₦airaland Forum

iwaeda:
Toh, Nlfpmod. The new emir has joined the wailing club as chairman emeritus obaofkwara, Kade pe..

The 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has expressed deep concern over Nigerians’ severe economic hardships.

His comments came during a ceremony for the distribution of free fertiliser to 52,800 smallholder farmers across Kano State’s 44 local government areas on Thursday.

Addressing the gathering at the Government House, alongside the newly appointed second-class Emirs of Gaya and Karaye, Sanusi highlighted the dire situation many Nigerians find themselves in.

“People are in a dire situation. I’m aware that people now resort to buying half pepper because of the high cost of food items. This is unbearable. But I think with efforts like this, people can get some relief,” he stated.

The initiative, which aims to alleviate economic hardship and promote food security, will see each farmer, including women and persons living with disabilities, receive 25kg of fertiliser.

The Emir praised the Kano State Government for the initiative but urged further action to mitigate the ongoing economic challenges.

On his part, Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, said, “We are determined to support our farmers and ensure that food is available and affordable for all.”

The Emirs of Gaya and Karaye also voiced their support for the programme. Emir of Gaya, Ali Ibrahim, said, “This distribution of fertiliser will significantly contribute to food security in our state.” Similarly, the Emir of Karaye, Mahammad Mahraz, expressed optimism that the initiative would benefit the farming community.

Representatives of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) were also present, expressing their gratitude for the government’s gesture. “This initiative will help bring down the cost of food items in the state and provide much-needed support to our farmers,” remarked AFAN official Ibrahim Inuwa.

The Organised Private Sector, OPS, has warned that members cannot pay the N70,000 National Minimum Wage announced by the Federal Government without support.

Reacting to the news of President Bola Tinubu’s approval of N70,000 as the new national minimum wage, Spokesperson of OPS, and Director General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said.

“[b]while we commend the President for putting to rest the immediate issue of the National Minimum Wage, we also note, most importantly his commitment to support the sub-nationals and the Organized P[/b]rivate Sector to pay the new wage”

fergie001:
Bayo Onanuga

The national average retail price for Premium Motor Spirit otherwise known as petrol increased year-on-year, YoY, by 37.44 percent to N750.17 per litre in June 2024 from N545.83 per litre recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.


On a month-on-month, MoM basis, the average retail price decreased by 2.53 per cent from N769.62 per litre in May 2024.


The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, report on Premium Motor Spirit,(Petrol) Price Watch for June 2024 disclosed that Benue State topped the price chart for the product at N864.55, followed by Jigawa and Rivers States with N847.00 and N810.00 respectively.

However, Lagos, Kwara and Ogun States emerged the states with the lowest retail price for the product at N626.94, N650.00 and N670.63 respectively. Lastly, the South-South zone had the highest average retail price of N794.64, while the South-West zone had the lowest price of N696.42

Meanwhile, the average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil, also known as diesel increased year-on-year, YoY, by 79.32 per cent to N1462.98 per litre in June 2024 from N815.83 recorded in June 2023.

On a month-on-month, MoM basis, an increase of 4.20 per cent was recorded from N1403.96 per litre in May 2024.

The report stated “Looking at the variations in the State prices, the top three States with the highest average price of the product in June 2024 include Niger State (N1979.23), Cross River State (N1920.86), and Taraba (N1742.46).

Furthermore, the top three lowest prices were recorded in the following State namely, Lagos State (N1210.77), Ogun State (N1239.17), and Abuja (N1240.00). The Zonal representation of the average price of Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) shows that North East Zone has the highest price of N1659.07 while South West Zone has the lowest price of N1280.54 when compared with other Zones.

The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, has appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the government of President Bola Tinubu.

He made the plea when the First Lady and wife of the president, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, paid him a visit at his Iga Idugaran palace in Lagos.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by her spokesperson, Busola Kukoyi, the royal father observed that President Tinubu means well for the nation as he is a man who is grassroots-focused.

“All that I am saying and appealing is that we should pray for Nigeria and the president. We should be patient. Everything good needs prayers,” the statement quoted the president, the monarch, as saying

Oba of Lagos also admonished the youth to be closer to God, noting that Nigerian youth are mostly good and hardworking

“Though some youth are incurably lazy and are always waiting to be spoon-fed, teach them not to always wait for fish but learn how to fish themselves,” he said.

The statement explained that the visit by the First Lady was an opportunity for the monarch to restate his appeal for a special status for Lagos State as the former Federal Capital of Nigeria

iwaeda:
Ebi npawon ooooooo. Hunger is understatement. Nlfpmod, inflation is over 80 %.

iwaeda:
We are waiting for madam Remi Tinubu's backyard farms to reduce inflation.

The President, African Development Bank Group, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, has warned that the decision by the Federal Government to allow massive food importation may destroy the country’s agriculture sector.

Adesina, who spoke at a retreat by the African Primates of the Anglican Church in Abuja, advised the Nigerian government to produce more food and create jobs through agriculture.

On July 10, 2024, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, announced that the Federal Government would suspend duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas through the country’s land and sea borders, for 150 days.

Kyari had said, “To ameliorate food inflation in the country caused by affordability and exacerbated by availability, the government has taken a raft of measures to be implemented over the next 180 days:


“A 150-day duty-free import window for food commodities, suspension of duties, tariffs and taxes for the importation of certain food commodities (through land and sea borders). These commodities include maize, husked brown rice, wheat and cowpeas. Under this arrangement, imported food commodities will be subjected to a Recommended Retail Price.”

The minister had stated that in addition to the importation by the private sector, the “Federal Government will import 250,000MT of wheat and 250,000MT of maize. The imported food commodities in their semi-processed state will target supplies to the small-scale processors and millers across the country.”

Reacting to this plan, in a speech made at the retreat held on Friday in Abuja, and posted on the website of AfDB on Saturday, Adesina faulted the policy.


Adesina, a former agriculture minister, said, “Nigeria’s recently announced policy to open its borders for massive food imports, just to tackle short-term food price hikes, is depressing.”


He warned that the policy could undermine all the hard work and private investments that had gone into Nigeria’s agriculture sector.

“Nigeria cannot rely on the importation of food to stabilise prices. Nigeria should be producing more food to stabilise food prices while creating jobs and reducing foreign exchange spending, that will further help stabilise the naira.

“Nigeria cannot import its way out of food insecurity. Nigeria must not be turned into a food import-dependent nation,” he stated.

Adesina who spoke on the theme, ‘Food security and financial sustainability in Africa: The role of the Church’, said Nigeria “must feed itself with pride,” warning, “a nation that depends on others to feed itself, is independent only in name.”

“It is clear therefore that unless we transform agriculture, Africa cannot eliminate poverty,” he insisted.

“Essentially, food is money. The size of the food and agriculture market in Africa will reach $1tn by 2030,” Adesina added.


The bank chief stated that the clergymen had assembled in Abuja under the umbrella of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa, representing more than 40 million Anglicans across the continent.

PresidObi:
Due to stealing.

A strong member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kano State, Senator Masaud Doguwa has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

This came after he accused the President Bola Tinubu administration of lack of focus, and carrying out anti-people policies, which he said had plunged the nation into poverty.

Senator Doguwa made the announcement of his defection in a statement he signed.

According to the statement, he cited feelings of underutilization and the party’s implementation of anti-people policies as reasons for his departure from the APC, alongside his supporters.

He said despite their wealth of experience in politics, they were rarely involved in party forums to share their expertise and contribute to the development of the APC.

“In politics, if you fail to engage highly experienced politicians by providing them with political assignments, you are making them politically redundant, and giving them room to struggle and engage themselves elsewhere.

“This is because highly experienced politicians don’t want to stay idle,’’ the statement said.

He further expressed disappointment with the APC government’s policies, which he believed were harmful to ordinary citizens.

“After careful appraisal, I have discovered that some of the policies are anti-people-oriented and do not align with our political ideology.

“These policies are causing more harm and concern than good to the ordinary and common citizens of the country.

“From what we have seen happening in APC, we have not seen light in the tunnel where an ordinary man, big or small, will sigh a relief from the burden of life with the APC approach on issues,” he added.

It is a tale of woes as an acute scarcity of one of Nigerians’ most popular staple foods, bread, has hit Kaduna, Katsina, and Kano States.

Checks by the News Agency of Nigeria correspondents revealed that the most-favoured staple was now as scarce as petrol or the highly-prized precious metal, Gold.

It was observed that whereas the commodity was very hard to come by, its prices have hit the roof.

Many of the residents could no longer afford the staple and, as such had turned to other not-too-cheap alternatives like noodles, millet porridge, and bean cake, as well as bread and beans, among others.

The prices of the commodity have also been increased by between 20 to 40 per cent.

Many shop owners and consumers have vehemently lamented the obnoxious development, appealing for urgent action to redress the ugly trend.

One of the bakers, who craves anonymity, told NAN in Kaduna, ”It is not that we are on strike, but we have had to stop production since 1st July 2024.

“This unfortunate development was necessitated by the scarcity of wheat flour and its high cost, as well as sugar, oil, and other additives.

“For instance, in June, we were buying a 50kg bag of flour for between N53,000 to N55,000, has regrettably skyrocketed to between N67,000 to N70,000.

“How can we produce bread and also break even under this precarious situation?“

Some bread sellers and consumers in Kaduna State decried the scarcity of bread around the state metropolis, saying that it had affected their businesses and daily lives.

A tea and bread seller, Haidar Basiru, said he usually buys 100 loaves of bread but due to the ongoing paucity, he was able to get only 30 loaves, which had finished already.

”The bakeries are saying they are on strike due to a hike in flour and sugar. This development has seriously affected our businesses as we usually operate in the mornings and evenings.

“But, from the look of things, we may not come out in the evening due to bread shortage. In fact, most of my colleagues operating around this axis in Kasuwan barci have not opened today, “ he said.

Similarly, Mrs Kafayat Sadiq, a provisions seller, stated that she couldn’t get bread to stock in her shop since Tuesday, saying that her supplier had complained of the high cost of flour.

A resident, Abdullahi Muhammad, said, “I went to the shop in the morning to buy bread, which would be eaten as breakfast in my house but unfortunately, I couldn’t get it.

”I had to buy spaghetti for the children to eat and go to school since there is no bread; I hope the issue will be alleviated soon.”

A resident of Funtua, Funtua Local Government Area of Katsina State, Aliyu Idris, told NAN that the prices of bread have also gone up in the state.

He said, ”For instance, a loaf of bread that was selling for between N 200 before now goes for N 400. This has affected all the sizes of the bread.”

Idris also stated that tea sellers and shop owners were now finding it very hard to get the commodity for sale to their customers.

In Kano State, a resident also corroborated the scenarios in Kaduna and Katsina States, saying, “A loaf of bread formerly selling for N600 before now goes for N 800.

SadiqBabaSani:
Of fake or real EFCC

Nbotee:
Some of them were caught in Anambra and paraded. The videos are all over