jmoore:
98% of kidnappings in Aba are done by members of Nigeria police, RRS is the major player.

immortalcrown:
Una just wan delete those ones from ranks or from office.

Na only two of them be criminals?

HonNL:


Annet Mugabo

Blackfire:
This was how boko started, not acting because of region or religion...until it is too late



For this country everybody will chop breakfast

aceman88:
"Chinaza Philip" has abandoned his cows inside a thick evil forest and started tormenting well meaning Nigerians again. The security operatives should rise up to the occasion, please.

A yet-to-be-ascertained number of travellers have reportedly been kidnapped between Ekiti and Ondo States by some gunmen who laid siege on the road.

The incident, which SaharaReporters gathered, happened on Thursday evening was between Ikere Ekiti and Iju locations.

The victims were, according to several reports, travelling in two vehicles – a Toyota Corolla and a white Highlander when they were intercepted and marched into the bush.

A video of the incident seen by SaharaReporters on Saturday showed how the hoodlums riddled the vehicles with bullets.

As of the time of filing this report, it was not clear whether the kidnappers had contacted their family members for ransom.

Meanwhile, personnel of the Ondo State Amotekun and the Nigerian police, who were called for intervention, had already started tracking the kidnappers.

SaharaReporters’ efforts to speak with the Ondo State Police Command were unsuccessful as the command spokesperson, Funmilayo Odunlami, could not be reached on telephone.

SaharaReporters had only in December reported that gunmen also attacked the team bus conveying the players, coaches and staff of Sunshine Star Football Club, based in Akure, Ondo State, along the Ore -Benin Expressway.

SaharaReporters had gathered that the gunmen shot one of the team boys and injured several players and coaches of the team.

The team was travelling to Benin City, Edo State Capital to play a fixture against Bendel Insurance in the Nigerian Premier League.

Grupo:
Hello all,

Please I drilled a new borehole for my village house.

According to the geologist who did the survey, we'd get water at 65 meters. So I paid him to bring drillers to drill 65m well.

After the whole drilling and installation, and flushing of the well, I noticed that each time I pump the water, the well brings out dirty brown water for like 20 minutes before it starts bringing out clean water.

And the next time I pump the water, it repeats the same way. I have contacted the drilling company and they are not saying anything useful.

Please I will appreciate contributions from experienced people on how to navigate this challenge.

Please @mods, or the mod in charge of this section, kindly help me push this to the front page. I really need opinions.

Thanks.

Trophy12:
I don't like this kind of people with such shape of head, all they does is to retrogress the country.shior confuse being with head like coffin ⚰️

Nigeria is seeking $1.5bn aid from the World Bank to tackle the severe dollar shortage contributing to the decline of the naira.

“We’re hoping to get $1bn or $1.5bn from the World Bank” for budgetary support, Finance Minister Wale Edun said Wednesday to Bloomberg.

According to the minister, Africa’s largest economy may also issue a Eurobond in late 2024, adding that with the current economic reforms, the country deserves support.

Eurobonds, denominated in foreign currencies, offer Nigeria a mechanism to navigate its financial landscape amidst challenging economic conditions.

The minister said, “It is a matter of discussion at the moment, but we think we will get the support because we are continuing with our reforms.”

Nigeria has issued Eurobonds in the past to raise debt to fund infrastructure and boost its economy

In 2022, Nigeria entered the international debt markets with a $1.25bn Eurobond issuance, marking its eighth venture into this financial arena, according to the Debt Management Office.

Subsequently, in the following year, the country redeemed a $500m Eurobond issued in July 2013 as part of a dual-tranche of $1bn, held for a tenor of ten years at a coupon of 6.375 per cent per annum.

During a press conference in October 2023, at the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, the minister mentioned that the $1.5bn World Bank loan would be coming with zero interest rate.

Nigeria is currently battling with about N87tn debt, which the International Monetary Fund said was “manageable,” but noted that the interest payment was high for the country.

The minister said the new World Bank loan would be used to finance development, disclosing that the facility would be disbursed to Nigeria very soon.

He said, “On the talks with the World Bank on $1.5bn budget support, that is correct. The World Bank is the number one multilateral development bank helping developing countries or funding developing countries, projects programs, and sectors.

“It has free money through the International Development Association. It is for the poorer countries and right now, I think we qualify as one of the countries that can borrow from the normal window of the World Bank funding, but also some concessionary IDA funding; and that means that effectively, the interest rate will be zero.”

Nigeria has nearly $7bn in forex forwards that have matured, a major concern for investors, but the Central Bank of Nigeria has promised to pay up to boost confidence in the foreign exchange market.

But the apex bank recently disbursed $2bn to settle a backlog of outstanding foreign exchange forwards, emphasizing its commitment to enhancing liquidity and stability in the foreign exchange market.

In the face of mounting economic challenges, Nigeria grapples with a budget deficit fueled by factors including soaring fuel subsidy costs, burdensome debt servicing, and restrained public spending.

The 2024 fiscal year budget stands at a hefty N28.7tn, accompanied by a deficit of N9.18tn, equivalent to 3.88 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

President Bola Tinubu emphasised that the current deficit is an improvement from the N13.78tn recorded in 2023, representing 6.11 per cent of GDP.

To address the deficit, President Tinubu outlined a multifaceted financing approach. This includes new borrowings totaling N7.83tn, N298.49bn sourced from privatisation proceeds, and a N1.05tn drawdown on multilateral and bilateral loans earmarked for specific development projects.

Africa’s largest economy is also confronted with persistent dollar shortages, increased demand for dollars, and speculative activities that have exerted pressure on the naira, leading to its devaluation.

The shortage of dollars has widened the gap between the official exchange rate and the parallel market rate, further impacting the street value of the naira.

Naira on Wednesday fell to a record low of N1,320 per dollar following strong demand on the parallel market.

The domestic currency depreciated 4.72 per cent to close at N878.57 to a dollar at the close of business, based on data from NAFEM where forex is officially traded.

Nbotee:


This is the truth about what they have done. Oga exposed the them without knowing. If you are saving, shouldn't it be the monies the govt claimed it was using to pay for the subsidy that it will no longer spend? How come you are taking money from private citizens and calling it savings?. They simply came up with a way to extort Nigerians more and made it seem like they did us a favour

The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, has said the Federal Government will be saving N8tn annually from the fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification policies.

Oyedele spoke during a panel session at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry 2024 Economic Outlook and Budget Analysis.

He, therefore, said it was critical for the government to spend the amount saved from the two policies to ameliorate the suffering of the average Nigerian.

He said, “The Nigerian people made sacrifices as a result of the fuel subsidy removal of the government; that is N4tn savings a year. We did naira floatation. It is not perfect. We are also saving another N4tn. So we are having about roughly N8tn transferred from the private pockets of the people to the government.



“So, what we are saying to the government is — can we be intentional in spending this N8tn to make sure that it impacts the people most positively? Starting with the multidimensional poverty. why is it that more than 133 million people in Nigeria are living in multidimensional poverty? So these are the conversations we are having now. We want to build a platform where we can track how these monies are being spent.”

He added, “In the committee, we tried to look at the most pressing issues we face as a country — inflation, forex instability, lack of investments. One of our recommendations is for the government to suspend some taxes. We call them nuisance taxes because they frustrate people, and we can’t even see the money in government treasury.”

According to Oyedele, there is an urgent need to create digital opportunities for the teeming youthful population because Nigeria has enough capacity to generate $20bn annually from the technology sector.


Hinting on some of the recommendations the panel has made to the Federal Government, Oyedele said there was an urgent need to promote exports, including services and intellectual property because, “Before you start exporting goods, you can export services and intangibles.”

He also said that out of the $20bn diaspora remittances recorded in 2023, more than 90 per cent of the funds did not arrive Nigeria in foreign currencies because of existing loopholes which allow middlemen to divert the foreign currencies and pay the recipients of the funds in naira.

He added. “For example, just asking Nigerian companies and businesses to pay taxes in dollars is about $3.5bn annually, but we sat and thought about it, and wondered how the idea came about.

“How does it help us, that a Nigerian company will go to the market to go and look for the little dollars that is in Nigeria so it can use it to pay the government of Nigeria? So, just amend the law and you will take that pressure away.”


Also speaking, the Director General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, expressed concern that the country’s penchant for operating budgets with room for deficit in the past three decades had left a debt profile that has raised concern.

Akabueze said, “In our current circumstance, we believe that our biggest fiscal challenge is raising public revenues. That is, the low public revenues against the background of the ever-increasing demand for public goods and services.

“For over two decades, we have been running deficit in our budget. These deficits have accumulated. They have been funded through debt consistently. The truth is that we haven’t paid back the debt. Now we are at a point where there are concerns about our debt. So we can’t continue with the deficit. The deficit for the 2024 budget is about 3.8 per cent of our GDP.”


Speaking further, Akabueze dismissed criticisms surrounding inordinate expenditure on the part of the government.

He noted that Nigeria was not spending enough and that emphasis should be placed on effective spending and not less spending.

He added, “Sometimes people ask — why don’t you cut expenditure? That’s not a feasible option. In the first place, we are not spending enough. If you look at our public expenditure to GDP ratio, it is below what it should be. So, spending less is not an option for us. Spending more efficiently — yes.”

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives, Bismarck Rewane, said key economic challenges have continued to plague the Nigerian economy.

These challenges, according to him, include sub-optimal and non-inclusive growth, increasing income inequality, high poverty and unemployment rate, spiraling inflation, widening fiscal imbalances, and currency pressures.

He also noted that Nigeria’s inflation maintains its upward trend, largely driven by monetary and cost-push factors.

He said external debt service to export ratio shows the external sector is vulnerable.


Rewane also blamed lack of transparency and clear policy direction, lack of effective price discovery measure, capital controls and inefficiency, and high speculation/ arbitrage activities have been for the protracted forex crisis in the country.

Donchieli:


Source: https://saharareporters.com/2024/01/16/breaking-panic-loud-bang-linked-explosion-rocks-ibadan-southwest-nigeria

Shell Plc agreed to sell its Nigerian onshore oil assets to a consortium of local companies for more than $1.3 billion.

If approved by the government, the transaction would fulfill Shell’s long-term goal of extracting itself from a challenging operating environment in the Niger Delta region. Beyond the initial price tag, Shell said it will receive additional payments of as much as $1.1 billion.

RETURNOFENDSARS:
I'm a lawyer, called in 2016. I'm married with a kid and I'm in my early 30s. My wife is not working, so I have been the one shouldering the responsibility, despite that, God has given me my own house. Three bedrooms flat in front and three bedrooms flat at the back, all with full pop, water heater, full tiles, in fact all the modern facilities.
In all honesty I made between 600k-1.5m per month.

Just of recent, the zeal to Japa to Canada has been on my mind through school route. I currently have like 7m in my account and I know I could raise it till 15m before the end of the year. The cost of schooling keep giving me issue. How will someone travel abroad and spend over 15m when I could used the money to buy hostel from people who desperately needs money or invest in real estate.

Another concern of mine is that the future of legal profession is reducing because of the amount clients are paying particularly in the area of agreement and other things.

Definitely, I won't be selling the house if I decide to relocate, the rent from the two flats will go to my mom and the least could only be 500k per year. I won't have issues sending money at home.

Please, I really need advice from lawyers that are there, how do you cope migrating. Is it advisable I leave, if yes, what are the first things I might encounter, if am relocating it will be with my family. I just don't want to regret relocating. The exchange rate is just too much

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures the rate of change in prices of goods and services, rose to 28.92 percent in December 2023 — up from 28.20 percent in the previous month.

This was disclosed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its CPI report for December released on Monday.

The latest figure marks the twentieth consecutive rise in the country’s inflation rate in 2023.

The bureau said the December 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of “0.72% points when compared to the November 2023 headline inflation rate”.


“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 7.58% points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022, which was 21.34%,” the report reads.

“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in December 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2022).”

On a month-on-month basis, according to the NBS, the headline inflation rate in December 2023 was 2.29 percent, which was” 0.20 percent higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.09 percent)”.



This means that in December 2023, the rate of increase in the average price level is more than what was recorded in the previous month.

FOOD INFLATION RATE ROSE TO 33.9 PERCENT

The NBS report also said the food inflation rate in December 2023 was 33.93 percent on a year-on-year basis — 10.18 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022 (23.75 percent).

According to the bureau, the rise in food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, fruit, milk, cheese, and egg.


“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in December 2023 was 2.72%, this was 0.30% higher compared to the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.42%),” the agency said.

“The rise in Food inflation on a Month-on-Month basis was caused by a rise in the rate of increase in the average prices of Oil and fat, Meat, Bread and Cereals, Potatoes, Yam & Other Tubers, Fish and Milk, Cheese, and Egg.

“The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending December 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 27.96%, which was a 7.02% points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2022 (20.94%).”

“In December 2023, Food inflation on a Year-on-Year basis was highest in Kogi (44.73%), Kwara (41.33%), and Imo (39.54%), while Bauchi (27.49%), Jigawa (27.98%) and Sokoto (28.72%) recorded the slowest rise in Food inflation on Year-on-Year basis.

“On a Month-on -Month basis, however, December 2023 Food inflation was highest in Bayelsa (4.42%), Ogun (4.11%), and Enugu (4.03%), while Nasarawa (1.48%), Delta (1.65%) and Niger (1.67%) recorded the slowest rise in inflation on Month-on-Month basis.”

iwaeda:


Police don't want to use NIN according to Pantami. Waiting for Jobi's rebuttals. We were shouting how terrible insecurity has become under APC, they called us name. Nigeria is on auto pilot.

About 45 passengers in three fully loaded 15-seater commercial buses are reported to have been abducted by armed men in Orokam, along the Otukpo-Enugu Road in Ogbadigbo Local Government Area, LGA, of Benue state.

It was gathered from an eyewitness and driver of one of the commercial transportation companies in Makurdi, who narrowly escaped the ambush with his passengers, that the incident occurred at about 3:30pm on Thursday.

The heavily armed men were reported to have ambushed the ill-fated commercial vehicles when they sprang from the nearby forests in Orokam and forced their drivers at gunpoint to pull over.

According to him, “it was easy for the armed men to stop the vehicles because that portion of the road is very bad.

“The first person that came out of the bush was a heavily built young man who came out carrying an automatic rifle and a chain of bullets round his body.

“I saw three of them come out of the bush with guns, this was at about 3:30pm on Thursday in broad daylight.

“Their target was obviously commercial buses, maybe because of the number of passengers that could harvest ransom for them. In this particular instance, they took passengers in three-loaded buses that were heading toward Otukpo

“My saving grace was that a J-5 articulated vehicle was in my front. So when we were all stopped, before they got to my vehicle, I jumped out and ran into the bush, and all my passengers also followed. Luckily, none of my passengers were caught by the armed men.


“We ran into the bush, leaving our valuables, including phones, and they did not touch them. All they were looking for were the occupants of the bus.


“They took all their victims into the forest. After hiding in the bush for close to 30 minutes, when we realised it was safe to come out, we started running back to our bus to flee.

“At that point, we saw soldiers on motorbikes and a hilux van asking us where the armed went with the victims.

“This happened in-between a police and army checkpoint in Orokam after the Trailer Park at the bad portion of the road.

“Since I started driving, I used to hear stories of people being kidnapped on the road, I saw it happening live and I almost became a victim. I cannot thank God enough.”


Meanwhile, it was gathered that the armed men have already opened negotiations with family members of the kidnapped passengers for the payment of ransom for their release.

A manager in one of the commercial transportation companies at the busy Wurumum Park who spoke on condition of anonymity disclosed that the armed men initially asked for N15 million for each passenger, “but they negotiated and settled for N3million for each of the passengers.

“Some of the family members came here to find out if we have any details or are in touch with the kidnappers, but we told them that our company was not involved.

“They lamented that they had reached agreements with the kidnappers, and while trying to resolve how the N3 million they demanded would be sent to them, the phone line went off and they have not been able to reach the armed men anymore.

“So it is like they have been moving from one park to the other to find out the companies that own the buses involved in the unfortunate incident. But from what we heard one of the vehicles has its head office in Gboko.”

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent, SP, Catherine Anene, said, “I don’t have that report yet.”

YorubaDemonswag:
They will soon be here to curse sultan himself.awon were gbajagi