👨🏾⚖️ A lot of "presidential" decisions
Heyo
We'll be taking 2 weeks off to deal with life. But we'll be back on the 25th of September (🤞🏽). Sending love!
On Friday, 27th of August = 524/$
On Friday, 5th of September = 530/$
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In This Week’s Issue:
FG promises Nigeria’s debt profile is not an issue… stop worrying
Buhari approves 200% salary increase for NIMC
The Kogi State Government is trying to sue the EFCC
FG gets more terrorists to "rehabilitate"
Days after another group of children were kidnapped from a school in Zamfara, the Nigerian military announced that they received more surrendering/retiring terrorists.
The Defence Headquarters claims that almost 6,000 terrorists and their families surrendered. 565 of the recent surrenders have been handed over to the Borno State Government for further "profiling”.
Recall that the UN recently confirmed that the FG has a fully fleshed terrorist rehabilitation program (Sulhu) where they reintegrate the retired kidnappers into the civil society and set them up with jobs using taxpayer's money.
Last week, terrorists invaded the Nigerian Defence Academy, killed 2 officials, and injured one. No arrests have been made.
The FG has also not responded to claims from an ex-Naval officer that they're purposely aiding terrorism.
Zamfara's entire economy has shut down as a result of terrorist killings. Zamfara State Government has shut down markets and public gatherings, and Telco services have been paused for 2 weeks.
Meanwhile, the hill the presidency has chosen to die on is accusing Human Rights Advocacy group, Amnesty International of "playing domestic politics" and "legitimising" the cause of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Ignore the fact that Biafra precedes Amnesty International.
The Presidency also insists that “Amnesty International has no legal right to exist in Nigeria" and they must "open a formal investigation into the personnel that occupies their Nigerian offices".
In summary: IPOB = is solely responsible for "murdering Nigerian citizens. They kill police officers and military personnel and set government property on fire". Every other terrorist group is just misguided.
Open Grazing
Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu is one of a few Southern Governors who have gone ahead to ban open grazing in their states despite the FG's decision to review grazing reserves.
Days before the 1st of September — the official ban date chosen by Eastern and Southern Governors — the FG announced approval to review grazing reserves across the country
The review is to decide the level of encroachment, to see if herders are really a problem.
The committee created to review grazing said there are 415 reserves in 21 states across the country, but the only 3 that they identified in the South are in Oyo (2) and Ogun (1).
More Presidential decisions
President Buhari revealed that two ministers had been fired: The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammed Sabo Nanono, and Minister of Power, Sale Mamman.
Buhari said this was a necessary move because he is approaching a "critical phase of his second term" and cutting out these men will "deepen its capacity to consolidate legacy achievements”
He will announce replacements in a bit.
People's Gazette claims that upon learning he was fired, the Minister of Power fainted. They said he owes a lot of people money for contract allocations he promised them, which he won't be able to fulfill now that he no longer has the power. Mr. Mamman said it's a lie. He was already treating health issues before he was fired. His hospitalization had nothing to do with it.
Finance, it's mostly fraud
The Minister of Finance promises that Nigeria's debt profile is not excessive - the government is "borrowing responsibly and investing in infrastructure"
She reminded us that Nigeria's GDP growth rate is 5%; its highest since Q4 2014.
The services sector is growing at 9.27 % during the quarter, representing the fastest growth in the services sector since 2010. The oil and gas sector, she says dropped by 12% which is dragging the GDP down.
What's the money for? The last time they took a loan, the Minister said she couldn't give specific details. But Buhari just approved a 200% increase in National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) staff salary, which will "raise the total cost of the agency from about N5.3 billion to N16.7 billion per annum".
Note: Doctors under Federal Government payroll are still on strike over unpaid salaries. That’s a total of 10 strikes over the last 6 years.
Nigeria also intends to spend 900M on subsidy in 2022
Fraud and scams
The President has ordered a criminal investigation into an approximated six trillion Naira given to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) since 2001.
Recall: After complaints from people who live around the Niger Delta region, Buhari recently ordered an audit of the activities of the Commission from inception to August 2019.
After reviewing the audit, the president's ordered next step is a criminal investigation against the Niger Delta development commissions.
BudgIT, a transparency and accountability nonprofit, found that N4.5 billion payments were effected into private accounts by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) between January and May this year.
This is despite President Buhari instructing MDAs to document all above N5 million.
BudgIT disclosed this during the launch of govspend.ng portal for citizens to track government spending.
In Kogi, the State Government has threatened to sue the EFCC for accusing them of mismanagement of a bailout loan of N20bn taken to pay workers' salaries.
The EFCC said the Kogi government kept the money in an interest-yielding account rather than the account for salaries. They asked the Federal High Court to freeze the state’s account with Sterling Bank (where the loan is dispensed) to further stop the alleged theft.
Upon investigation, the High court agreed that Kogi's government had misappropriated N666.6 million of the money, but the governor's rep said the money is split across its three operational accounts with the alleged bank.
Sterling Bank (Via a letter) said they're "dismayed" by the EFCC's claims. Kogi's government does not have a secret account with them.
CBN vs the people
It recently came to the attention of the CBN that getting forex from banks can be tedious.
People are required to have a specific need for the money, so Nigerians have been booking fake flights and using fake visas, and canceling when the money comes through.
So the CBN has instructed banks to fish them out and name names. “to publish on their websites the names and BVN" of customers who break the rules.
Health
The Nigerian Government says they intend to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for all federal civil servants once vaccines are available to everyone.
So far 2 million of Nigeria's 200 million people are reported to be fully vaccinated.
But maybe they won't need to. NAFDAC has apparently approved the launch of a herbal cure for COVID.
The chairman of Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board (LSTMB), Prof. Adebunkola Adefule-Ositelu, said the medicine is in the FG's plans and they will announce its distribution soon.
Other News This Week
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says they intend to work with Bitt Inc- the fintech that developed the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union’s “DCash”- for Nigeria's eNaira. The soft launch for eNaira is scheduled for the 1st of October (The Cable)
The House of Representatives committee on public accounts reports that 65 agencies of government have never been audited. The chairman of the committee recalled a report from 2016 that when they tried to review spending for some ministries, the agencies refused (The Cable)
Jamb scraps general cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions. Universities can now choose who makes the cut (The Cable)
US Secret Service arrests Nigerian hacker over multi-million dollar heist (People’s Gazette)
The chief justice of Nigeria (CJN) Ibrahim Muhammad has summoned six chief judges over conflicting orders issued in their courts. Recently judges issued conflicting orders on issues on politics and major party conflicts (The Cable)