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PSA: The Lagos State Government has announced a diversion of traffic from Awolowo Way to Simbiat Abiola from Today, March 12 to March 14 for junction improvement works.
And sorry to anyone who had plans of joining the Ukrainian army because according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the FG has vowed to stop this recruitment. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian embassy in Abuja denies that they are allowing Nigerian volunteers participate in the war in the first place.
In today’s edition:
Price of fuel spikes
Travel woes
Gender bills rescinded
el-Rufai’s presidential campaign slogan (?)
Russia vs the world (except North Korea)
Social media is allowing hate speech… just this once
Governance
Get your Lagos resident ID card to be a homeowner
The Lagos state government has warned landlords not to lease apartments to tenants who are yet to have their resident ID card.
To rent a home in Lagos today, tenants must have a resident ID card issued by the Lagos State Resident Registration Agency (LASRRA).
The LASRRA general manager, Ibilola Kasumualso, directed property owners to have their residents register for the Lagos identity card at a town meeting with members of the Lagos Central Senatorial District.
The goals of this enforcement, according to her, are:
to serve residents adequately through better planning.
to simplify how residents access government services and financial tractions.
To serve as many Lagosians as possible, LASRRA has also collaborated with Community Development Associations (CDAs).
The Project Manager, Mr Akin Kehinde, said all those who registered between 2013 and 2017 “should revalidate their registration as well as go for biometric capturing, while those who registered between 2018 and 2019 should just revalidate their registration so that their cards could be produced.” - The Guardian.
Learn how to get your resident ID card here
And read more about the tenancy law here.
Revision of gender bills
The House of Assembly has decided to review voting for three of the five gender bills previously voted against on March 1.
This decision is resulted from the outrage from women country and the protests in front of the National Assembly.
The bills are:
To expand the scope of citizenship by registration:
This bill would enable foreigners married to Nigerian women to apply for Nigerian citizenship amending section 26 (2a) of the 1999 constitution.
Affirmative action for women in political party administration:
This bill amending Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution would provide affirmative action to ensure women occupy at least 35% in a political party and appointive positions at the federal and state levels.
Provision for criteria to be an indigene of a state in Nigeria:
This bill seeks to alter Sections 31 and 318(1) (the Interpretation Section) of the 1999 Constitution granting married women indigene status to their husband’s state after at least six years of marriage.
Foreigners banned from buying directly from farms
The federal government has now banned foreigners from buying agricultural produce directly from local farmers.
This ban implies that only duly licensed and registered agents can purchase farm produce from local farmers in Nigeria.
The FG’s reason is to ensure farmers are fairly compensated (Foreigners sometimes go to farm gates to buy produce from the farmers at low prices).
Minister of industry, trade and investment, Niyi Adebayo, said that a draft of the bill would be sent to the national assembly to support the implementation of the new policy.
A mechanism is also to be put in place to protect local farmers and ensure they have the needed incentives to guarantee their continued participation in the farming business.
The real reason why the Ibadan-Lagos train stopped
On Thursday, a video went viral on Twitter showing that the train from Ibadan to Lagos stopped abruptly after apparently running out of diesel.
In response to the viral video showing the Ibadan-Lagos train’s stop, the Managing Director of the National Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria explained that the real cause was a fuel gauge failure.
Okhiria says that the fuel gauge was not reading correctly, so the driver was under the false impression that the fuel was enough.
He also explained that they resolved the issue within an hour.
Commentary: So, at the end of the day, it was still an issue of fuel shortage...
Lagos state government suspend NURTW activities
Hours after the state section of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) withdrew management from the national body, the Lagos state government has announced that they suspend all activities in motor parks across the state.
Gbenga Omotoso, Lagos commissioner for information, says that the suspension is an effort to reduce rising tensions in the union over leadership.
He says this is to ensure the safety of all Lagosians at parks.
Despite the suspension, members of the union have been spotted at parks across the state. Read more here.
Problem, problem, another problem in oil and electricity
N625/litre of diesel
Following the United States' decision to ban imports of Russian oil and coal, the global price of diesel has again spiked, repeatedly taking its toll on Nigeria.
Some filling stations are officially selling diesel for N625 per litre. This is 30% more than it sold two weeks ago.
The reason? A global spike in the price of a barrel of diesel. The US and other European countries have banned the import of Russian crude oil. As a result, the cost of a barrel reached $130— the highest price since 2008— before settling at its current price, $120.
Speaking of spikes on fuel, the aviation sector is in ✨shambles✨
The cost of aviation fuel jumped from N190 per litre to N670 per litre within two weeks according to Air Peace CEO, Allen Onyema.
Following the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC)’ investigation into the spike in airfare prices, the Aviation Operators of Nigeria (AON) warn that the constant hike in fuel price will eventually endanger the aviation industry.
The AON also affirmed that fuel now takes over 115% of operating costs for airlines.
Why you’re experiencing more power outages than usual
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) blames poor power supply on generation companies, saying they perform below capacity.
TCN says it can only transmit the power generated by GENCOs, and they haven’t been producing a lot recently.
GENCOs causes for the low power generation are:
Poor gas supply
Fault in generating units of generating companies
Scheduled and unscheduled maintenance
Due to this, many power generating companies have reduced their activities. Some have stopped generation completely.
Nonetheless, TCN has ensured efficient allocation of the limited power generated.
Meanwhile, in Politics...
Did someone say, traitor?
No, but PDP must have thought it when they filed a lawsuit against David Umahi and Eric Kelechi Igwe for their defection from the party to APC, where the Federal High Court found them guilty as charged.
Umahi and Igwe were elected as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi state. However, almost three years into his second term, Umahi and his deputy have been stripped of their titles and forced to resign from office.
This is a result of their move from PDP, the party in which they were elected into power, to rival party APC.
PDP filed the suit demanding that their defection from the party that sponsored their campaigns to be taken as an acceptance of their resignation from office.
The Federal High Court passed a judgement in favour of PDP stating that by dumping the party, the governor and deputy also dumped the votes for the party.
INEC is now expected by court order to either let PDP replace the offices or hold a gubernatorial election in Ebonyi state according to section 177 (c) of the 1999 constitution.
Read more about this and the aftermath here.
‘If you insist’, el-Rufai tells Buhari
Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, says he will contest in the 2023 presidential election beside Amaechi' if Buhari insists’. 😃
Ordinarily, ‘because someone told you to’ is not a good enough reason for a sane adult to do something, but apparently, it’ll do for Nasir el-Rufai as he says he will ‘reluctantly’ contest in the 2023 presidential elections if President Buhari insists during a Channels TV interview on Wednesday.
el-Rufai has previously stated and continues to hold that he is no longer interested in public office and has no intention of running in the 2023 general elections.
But not if Buhari wants him to, obvs
Demands for money
CBN demands payback
Because of the effects of the pandemic, CBN extended loan repayment deadlines and reduced the interest rate for loans to commercial banks and other firms. Although, nearly three years later, CBN governor Godwin Emefiele “strongly urges” repayments to resume.
The two-year moratorium CBN granted to firms and businesses ends this month, and now it’s time for prompt repayments.
The probation on loan repayments was initially set to lessen the harsh effects of COVID-19 on the business sector in Nigeria. Along with this, the loan repayment plans were also restructured to allow forbearance.
But since the level of commercial banks’ non-performing loans (NPL) fell below the regulatory benchmark of 5% (at 4.94%) for the first time in a decade, the central bank had to rethink the loan repayments.
And although the restructuring of the loan repayment plans and the moratorium have returned to normal, CBN is still granting lessened interest rates.
Amaechi demands upgrade in public servant severance package
While speaking in Abuja, Rotimi Amaechi appreciated the work of retired public service officers and then proceeded to urge the federal government to upgrade the severance package for their time of service.
Amaechi appreciated 11 members of staff who retired between April and December 2021. While doing so, he encouraged them to start up small businesses for sustenance as the severance pay from the FG was just not enough.
Other members of the ministry also spoke up to appreciate these retired members of staff to show, in a way their severance pay could not, how much their services meant.
Everyday war updates
How Russia’s ostracised status is affecting the international world
IMF anticipates Food and Fuel Crisis in Nigeria
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that the crisis in Russia and Ukraine will in-adversely undo Africa’s progress from COVID-19 recovery.
The Managing Director IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, sends warnings that the Russian-Ukrainian war will have horrible effects on Africa with food and fuel scarcity.
In a statement, the IMF revealed reasons why Africa was particularly vulnerable:
Increased food prices
Higher fuel costs
Lower tourism revenue
Potentially more difficult access to international capital markets
However, she also expressed the IMF’s readiness to offer monetary support and offer policy advice to affected African countries.
META temporarily OKs hate speech against ‘Russian invaders’
Meta platforms (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp) will temporarily allow for violent speech targeted towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This is according to internal emails seen by Reuters on Thursday.
These allowances also leave room for death threats targeted at Russian president, Vladimir Putin in select countries including, but not limited to, Ukraine, Russia and Poland.
Restrictions on these ‘call for death’ allowances include
if they include other targets
or two indicators of credibility (specific location and method).
Commentary: You can threaten him, just don’t mean it
Meanwhile, North Korea wants their title for global villain back
North Korea has now conducted their ninth missile test of the year (yes, we are still in the first quarter).
North Korea sent off their ninth weapons test of the year with a missile towards the sea east of the Korean Peninsula.
This test was just days before the South Korean presidential elections and earned them condemnations from South Korean, American and Japanese governments.
Nigeria’s internal war
Military troops kill 121 terrorists in Borno, Katsina
Military claims that they killed about 121 terrorists in Northern Nigeria this year, while approximately 174 have surrendered.
Director, Defence Media Operations (DMO), Major General Bernard Onyeuko, confirmed this at a military operations briefing.
In addition, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, has said that over 30,000 Boko Haram terrorists and their families have surrendered in the North East.
The surrendering in bulk began in 2019 around the time Nigeria started the ‘controversial’ rehabilitation program.
The SGF also expressed the government’s commitment to fighting insecurity by using kinetic and non-kinetic approaches.
Other news
ASUU continues strikes and shows no sign of letting up until their demands are met - Premium Times
LSG suspends BRT operations following the death of Bamise Ayanwole - Premium Times
Guinness moves HQ to Ghana because of ‘harsh business environment’ in NG - People’s Gazette
Ogun lawmakers allegedly responsible for 700m fraud - Premium Times
Sunday Igboho released from prison - Premium Times
March 23 fixed for court hearing of FG’s request to extradite Abba Kyari - Vanguard
Nigeria’s oil production drops to 1.25M BPD - The Cable
FG approves 25% increase in petroleum product freight rates - Vanguard
NURTW suspends MC Oluomo over alleged misconduct - First News
Deadly Kebbi attack kills 18 soldiers, injures 8 - Premium Times (TW: Graphic image)
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