🗞️ inflation, guns and budget padding
Hello Hello Hello. Today’s playlist was mostly the banging from renovations around where I live. bang bang smash smash
My mood today:
In this edition
Internet outage across the world
Senate budget padding rumours and truths
The latest on student loans
Insecurity No network? Here’s why
No network?
Multiple submarine cables in the Red Sea were cut on Thursday, causing internet outages in several West African countries. - Arise
The affected cables included major ones like WACS, ACE, MainOne, Seacom, EIG, and AAE1, which provide internet traffic from Europe to Africa.
Countries significantly affected: Ghana, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, and some parts of South Africa. These countries relied heavily on the damaged cables.
Even though many Nigerian banks and some network providers were affected, Nigeria was less impacted because we have several submarine cable landings, which allows for rerouting during outages.
Telecom operators say they are working around the clock to repair the damaged cables and restore services.
An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the cuts, but sabotage is considered unlikely due to the difficulty of accessing and damaging these underwater cables.
On Tuesday, Officials in the United States reported undersea telecommunications cables in the Red Sea were cut last week on the 6th of March, disrupting 25% of data traffic between Asia and Europe.
The US suspects sabotage, but that incident has not been officially linked to this one.
Insecurity
Abduction in Sokoto
Bandits attacked Gidan Bakuso area, Gada Local Government Area (LGA), Sokoto State, shooting one person and abducting a woman.
As they were leaving, they saw Tsangaya students (Islamic Quranic school students) entering their rooms and kidnapped 15 of them
The school proprietor, Mallam Liman Abubakar, confirmed that 15 students are missing and they might be searching for more.
A spokesperson for the Sokoto State Police Command says they are working on finding the attackers and rescuing the victims.
This abduction comes just one week after about 287 students were kidnapped from schools in Kaduna State, raising further concerns about student safety in the region.
Kaduna Kidnap
The attackers who recently kidnapped 287 school children in LGEA primary school in Kuriga village school are demanding a ransom of 1 billion naira ( $621,848).
The kidnappers threatened to kill the children if their demands aren't met.
The state where the abduction occurred, Kaduna, has witnessed several mass kidnappings in recent years, with schools being a particularly vulnerable target.
The Kaduna Governor Uba Sani said in a statement that his government was “doing everything possible to ensure the safe return of the pupils and students.”
President Tinubu says he is unwilling to pay any ransom to secure the release of the students.
Market attack in Plateau State
Bandits attacked Zurak Compani Market in Plateau on Sunday afternoon. According to the police spokesperson, the attackers killed 4 people, but the community leader says that it was 7 people. - Punch
Meanwhile, Nigerian security agents have been terrorising Nigerian women, Chioma Egodi, for leaving a negative review about tomato paste by Erisco Foods Chief Eric Umeofia. Last year, Chioma was arrested for her review and after public outrage, the authorities seemed to have left her alone but according to this documentary, that is not the case.
Money
Senate, budget padding
Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central, claimed that the 2024 budget approved by the National Assembly on January 1st and made public differs from the budget currently being implemented by the government.
According to Senator Ningi, the budget being implemented is N3.7 trillion higher than the N27 trillion budget that was approved.
Ngigi’s claim got mixed responses from the Senate. Some Senators called for an investigation into the claims, others declared it unfounded and demanded that Senator Ningi must be reprimanded for his “misinformation”
The Presidency denied these allegations, stating that President Tinubu originally presented a budget proposal of N27.5 trillion to the National Assembly in November 2023. The National Assembly then exercised its appropriation powers and increased the budget to N28.7 trillion, which the President signed into law on January 1, 2024.
The Presidency insists that the N28.7 trillion budget signed into law is the only 2024 budget being implemented, not a padded N28.7 trillion budget as claimed by Senator Ningi. It dismissed Ningi's assertion that the budget is anti-North as "far-fetched and unbecoming of a leader of his stature."
The Presidency expressed concern over a Senator fueling divisive rhetoric at a time when national unity is needed and thanked other Senators who countered Ningi's "misrepresentation of facts."
After much deliberation, the Senate decided to suspend Senator Ngigi 3 months over his allegations. The Senator also resigned from his position as the chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum
Angle: the padding was for “internal affairs” 👀
Senator Agom Jarigbe of Cross River North alleged that some "ranking" or “senior” senators who have served more than one 4-year term received N500 million each in project allocations in the 2024 budget.
This came up while Jarigbe was discussing Senator Ningi’s budget-padding allegations
Jarigbe said all the members of the Senate are "culpable" in the padding scandal because these “senior” senators benefited from the N500 million allocations each.
The Senate spokesperson Yemi Adaramodu later denied Jarigbe's claim about N500 million allocations to senators.
This is the second time allegations of illegal financial benefits to senators have emerged, after reports last August that each senator received at least N2 million as "vacation allowance" which is not provided legally.
Student loans down-up-down-up
The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, has clarified that the launch of the student loan scheme has only been postponed for a few weeks, not indefinitely. - Punch
This comes after the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, Akintunde Sawyer, had announced on the 13th of March—a day before the fund was meant to launch—that the launch was suspended indefinitely due to some corrections being made.
However, Echono stated that the delay is to reevaluate some of the scheme’s clauses to ensure the scheme is properly implemented. He said it's a matter of days or, at most weeks before launch.
Echono mentioned the loan will accommodate vocational studies students as well, and they are working with JAMB to align with admission timelines.
The student loan scheme was proposed earlier by Femi Gbajabiamila and was initially supposed to start in October 2023 but got delayed to January 2024.
While that’s going on, the government is investigating private universities possibly giving fake degrees in Nigeria
According to records, over 107 universities have opened in Nigeria in the last 15 years. No country needs that many.
This conversation was propelled by an investigative report by a Daily Nigerian journalist, Umar Audu, which exposed certificate racketeering/degree mills operating in neighbouring Benin Republic and Togo.
As a result, the Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee set up by the government will examine whether the over 107 private universities established in Nigeria in the last 15 years meet prescribed standards.
This is separate from the periodic accreditation exercises conducted by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
ECOWAS Border reopening
Nigeria has restored electricity supply to the Republic of Niger following a directive from President Bola Tinubu to reopen land and air borders with Niger and lift all sanctions imposed earlier.
In August 2023, Nigeria had stopped power supply to Niger as part of ECOWAS sanctions against the country after a military coup toppled the democratically-elected President.
The sanctions included closure of borders, suspension of financial transactions, freeze on assets and travel bans on officials.
However, the sanctions did not achieve their intended outcome: The military coup is still on indefinitely. Instead, it brought the Nigerien economy to a standstill, causing severe poverty within the vulnerable population.
A month ago, the Nigerian military leaders, along with Mali and Burkina Faso announced last month that the countries are withdrawing from ECOWAS.
And now, ECOWAS, chaired by President Tinubu has removed sanctions. Tinubu has ordered the immediate lifting of all sanctions against Niger, including reopening borders, restoring utilities like electricity and unfreezing financial transactions
The Nigerian military has not said yet if this move will influence their decision to exit the union
Other news
Nigerian man, Daniel Isaac sentenced to a one-year jail term or N10,000 fine for being outside late after the AFCON final - Guardian ng
Power generation in Nigeria has gone from 4,600 megawatts on May 2023 to 3,000 megawatts in March 2024 - Guardian ng
The Oyo State Government on Monday banned the use of styrofoam for food services, storage, and other related purposes - Punch
UK bans healthcare workers from bringing dependants - Premium Times
The Nigeria Customs Service, Sokoto/Zamfara Area Command, has released 15 seized trucks of grains in its command to the owners - Leadership
Customs seizes bullets worth N557 million stored in garri sacks - Premium Times
Support this one-man show 💵 🤲🏽
That New News will forever be free - because access to news should be for everyone! But making each episode takes blood, sweat, tears, and many missed party nights. If you enjoy our "clever" take on the news and find it useful, please consider donating. Your donations mean the world. Thank you!
The news in highlighted form makes it easier to read, understand, and enjoyed much more than the regular long forms!