Proactive EFCC 🕵️♀️
Hi,
Heads up: We’ll be taking a week off to catch our breath. Nigerian news is a deep (polluted) ocean. SEE YOU IN A BIT 💕
In this issue:
COVID-19 said ‘try again’ 🥲
IDP camps are clearing out
Abia State Govt is sharing N500, FG is giving N5,000
COVID-19 said, ‘try again’.
South Africa reported a new COVID-19 variant.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said SA recorded 22 positive cases of the new variant following genomic sequencing.
South Africa Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the variant was behind an “exponential” increase in reported cases, making it “a major threat”.
It has also been detected in Botswana and Hong Kong among travellers from South Africa.
Aljazeera reports that the variant has been spreading primarily among young people.
It seems like this virus isn't ready to leave us, so it's good news that National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is moving towards Nigeria-made vaccines.
The agency announced that they’d met the World Health Organization (WHO) requirement for vaccine production.
The director-general of NAFDAC, Prof Moji Adeyeye, said all that is left now is for agents from WHO to come and physically inspect and officially approve the facility, which she assures they will do soon.
Lose subsidy, gain palliatives
The Federal Government announced that they're cutting fuel subsidies by mid-2022. To cushion the financial burden, they will give some Nigerians a stipend of N5,000 per month for transportation.
Minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, says the government elected that the beneficiaries will be 30 to 40 million of Nigeria's poorest.
The exact number will depend on the resources available after they remove the subsidy.
But the Senate wasn’t having it. The Senate insists that there is no clear plan here: how will they select who gets the money? What is the distribution plan?.
The Senate also highlighted that the Finance Ministry didn’t add this allowance plan in their 2022 budget, so it can't be approved.
Abia State Govt is giving N500.
The Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, announced that the state has decided to start giving N500 (Five hundred Naira) to people who give birth in the state hospitals.
Ikpeazu told Channels TV that this is the state's solution to health insurance for pregnant people and to encourage hospital births— they get free hospital care, a pregnancy pack and N500.
When asked what N500 could do for a family with a newborn, the Governor said, "are you asking a poor woman, what will she do with N500? Some people don’t have it”. Then offered a possible use case, “At least it will pay their way back home".
Recall that resident doctors in Abia have been on strike for 22 months to protest unpaid salaries. Last month, the Joint Action Committee of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) shut down operations at the hospital. The state-owned polytechnic is also on strike.
Speaking of strike...
The members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are protesting the removal of the fuel subsidy.
NLC President Ayuba Wabba said the N5,000 promised Nigerians is "comical" and that Nigerian workers "refuse to take the bait".
Mr Wabba said the removal would increase the price of petrol by over 200%, leading to hyper-inflation and an increase in the price of other goods.
He also noted that the subsidy was based on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recommendation. Nigerian workers were not part of the decision.
Hence, the NLC wishes to maintain their rejection of the subsidy removal.
Petrol is already more expensive.
Some parts of the country are currently experiencing fuel scarcity caused by an increase in petrol price.
Premium Times says it's linked to Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) charging USD for petrol import.
The current national petrol price range is N146 - N148. However, some petrol stations are now selling at N157 per litre.
The govt swears it has nothing to do with them.
According to Premium Times, since depot owners have to buy USD from the black market to pay, they are compelled to increase the price per litre (Black market price on Friday the 26th was N567/1$).
But don't worry, they'll take care of the gas thing
The minister of state for petroleum, Timipre Sylva, says the President is aware that the increase in the price of cooking gas has hit some citizens hard. He'll take care of it before the festive period.
The minister explained that the government has no control over the prices. The international market primarily determines the price. But he assured that the government would use their internal leverage they have to reduce the cost.
19 days oil spill in Bayelsa.
After 3 weeks of oil spilling into the Nembe creek in Bayelsa State, polluting the environment and farmlands, the spill is now under control.
The Federal Government and Aiteo oil company (the creek owners) moved to contain the massive oil spill.
The FG said Aiteo is trying to contain the effects of the spill and thanked the community for "not taking the laws into their hands".
Government this week
This week, the House of Reps rejected a bill seeking to make the provision of basic welfare.
The bill, sponsored by Sergius Ogun (PDP, Edo), sought to amend section 6 of the 1999 Constitution by allowing Nigerians to sue the government if basic welfare is not provided.
Mr Ogun cited section 16(2d), of the constitution as his defence. It states: “The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring that suitable shelter and food, reasonable national living minimum wage, old age care and pensions, unemployment and sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for”.
While the rules are there, he said the constitution does not provide any consequences for not honouring them, so the House should adjust the law to include one.
He noted that “the amendment when passed into law will enable the courts of law in Nigeria to hear and determine questions as to whether the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy are being adhered to”.
Herman Hembe (APC, Benue) opposed it. He said the bill is a socialist tool that can "destroy a nation", and such “freebies” led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and turned Venezuela into a poor country.
Recall that Nigeria is a hub for government-championed pension fraud.
While exercising his right to reply, Mr Ogun said allowing citizens to sue does not mean they will get whatever they ask. He noted that the amendment would allow for accountability.
In the end, the "nays" had it.
In Yobe
According to the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Information and Culture in Yobe, the state government will deduct 10% of November basic salaries of its civil servants as their 'contributions' to the state's education sector.
Commissioner Muhammad Lamin said forced participation is how they plan to encourage collective effort to revive the sector which has suffered a decade-long insurgency.
Yobe's Governor Mai Mala Buni inaugurated a 21-member State Education Fund Committee earlier this month to collect donations from residents.
But the commissioner believes that civil servants have a duty and that 10% is a symbol of it.
Proactive EFCC
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, for allegedly forging medical documents. Fani-Kayode currently has a money laundering case against him. His request to postpone for medical reasons was granted after he presented the possibly fake documents (Guardian NG)
The EFCC has reportedly put the outgoing Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, on its watch-list. The agency has not formally arrested or charged him with anything— because he is still under the immunity from prosecution that Nigerian sitting governors and presidents enjoy— but they have told the Nigeria Immigration Service to keep him from flying out of the country (Vanguard)
Terrorism and the President's speech
Borno IDPs have gone home.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri have vacated the camps as the camps prepare to close on the 30th of November.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent who visited some camps on Wednesday reports that they're almost empty.
The reporters gathered that the state government provided cash and food items to the IDPs to help them get settled back at home.
People from Gwoza, Monguno and Guzamala Local Government Areas (NAN) told NAN that male household heads got N100,000, while women got N50,000.
Mr Mustafa Gubio, the state’s Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, said the people who lived in the Bakassi IDP camp (over 7,000) were sent back home.
Are their hometowns safer?
Leadership reports that terrorists have killed almost 500 Nigerians and kidnapped over 1,200 people despite an increase in security personnel.
Other incidents this week
Boko Haram has released videos of four men they abducted from different parts of the Northeast.
In the video, the four men identify themselves and where they were kidnapped.
Boko Haram and a faction of the Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP) are setting up camps in Niger.
Secretary to Niger state government, Ahmed Matane, said these groups have been telling communities that they are “god-send” and want to establish a political-religious Islamic state.
Matane said Niger spent a lot of money on insecurity, but the challenges are rising.
The Kaduna government has restored telecoms in the state as it has not reduced or contained terrorist attacks.
Recall that a few weeks back, the government shut down telcos in the area, hoping it would restrict communication among terrorists.
We reported last week that the Kaduna Government discovered terrorists in the area have been using walkie-talkies since they cut off the telecoms signal.
The victims need not worry, though. The President has very sternly ordered security chiefs to deal with it.
Other news this week
Uganda risks losing their only international airport to China over a $207 million loan. They tried to renegotiate the toxic clause (like losing a valued national asset to another country) but the Chinese Government refused (Punch)
2022 budget woes: The Katsina government claims to have spent N15 billion building stormwater drainages in Katsina, Funtua, Malumfashi and Jibia towns (Daily Trust)
Traffic robbers in Lagos are adopting new tactics (like pretending to be beggars) to steal in broad daylight (Guardian NG)
FG launches more efficient e-passport in London (The Cable)
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved April 2022 as the official date for the commencement of the operations of the much-awaited Nigeria Air (Premium Times)
Rahmon Adedoyin, the ‘educationist’ and business mogul who was arrested over the strange death of Timothy Adegoke in his hotel, might be enjoying VIP privileges at the headquarters of the Osun State Police Command (FIJ)
Expose: With N500, you can obtain birth certificates for non-existent children in many parts of the country (The Cable)
Nigeria needs N207 billion for digital census: https://leadership.ng/nigeria-needs-n207bn-for-digital-census-npc/
World Bank suggests that to increase tax revenue, the Nigerian govt should end oil subsidy, raise taxes on 'sinful goods' etc. (The Cable)
CBN says it has disbursed N41.2 billion to kickstart the “Nigerian Brown Revolution” (Nairametrics)
Nigeria military cries out over police brutality within the police force (People's Gazette)