₦airaland Forum

iwaeda:
Subsidy is gone -Tinubu
Fuel Subsidy Is Back-Obasanjo.
Nlfpmod, only people supporting this government can't see SUBSIDY is back.

Homes and businesses were left without electric supply most of yesterday due to a partial collapse of the national power grid, with generation falling by 60.15 percent to 1,255.78MW at 3pm from 3,151.74MW at 2pm.


Data from the National System Operator, NSO, showed that as at 6pm, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, was still battling to restore the grid as supply rose to 1,705.74MW.


The plants on grid according to TCN were Dadinkowa Hydro Plant (36.24MW), Delta Gas (360.00MW), Geregu Plant (85.00MW), Geregu Nipp (100.00MW), Ibom Power (69.00), Jebba Hydro (364.00MW), Odukpani Nipp (190.90MW), Okpai Plant (259.00MW), Omotosho Plant (170.40), Sapele Plant (71.20MW).

TCN confirmed the development, adding that restoration was ongoing at the time of writing this report.

The Catholic Bishops of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, weekend, expressed concern that the Federal Government’s reforms have not brought the renewed hope promised, while inflation, hunger and anger keep growing.

This was part of the communiqué they issued weekend, at the end of their two-day meeting, held at Sacred Heart Pastoral/Retreat Centre, Orlu, signed by the Chairman and Secretary, Most Rev. Lucius Ugorji and Most Rev. Augustine Echema, respectively.

The Bishops said: “Our nation, Nigeria, continues to face many social and economic challenges that are bringing untold hardship to our people.

“The reforms that were introduced at the inception of the current administration have not brought the renewed hope promised. Instead, inflation continues to skyrocket and hunger and anger continue to grow.

“Despite calls by the government for the people to sacrifice and bear patiently the hard times, there seems to be no corresponding example of prudent spending on the part of the leaders at all levels of government.

“It is not as if we want to join the bandwagon preaching doom and gloom for the nation, but the truth remains that for the last couple of years, we, as a nation, have missed the chance to build a strong nation, to elect leaders who have the capacity and the will to meet the needs of the people, to build a nation where the national interest overrides every tribal, political and religious division.

“We do not deny that progress has been made in particular sectors of national life; progress for which we all rejoice, yet many areas of work remain and the palpable fear is that there might be no redeeming future if things continue to go the way they are going at the moment.”

On the ongoing national hunger protest, the Catholic Bishops opined that the youths are right to be outraged by the worsening state of our nation.

“As long as many people are suffering from multi-dimensional poverty in the land; as long as there are people without the renewed hope that comes with opportunities for a decent livelihood; as long as the peoples’ income can no longer afford their genuine needs; as long as their votes cannot be guaranteed to effect a change in the behaviour of our leaders; Nigeria will continue to remain a restive nation.

“While peaceful protests are genuine democratic tools for expressing grievances, we believe that protests alone cannot resolve our current national problems. Moreover, a prolonged protest with a total close down of the country, even if peacefully sustained, might cripple our already fragile economy.”

While saying it has become imperative that Nigerians, as citizens of the same nation, undertake some soul-searching in the face of the intractable nature of our national difficulties, the Bishops also reasoned that “good governance and socio-economic stability will continue to elude us, if we collectively do not decide to strengthen our political institutions, if we do not improve transparency, efficiency, and accountability in all our public institutions.”

Continuing, the clerics said: “It will be naive for us to imagine that leadership alone can resolve all the issues that bedevil our country.

“The failure of leadership reflects equally the failure of followership. It is obvious then that both leadership and followership in Nigeria have responsibilities to fulfill, to move our nation forward.

“We need proper leadership in the various sectors and cadres of our country, be it business, politics, public service, security agencies, and other essential services. All of these different sectors must come together as part of the same wheel of progress.

“Unfortunately, what has continued to elude us is visionary leadership. Ever since our independence, one regime after another, has started and abandoned its agenda, shown a lack of continuity, and promoted mediocrity and ineptitude in governance.

“The result is that today, the majority of our citizens no longer have faith in our leaders. We call on our current political leaders and elite to rise and inspire the nation, as well as earn the trust of the populace, with policies and programmes that will improve the standard of living, economic growth, stability, and a general rise in the standard of governance and governance structure.”

Referring to the recent judgment of the Supreme Court, on local government autonomy, the Bishops appealed to the state governments to speedily organize free, fair, and transparent local government elections.

“We hope that a functional local government authority will bring development closer to the people, and allow a more grassroots participation in the democratic process,” the Bishops reasoned.

They called on Nigerian citizens to make adjustments in the context of the hard times facing everybody, stressing that “adjustment will include saying no to all corrupt practices, being alive and awake to our rights and our civic responsibilities, saying no to every attempt to cow and intimidate the citizenry”.

Their words: “Here in the South East, where years of insecurity have impacted daily life and businesses, we call on our people to re-embrace that same indomitable spirit that was displayed by our people after the Nigeria-Biafra War.

“It was a spirit that refused to accept that our present challenges are beyond redemption, a spirit that recognized that the contribution of everyone is needed to build up the society from the bottom up. This will require qualities from everyone like a life of simplicity, moral probity, steadfastness, hard work, and solidarity.

“As Church, we share in the joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties of our people. As your pastors, we feel your pains and your struggles. We are deeply concerned about the fate of our jobless youths who see no hope in the Nigerian project.

“Many have been forced to leave the country for greener pastures; others are tempted to resort to crime or fetish and obnoxious ritual practices in the quest for survival.

“Our retired and elderly people are abandoned to languish without the support networks that should guarantee a dignified and happy old age. As a Church, we do not pretend to be an alternate government that has the responsibility to manage our Commonwealth.

“The Church has always intervened in the difficult moments of our national history to promote the spirit of solidarity among the people, and concern for the welfare of those at the margins of society.

“In the same spirit, we urge better-placed individuals in the society to embrace the challenge of making sure nobody is left behind to suffer in silence and to die in misery.”

The publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu, has expressed concerns regarding President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide broadcast, stating that he failed to address the demands of ongoing protesters across the country.

In a nationwide broadcast on Sunday, the President addressed the nation amid #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protests, which began on August 1.

Protesters have made several demands, which include a return of fuel subsidies, improvements in living standards, cuts in the cost of governance, reduction in electricity tariffs, and solutions to escalating insecurity, among others.

In a statement issued via his social media handle on Sunday, Momodu said he had little hope of Tinubu granting some concessions to the protesters, adding that he was shocked by the presidential speech.

The social commentator and politician stated that it would be difficult for Tinubu to change a winning formula that has worked for him ever since he was the Governor of Lagos State.

Momodu asserted that it was wishful thinking that the President was going to listen to the protesters and have mercy on hapless and helpless Nigerians.

He wrote, “Fellow Nigerians, good morning. After the long-awaited speech of President Bola Tinubu eventually came this morning, I’m sure most of you would be as stupefied as me.

“I must confess that I had little hope of Tinubu granting some concessions to the aggrieved Nigerians. As a man who has held an iron grip on Lagos State for the last 25 years, it would be difficult for him to change a winning formula that has worked for him ever since.

“Also, what did we expect his advisers to be telling him when most of them have been his most fanatical cronies from Lagos who have learnt never to challenge the master?

“So it was merely wishful thinking on the part of incurable optimists like me to think he was going to have mercy on hapless and seemingly helpless Nigerians.”

As soon as the midwife placed the newborn baby in HappinessMonday’s arms, she gazed into her baby’s eyes, taking in the tiny features and soft skin.

But before she could even hold her close, the nurse swiftly took the baby away, handing her to a stranger who had been lurking in the shadows with some wads of Naira notes in exchange for the newborn.

As you read this piece, the midwife and mother of the newborn baby are cooling their heels in the custody of the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Police Command Monitoring Squad.

Their arrest, as gathered, followed an intelligence report about a building that serves as a birth house in Rumuokwurusi town in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, where newborn babies were allegedly sold.

Consequently, the Command boss, CP Olatunji Disu, directed the Commander of the Monitoring Squad, CSP Grace Wonwu, to unearth the baby sale gang. Police sources hinted that when the policemen arrived at the house on July 6, 2024, a 17-year-old pale-looking pregnant teenager whose baby was allegedly to be sold upon delivery was rescued, alongside the woman whose newly born baby was sold.

In this interview with the mother of the newborn baby that was sold, she revealed that she was paid N400,000 for the sale of her baby. When asked why she volunteered to sell her baby, the woman, who identified herself as Happiness Monday, blamed her action on poverty and hunger. Without access to education, employment, or social support, she said she was left with no other option but to sell her baby.

Her confession: “I came from Akwa-Ibom to hustle in Port Harcourt. I was living on my own until a flood chased me out. I started living with my man friend. When I was pregnant, he asked me to leave the pregnancy. Later, he started accusing me of sleeping around with the pregnancy and denied paternity of the baby.

“In September 2023, he told me he was going for a job outside Port Harcourt but never returned. When I went to ask his mother of his whereabouts, she told me that she had not been on talking terms with her son for years. She said since her son didn’t accept the pregnancy, she won’t accept it either. Later, when the house rent expired, I went to an uncompleted building to stay. By the time I came back from antenatal one day, the owner of the uncompleted building had put a gate there and locked it. It was at that point I went to tell this nurse (pointing to the midwife) to help me get someone that would take my baby, since I didn’t have shelter or money to feed and clothe the baby. She told me she had somebody that would take the baby for N400,000. Immediately I was delivered of the baby, someone came and the baby was handed over to the person. I didn’t see the person’s face. I only told the nurse to assure me that the person taking the baby would take care of her and would not kill her. She said the nurse that brought the buyer said the person was a Pastor’s wife.

“Out of the N400,000, I rented an apartment, used some to pay the debt owed, and the balance of N160,000 was kept in the nurse’s account with the intention of establishing a business. It was because of this same hardship that made me take my three older children to the mother of their father back in the village. He left me for another woman because he didn’t pay my dowry.”

On her part, the 31-year-old midwife, Success Igwe, said that was the first time she was involved in the sale of a baby. She said she gave out the baby for N450,000 and collected only N50,000 meant for delivery charges and handed the rest to Happiness.

Asked what the pregnant teenager was doing at her birth house, she said, “Her sister brought her on Thursday, July 4, 2024. She said she should be with me because she was going to a convention. When I asked if she was aware the girl was pregnant, she said yes. I had to give her some medicine because she was running a temperature when she arrived. It was two days later that I was arrested.”

However, the pale-looking teenage girl could not express herself in English. She only identified herself as Margret Okonide and said she came from Akwa-Ibom. Efforts made to gather more facts from her failed due to the communication barrier.

benuejosh:
FAKE NEWS

benuejosh:
FAKE NEWS

benuejosh:
FAKE NEWS

Hundreds of travelers are currently stranded at the Suleja axis of the Abuja-Kaduna highway in Niger state.

This is as a result of protesters blocking the free flow of movement on a section of the road.

An Abuja resident, Abubakar Ibrahim, who was billed to travel to his home state of Kaduna, told Daily Trust around 11 40 am on Thursday, that the vehicle he boarded had spent over two hours around Gauraka junction.

“I left Zuba town where I boarded the vehicle before 10 am, but we have been made to stop here around Gauraka junction where we have spent about two hours. Protesting youths have blocked the highway.”

He said the gridlock had extended to some kilometeres, covering between Aluminum Village and nearby Zuma military barracks.

“There are few policemen standing from afar, but they can do nothing about the road block as the number of the youths is beyond their control.”

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, on Tuesday, appealed to aggrieved youths planning the forthcoming #EndBadGovernance protests slated for August to give the Federal Government more time to fix the wobbling economy.

The first-class monarch described the economic hardship being felt in Nigeria as a “global phenomenon” hence the President Bola Tinubu administration should be given time to correct the inflationary anomalies.

“The agitation is real, we have a lot of suffering in the country but not only in Nigeria; it is a global phenomenon,” Oba Ogunwusi said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme shortly after he met with traditional rulers in the Southern region of the country.

“We must ensure that we appeal (to protesters) so that they can give the Federal Government a little bit of time to correct since it is a global thing.”


He admitted the people’s right to protest but cautioned against the destruction of public and private assets during the planned rallies, saying the people would be the ones to suffer if such assets were burnt.

The planned protests against economic hardship, which is gaining traction on social media, have been scheduled to be held across all states of the Federation as well as the nation’s capital Abuja in August.

Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last months, as Nigerians battle one of the country’s worst inflation rates and economic crises sparked by the government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.

The police, military and the Department of State Services had warned against Kenya-styled protests. Politicians, who surmised that the planned rallies might end up like the EndSARS demonstrations of October 2020, have continued to appeal to youths to shelve the planned rallies but the young people remain unfazed, doggedly insisting that the protests will hold.

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has said that poverty and hard times have always been major concern of Nigerians from time immemorial.

MURIC noted that inflation was global and that hunger was common around the world.

The group described the proposed nationwide hunger protest as an invitation to the mother of all hunger.

It said the organisers should rather toe the path of patience and dialogue.

MURIC made this known in a statement signed on Tuesday, by its Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

“We warn clearly, categorically and emphatically that what the organisers call hunger protest is an invitation to the mother of all hunger.

“Instead of unleashing anger on the government and its paraphernalia, the organisers should engage the government in dialogue bearing in mind the consequences of violent protests around the world.

“Two other things that should be considered are the fact that inflation is global and hunger is common around the world.

“Nigeria is affected because we are not an island. The second consideration is the antiquity of hardship in Nigeria.

“Poverty and hard times have always been major concern of Nigerians from time immemorial. It is therefore too hasty and unfair to hang it all on a regime that is barely one year old,” part of the statement read.

The Police Command in Yobe State has raised concerns about a potential infiltration of the planned nationwide protest by Boko Haram insurgents.

DSP Dungus Abdulkarim, the Command’s spokesman, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, indicating that foreign mercenaries might be involved in attempts to disrupt the protest and cause harm.

Abdulkarim urged individuals intending to join the protest to exercise caution, citing intelligence that suggests a plot to use the demonstration as a cover for violence and destruction.

“As Yobe state recovers from insurgency, the Commissioner of Police, CP Garba Ahmed, acknowledges citizens’ constitutional rights to peaceful assembly.

“While we alert citizens to sinister motives, even peaceful protests at this time may be ill-timed.


“Recent insurgency activities in Gujba LGA, including an improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion, have raised concerns.

“We are unprepared to face additional security challenges,” the statement highlighted.

The statement added that the Commissioner of Police, CP Garba Ahmed while recognizing the citizens’ right to peaceful assembly, warned that even well-intentioned protests could be problematic given the current security climate.

“We encourage protesters to cooperate with the Police, obey the law, and adhere to global best practices for peaceful assembly.

“We are committed to working with all to promote peaceful expression and maintain public order,” the statement concluded.

The Arewa Youth Assembly, AYA, has pleaded with billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote to respect and obey Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL as the country’s regulatory body.

The group reminded Dangote that before the establishment of his refinery the NNPCL, NUPRC and NMDPRA had been existing as regulatory bodies.

“It will be very selfish for Dangote to make them bend protocols to serve his personal interest,” Arewa youth said in a press conference addressed by its Speaker, Mohammed Salihu Danlami n Abuja on Sunday.

According to the youth group, the billionaire businessman should know these are sectors dealing with regulations and should try to stand by the rules and nothing more.

“Even the Dangote Groups, he heads has its own rules and regulations and all stakeholders must adhere to them.

“Dangote from our findings wants to detect the Prices crude should be sold to him which is against the principle of world best practice. He wants the Bonny Light crude to be given to him at a rate he wants and wants the NUPRC to selfishly comply with his selfish ageNda to force the IOCs to be giving him all the Bonny Light crude oil forgetting it’s a willing buyer-willing-seller relationship.

“More of our findings show he wants NMDPRA not to license anyone else to bring in product. They said no! He blackmails them and is trying to incite Nigerians against NMDPRA, that they are giving license to marketers who bring in substandard products into the country.

“We are calling on the National Assembly to make public the Laboratory results from his own refinery to the public because information we are getting from different quarters shows the Product is substandard.

“We know Mr Dangote has been operating all his life in an industry that doesn’t have regulation, but the Oil/Energy industry has rules and regulations. He should come down from his horse so all parties can work for the interest of our nation unless he has an ulterior motive of trying to scuttle the administration of Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“In specific terms, We stand to make it clear to the public that the Nigerian Government is only after Excellence. Dangote should be a yardstick of quality and stop parading up and down for his selfish desire. We demand that Dangote apologizes to the government and other business competitors for deforming their character or face the law.”

The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has asked youths of Niger Delta extraction to file out and take part in the planned peaceful protest against bad governance slated to commence on August 1.

President of the IYC Worldwide, Dr. Alaye Theophilus, made the call in a statement made available to Vanguard.

He was reacting to statements issued by the Chief of Army Staff, Inspector General of Police, state governors, ministers, and other top government functionaries asking Nigerians not to stage any protest.

The IYC president said Nigerians had at various times, from the colonial era to the present dispensation, protested to register their displeasure against bad governance and wondered why the present administration is kicking against citizens’ rights to express their dissatisfaction over the current hardship in the country.

He recalled how the APC government rode to power in 2015 on the crest of protests against the then Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led federal government for its inability to tackle rising insecurity, unemployment, and corruption.

According to him, protest is a universal right of citizens to draw attention of those in authority to examine their conduct, programmes, and policies and tailor them for the country’s overall development.

“The hardship faced by the people of the Niger Delta, particularly those at the hinterlands, is becoming unbearable as a litre of fuel now sells for over N2,000, one pure water for N100, and other essential commodities have gone beyond the reach of the people.

“Sudden deaths have become a common occurrence in rural areas due to hunger and untold suffering,” he stated.

Dr Theophilus advised security agents to be cautious in their approach and urged them not to be overzealous and brutal while monitoring the protest in order to maintain law and order.