₦airaland Forum

No fewer than 15 universities in the United Kingdom have announced plans to sack some workers and even stop running some courses because of the sharp decline in enrolment by foreign students including Nigerians.

According to a report by University World News, the sharp decline in foreign students enrolment was particularly felt at the postgraduate level.


The development is also connected to the decision by the Uk government to reduce international students, as some concessions given them that level have been whittled down.

Also, there are concerns too that the high cost of living being experienced globally may negatively affect enrolment of foreign students at the undergraduate level.

From the prestigious Russell Group Universities to mid-tier universities and Scottish institutions, the current situation is not sparing most universities.

Robert Gordon University (RGU) recently introduced a voluntary severance scheme in the face of staff redundancy due to its financial difficulties as a result of a notable decline in international student enrollments, a consequence of post-Brexit alterations in UK immigration policies.

RGU cited escalating cost pressures and a considerable reduction in public funding as contributing factors.

Kposkila:
For example Wike n fubara

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, on Sunday, said for over 60 years, Nigerian leaders have looked like men in a drunken stupor who stumble and fumble while searching for the way home.

Kukah, in his Easter message made available to newsmen, called on the Federal Government to come up with a robust template for how it wishes to reverse and put the country on a path of national healing.

He said, “Our leaders chose the feast rather than the fast. We are today reaping what we sowed yesterday. For over 60 years, our leaders have looked like men in a drunken stupor, staggering, stumbling and fumbling, slurring in speech, with blurred visions searching for the way home.

“The corruption of the years of a life of immoral and sordid debauchery has spread like cancer destroying all our vital organs. The result is a state of a hangover that has left our nation comatose.


Notwithstanding, Easter is a time to further reflect on the road not taken. It is a time to see if this Golgotha of pain can lead us to the new dawn of the resurrection. Nigeria can and Nigeria will be great again. Let us ride this tide together in hope.”

As part of measures to curb the current economic woes and curtail hunger among the citizens, the bishop urged the government to come up with some urgent steps to put the nation on the path of healing.

These, he said, must include a deliberate policy of inclusion that will drastically end the immoral culture of nepotism.


He said, “The government must design a more comprehensive and wide-ranging method of recruitment that is transparent as a means of generating patriotism and reversing the ugly face of feudalism and prebendalism

“There is a need for a clear communications strategy that will serve to inspire and create timelines of expectations of results from policies.

“There is a need for clarity over questions of the who, what, when, and how national set goals are to be attained and who can be held accountable.”

The bishop added, “Second, the notion of rejigging the security architecture is a hackneyed cliché that is now at best, an oxymoron. It is difficult to fathom our current situation regarding the ubiquity of the military in our national life.

“It is impossible to explain how we can say we are in a civilian democracy with the military literally looking like an Army of occupation with an octopussean spread across all 36 states and Abuja.

“This has very serious consequences both for its professionalism, its integrity and perceived role in protecting society. No other person than the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, who recently referred to the military as facing the dilemma of what he called ‘see finish.’ It is now difficult to say whether the persistence of insecurity is a cause or a consequence of military ubiquity.

” Trillions of naira continue to go into bottomless pits with little measurable benefits. Our military’s professionalism cannot be diluted by the recruitment of hunters, vigilante groups, and other unprofessional and untrained groups.”


Kukah noted that “this is not sustainable because it leaves the military open to ridicule and perceptions of surrender. Fighting insecurity is now an enterprise. I believe our security men and women can defeat these criminals in a matter of months. All we hear and see are fingers pointing to the top. No, this must end.”

The bishop expressed delight that President Bola Tinubu recently announced that kidnapping and banditry are now to be treated as acts of terrorism.

“If so, we need to see a relentless and implacable plan to end this menace with a definite deadline for bringing these terrorists to their knees, no matter what it will take,” he said.

Kukah encouraged the President to continue on the path of probity, to take further steps to cut down the overbearing costs of governance and to put in place more comprehensive plans towards achieving both food and physical security across the country.

He said merely distributing money through already corruption-riddled structures is not enough and diminishes the dignity of citizens.

The cleric argued that no one needs to line up to receive aid when the nation is not in a war.

“Give our people back their farms and develop a comprehensive agricultural plan to put our country back on the path of honour and human dignity,” he said.

Floky215:
And again..one add value to humanity the other add zero value..!!

The federal government has released a sum of N90 billion to subsidise the 2024 pilgrimage to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Daily Trust has learnt.

An impeccable source within the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) revealed this to Daily Trust on Thursday.

The source, who asked not to be named, noted that without this intervention, each of the intending pilgrims would have been requested to add at least N3.5 million to the initial fare which was pegged at N4.9 million.

A top official at the Presidency also confirmed that the federal government “actually provided some financial support for the hajj exercise”.

Recall that the NAHCON had, in December last year, fixed a fare of N4.9 million per pilgrim based on the exchange rate of N897 to a dollar.

In announcing the fare at that time, the commission had quoted the sum of N4,899,000 for southern pilgrims; N4,699,000 for those from the North; while pilgrims from Yola and Maiduguri centres were asked to pay N4,679,000.

Through a statement issued on Sunday by its spokesperson, Fatima Usara, the hajj commission had raised the fare by N1, 918,032.91, jacking up the total amount to N6.8 million.

The commission had also said intending pilgrims had up to yesterday (March 28, 2024) to make payment for the spiritual exercise.

The NAHCON had attributed the latest hike in hajj fare to the foreign exchange crisis which Nigeria has been battling for months.

The NAHCON’s source told Daily Trust that if the commission had received up to N230 billion as support from the federal government, there would have been no need to ask intending pilgrims “to add a dime.”

“The forex crisis has caused a lot of problems. That is why the Hajj Commission has asked intending pilgrims to pay the extra amount of N1.9 million each. The commission actually needed N230 billion to sort out the fare differential caused by the forex crisis.

“The N90 billion support which was provided by the government was announced in the presence of reporters during the inauguration of the board and management of the Hajj Commission which was held at the Office of the Vice Presidency on February 28, 2024. But they (reporters) were asked not to report it. That was why no newspaper carried the report. Or did you see it in any reports?”

“If the intending pilgrims pay ₦1.9 million, it is then it can be balanced,” the source further stated.

He said the NAHCON had also contacted state governors “to subsidise the hajj fare for the intending pilgrims in their respective states. Kano has responded by subsiding it by N500,000 for each pilgrim.

“By the previous calculation, the N90 billion given by the federal government can only subsidise 19,000 intending pilgrims by ₦3.5 million. But by spreading it on 50,000 pilgrims, it reduces it to N1.9 million; meaning that the federal government has subsidised each pilgrim by ₦1.6 million before each intending pilgrim was asked to add the remaining N1.9 million,” he said.

A presidency source, who also spoke to Daily Trust yesterday, said it was true that the federal government had provided what he called a “huge financial support” for this year’s hajj exercise.

Asked to confirm whether the federal government released up to N90 billion as support for the pilgrimage, the official simply said: “that might not be far from the truth.”

He added, “Of course, the federal government has offered support for the pilgrims because the pilgrims have been lamenting.

“Normally, any support that the government is giving to any faith, whether the Christian faith or the Muslim faith, the government does not like to announce it openly so that it will not appear as if the government is favouring on faith.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a circular to Bureau De Change operators (BDCs) informing them that they sold $10,000 to each BDC at a rate of N1,251/$1.

In a circular seen by Nairametrics, each BDC is to sell the dollars to eligible customers at a rate not exceeding 1.5% above the purchase price.

This suggest BDC are not expected to sell above N1,269/$1.

“We refer to our letter to you referenced TED/DIR/CON/GOM/001/071 in respect of the above subject wherein the CB approved a second tranche of sale of FX to eligible BDCs.

We write to inform you of the sale of $10,000 to each BDC at the rate of N1,251/$1. The BDCs are to sell to eligible end users at a spread of NOT MORE THAN 1.5 per cent above the purchase price.”

This confirms a resumption of sale of dollars to BDC operators after a protracted period of ban by the central bank in 2021.

The ban was lifted earlier in the year following the revocation of licences of over 4173 BDC operators in February.

Investigations by Nairametrics reveal that the exchange rate dropped below N1,400/$1 in the parallel market after closing at N1,431/$1 on Friday, with the referenced NAFEX rate at N1,382/$1.

What this means
At an estimated 1,500 BDC licenses remaining, Nairametrics estimates that over $15 million might have been sold into the retail end of the market. Before the revocation Nigeria had an estimated 5,689 licenses.

The resumption of forex sales to BDCs indicates that the apex bank is refocusing on enhancing liquidity in the retail segment of the forex market.

Previously, price arbitrage was a significant reason for the prohibition of forex sales to operators during Emefiele’s tenure, a time when the exchange rate was fixed.

However, with the exchange rate now being “market-determined” under a new forex regime, the apex bank believes that operators no longer have the incentive to engage in arbitrage by purchasing at lower rates from the CBN and selling at higher rates in the parallel market.

By enhancing liquidity, the central bank aims to stabilize the forex market, narrow the gap between official and parallel market rates, and ultimately reduce the volatility of exchange rates.

This strategy is expected to make forex more accessible to retail and small-scale enterprises, fostering a more transparent and efficient market.

If sustained, Nairametrics projects that the impact of improved liquidity could lead to an even stronger Naira in the short term. This is further supported by the expected hike in MPR rates when the CBN meets later this week.

Putindbutt:
Very good, keep it up nigga. My own destiny no de observe bad news like your destiny. when bad new jam una family too, make sure you use same energy to mention me, i will sympathize with you.

NaijaCoverBlog:
Source: https://dailypost.ng/2024/03/24/ondo-murdered-woman-stabbed-by-mentally-challenged-teenage-niece-police/

See Previous Thread - https://www.nairaland.com/8037383/17-year-old-girl-stabs-foster-mother

Putindbutt:
Of course, enemies of the state with their usual propaganda. Shebi you're in the bush with the bandits to know they are not complete. Make sure you take good care of the remaining students in the bush, Ode boy.

HonNL:
SOURCE

Putindbutt:
These newspapers report both sides but enemies like wake up every morning, looking for the negative reportings only.

Putindbutt:
So, you agreed that terrorism is PDP legacy, very good.

Putindbutt:
What type of evil thread?, you enemies of the state.

Putindbutt:
What type of evil thread?, you enemies of the state.

Putindbutt:
Ogododo, treesun, iwaeda, omooba77, you will never open a thread when Army killed terrorists or when kidnapped victims are rescued. Enemies of state, you will all lose las las.

Melagros:
COMRADES, I hate this regime of Bola Ahmed Tinubu because is too bloody

Suspected terrorists about midnight of Saturday, March 23, attacked a military base in Gujba town, Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State, killing a soldier.

Yobe State Police Command’s spokesman, DSP Dungus Abdulkarim, who confirmed the attack to The PUNCH on Sunday, said a military patrol vehicle was also torched by the suspected terrorists.

“The only thing I can confirm to you now is the attack. A soldier was killed, and troops and CJTF engaged the suspected terrorists,” he said.

Reliable local sources told The PUNCH that the suspected insurgents, who stormed the town by 12 midnight, shooting indiscriminately and subsequently attacking the military base, were later repelled by troops who chased them out to the surrounding bush.

A resident of Gujba, Modu Bahna, while narrating his ordeal, said, “They (suspected terrorists) stormed the town some minutes after midnight, shooting sporadically and majority of us took to our heels into the surrounding bushes for our dear lives.”

“The attackers did not kill any civilian or loot food or other essential commodities stores,” another source, Dala Bukar, said, adding, “They only attacked the two patrol vehicles in the military base where a soldier was killed.”

This recent killing of military personnel is coming after 15 soldiers were killed during a communal clash in Delta State.

The personnel consist of two Majors, one Captain, and 12 soldiers.

They were said to have met their deaths while responding to a distress call during a clash between Okuama and Okoloba communities in the state.