₦airaland Forum

Fulani's are very devious......so they want him to serve 4 years then hand back to a northener?

And to cover up Buhari's crimes

Comedians full naija....

Crook

What a country.....

Sharrap dere

Lol.......games

Its not generated in the first place......so it cant be transmitted!

we sell our oil/gas for others to generate electricity.

Even coal is used to generate power in developed countries.

You need connections....not certs!

Pre screening

Noted

Shared govt money......fools

Suicide.....RIP

Funny....Bishop should also enter the race.

He should send them data - Pathetic !

This should be standard......for women!

koo

Normal.....they were also in bed with GEJ - before swindling him!

Traitors,,,,,

ok

Malory:
Imagine Chris Uba defeating Valentine Ozigbo in a free and fair election? PDP is dead in Anambra state

He's a professional rigger,,,,,,ask Peter Obi

Sen. Uche Ekwunife and Stella Odua on Friday emerged the flag bearers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra Central and Anambra North Senatorial Districts in the state.

Ekwunife being the sole aspirant for picked the PDP ticket in the zone while Chief Chris Ubah emerged PDP candidate for Anambra South Senatorial District.

The primary elections for the Anambra North and South Senatorial Districts were held at Marble Arch Hotel, Awka.

Mr Alfred Isename, PDP Returning Officer for the senatorial primary contest said the winners polled the highest number of valid votes cast by the delegates.

Announcing the results, Isename said Uba polled a total of 338 votes to emerge winner for Anambra South over Mr Valentine Ozigbo, Nnekegwo Unaegbu and Queen Peace who scored three, seven and four votes respectively.

Obinna Uzoh scored zero votes in the contest.

Isename said Oduah polled 278 votes to clinch the ticket for Anambra North ahead of Mr Tony Nwoye and Mr John Okechukwu who scored one vote and zero vote respectively.

Isename said the exercise was in full compliance with the party constitution and the Independent National Electoral Commission guidelines.

In a reaction, Uba thanked the delegates for finding him worthy to fly the party’s flag and assured that he would work in the overall interest of Anambra South.

Odua thanked the delegates for electing her and pledged to continue her good works in the senate if elected. (NAN)

https://newsdiaryonline.com/pdp-primary-ekwunife-oduah-set-to-retain-senatorial-seat-as-chris-uba-emerge-candidate-in-anambra/

Glencore pleads guilty to bribing NNPC officials for crude oil deals, to pay $1bn fine to US govt

Glencore International A.G. and Glencore Ltd., both part of a Switzerland-based multi-national commodity trading and mining firm named in massive bribery of officials of Nigeria’s state-owned oil company, have pleaded guilty and agreed to pay over $1.1 billion fine over their involvement in a corruption scheme.

The firms’ pleas are meant to resolve the United States government’s investigations into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and a commodity price manipulation scheme.

The United States Department of Justice press statement on Monday, 23 May, said that the guilty pleas are part of coordinated resolutions with criminal and civil authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.

“The rule of law requires that there not be one rule for the powerful and another for the powerless; one rule for the rich and another for the poor,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.

“The Justice Department will continue to bring to bear its resources on these types of cases, no matter the company and no matter the individual.”

The Street Journal had reported how a former United Kingdom-based trader for Glencore Plc, Anthony Stimler, bribed officials in Nigeria in exchange for favourable contracts from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Mr Stimler, acting through subsidiaries of Glencore, conspired with others to make millions of U.S. dollars in corrupt bribe payments to officials in Nigeria. The former trader pleaded guilty to what prosecutors in the United States described as his role in a scheme to bribe and he admitted to conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and commit money laundering at a hearing in Manhattan federal court conducted by video.

Prosecutors said millions of dollars in bribes were paid to officials in Nigeria, in exchange for NNPC awarding oil contracts and providing “more lucrative grades of oil on more favourable delivery terms.”

Charges and agreement

The US Department of Justice said that charges in the FCPA matter arise out of a decade-long scheme by Glencore and its subsidiaries to make and conceal corrupt payments and bribes through intermediaries for the benefit of foreign officials across multiple countries.

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Glencore has agreed to a criminal fine of more than $428 million and to criminal forfeiture and disgorgement of more than $272 million. Glencore has also agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years.

The department has agreed to credit nearly $256 million in payments that Glencore makes to resolve related parallel investigations by other domestic and foreign authorities.

“Separately, Glencore Ltd. admitted to engaging in a multi-year scheme to manipulate fuel oil prices at two of the busiest commercial shipping ports in the U.S,” the statement said.

“As part of the plea agreement, Glencore Ltd. agreed to pay a criminal fine of over $341 million, pay a forfeiture of over $144 million, and retain an independent compliance monitor for three years. The department has agreed to credit up to one-half of the criminal fine and forfeiture against penalties Glencore Ltd. pays to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a related, parallel civil proceeding.”

Sentencing has been scheduled in the market manipulation case for June 24, and a control date for sentencing in the FCPA case has been set for October 3.

Glencore and Africa cases

Between 2007 and 2018, Glencore and its subsidiaries caused approximately $79.6 million in payments to be made to intermediary companies in order to secure improper advantages to obtain and retain business with state-owned and state-controlled entities in the West African countries of Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Equatorial Guinea.

The DoJ noted that Glencore concealed the bribe payments by entering into sham consulting agreements, paying inflated invoices, and using intermediary companies to make corrupt payments to foreign officials.

“For example, in Nigeria, Glencore and Glencore’s U.K. subsidiaries entered into multiple agreements to purchase crude oil and refined petroleum products from Nigeria’s state-owned and state-controlled oil company,” it said.

“Glencore and its subsidiaries engaged two intermediaries to pursue business opportunities and other improper business advantages, including the award of crude oil contracts, while knowing that the intermediaries would make bribe payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain such business. In Nigeria alone, Glencore and its subsidiaries paid more than $52 million to the intermediaries, intending that those funds be used, at least in part, to pay bribes to Nigerian officials.”

Why the US is involved

Now Glencore and some of its executives face the prospect of steep fines and prison in a far-reaching investigation of tactics in numerous countries and commodity markets. US authorities pursue such cases because, though they involve events in other countries, the payoffs were made in dollars that pass through the banking system in New York.

Other major countries are also increasingly targeting commodity trading.

US authorities have gotten increasingly aggressive in enforcing laws against foreign bribery, imposing billions of dollars of fines against companies.

Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, prosecutors can calculate fines based on how much a company sought to benefit from paying bribes, and then double the amount in imposing the penalty.

Glencore’s denial

When details of Mr Stimler’s involvement in the bribery scheme was reported in July 2021, Glencore Plc described the trader’s plea as unacceptable, adding that “the conduct has no place in Glencore.”

“Glencore has cooperated fully with the department of justice and other authorities in their investigations and continues to do so,” it said.

“Glencore has taken a number of remedial measures in light of what it has learned during the investigation. Glencore has significantly enhanced its ethics and compliance programme over the last few years with a view to developing a best in class programme.”

https://thestreetjournal.org/glencore-pleads-guilty-to-bribing-nnpc-officials-for-crude-oil-deals-to-pay-1bn-fine-to-us-govt/

Election delay loading.......2024/2025?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib0Rdks5uLU&ab_channel=PeakProsperity

The local environment will be destroyed as usual.......its a curse!

....Whilst his sugar daddy is jumping to APC?

Nigerians and reasoning....

maclatunji:
We should not be importing wheat and maize if we are serious about agriculture. Somebody, somewhere is probably trying to make money from this gap though. I wish them the best.

All well saying that now......we have little currency to continue however if we dont people will starve

limeta:
Aboki

The situation is serious.....name calling wont solve it.

Catch it in a water drum with tap.....then transfer to a cylinder.

Natural gas doesn't need reining - just bottling.

amen...

koo

In December 2021, the price of family size Grand loaf, one of the popular breads in Abuja, Nigeria, was N600 ($1.43). As of April 2022, the price jumped to N850 ($2.02), an increase of about 41 per cent. The reason for this rise is not related to domestic economic factors, but as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war, which started when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In April 2022, the Nigeria Bakers Association, announced 50 per cent increase in the price of bread, which was expected to take effect from May, 2022[i]. This is because the wheat used in baking bread in Nigeria is imported from Russia and Ukraine. It is not only the price of wheat that has increased in the last two months due to the war in Eastern Europe. The price of milk, also imported from Ukraine and Russia, has increased. For instance, a 400g of powdered Peak Milk, which used to sell for N1,150 ($2.74), is now increased to N1,300 ($3.10).



Food security, according to World Food Summit 1974, is availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic food stuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in the production and prices. In 1983, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) expanded its concept to include securing access by vulnerable people to available supplies, thus that a balanced attention between the demand and supply side of the food security equation: “ensuring that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to basic food that they need.”


As a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the international community has imposed sanctions on Russia, while many economic activities, including food production, have been halted in Ukraine. Also, Ukrainian seaports have been bombed and damaged to the point that export of goods from the Eastern European country to other parts of the world is inhibited. One of the significant sanctions is the freezing of the Russian central bank’s access to its reserves in the European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Canada, Switzerland and Japan. Further, in a recent sanction, the United States, Canada and UK banned Russia energy imports, while the EU has pledged to end its dependence on Russia gas. Sanctions so far exclude payments for food commodities and fertilizers. (World Food Programme, WFP 2022)

The sanctions are biting hard on the Russian economy with Russian interest rate raised to a staggering 20 percent. The Russian Ruble has lost nearly 40 percent of its value against the U.S dollar within two weeks.

The obvious effect of the conflict on world food security comes through the impact on global grains and energy markets. A noticeable increase is felt in the international food and fuel prices since the war began; this significantly affects local food prices as well as access to food at the right quality, quantity and time.

According to WFP, grain and oil prices hikes increased the cost of WFP operations reducing the ability to serve those in need just when it is most needed.

Both Russia and Ukraine rank among the top five exporters of wheat and maize globally. The two countries supply 30 percent of the world’s wheat and 20 percent of maize to global markets. In addition, Russia and Ukraine are key exporters for sunflower oil and barley, accounting for more than three-quarters and one-third of supplies to international markets respectively.

The Russian military has brought movement of food to a halt and paused Russian grain deals amidst uncertainties around the sanctions. An estimated 13.5 million tonnes of wheat and 16 million tonnes of maize are frozen in the two countries – 23 and 43 percent of their expected exports in 2021/2022.



Nigeria’s imports from Russia Value Year
Live trees, plants, bulbs, roots, cut flowers $715.43K 2020
Oil seed, oleagic fruits, grain, seed, fruits $590.69K 2020
Edible fruits, nuts, peel of citrus fruit, elons $382.89K 2020
Fish, crustaceans, molluscs, aquatics invertebrates $263.97K 2020
Tobacco and manufactures tobacco substitutes $113.58K 2020
Cocoa and cocoa preparations $106.29K 2020
Salt, sulphur, earth, stone, plaster, lime and cement $87.11K 2020
Coffee, tea, mate and spices $60.08K 2020
Clocks and watches $26.69K 2020
Raw hides and skins (other than furskins) and leather $14.70K 2020
Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers $246.97K 2019
Tin $175.22K 2019
Pharmaceutical products $92.63K 2019
Base metals not specified elsewhere, cermets. $47.63K 2019
Other made textile articles, sets, worn clothing $22.30K 2019
Ships, boats, and other floating structures $3.74M 2018
Machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers $667.54K 2017
Soaps, lubricants, waxes, candles, modelling pastes $43.28K 2017
Rubbers $30.34K 2016
Wood and articles of wood, wood charcoal $11.75K 2016
Lac, gums, resins $311.27K 2015
Cereal, flour, starch, milk preparations and products $68.35K 2015
Electrical, electronic equipment $47.21K 2015
Miscellanneous manufactured articles $6.56K 2015
Printed books, newspapers, pictures $5.09K 2015
Articles of iron or steel $1.31K 2015
Plastics $99 2015
Animal, vegetable fats and oils, cleavage products $0 2015
Tools, implements, cutlery of base metal $51.47K 2014
Optical, photo, technical, medical apparatus $28.28K 2014
Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products $353.98K 2013
Albuminoids, modified starches, glues, enzymes $39.60K 2013
Aluminum $352.78K 2012
Copper $349.76K 2012
Works of art, collectors’ pieces and antiques $60 2012
Paper and paperboard, articles of pulp, paper and board $21.38K 2011
COMTRADE- TRADINGECONOMICS.COM

What is the implication of this conflict on Nigeria food security?

Nigeria’s reliance on Russian imports for both food and raw materials makes them particularly vulnerable to the impacts of Russia’s unprovoked invasion. As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine persists, Nigeria may be affected in terms of capital importation and some foods imported from these countries. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS Nigeria has received 84.4 million USD in capital imports between 2019-2022.

The country’s import of durum wheat was worth N346.2 million in 2020 and N123.96 bn (297.8 million USD) between January and September 2021 from Russia. And milk worth N721.5 million (1.7 million USD) from Ukraine in 2021.

The ongoing crisis has a potential negative impact on Nigeria’s imported food inflation rate, which is currently over 18%. Analysis from the ONE Campaign shows that Nigeria’s wheat and maize bill could increase by about $1.4bn, assuming that prices don’t continue to rise. According to FAO data, the price of wheat increased from 5.7 percent to 9.347 percent in March 2022, following the conflict.

Qu Donggu, the Director General of the Rome based FAO, stated that, it was not clear if Ukraine’s farmers will be able to harvest wheat ready for market in June due to massive population displacement and destruction of major routes and farms.

“Based on the 2021 grain production data released by the foreign affairs service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Nigeria’s wheat production increased to 99,000 metric tonnes from 55,000 metric tonnes in 2020. this led to 8.9 percent decrease in importation as Nigeria imports 6.0 million metric tonnes so far in 2022 from 6.6 million metric tonnes in 2020”.

According to Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria (WFAN), the country spends over N4.2 billion yearly on the importation of wheat to meet local demand of over five million metric tonnes, yet the country is blessed with both human and material resources to meet her local demand and also export excess. Wheat is used for flour milling industries; bread band other confectioneries take more than 80 percent of the total flour produced in Nigeria.

According to an expert in agricultural economics, Dr. Unekwu Onuche of the University of Africa, Bayelsa state, considering the present difficulty to import milk from Ukraine, the price of milk and milk products will very likely to rise in the medium and long term.

He said further that, if Nigeria can no longer import wheat and maize from Russia due to sanctions, it is very likely the prices of products made from wheat and maize will rise thereby, creating more hardship for more Nigerians, arguing that Nigeria’s dependence on foreign food supplies is uncalled for. The World Food Programme HungerMapLive estimated that 19 percent of Nigerians have insufficient food consumption as of May. The percentage could jump higher if there is no alternative to wheat and maize import from now war-torn Russia and Ukraine.

According to Dr Onuche, “You cannot continue to rely on another man to feed your house. What happens the day they stop to supply you food?” Dr. Onuche described the over dependence of Nigerians on foreign food supplies as an interplay of international politics; a situation where some selected countries decide to share global markets among themselves at the expense of local production in the dependent nations.

He advised Nigeria to look inward to strengthen her local production to meet up with the increasing demand in both wheat and other food needs.

Nigeria should provide favourable financial and political environment for farm business to thrive and also provide monitoring and evaluation team that will ensure the government’s effort at ensuring adequate food production is not jeopardized by the unfaithful few.

It is not only the prices of food items that have gone up. The prices of many other products which Nigeria imports from Russia and Ukraine have jumped up, among them iron and steel, electrical and electronic items, plastics, pharmaceutical products, fertilizers, arms and ammunition, and diverse kinds of tools. Worse hit is the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company, which was billed to be revived through an agreement between the Nigerian government and Russia, a signature project of the Buhari administration. The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE)[ii], Dr Muda Yusuf, announced this in March, when he stated that the project worth N20.4 billion ($50 million), was being stalled by the war. The project was to commence in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic halted the coming of expatriates to Nigeria to kick-start the revival process. With the pandemic almost behind the country, Ajaokuta Steel Complex project should have commenced in early 2022. But with the ongoing war, the gigantic steel company cannot be revived.

Yusuf explained further how the war affects Nigeria: “Additionally, the cost of flour, price of bread and other confectioneries may also take a hit. The summary is that if the conflict is protracted, these would be the downside risks to the Nigerian economy. Ukraine and Russia are major producers of wheat and they account for about 30 per cent of the global wheat export used for bread and some other confectioneries. Therefore, the current development is going to disrupt the supply of wheat in the global market. There is, therefore, a risk of a hike in the cost of wheat which will affect the price of flour and a knock-on effect on the price of bread and other confectioneries. Nigeria also imports a substantial amount of wheat which would also suffer some disruption and impact on prices.”

This piece was produced in partnership with the ONE Campaign, a global campaign and advocacy organization. For more information on the impacts of conflict, climate change, and COVID’s impacts in Africa, subscribe to ONE’s Aftershocks newsletter or explore the data.


https://dailytrust.com/how-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-threatens-food-security-in-nigeria