₦airaland Forum

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, says the N225 kilowatt-hours being paid by electricity consumers on Band A will reduce if the exchange rate falls below N1,000 to a dollar.

Adelabu said this on Thursday when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

On April 3, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, announced that subsidy would no longer be paid on the electricity consumed by Band A customers.

From N68/kWh, Band A customers now pay N255/KWh, while others maintain the old tariffs.

1 kWh is the amount of energy that could be used if a 1,000-watt appliance is kept running for an hour.

For example, a 100-watt light bulb operating for 10 hours would consume 1 kWh.

Answering questions on the programme, the minister stated that the amount being paid by the Band customers is still cheaper than the amount being spent on fuel.

The tariff is flexible. I can tell you if the naira gains more and the exchange rate comes down below N1,000 to a dollar, it must positively affect the tariff; and the tariff, even for Band A, will come down below the N225/KWh that we are currently charging.

“There are variable factors that go into the composition of the tariff, and we are not closing our eyes to it. We are publishing it, we are transparent, we are talking to Nigerians and all the power sector stakeholders. This administration is very serious, and we are committed to transforming the sector,” Adelabu declared.

According to him, the current problems in the power sector had accumulated for over 50 years, saying it could not be resolved in a year.

“The problem we are having is an accumulated problem of over 50 years. It will not disappear in one year, but we’ve been making consistent and gradual progress,” he added.

The minister stressed that efforts are ongoing to upgrade customers on other bands to Band A as power generation improves in the next six months.

The President Bola Tinubu administration has come under heavy criticism for the recent electricity hike as groups and individuals called for a reversal of the decision.

No student will drop out of university over inability to pay tuition, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said yesterday.

He spoke after signing the Student Loans (Access to Higher Education) (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill 2024 into law.

It was during a brief signing ceremony at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The President said the new law was passed to ensure that no citizens will miss out on quality education on account of poverty or lack of opportunity.

He said: “I have just signed a bill proclaiming the student loan effective.

“First of all, I must thank members of the National Assembly for their expeditious handling of this bill, considering that education is the tool to fight against poverty.

“We are determined to ensure that education is given the proper attention, including skills development programmes.

“This is to ensure that no one, no matter how poor their background is, is excluded from quality education and opportunity to build their future

We are here because we are all educated and were helped. In the past, we saw a lot of our children drop out of college.

“That is no more. No matter who you are, as long as you are a Nigerian citizen, you can apply.”

The amended bill was sent by the President to the National Assembly last month. It got a record passage at the two chambers, having been passed after just three legislative days.

The key highlight of the new law is the funding of the loan.

One per cent of the annual revenue generated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will be dedicated.

This year the FIRS has a tax revenue target of N19.4 trillion.

Should the FIRS hit its 2024 target, it means that N194 billion will go to the student loan fund.

Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, explained that the law was all-encompassing

He said: “This is a very great day for the country, for education, and for Nigerian students and who have a great need for support.

“We thank Mr President for his compassion and passion for the downtrodden, who are the beneficiaries of this scheme.

“Now, the days when students will be struggling to sponsor themselves in their various educational endeavours are over – both at the tertiary and those who are seeking skills.”

National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) President Lucky Emonefe said: “We’re happy. We’ve seen Mr President’s commitment to the development of education and today the entire education system is happy.

Students are happy; our parents are happy. Even the children of the poor can have access to quality education.

“Signing the bill shows that Mr President is the father of modern education in Nigeria. He’s a hero of education, so we’re happy.”

The Senate and House of Representatives passed the Bill on March 20 after considering the report of the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND.

The law provides for the establishment of the Nigeria Education Loan Fund and removes the family income threshold as a condition for accessing the loan.

Under the law, false declaration attracts three years in jail, while there is loan repayment forgiveness in case of a beneficiary’s death.

The hurdles of a guarantor, a parent’s debt profile and others in the old Act have been removed, thereby making it easier for the loan to be accessed.

President Tinubu, on June 12, 2023, signed into law the defunct Student Loan Bill to provide interest-free loans to Nigerians seeking higher education.

At the bill signing event were Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau; Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila; Minister of State for Education Yusuf Tanko Sununu and Minister of State for Youth Development Ayodele Olawande.

New Conservatives group on the Tory Right in the United Kingdom has called for ministers to close temporary visa schemes for care workers as part of an effort to slash net migration before the presidential election scheduled for next year.

The group, said to be backed by former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, and former UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, noted that the country could no longer contain the number of migrants flooding the UK by the day.

The latest statistics indicate that 1.279 million more people have come to the UK than have exited in the last two years.

This, it was noted, has put a lot of pressure on accommodation and amenities in the past month, raising concerns among Britons.

In a recent interview, the UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said net migration levels are indeed “too high” after one of his senior ministers said it was “unacceptable” that there were a record number of arrivals last year.

Net migration into the UK peaked at 745,000 in 2022, which is a record high according to revised estimates published by the Office for National Statistics on Thursday.

The data places migration levels at three times higher than before Brexit, despite a Conservative Party 2019 manifesto pledge to bring overall numbers down.

The National Health Service Trusts, on Friday, also stated that it had now become unsustainable to prop up social care with workers on visas.

The Home Office, the UK’s migration department, on Thursday, noted that 143,990 health and care worker visas were granted in the year ending September 2023.

This is more than double the 61,274 for the year to September 2022.

The top three nationalities, according to the Home Office, on these visas are Indians, Nigerians and Zimbabweans.

Nigeria has the most significant percentage increase behind Zimbabwe at 169 per cent and India, with 76 per cent.

In terms of dependents granted health and care work visas, Nigeria spiked by 329 per cent from 10,533 to 45,203.

The increase in the number of healthcare workers migrating to the UK is attributed to its cheap and easy entry migration conditions as the country faces a shortage of healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of March 2023, the number of Nigerian-trained doctors practising in the UK climbed to 11,001, according to findings by Saturday PUNCH.

This has created an unprecedented rise in non-EU immigration to the UK, mainly driven by migrants coming for work on health and care visas, according to the statistics.

Statistics also showed that health and care work visas were the most common type of work visa on which dependents came to the UK, and are driving the increase in immigration of those on work-dependent visas.

The 143,990 figure is just for main visa applicants and does not include dependents, which can grow from two per person to nine, or even ten, including extended family members.

In the temporary visa scheme, medical professionals can come to, or stay in the UK to do an eligible job with the NHS, an NHS supplier, or in adult social care, on a health and care worker visa.

Visas last for up to five years and can be extended, while partners and children can also apply to join as the main applicant’s ‘dependants’.

‘UK’s NHS understaffed’

Meanwhile, NHS Providers which represents trusts in England has said the “understaffed health and social care system relies on the contribution of highly valued staff from overseas to keep it going”, according to a report by the UK newspaper, The Standard.

They warned that this alone is not enough, saying the domestic workforce must be given a “turbo-boost” in order to create a “sustainable, diverse, and skilled workforce for the future”.

The Director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, Dr Madeleine Sumption, said the long-term solution to shortages in the care workforce is better investment in the sector and higher pay for staff, rather than a continued reliance on workers coming from abroad.

She said, “In the long run, the solution to the problems in care is not necessarily extremely high levels of care worker migration permanently, the solution is likely to involve funding the care sector so that people in the UK are willing to do the jobs.

“And I think part of the challenge the government faces is that people are coming into care and it’s really helping care employers and they’re able to provide care that they weren’t able to provide a couple of years ago and that’s having a benefit in the short run.

“But in the long run, solving the problem and actually addressing the challenge of recruitment in the care sector is really expensive, because it involves paying people enough to persuade them to do the job,” she said.

NHS Providers chief executive, Sir Julian Hartley, on his part, said, “Our understaffed health and social care system relies on the contribution of highly valued staff from overseas to keep it going. But this isn’t sustainable.

President Bola Tinubu has announced the cancellation of the automatic deduction of 40 per cent from the internally generated revenues of federal universities.

He says the policy implementation is ill-timed.

Mr Tinubu spoke on Friday at an ongoing 75th Founder’s Day ceremony of the University of Ibadan (UI). He was represented by the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman.

In his speech as the Visitor to the university, Mr Tinubu pledged his commitment to the reform of the nation’s education sector as the bedrock for national development.

Mr Tinubu said: “The 40 per cent IGR automatic deduction policy stands cancelled. This is not the best time for such policy since our universities are struggling.”

This development was confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES by multiple sources at the ongoing event, including the Lagos Zonal Coordinator of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Adelaja Odukoya. Mr Odukoya is a Professor of Political Science and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Lagos.

Sultan condemns policy

Earlier in his welcome address, the Chancellor of the university and Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’adu Abubakar, had condemned the policy, citing the multidimensional challenges confronting the universities.

Mr Abubakar was said to have pleaded with the authorities to rescind the decision, saying the policy had the potential of grounding the university system.

About policy

A leaked memo addressed to the heads of the universities recently by the Nigerian government noted that commencing from November, universities will have 40 per cent of revenues generated internally and deposited in their accounts will be deducted automatically by the government via the Treasury Single Accounts (TSA).

A copy of the memo addressed to the office of the vice-chancellor of the University of Abuja by the Revenue and Investment Department of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation in the Federal Ministry of Finance, notified the institution of automatic deduction of 40 per cent of its IGR by the government.

Dated 17 October with reference R&I/2045/T/252, and signed by the Director of Revenue and Investment Department, Felix Ogundairo, the letter noted that the decision which affects all partially funded government agencies and parastatals including universities is in line with the provisions of Section 62 of Finance Act 2020.

The memo reads in part: “It is important to emphasise that this policy of 40 per cent auto deduction of gross IGR is in line with the Finance Circular Reference Number FMFBNP/OTHERS/IGR/CRF/12/2021/ dated 20th December, 2021, limiting the budgetary agencies or parastatals to not more than 50 per cent of their gross IGR and the remittance of 100 per cent of the remaining 50 per cent to the sub-recurrent account.

“While all statutory revenue lines like Tender fees, contractors’ registration fees, disposal of fixed assets, rent on quarters, etc, shall be remitted 100 per cent to sub-recurrent accounts.”

The memo instructed the universities and other affected agencies of the government to align their budgets to the new realities.

ASUU kicks

Shocked by the policy, the National President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, told PREMIUM TIMES that his union could not understand what the government meant by IGR in universities. He said universities globally are not revenue-generating institutions, but that what they generate are only costs of services rendered and items provided for students.

Mr Osodeke, a professor, who described the new policy as the government’s attempt to “strangle the poor,” said there is no revenue generated by any university.

He said: “What is IGR? As far as I’m concerned, we don’t have IGR. So, it’s zero. What the students are paying is the cost of items like ID cards, medical health insurance, books, lab coats, among others. So there’s no IGR in universities. So, it’s zero. You see, this is what we have been talking about. Is the university an agency established to generate funds for the government? So, as far as I’m concerned, we will look at it. Let them define what is the idea of IGR. As far as ASUU is concerned, the funds are meant for items and that’s why we call them charges.”

The union president said the universities have been struggling to provide basic amenities like water, electricity, and necessary infrastructure for teaching and learning.

He said many universities receive less than N120 million annually from the federal government as funding support but that they spend more than N1 billion annually on electricity.

“If you talk to the management of the University of Ibadan, or OAU, or any other one, they will tell you they only get roughly N15 million a month from the government to run. Will that be able to pay for electricity bills? So, it’s so sad what we’re hearing today. This is an attack on the university system and I then pray that something will happen and change this narrative. How can you say you’re going to collect these charges that the universities collect to take care of their students? Things like this never even happened during the military. If their children are in these public universities, would they ask for such a thing?”

SSANU president speaks

Also speaking on the matter, the National President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, who said he had spent about 30 years within the university system, said he never knew anything called IGR in the universities.

He said the position of his union is to fight it to standstill, noting that an attack on education from any quarters is an attack on the nation’s development.

Mr Ibrahim said his union “opposed such decisions yesterday, still opposing it today and will oppose it tomorrow or any day.”

He said: “Education is a social service for goodness sake! Universities are institutions of learning, where teaching, research and community development activities are carried out. Outside all these, anything a university does is outside its mandate. Therefore, there is nothing called IGR in the university in the first place. So if government is saying that universities should remit IGR, then they are now defining something different, something alien, and bringing in something that does not exist in the system. And it clearly shows that those people who are making these statements are ignorant of what a university system is or how it looks like or how it is operated. This is our opposition.”

He said the decision will not only further destabilise the system but also annihilate the system.

He called on Nigerians to stand against the policy.

CONUA president also reacts

On his part, the National President of the newly registered Congress of Nigerian Universities’ Academics (CONUA), Niyi Sunmonu, said the universities already have so much to contend with and suggested that the policy should be rejected.

“Our position is that universities in this country are already having a lot to deal with, with respect to funding issues. Effecting this policy this time that the universities are yet to achieve financial stability will cripple them,” Mr Sunmonu, a senior lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, said.