Twitter is still banned, the exchange rate is still mad.
In This weekâs issue
The National Assembly want to keep voting vague
Update: Nnamdi Kanu, Sunday Igboho
Nigeria is terrible with money: debts, fraud and more!
Oil Money DramaÂ
National Blackout coming soon? Charge your phones
National Assembly want to keep voting vague
The National Assembly is looking to pass the 2021 Electoral Act Bill within the next 2 weeks. The initially proposed bill was a clause to mandate electronic transmission of electoral counts to ensure transparency and better accessibility of voting counts.Â
However, reports have revealed that the National Assembly wants to remove this clause and replace it with one that allows INEC to decide how to share election counts.Â
Stakeholders have pointed out that giving them this power will hurt the integrity of elections even further.Â
Protests are illegalÂ
Last week, the House Of Reps proposed a bill seeking to imprison âunlawfulâ protesters. The Reps said the bill is aimed at protecting human lives and property from vandalism.
The bill, titled âAn ACTÂ to amend the Criminal Code Act, CAP 38, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004â, states that any group of over 3 people who gather and conduct themselves in a âmanner that causes fear or disturbs the peace of the neighbourhoodâ is instigating a riot and therefore an âunlawful assemblyâ.
It also states that all disruptive protests should be declared an âillegal riotâ, regardless of how composed they were at the start.
Consider: 2 weeks ago, students peacefully protesting in Kaduna reported that their gathering was calm until security agents arrived and shot and injured students in attendance. One is believed to have died.Â
Nnamdi Kanu, Sunday Igboho and the Separationist movements
Nnamdi Kanuâs arrest
We reported last week that Nnamdi Kanu had been arrested, but the location of his arrest was unknown. According to The Guardian, his family revealed that he was arrested (abducted) in Kenya. Â
His brother, Kingsley Kanu, said he spoke to him days before he went missing him June, and at the time, he was in Kenya.
His family also said he does not have a Nigerian passport (he renounced Nigeria a while ago), so the FG has kidnapped a UK citizen. Wole Soyinka agrees
The UK parliament is now deciding how to handle the situation
While Kenya High Commissioner to Nigeria, Wilfred Machage, refuted claims that Kanu was arrested there, the UK parliament isnât buying it. Theyâll also be discussing how to handle Kenyaâs role in the IPOB leaderâs arrest.Â
Igboho
Friends and family of victims arrested by the DSS at Sunday Igboho home protest the illegal detention and demand their release.
On the 1st of July, officers from Nigeriaâs Department of State Services (DSS) raided Igbohoâs home in Ibadan, killed 2 people and arrested others.Â
Eyewitnesses told The Nigerian Guardian that the DSS agents had carefully selected who to kill. The police claimed they shot them during âa gun duelâ.Â
The DSS claim that the raid was in response to a tip that Igboho had illegal weapons
Remember: last month, after suspected herdsmen killed residents of Igangan town in Oyo, Igboho announced a rally to officiate his intention to begin a âYorubaland as a sovereign stateâ movement. He said he believes Yoruba states should form a country because theyâre not safe in Nigeria.Â
Bandits: Known and UnknownÂ
Bandits kidnapped 140 students from another school in Chikun LGA in Kaduna, the 4th mass abduction in Kaduna in the last 6 months.
Hours later, the police claimed that they had rescued 26 of the 140 by a âtactical application of weaponsâ. They also promised to keep at it until all are safe.
As a result, the Kaduna State School Quality Assurance Authority has announced the closure of 13 vulnerable private schools in Chikun to prioritise the safety of the students.Â
In Zaria, âbanditsâ invaded the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Centre (NTLC) and kidnapped 7 adults and children. Eye-witnesses reported that 5 of the people abducted were nursing mothers, taken along with their children.Â
Governors at the Nigeria Governorsâ Forum (NGF) disclosed that ethnic conflicts have led to over 76,000 deaths in Nigeria. They noted that violence is ânow a commodityâ in Nigeria.
Solutions
But don't worry, the president is now aware of the situation. He expressed concern over schools as targets for kidnapping in Niger and Kaduna and directed the military to ensure safe and early release.Â
Also, to reduce crime, FTC has demolished over 400 illegal structures they believe to be criminal hideouts.
Kaduna has also launched a âconflict warning and early response systemâ to help the state overcome the insurgency epidemic.Â
In Borno, the Military report that they âneutralisedâ 11 terrorists and recovered ammunition and a fuel truck filled with petrol.Â
Nigeria is terrible with money
The Senate has approved Buhariâs $6.18bn (N2.3 trillion) External Loan request to fund the 2021 budget deficit.Â
According to the Senate, the loan may be raised from the International Capital Market and any other Multilateral or Bilateral sources as may be available.
Last week, The Guardian reported that Nigeriaâs external reserves dropped by $100 million in 3 days, which exposes the exchange and inflation rates to the risk of decline.  Â
Anyway, the FG has also increased their 2022 budget by 3% to N13.98 trillion; revenue projected to be  N9.15 trillion in 2023
Last week, The Director of comms for Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Abdullahi Ahmad, confirmed that the agency asked some commercial banks (as agents) to freeze and recover N1.8 trillion from accounts of MultiChoice.Â
He said FRIS asked the banks to intervene after Multichoice refused to access their accounts for audit. According to Ahmed, they also discovered that the MultiChoice firms persistently breached all agreements with the agency.
In response, the spokesperson of MultiChoice Nigeria, Carol Oghuma, told Nairametrics that though theyâve seen the media reports regarding this, FRIS has not notified them.Â
But theyâll nip it before it escalates: âMultiChoice is comfortable that it complies with the tax laws of Nigeria. We are currently in discussion with FIRS regarding their concerns and believe that weâll resolve the matter amicably.â
On to fraudÂ
The Senate has summoned a former chair and two former managing directors of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) over some missing financial documents concerning the allegedly missing N84 billion in the agency between 2012 to 2017.Â
The newly appointed executive director of finance and investment, NSITF, Caroline Akinwale, told the Senate that there were no available documents about the transactions in question.
While reviewing the presented documents, the Senate committee investigation found that they had been using a salary structure 5 years before its approval in 2019. Which is either fraudulent or mystical
Former NSTIF managers Alhaji Umar Munir Abubakar and Adebayo Somefun, and former chairman of the agency, Ngozi Olejeme, are expected by the Senate to come in and account for the missing funds. Â
National Blackout seems impendingÂ
The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) have vowed to halt all activities if the FG continue with their plan to sell Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)
The union also appealed to the National Assembly and Nigerians to resist the push for the sale of TCN. They believe it will endanger the electricity sector.
NUEE General Secretary Joe Ajaero said the union wondered why the FG would even consider selling TCN when 8 years after privatisation, the power sector has still not achieved the expected turnaround.Â
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Works and Housing and Ministry of Environment are going solar with a N270 million solar project proposed and implemented by Minister of Works Babatunde Fashola.
Oil Money DramaÂ
In 2017, the FG launched the Hydrocarbon Pollution RemediationProject (HYPREP) to clean up oil spills in Ogoniland and neighbouring Rivers. Rivers state political and traditional leaders are not impressed with the progress.
During a session with the Director-General, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Hon Benjamin Kalu (a rep) expressed dissatisfaction with the now 3/4 years running cleanup.
Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) accused residents of Port Harcourt of sabotaging the cleanup efforts. According to him, theyâve agreed on a system to ensure that the cleaning isn't interrupted (where to dump waste, etc.), and residents disregard it. Â
Mohammad Abubakar, Minister of Environment, disclosed that Nigeria recorded 4,919 oil spills between 2015 and March 2021 and lost 4.5 trillion barrels of oil to theft in the last 4 years.
âSeveral statistics have emphasised Nigeria as the most notorious country in the world for oil spills, losing roughly 400,000 barrels per dayâ, followed by Mexicoâs reported < 10,000 barrels daily. The minister blamed vandalism and poor governance.
Recall that in February, the UK supreme court ruled that Shell is responsible for at least 50% of Niger Deltaâs oil spills.
Health NewsÂ
Over 110,000 caregivers in Jigawa State benefited from the âCash Transfer for Routine Immunisation Initiative,â funded by an NGO called âAll Babies Are Equalâ. Caregivers receive N500 for each of the first 4 routine immunisation visits and N2000 for the 5th.
They revealed that the cash compensation increased immunisation in the area by 26% between 2018 and 2020
Positives of Cash as Incentive: In 2017, Brazil raised over 36 million citizens out of poverty using cash as an incentive to encourage families to prioritise education
National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) has expressed concern over the outbreak of polio caused by the polio vaccine.
According to ABC News reported in 2019 that polio cases caused by the vaccine had been reported in Nigeria, Congo, Central African Republic, Angola and some Asian countries
In Nigeria, this strain has been found in Abia, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara and FCT.
An article by polioeradication.org explains that the oral polio vaccine (OPV) is created with an inactive version of the virus. If transmitted to kids who havenât been immunised, it could become active. Hereâs a 2-minute explanatory video
NPHCDA say the outbreak is a result of too many unimmunised children.Â
COVID-19
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed a highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus in Nigeria.
In a statement by its head of communications, the NCDC said the variant was detected in a traveller to Nigeria, following the routine travel test required of all international travellers at its National Reference Laboratory in Abuja.
The Delta variant is recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a variant of concern, given its increased transmissibility. It has been detected in over 90 countries.
Other News
The HOR is considering removing the immunity clause currently enjoyed by presidents, VPs and governors from the law. The proposal has passed the first reading, awaiting the second (Punch)
Haitian President Jovenel MoĂŻse was assassinated in a night-time attack by a group of âunknown gunmenâ who attacked his private residence (Premium Times)
Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO (The Cable)
Oil prices push to $80, highest in 2 years (Premium Times)Â
Group sue Buhari and others over Onochie's nomination as INEC commissioner (Premium Times)Â
Lagos Passes Bill To Stop Parade Of Suspects (Leadership)
Recommended read
Ogonilandâs environmental and financial destruction and how Shell fucked everyone over. By Friends Of The Earth