Hi,
Sorry this is late. The disadvantage of being a single writer newsletter is that things like late-night migraines can disrupt plans. Please reply to this newsletter if you’d like to help out as a contributor.
COVID updates
The Federal Government now has 2 million doses of the single-dose Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, donated by the EU.
At the moment, over 14,093,873 eligible people have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria while 5,252,406 people are double vaccinated (🥂)
Six weeks ago, the FG announced that they have successfully withdrawn and destroyed 1,066,214 expired AstraZeneca vaccine doses.
In this issue
What’s happening with the fuel situation
Nigeria is toying with the idea of changing ‘bandits’ to ‘terrorists’
Who will be president if the role requires higher education?
The HOR’s kidnap solution
Crime and trauma
The HOR’s trauma compromise
Are you concerned about the increasing kidnap cases in Nigeria? Don’t be! The House of Reps has the perfect solution.
The HOR is considering a bill to compensate kidnap victims with property seized from abductors.
The bill, titled ‘Control of Small Arms, Light Weapons and Restitution of Victims of Abduction, Kidnappings, Banditry Bill, 2022’, passed first reading (Stage 4 of 11 for a bill to become law)
The HOR is also toying with officially christening terrorists with their rightful name. The conversation to label them terrorists is currently in gazette (the stage before the first reading), so maybe the news will be able to use the correct term when they cover the country’s crime endemic. Speaking of terrorism:
Terrorists attacked the Jibia local government area in Kaduna and killed a divisional police officer, Abdullahi Rano, and two others.
PUNCH reports that the terrorists shot Rano while he led security operatives, including troops of the Nigerian Army, to repel the terrorists who attacked the town around 2 am on Wednesday.
PUNCH correspondents gathered that the terrorists arrived in the town in 2 buses.
Vanguard reports that they first attacked the home of Alhaji Haliru Mai, kidnapped his wife, Asiya, and took N2 million.
Coming together to fight crime
Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed asked the Nigerian Air Force to look into the suspicious movement of an unknown helicopter in Lame-Burra Forest in Toro Local Government Area of the state.
An exact quote from This Day:
According to him, intensifying security operations in the area by the officers and men of the Nigerian Air Force became imperative, considering the present security challenges in many parts of the country.
Are there no women in the Nigerian Air Force? Why do Nigerian news outlets always refer to security personnel using male pronouns? Are women not allowed in the military?
The newly posted Air Officer Commanding Special Operation Command in Bauchi, Air Vice Marshal Tajudeen Yusuf, said they’re aware of the situation and investigating.
While commending the Bauchi State government for its concern for the security in the state, Yusuf called on the public to assist the command with useful information to enable them to discharge their duties diligently.
Fuel shortage
Long queues and people hunting for petrol for hours. Readers, we are in another fuel shortage era.
There has been fuel scarcity in parts of Nigeria— Abuja for over 2 weeks and Lagos for about a week. So far, we have two explanations.
The FG blames bad fuel batch.
The Federal government says the fuel shortage is because they discovered that they imported contaminated petrol and cannot, in good conscience, distribute it to petrol stations across the country. They said they “found an unsafe quantity of methanol in petrol imported”, so we have to chill with limited petrol until they sort that out.
Reps have asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to suspend the companies involved in importing the methanol-blended petrol.
NNPC’s General Managing Director, Mele Kyari said that the petrol was imported from Antwerp, Belgium by four suppliers: MRS, Oando, Emadeb Consortium, and Duke Oil, a subsidiary of NNPC.
According to him, the petrol cargoes passed import to distribution because Nigeria doesn’t usually test the petrol— we just take Belgium’s word for it. Kyari explained that quality inspectors certified the product to have met Nigeria’s specifications at the point of import in Belgium and at the point of arrival in Nigeria.
But that strategy has backfired
Chaos in the petrol industry
High cost of operations
The Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) threatened to stop transporting petroleum products across the country because they’re not happy with the N430 per litre cost of diesel and other operational challenges.
NARTO national president, Yusuf Lawal Othman, said the operational cost had become unbearable and would cripple the organization if the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) doesn’t move urgently to adjust the freight rate for transporting fuel to reflect the present cost of diesel.
Favouritism is crippling the oil industry
Industry operators blamed NNPC Limited for selective treatment where major marketers are offered products on credit arrangements while independent marketers have to pay before receiving supply.
They said the situation has now degenerated to a point where heavy debts are affecting the corporation's operations.
Concurrently, NNPC, overwhelmed by huge debt from major oil marketers, is demanding the settlement of such debts
I guess fill your tanks and hope for the best?
Governance
A bill seeking to raise the education qualification for people contesting for state or federal level offices has passed its second reading (stage 5 of 11) at the House of Representatives.
The bill also seeks to raise the minimum academic qualification for gubernatorial candidates and federal legislators.
Sections 65, 106, 131 and 177 of the 1999 constitution state that a person must be qualified for election into the aforementioned elective offices if they have “been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent”.
But the new bill which is sponsored by Adewunmi Onanuga, a lawmaker from Ogun state, seeks to raise the qualification to at least a “university degree level or its equivalent”.
Speaking on the house floor during plenary, Onanuga said raising the minimum educational requirement for these political positions will better prepare candidates for the job ahead.
“This is not a bill targeted at stifling the interest of Nigerians in politics; rather, it is a bill that will help Nigerians to sufficiently prepare for the humongous task of political leadership”, she said.
She also said if you need NYSC to get a job, why would WAEC be enough to become the president? I agree
International Press Centre director arrested
Lanre Arogundade, Director of the International Press Centre (IPC), shared on his Facebook that on Tuesday afternoon that the DSS detained him and seized his passport detained by officers attached to the DSS.
Before he was released, human rights lawyer Femi Falana released a statement calling out the DSS on illegal harassment. Falana noted that the IPC director isn’t on the country’s watchlist, nor did he commit any offence in The Gambia “to warrant his arrest and detention by security operatives in Nigeria”.
The DSS hasn’t said anything about why they arrested Arogundade
Self-service FIRS
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) — one of the only efficient government agencies— has introduced “Self-Service Stations” in its offices nationwide.
The stations will enable taxpayers to file tax returns, pay taxes, apply for and validate tax clearance certificates, among other services themselves.
Emefiele says no more forex
The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele says they will stop selling foreign currency to banks by the end of 2022. Nigerian banks have to generate their forex. He said the new policy will be driven by five key anchors, including value-added export facility, non-oil commodities expansion facility, non-oil FX rebate scheme, dedicated non-oil export terminals, and a bi-annual non-oil export summit. (The Cable)
Other news
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has accepted a request from the family of Timothy Adegoke to lead their legal team in the case of the alleged murder of Timothy Adegoke, a postgraduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), who was murdered in Hilton Honour Hotel and Resorts, Ile Ife (Premium Times)
At least six govt websites— including the presidential office, the National Identity Management Commission, Budget Office of the Federation, Open Treasury, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Nigeria Police Force, and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation— have been shut down for at least a week since last week. A spokesperson from the Budget Office said the hitch was due to an issue from Galaxy Backbone Limited, the agency responsible for managing most official government websites (Premium Times)
Two police officers are feared dead following an attack on a bullion van in the Idi-Ape area of Ibadan, Oyo. The armed robbers waylaid the van and shot sporadically. (The Cable)
JAMB has postponed the date for the commencement of the registration for the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and Direct Entry (UTME/DE) (Premium Times)
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Tuesday sought forgiveness from victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church but rejected allegations that he was involved in any cover-up (People’s Gazette)