Nobody has the new bills 🙊
Petrol Woes; Emefiele vs DSS; Peter Obi Campaign DG money laundry; Senate suspects someone is stealing from the country’s payroll pocket + more
I missed last week’s newsletter (I hope you noticed 🥺), so this week’s edition contains some I-think-you-should-knows from the missed week.
Word count: 2,300 (approx. 8 min read).
Good(?) news: The CBN has increased the weekly bank withdrawal limit for individuals from the N100,000 weekly announced two weeks ago, to N500,000 weekly. The bank seems to have taken this decision after public discontent with all the sudden money changes.
Read more about the CBN’s bank limits and what they’re doing to create a “cashless economy” here.
In this edition
Petrol Woes
Emefiele vs DSS on terrorism sponsorship
Peter Obi Campaign DG steps down over money laundry allegations
Senate suspects someone is stealing from the country’s payroll pocket
Petrol woes
The Federal Government (run by the President + the Minister of Petrolium, Muhammadu Buhari) announced earlier this month that they’re setting up an 11-person Special Investigative Panel on Oil Theft to look into suspicious oil activities.
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) says they’re backing this decision because things in Nigeria’s petroleum sector are super sketchy.
According to NEITI’S findings, about 619.7 million barrels of crude oil worth $46.16 billion (₦16.25 trillion) have been stolen in the last 12 years.
A breakdown of the losses shows that in 2009 when NEITI commenced reporting crude oil theft, Nigeria lost 69.49 million barrels valued at $4.31 billion. The figures for 2010, 2011 and 2012 revealed that 28.31 million, 38.61 million and 51.58 million barrels which were valued at $2.29 billion, $4.39 billion and $5.82 billion were lost respectively.
Meanwhile, the streets are hustling petrol.
My head was hot last week when I went to buy petrol at a fuel station in Lagos and the fuel pump price was ₦230/litre. I can’t imagine how stressed I’d be if I lived in Kano where the fuel price is ₦310 at major petrol stations.
The price of petrol was ₦170/litre less than a month ago.
These hikes are a result of the ongoing petrol scarcity across the country.
The Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is however working to ensure that all fuel stations sell at a regulated price of ₦184 (₦14 more than last month’s price!)
Fraud
EFCC vs Okupe
The Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced Doyin Okupe to 2 years for money laundering. Okupe was the former Senior Special Adviser to Nigeria’s last president Goodluck Jonathan, and Director General of Peter Obi’s presidential campaign.
Okupe was given options to either pay ₦13 million or serve jail time. Obvs he paid the fine and is now a free man. He can afford it…with all the alleged laundering and other jobs, you know.
What he did: while he served in Jonathan's cabinet, the EFCC accused Okupe of accepting over ₦200 million in cash from former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki.
This is against Nigeria’s money laundering prevention act which states that no one can exchange above ₦5 million without going through a bank or other financial institution.
The present sentencing is a result of that case.
After the Judge’s verdict, Okupe stepped down as the DG of Peter Obi’s campaign.
Osun: Adeleke vs Oyetola
Adegboyega Oyetola, the former governor of Osun State, reportedly left N407.32 billion in debt, according to Governor Adeleke.
When he was giving his exit speech, Oyetola claimed that he did not borrow any money during his tenure. He claimed that he left N14 billion in the governor’s account for the incoming administration.
Adeleke’s however says Oyetola left almost no money: "The only fund left was for the workers' salary in November 2022," he said. The state treasury was empty otherwise.
But a lot of loans: "My administration took over from Oyetola's administration eight unpaid loans in addition to salaries and pension. Repayment terms range from 16 months to 28 years”.
Adeleke says most of Oyetola’s debt was accumulated after the July 2022 election, which Oyetola lost.
Adeleke says he will investigate his predecessor's use of the loans during the interim. He added that commercial banks would detail their decisions to lend money to the outgoing governor.
Senate summons Federal Payroll officials
The Senate has summoned Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) officials in connection with the missing N113 million from Service Wide Votes (SWV) from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation. - Guardian Ng
The SWV, also known as the Consolidated Revenue Fund Charge is more or less the country’s contingency fund in the annual budget.
The Senate committee discovered irregularities in the distribution of SWV to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). The committee is looking into the distribution of N4.9 trillion SWV between 2017 and 2021.
According to the committee, the N113 million disbursed from the AGF to JAMB for recurrent expenditure in May 2017 was not requested or received by JAMB.
The accountant's office records did not show that the N113 million had been reversed to the Federation Account. Aliyu Ahmed, Director of Cash Management at the Ministry of Finance, told lawmakers that JAMB did not apply for the money. He said the Ministry of Finance made the request on JAMB’s behalf in 2017, and the money was raised from SWV.
Other money news
Speaking of misappropriated funds, human rights NGO, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), says many police officers across the country have expressed outrage over 6 months of unpaid salaries.
Okechukwu Nwanguma, Executive Director of RULAAC, stated that many officers have called him to tell Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, about their plight.
Nwanguma says apart from the owed salaries, some officers hwo have been promoted are still getting paid their old salaries.
“Some people in the system are stealing money from officers. "Systemic corruption has many dimensions," Nwanguma said.
Bank notes delays
New banknotes entered circulation this week. However, supplies were scarce across the country. Many people who went to banks to exchange their cash for new notes reported being given the old notes — banks say they did not get a lot of the new notes.
Even when customers requested payment in the new currencies, ATM withdrawals were mostly in old notes.
The new notes were rationed by a few banks that had ample supply. A customer in Coker, Lagos, who requested N120,000, received N4,000 in new N500 bills and the remainder in old notes.
ATMs across the country are still accepting old bills. While banks struggled with limited supply, some early handlers of the notes encountered difficulties transacting with them because some individuals, particularly in informal settings, refused to accept the bills.
Development
The World Bank says it will take Nigeria’s northern states “40 years” to catch up with their southern counterparts considering the “current growth rates”.
According to the report, titled Charting a new course, this is because the northern economy’s main growth sources — agriculture, solid materials and manufacturing — have not been experiencing their usual growth rate in recent years (terrorism, climate change, etc).
The document discusses some of the ways the region’s economy expanded in the past (mostly oil-related) and some of the issues that sucked Nigeria dry (insecurity, lack of job creation when things were good, and the fact that every new administration tries to one-up the last by abandoning all projects and taking on new ones, hence never finishing anything).
It also highlights the gap between northern and southern states “the poverty rate is almost 20 times higher in Sokoto”, WHO emphasised. “ Sokoto is the state wth the highest poverty rate, at 87.7% — compared to Lagos, the state with the lowest poverty rate (4.5%).
Read a summary of the report here
Speaking of policies that might be erased by the end of 2023
Federal Government has launched the second phase of the National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS II) and the Competitive Africa Rice Platform (CARP) Nigeria.
The project was announced in 2019, when the German government, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, awarded Nigeria with 2 million Euros to invest in rice production. Phase 1 launched in 2013 in 4 African countries - Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Tanzania.
According to the director is the Competitive Africa Rice Initiative, the aim of the project is to “help smallholder farmers to increase their income and provide their families and the country with high-quality rice”.
Nigeria’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ernest Umakihe said the NRDS-I, which took place between 2009 and 2019 fostered an increase in areas under cultivation, an increase in the quantity of paddy available to mills, the proliferation of Integrated Rice Mills across the country and significant improvement in the quality/competitiveness of Nigerian milled rice.
Health
According to a new WHO report, more than half of life-threatening bacterial infections are becoming resistant to treatment.
Bacterial infections are becoming more resistant to treatment, with more than 60% of Neisseria gonorrhoea infections showing resistance to ciprofloxacin, one of the most commonly used oral antibacterials.
Based on 2020 data from 87 countries, high levels of treatment resistance have been reported in bacteria that frequently cause bloodstream infections.
Plus, more than 20% of E.coli, the most common pathogen in UTIs, was resistant to first- and second-line antibiotics.
It’s also happening with antimalarial medicine.
Reports from Africa revealed that malaria parasites seem to be increasingly resistant to artemisinin, the active ingredient in the best available malaria treatments.
There are also indications that parasites in some areas may be resistant to drugs commonly used in conjunction with artemisinin.
Cholera, too many- Nigeria, 0
The death toll from the Cholera outbreak in Ekureku LGA, Abi, Cross River State, has risen from 20 on Saturday to 51 on Monday.
Bernard Egbe, a community leader, stated that many infected people were being treated at various health facilities in the area. Four of the victims, he said, were in critical condition.
He stated that they received assistance from WHO, UNICEF, and the state government.
The Ekureku clan was affected by a cholera outbreak that began on Thursday.
Janet Ekpeyong, Director-General of the state Primary Healthcare Development Agency, stated that the state government was on top of the situation.
"The state Government has deployed a response team together with representatives from the World Health Organisation, the Nigerian Red Cross and Wash Programme”.
Ekpeyong said the state has deployed both human and material resources to support the community.
Meanwhile, WHO says they’ve run out of cholera vaccines.
Security
According to the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), the DSS is attempting to frame CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele and implicate him as a terrorist financier. According to the group, they have concrete evidence to back up their claims against the State Security Services.
The DSS recently filed a lawsuit seeking to arrest the CBN president for terrorism financing.
Justice John Tsoho, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, rejected this request last week.
Tsoho claimed that the DSS did not provide concrete evidence to back up its claims. And they should have trusted the court by asking it to exercise its discretion in favour of granting its application.
The Judge ruled that if the DSS wishes to continue pursuing the application, it should notify the respondent, given the sensitive public office he holds.
Growing kidnap cases
Rivers State
Following the recent abductions of its members, the Nigerian Medical Association has threatened to close hospitals in Rivers State.
Dr Hope Avundaa, the Rivers State NMA Secretary, stated this in response to the kidnapping of Dr Steven Bagshaw, who is currently on assignment at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.
Dr Bagshaw, a senior registrar with the Rivers State Government, was reportedly kidnapped on December 10th while returning home from work near a new generation bank in the Rumuokoro axis of the state's Obio-Akpor Local Government Area.
Avundaa stated that the kidnappers had contacted Dr Steven Bagshaw's family.
Cases of kidnapping had surged in the state in this month.
On Monday night, December 12, criminals abducted a woman near the Road 10 junction in Rumuodomaya, Obio/Akpor LGA, Rivers.
According to reports, the gunmen followed their target to the area, intercepted the vehicle she was in, and dragged her out into their waiting car before speeding away.
Last Tuesday, two women were abducted from a pharmacy on the Apara Link Road, off NTA Road in Port Harcourt.
This came after the state Police Commissioner, Okon Effiong, gave criminals 10 days to surrender their firearms or face prosecution when the grace period expired.
While lamenting the number of firearms in the hands of unauthorised persons, he stated that the police under his command will not tolerate crimes or disruption of Rivers State's peace.
Abducted Chinese workers freed
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Special Forces in Kaduna state have rescued 7 Chinese expatriates who had been kidnapped by terrorists.
The expatriates were abducted while working on a mining site in Ajata-Aboki, Shiroro Local Government Area, Niger in June 2022.
Gabkwet said the victims were flown to the 271 NAF Detachment Medical Centre for evaluation, where two of them were stabilised before being transferred to the NAF Base Medical Hospital in Kaduna for further medical investigations.
Nigerian U.N. peacemakers killed in Mali
Two United Nations peacekeepers from Nigeria were killed and four others were injured in an attack on a peace patrol in the northern Mali town of Timbuktu on Friday, according to the UN.
The attack also claimed the life of a member of Mali's security forces.
The U.N. emphasised that attacks on United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes.
Kano security agents apprehend random people in the street. -
TW: discrimination against LGBT+
Kano state Hisbah Board apprehended 19 people at an event centre on suspicion of same-sex marriage.
Sheikh Harun Muhammad Ibn Sina, Commander General of the Sharia enforcement agency, stated that the suspects were apprehended based on intelligence.
Sheikh Ibn-Sina confirmed that the suspects (15 females and 4 males) were apprehended by the board's men just minutes before the alleged gay wedding began.
In addition, Ibn-Sina informed journalists that the alleged couple was not present when Hisbah personnel arrived at the wedding venue.
Ibn-Sina stated that the event's organiser, 21-year-old Salma Usman, who is being interrogated at the board headquarters, has promised to provide credible information to bring the couple to justice.
The commander-general insisted that the board would send the 19 people in their custody to the police once their investigations are done.
Note: Nigeria’s law stipulates that “Any person who – (a) has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; or (c) permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature; is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years”, nowhere does it mention that a gathering of “suspected” homosexuals is illegal.
Other news
The Central Criminal Court in London has again denied Nigerian lawmaker Ike Ekweremadu bail, insisting he is a flight risk. - Premium Times
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) quenched the blazing of the whistle-blowing policy - guardian Ng
The Federal Government has claimed that 10 million children are fed daily under its Social Investment Programme (SIP), while 1,632,480 households benefited from the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme - Guardian Ng
SERAP has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and anti-corruption agencies to arrest politicians buying Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) from poor Nigerians, and promptly bring them to justice - Guardian Ng
Federal Government has blamed poor funding for the slow pace of rehabilitation and expansion of the East-West Road since the contract was awarded in 2006- Guardian Ng.
Bruh , so we unfortunately as Nigerians have lying thieves in power who just take and take until they die ? That’s all I see , damn