Sketchy Petrol moves
Datti-Baba Ahmed's thoughts on #EndSars, Floods getting worse, "Nigeria Air"- who owns it?"
Hi,
Today’s newsletter is 2,107 words (approx. 7 mins read)
🚨 Dubai has now suspended visa allocations to Nigerians. They said they will reject all visa applications that have been sent (no refunds) and that visas to Nigerians are paused until “the issues between the Nigerian and UAE governments are resolved”. If you already have a visa, you can still travel.
In this week’s edition
Remembering the #EndSars victims
Flooding updates
Another church shooting
“Nigerian Air”
Remembering the #EndSars protesters who died in Lekki & Mushin
It's the 2nd year since the Nigerian military mass shot and killed protesters in Mushin and Lekki. Both on the same day, hours apart.
At the time, the Lagos State Government and the Nigerian security agency attempted to deny the incident. However, with footage plastered all over international news outlets, they changed the tune to blaming the protesters for being out after curfew and pointing fingers at each other.
Presidency & #EndSARS
This week, Datti-Baba Ahmed, Labour Party’s contending Vice President said in an interview with Channels that calling the events of October 20th 2020, a massacre is “debatable”. He attempted to define what a massacre is and why it’s different.
Last week, Peter Obi added and swiftly removed ex-army general John Eneche from the Labor Party presidential campaign - Business Day
Obi supporters threatened to withdraw their support if Eneche was retained.
Their anger was fueled by Eneche's role in the EndSars massacre. At the time, he claimed that images of the shooting were photoshopped.
In response, Obi removed Eneche from his team.
Following the revelation of his involvement in the cover-up of the killings, Enenche said official Twitter page:
“Dear countrymen and women, following my appointment on the campaign council of Labour Party, there were reactions on social media about my pronouncement concerning a video shot at the scene of the #EndSARS incident at Lekki toll-gate on October 20, 2020. Everyone that commented in any way was right based on the information at their disposal and individual analysis.
Personally and professionally, I worked with the overriding interest of Nigerians at heart based on the oath of allegiance I swore on commission into the military service, which is sacrosanct.” - The Punch
Flooding & global warming
Civil Society Organisations are calling on the FG to declare a state of emergency following the crazy floods throughout the country.
Africa News reports that the floods are the worst Nigeria has seen in a decade
In a joint statement, the groups said it was time for the government at all levels to find sustainable ways to curb the perennial floods and the resultant effects in affected states of the country - The Punch
The group also predicted that the floods would cause 19.4 million Nigerians across the country to suffer a food crisis from August 2022 as a result. The World Bank also predicts that 95.1 million people will hit the poverty line by the end of the year.
The floods have forced 1.4 million people out of their homes, destroyed over 70,000 hectares of farmlands and killed more than 500 people.
The National Emergency Management Agency spokesman, Manzo Ezekiel, blamed the high level of damage on "violations of regional rules" and construction near waterways
On Friday, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs tweeted that the FG had started to distribute 12,000 Metric Tonnes of food and non-food items to disaster-stricken areas in Anambra and Jigawa state
Meanwhile, the United States is donating $1 million in immediate humanitarian assistance to support those affected by the flooding.
The US support fund will provide emergency shelter assistance, relief commodities, and hygiene kits for safe and healthy practices amid the ongoing cholera outbreak and other waterborne diseases.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will grant the fund. They will also provide multipurpose cash assistance for people impacted by the devastating floods.
The Bayelsa State reps in the National Assembly have also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the south-south.
Security
Another church shooting
Gunmen attacked the Celestial Church of Christ in Felele, Lokoja, Kogi State on Sunday. They killed two people and injured three others.
No suspects have been identified.
According to the police spokesperson, the Commissioner of Police has ordered the Deputy Commissioner in charge of the investigation to look into the cause of the attack and start looking for the perpetrators.
Did China Set up ‘Overseas Police Stations’ in Africa, Europe and America?
Human rights group, Safeguard Defenders recently reported that the Chinese government stationed “110 overseas police stations” across countries where their nationals reside in Africa, Europe and America. Safeguard noted that this compromises international territorial laws.
According to the report, apart from Nigeria, China has also set up its international ‘police stations’ in Lesotho and Tanzania
The rights watchdogs said:
“Rather than cooperating with local authorities in the full respect of territorial sovereignty, it prefers…to cooperate with overseas ‘NGOs’ or ‘civil society associations’ across the five continents, setting up an alternative policing and judicial system within third countries, and directly implicating those organisations in the illegal methods employed to pursue ‘fugitives’,”
The Chinese government has denied the reports
In an interview with Vanguard, an unnamed Chinese official said, “There is no such station in Nigeria or everywhere. No sovereign country may allow other countries to establish their own (police) stations on their territory.”
Business
AfDB, FCMB new support for SMEs and women-led businesses
The African Development Bank has signed a $50 million Line of Credit Agreement with Nigeria’s First City Monument Bank (FCMB) to support access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as women-empowered businesses (WEBs).
The funds are intended to mitigate COVID-19’s effect on businesses
AfDB will partner with FCMB through a technical assistance grant of US$200,000 sourced from the Women Entrepreneurship Finance Initiative (WeFi) under its Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative.
FCMB will use the WeFi grant to provide training and strengthen its monitoring and reporting functions for WEBs.
Other outcomes expected from this operation are:
More finance access for at least 50 enterprises: 29 agribusinesses and manufacturing, 9 renewable energy, and 13 healthcare-oriented.
They intend to support at least 14 female entrepreneurs with long-term funding and create at least 1,000 jobs.
Challenges with ‘Nigeria Air’
Nigeria will have a new national aircraft in December. Although there are still concerns about its planned operating model and choice of technical partner
Nigeria Air will begin domestic flight operations with 3 aircrafts leased from Ethiopia Airlines (ET) and operated by Ethiopian pilots and crew
A top official in the Ministry of Aviation said the working partnership between Nigeria and ET will kick-start “the best national carrier Nigeria has ever seen”
However, aviation stakeholders shared none of such optimism. They lamented the project’s lack of transparency on funding and the real owners, wrong choice of partnership — ET was recently accused of “aviation colonialism” — and no consideration for local operators.
The arrowhead of the project and Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said 2 Nigerian companies have stakes in the aircraft — MRS (46%), and FGN (5%) — while ET has 49%, the dominant stake.
Customs sack 2,000 officers, generate N2.14tn in 2022
The Nigeria Customs Service said they’ve sacked and prosecuted over 2,000 officers that have violated their moral code 2015 - The Punch
The Controller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali disclosed this to journalists during the 54th Session of the state House Ministerial Briefing.
Ali also warned Nigerians to be wary of rogue officers and not get scammed
He noted that the custom’s fight against smuggling had since evolved, thereby necessitating the procurement of additional aircraft to intercept smuggling across Nigeria’s borders. These efforts were in collaboration with the Nigerian Airforce
He noted that customs had also generated N2.14tn in 2022, as against the projected N3.02tn, adding that the shortfall was because the Federal Government was yet to commence the collection of telecommunications tax
Emefiele to appear in court over alleged refusal to pay $70m judgement debt
A Federal High Court in Abuja summoned the Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele. He is expected to appear before the court on January 18, 2023, to explain why he has not fulfilled a valid order to pay his $70 million debt - Daily Post
The court previously ordered the CBN to pay A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Joe Odey Agi, $70 million for legal fees for services rendered to some states and the 774 councils.
The CBN still refused to pay, and the court wants to know why, so the Judge has since fixed January 18, 2023, for the CBN governor to appear before the court.
Petrol
‘Are We Drinking The Petrol?’
Former CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, questioned the amount of oil the NNPC claims Nigeria consumes daily. He does not believe Nigeria uses 66 million litres of fuel daily.
“Are we drinking petrol?” He queried the “inflated” figure when he delivered a keynote speech at the seventh edition of KadInvest, an annual event organised by the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency
He also demanded that the NNPC be disbanded and blamed the lack of revenue in the country on what he called the subsidy free-for-all
He said:
“NNPC tells us officially that we are consuming more [petrol] than Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya. In 2019 officially, we were importing 40 million litres per day. In 2022, officially, we are importing 66 million per day. In three years, we have increased our petrol consumption by 50%. Please tell me, is it the population? Is it the number of cars? Just ask yourself if it makes sense that in three years you increase your consumption of petrol by 50%.”
The Sanusi cited data from the Federation Account Allocation Committee, saying only 50% of states generated enough recurrent revenue to cover their wages, overheads and debt services.
Speaking of sketchy…
Security agents quickly destroyed a vessel used for crude oil theft off the Niger Delta creeks, and the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor said there was nothing sinister about it.
The vessel was an 87-metre-long vessel allegedly carrying 650,000 litres of crude oil with seven crew members.
The House of Representatives subsequently said it would investigate the issue. However, Irabor said the vessel was caught in the act, and security agents set the “instrument of operation” ablaze, and no investigation was needed
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana does not buy Irabor’s conviction.
Falana says Irabor needs to be forced to resign immediately. He believes that burnt the vessel to cover up the serious crime of oil theft, of which Irabor is complacent.
Governance
Zamfara Government Shutdown NTA and FRCN
The Zamfara State Government has ordered the closure of government-owned stations, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Gusau and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN)’s Pride FM for allegedly violating government order and journalism practice.
The state commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Dosara said that the State Security Council approved their closure.
Although broadcast stations are regulated by the Nigeria Broadcast Commission (NBC), the Zamfara government is believed to have acted without NBC’s approval as its statement didn’t mention the commission.
Food security
Poverty: Nigeria goes is now ranked 103 out of 121
Every minute, more than 6 Nigerians enter extreme poverty as the country's poor population approaches the 95.1 million projected by the World Bank for this year.
According to the World Bank, Nigeria contributed 3 million people to global extreme poverty, while the country is “home to a large share of the global extreme poor.”
Nigeria was also ranked 103 out of 121 countries in the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI), which signifies the nation has a serious hunger crisis. The Global Hunger Index was jointly published by the German-based Welthungerhilfe and Dublin-based Concern Worldwide on Saturday to mark World Food Day.
The COVID-19 crisis and the growing population contributed to the crisis.
Road to 2023
Court bars APC from fielding governorship candidate in Adamawa
The federal high court sitting in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, barred the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), from fielding a governorship candidate for forthcoming general elections - The Guardian
The former EFCC chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, who was an aspirant in the APC governorship primary election, is challenging the declaration of Aishatu Ahmed Binanni as the winner of the now-nulled primary election conducted on May 27, 2022.
The presiding judge cited election malpractices as the reason for the decision.
In other news
The Chief Magistrate of Court Ill, Birnin Kebbi, Umar Salihu Kokan, has been summoned to the Kebbi State High Court for allegedly slapping State Counsel, Abdullahi Bawa Dan Bauchi, and two others - Guardian NG
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike said Sanwo-Olu has done well, and he has no regrets about backing him. Wike also gave N300 million to the Lagos Wives organisation - This Day
Chidinma Ojukwu, the prime suspect in the alleged murder of Super TV Chief Executive Officer Usifo Ataga, denied killing the late Ataga yesterday. Ojukwu had previously recorded saying she drugged and stabbed Ataga. However, when the recorded video footage was replayed, Ojukwu denied killing Ataga - The Guardian
Aisha Buhari Not Sure Husband’s Government Has Met Expectations of Nigerians - Arise
67 days after, NAHCON, SMPWBs yet to refund Nigerians who missed Hajj 2022 — CSO - The Eagle
WAEC launches digital certificate to meet global needs - The Guardian
Nnamdi Kanu Should Be Free Already - Naija News
Siemens Deal: 20 Power Transformers, Mobile Substations Ready by May, Says Buhari - This Day
Budget deficit: Govt may sell TBS, NIPPs, 25 key assets - The Punch.