DSS had recently attempted albeit unsuccessfully to arrest and prosecute the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele for allegedly financing terrorism in the country.

“They later pulled back following the outcry that trailed the move. This is another of such hoaxes and it is one too many,” he said.

•Count us out

Reacting yesterday, LP denied plotting an insurrection.

Yunusa Tanko, spokesperson of the party, described the development as a “conspiracy against the state” in which the LP had no part.

He, however, accused the DSS of not reacting to attacks on his party members during the elections but only speaking afterward.

“When we went on the streets to campaign and our members were maimed and attacked, where was the DSS? When our member was killed, where was the DSS? When MC Oluomo made inflammatory statements saying people of certain tribes should not come to vote in Lagos, nobody said anything. In fact, it was alluded that the statement was a joke. He wasn’t invited by the DSS,” Tanko said.

“Is it now that the Nigerian people are speaking to defend the sovereignty of the country that the DSS is making statements?

“For us, we are following the due provisions of the federal republic of Nigeria. Protests are part of the democratic system. In fact, the DSS and the security agencies should come out and protect us even if we are on the streets protesting.

“We are ready to follow the rules of engagement in our democratic setting. That is why we went to court. We are not making any inflammatory statements or mobilising anybody to come out on the streets to fight.

“We are not part of any insurrection plans whatsoever. But what I am saying is that we would protect the interest of Nigerian people based on the provisions of the law which provides that where you are hurting, you have the right to protest and that you would do so with the defence and protection of the Nigerian security apparatus. That is what we would do but we would not support any insurrection in any way.”

•Interim government unconstitutional

Meanwhile, Olisa Agbakoba, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has said there is no provision for an interim government in the country’s constitution.

The senior lawyer said “the gravest possible consequences must be applied” to those allegedly behind the plot.

Reacting in a statement yesterday, Agbakoba said the “secret plans” must be rejected by all Nigerians.

He said parties aggrieved by the presidential election should approach the courts for possible redress.

“It is shocking to learn from the Department of State Security that secret plans are underway to undermine Nigeria’s democratic process and transition, by arrangements of what is described as an interim government. This will be a major set-back and we must all resist.

“I suggest that the gravest possible consequences must be applied to all who are associated with this treasonable intent. The general elections have held, albeit under the most challenging circumstance.

“But a president-elect has emerged and we must respect and accept this as fact. At least for now. All leading Presidential candidates have approached the courts with grounds of complaint concerning what they consider as electoral irregularities.

“If the presidential candidates have accepted the democratic process by lodging petitions before the courts, then it is very difficult to understand upon what basis anyone considers that an interim government is a viable and legal alternative. We must all reject this nonsense and respect our Constitution, which has no provision for interim arrangements.

“As the President-elect is sworn into office on May 29, the judicial process will ultimately render a decision. As Nigerians, we must turn to the Courts to render a decision on the petitions before them. The Judicial process will certainly carry a huge responsibility in the process of democratic consolidation.”

Agbakoba added that the “contraption referred to as interim government has no place in our lives and our constitution.”

•Avoid treason

Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Adewole Adebayo, also described the alleged call for an interim government as an act of treason and synonymous with joining a terrorist group.

“Nigerians, especially youths, must avoid treason in promoting any so-called interim government, a high crime, on the same scale as joining Boko Haram, ISWAP or any terror group. All gains will be lost,” he wrote on Twitter.

Arising from its meeting held today, the Independent National Electoral Commission has decided that all outstanding Governorship, National and State Assembly supplementary elections will take place on Saturday 15th April 2023.

A detailed official statement will follow shortly.

Mercury12:
no be small suffer. U get money u no fit use am. Oya do transfer. U do am transfer e no go. But dem don deduct money and the other person no see money. All my money wey hang I never see am till now

We don start to buy naira. Naira come turn to Gold overnight. Omo!
E no fit better for emifieEediot o

Mercury12:
no be small suffer. U get money u no fit use am. Oya do transfer. U do am transfer e no go. But dem don deduct money and the other person no see money. All my money wey hang I never see am till now

We don start to buy naira. Naira come turn to Gold overnight. Omo!
E no fit better for emifieEediot o