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Tag: Abuja

  • Again, court refuses to stop Dasuki’s trial

    Again, court refuses to stop Dasuki’s trial

    For the third time, former National Security Adviser (NSA), Mohammed Sambo Dasuki lost Tuesday in a bid to stop his trial.

    Dasuki is involved in three different charges before three courts.

    He is charged with some others in alleged money laundering charges before Justices Hussein Baba Yusuf and Peter Affen of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Maitama, Abuja.

    He is charged alone before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court on charges of illegal possession of firearms and money laundering.

    In separate rulings earlier this year, Justice Baba-Yusuf and Affen dismissed application by Dasuki seeking to be discharged of the charges against him.

    He also sought to restrain the Federal Government from further prosecuting him in any court in Nigeria on the ground that the Fed Govt allegedly flouted orders of the court, admitting him to bail.

    Ruling on a similar application this morning, Justice Ademola held that the reliefs sought by Dasuki were “not grantable.”

    The judge was of the opinion that the nation’s laws have made adequate provision for redress where contempt of court is alleged.

    Relying on the provision of Section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, the judge also refused Dasuki’s prayer for stay of further proceedings in the case.

    He dismissed the application, thereby making it the third time a court will be rejecting Dasuki’s move to stop his trial.

     

     

     

  • NNPC staff abducted by gunmen

    NNPC staff abducted by gunmen

    A staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), identified as Yusuf Abdulkadir has been reportedly abducted by unknown gunmen in Kaduna.
    Abdulkadir, who is a staff in the NNPC Abuja office was said to have been abducted on Saturday at his residence in Rigachiku, Igabi local government area of Kaduna State.
    It was gathered that the incident occurred at about 10pm on Saturday when he was whisked away to an unknown destination.
    According to a family source, the gunmen trailed him while he was returning to his house and picked him up.
    ”They trailed him to the house yesterday dragged him out of his car at gun point and whisked him away.
    ”He works at NNPC Towers, Abuja, but on weekends, drives to Kaduna, where his family members reside,” the source added.
    The matter has been reported to police but efforts to reach the Kaduna Police Public Relations Officer, Zubairu Abubakar on the development proved abortive as his phone was switched off as at the time of filing this report.
    Three clergymen, Dr Emmanuel Dziggau, Yakubu Talba Dzarma and Iliya Anto who eventually died in his abductors’ custody, were kidnapped on March 21 while another Colonel Samaila Inusa was abducted and killed on 26th of March, 2016, in the state.

  • “I was not behind power outage at Saraki’s CCT trial”

    “I was not behind power outage at Saraki’s CCT trial”

    • Says report politically motivated
    Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Basic Education and Services, Zakari Mohammed has described a report linking him with power outage at the ongoing trial of the Senate President Bukola Saraki at the Code of Conduct Tribunal  (CCT) as absurd.
    He said the media report was designed to malign his political career as well as to set him on collision course with security agencies going by the magnitude of such disruption of judicial process.
    An online media, Sahara Reporters had  insinuated that Mohammed was behind the power outage last Wednesday during the ongoing trial of Senate President,  Saraki at the sitting of CCT.
    Mohammed, in a statement yesterday  said  being a lawmaker and a law abiding politician, he was well aware of the process of justice  to have circumvented it, being a political son to Saraki notwithstanding.
    He, however regretted that the publication might be politically motivated since the reporter made no effort to balance the story by asking for his reaction.
    He said: “The said publication was not only false, but an outright balderdash, sheer rubbish and a deliberate attempt to use this medium to tarnish my hard-earned reputation.
    “The so-called stage-managed and politically-motivated report was designed to hoodwink the unsuspecting public to believe that I am a violent political office holder.
    “To set the records straight, I had no hands in the outage at the CCT Tribunal. I have no relationship with any staff or technicians at the tribunal which would have made me to influence the outage.
    “I also do not work with or own shares in the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company to have wielded contacts to disrupt power supply to the tribunal.
    “I have never met with technicians in charge of the alternative source of power for the tribunal.
    “In the jaundiced story, which was branded as an exclusive copy, no attempt was made to speak with the management of the tribunal on what led to the outage.
    “Other than a curious security source, there was no fact to substantiate the so-called scoop which by all-intent was meant to achieve a predetermined agenda.
    “In defiance of the ethics of journalism, I was not contacted by the publisher of Sahara Reporters for my own side of the story. I am the most accessible member of the Federal House of Assembly.
    “As a journalist and the former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, I obliged the press unfettered access to information. Sahara Reporters chose to give me a blackout to destroy my person for a purpose.
    “It was true that I attended the court session like other members of the National Assembly. We all experienced the outage at the sitting and bore the heat like everyone. It sounds absurd that I will sponsor outage to cause discomfort for myself and others.
    “There is no nexus between the outage and Justice being dispensed by the tribunal. Whether there is an outage or not, the trial has started in full swing and Saraki has never boycotted any sitting.
    “The ACJ Act is clear on cases on timelines for a court or tribunal to dispose of cases. No individual can slow down the court not to talk of an ordinary citizen like me.
    “The story was meant to set me on a collision course against security agencies. It is part of a bigger picture to haunt core loyalists of Saraki like me.
    “I am not a fraudulent, violent and disruptive individual. I cut my teeth in politics through the rungs without ruffling feathers.
    “With about 95 per cent of the contents of the story devoted to my political antecedents and 2019 politics, it was obvious that some forces with a hidden agenda were behind the story.
    “Tomorrow belongs to Allah, I am not a desperate politician. I will rather concentrate on my present mandate than being overwhelmed by 2019 politics.
    “It is incontrovertible that I owe my political tutelage to Saraki Dynasty of which the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki is its scion. I cannot disown or deny the Senate President because he is on trial for allegations yet to be proven beyond reasonable doubt.
    “He remains a leader in whom I am well-pleased in and out of political office.
    “Those who sneak to the President of the Senate at night and attack him through any wild medium in day time should know that their  antics will soon be discovered.
    “Sahara Reporters should not allow itself to be held hostage by these never-do-well individuals masquerading as sources because of dirty politics in Kwara State”.
  • Buhari’s visit to China yields billions investment

    Buhari’s visit to China yields billions investment

    President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed satisfaction with the outcome of his working visit to China, which has yielded additional investments in Nigeria exceeding $6 billion USD.

    He believed that the several agreements concluded with the Chinese during the visit will have a huge and positive impact on key sectors of the Nigerian economy, including power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transportation.

    According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, North South Power Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed an agreement valued at $478,657,941.28 for the construction of 300 Mega Watts solar power in Shiriro, Niger State.

    In the solid minerals sector, Granite and Marble Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at $55 million for the construction and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria.

    A total of $1 billion USD is to be invested in the development of a greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under an agreement reached by the Infrastructure Bank and Sinohydro Corporation Limited.

    For the housing sector, both companies also sealed    a $250 million deal to develop an ultra modern 27-storey high rise complex and a $2.5 billion agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line project.

    Other agreements announced and signed during the visit include a $1 billion for the establishment of a Hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State.

    Furthermore, the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited also signed an agreement valued at $200million for the construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.

    An agreement valued at $363 million for the establishment of a comprehensive farm and downstream industrial park in Kogi state was also announced at the Nigeria-China business forum.

    Other agreements undergoing negotiations include a $500 million project for the provision of television broadcast equipment and a $25 million facility for production of pre-paid smart meters between Mojec International Limited and Microstar Company Limited.

    About 100 Nigerian businesses and 300 Chinese firms participated in the Nigeria-China business forum which took place a day after President Buhari began his visit to China

  • Diversification of Nigeria’s economy requires urgency, says Buhari

    Diversification of Nigeria’s economy requires urgency, says Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday in Guangzhou, China, said that his administration will take urgent steps to restructure Nigeria’s economy by encouraging new investments in mining, agriculture and manufacturing.

    Speaking at a reception in his honour by the Communist Party of China, President Buhari said that Nigeria will welcome the support of the Chinese government, foreign investors and local businesses for efforts to diversify the nation’s economy.

    Buhari, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, noted that the diversification of the Nigerian economy was long overdue as continued reliance on crude oil exports had always made the economy vulnerable to shocks.

    ‘‘This time we will be more deliberate. The government and businesses will be involved,” President Buhari said.

    In his remarks, the Secretary of the Communist Party, who is also the Governor of the Guangdong Province, Mr. Hu Chinhua, pledged that the region will support the implementation of all the bilateral agreements reached with the Chinese government during President Buhari’s visit.

    President Buhari also visited the Sino-Singapore Knowledge City  in Guangzhou, which showcases advancements by China in medical, science and technological inventions.

  • Imo election rerun: Court urged to restrain INEC

    Imo election rerun: Court urged to restrain INEC

    Can the Independent National Eelectoral Commission (INEC) conduct a re-run election after the 90 days ordered by a court? Did the Electoral Act 2010 make provision for INEC  to seek extension of time to conduct re-run election having failed to conduct the election within the time ordered?

    These, among others, formed issues to be determined by the Federal High Court, Abuja in a suit seeking to restrain INEC from further conducting the re-run election ordered in Imo North Senatorial District by the Court of Appeal, Owerri division.

    Defendants in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/23/2016, filed by Igwe Maduakolam, are INEC and Senator Athan Achonu Nneji, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last National Assembly Election for Imo North Senatorial District.

    Nneji was declared winner of the election for the Imo North Senatorial District held on April 28, 2015. The election was set aside by the Court of Appeal, Owerri in its judgment of December 11 last year on the ground that INEC failed to include the logo of Accord Party on the ballot papers.

    The appellate court ordered INEC to conduct a fresh election for the Senatorial District within 90 days from the date of the judgment.

    Maduakolam stated in a supporting affidavit, that the 90-day timeline handed INEC by the court to conduct fresh elections elapsed on March11 this year and that no election was conducted by INEC.

    “I have read sections 1 to 158 of the Electoral Act 2010 and cannot find any provision fro extension of time to comply with court ordered elections,” he said. Maduakolam noted that for the past five month the Imo North Senatorial District, from where he hailed, has been denied representation at the Senate as a result of INEC’s failure to conduct the re-run election as ordered by INEC.

    The plaintiff wants the court to declare that the INEC has no powers to conduct the said Imo North Senatorila District, Okigwe outside the 90 days as ordered by the Court of Appeal, Owerri pursuant to Section 140(2) of the Electoral Act.

    He seeks an order of perpetual injunction restraining the 1st defendant from conducting or attempting to conduct any further re-run/fresh election into the Imo north Senatorial District till 2019, having failed to conduct the re-run election within the 90 days orcered by the court of Appeal in suit: CA/OW/EPT/SN/52/2015.

    Maduakolam equally wants an order directing the 2nd defendant to continue in office as the Senator representing Imo North Senatorial District since INEC has failed to conduct the fresh election within the timeline as ordered by the Court of Appeal, Owerri delivered on December 11, 2015 in suit No: CA/OW/EPT/SN/52/2015.

    Although none of the defendants has responded, the suit has been assigned to Justice John Tsoho, who has fixed May 4 for preliminary hearing.

  • Chibok girls constantly on Buhari’s mind – Osinbajo

    • Seeks collaboration with international partners on vulnerable people

    Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday cautioned against cynicism and hopelessness about the recovery of the 217 Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram.

    According to him, their recovery is uppermost in the mind of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He spoke at a one-day Roundtable on Vulnerable People in Insurgency and other conflicts in Nigeria, a forum organised by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

    In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo explained that the recovery of the Chibok girls is of utmost importance to the extent that it dominated security meetings since President Buhari as a parent shares in their trauma.

    He said: “At any security council meeting that I have attended, the President in particular has always been concerned about the question of Chibok girls in particular. Of course it comes out of ensuring that apart from the international importance attached to it, he reflects on the abduction as if any of the girls is one of his own”.

    Describing as significant the day set aside to mark the anniversary of the kidnap of 217 Chibok girls in Borno State by Boko Haram terrorists, Vice President Osinbajo said, “it brings to fore some critical issues on the handling of the plight of vulnerable people notably the abduction of Chibok girls and the killings of Buni Yadi boys as well as the recent kidnap of three girls in Ikorodu, Lagos in a non-confict area”.

    He expressed government’s appreciation to local NGOs, CSOs and international partners and sought their continued collaboration and assistance in further addressing issues around the wellbeing of victims and the task of rebuilding the North East areas affected by insurgency.

    Noting that understanding fundamental problems of poverty, corruption and lack of education are interconnected, he said they are critical to fashioning out long term solutions to the plight of vulnerable people in the country.

    He noted that vulnerable people are exposed to the harshest conditions not only in conflict areas but in everyday life.

    According to him “interconnectivity of many issues like poverty, corruption and lack of education exposes the fact of vulnerability especially of women and girls in our society”, emphasizing that “the question of poverty and how poverty generally as an overarching issue exposes state system and institutions of state and make them impossible to solve most problems without addressing the fundamental questions first”.

    Underlining the role that government can play in solving the problem of poverty, the Vice President observed that past budgets have largely ignored this need, stressing that budgets should be tailored to provide for the poor people.

    “There is a sense in which we must pay attention to how we design government programmes, how we plan budgets, so that we take into account the great poverty of our people”, he said.

    He then disclosed that this concern is the reason why the Federal Government had N500 billion voted in this year’s budget for five different social intervention programmes including conditional cash transfer to the very poorest.

    On corruption, Prof. Osinbajo said the present level of systemic corruption in the country has made it difficult to deliver service to the people because funds meant for infrastructure and social upliftment of the people were diverted.

    He said that the society has to deal with the corruption saying “I believe we must deal with corruption, it is at the heart of what has gone wrong in this society. We must deal with not only individuals, but with corruption in a systemic fashion”, he said.

    Vice President Osinbajo, while emphasizing the importance of addressing vulnerability through quality education especially education for girls, assured of Federal Government’s continuing commitment in that sector.

    He however emphasized that States and Local Governments in the Federation must also ensure that quality education is given to their people.

    He said: “it is important in my view to have a lot more advocacy to reverse the situation where about 10.4 million children are out of schools.”

    He used the occasion to urge stakeholders to endeavour to do more in line with the theme of the Roundtable “Together We Can Do More”, stressing that all issues thrown up at the roundtable are critical towards having a holistic approach to addressing the plight of the vulnerable people across the country.

    At the Roundtable, one of the female survivors of the Buni Yadi attack in Yobe State, Fatima Alhassan, also spoke about what happened the day Boko Haram attacked the school.

    The Vice President at the end of the event spent time with the girl encouraging her that the Presidency will stay engaged on the issues and also in touch with her.

    Present at the forum were Ministers of Interior and Environment, representatives of National Security Adviser and Service Chiefs, Ambassadors of US, France and the UK High Commissioners to Nigeria, representatives of European Commission, relevant government agencies as well as NGOs and CSOs including the Bring Back Our Girls, BBOG group.

  • Boko Haram: Presidency denies using UK’s aid to prosecute opponents

    Boko Haram: Presidency denies using UK’s aid to prosecute opponents

    The Presidency on Wednesday denied the allegations raised by one Con Coughlin in the April 12 edition of The Telegraph (London) paper.

    The article said that Nigeria is using the United Kingdom (UK) aid to persecute president’s political foes rather than to fight Boko Haram.

    Coughlin also wrote that “American officials are also angry that $2.1 billion of aid given to the Nigerian military to tackle Boko Haram has not been properly accounted for.”

    He also accused President Buhari’s government of attempting to cover-up the abductions of 400 women and children “abducted last year by militants from the Nigerian town of Damasak.”

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, however said that the allegations were false.

    He said: “Our attention has been drawn to a piece published on April 12, 2016, in The Telegraph (London) paper, by one Con Coughlin (identified as ‘Defence Editor’), and titled, ‘Nigeria using UK aid to persecute president’s political foes rather to fight Boko Haram.’

    “The piece is not only full of factual inaccuracies, it also betrays a shocking ignorance of Nigeria and the country’s ongoing war against terrorism.

    “Mr Coughlin’s editorial tactic is to quote unnamed “senior officials” and “Western diplomats” and “Western officials” and “political opponents” making fact-free and unfounded statements. It also appears that he sought out only those opinions which suited and reinforced his disgracefully false headline.

    “Nowhere in the piece is there anything that suggests he attempted to contact the Nigerian government for its own side of the story.

    On Coughlin’s remark on the $2.1 billion, Garba Shehu said: “It does not occur to him that the $2.1 billion he refers to was budgeted for and wholly spent by the government that President Buhari and his party defeated in the March 2015 presidential elections, and that one of President Buhari’s priorities has been investigating the misuse of those funds.

    “It also does not appear to occur to Mr. Coughlin that the “political opponents” he is falsely accusing President Buhari of “targeting” and “persecuting” are actually on trial on account of how they spent the $2.1 billion in question.

    “Mr. Coughlin is equally unaware of the fact that the investigating panel set up by Mr. Buhari to probe the $2.1 billion recently published a preliminary report that confirmed that much of that money was indeed looted or mis-spent by the accused persons, and that the government has started to recover the funds.” He added

    He said that Coughlin’s accusation of President Buhari’s government attempting to cover-up the abductions of 400 women and children “abducted last year by militants from the Nigerian town of Damasak” was absolutely untrue.

    He said: “The Damasak abductions he’s referring to, which were recently widely reported, took place, not “last year” as he says, but in late 2014, well before Mr. Buhari was elected President of Nigeria. (And, by the way, President Buhari came to power on May 29, 2015, not July, as Coughlin reports).”

    “A simple search by Mr. Coughlin of his paper’s archives would have revealed these facts. A simple fact-check by his copy-editors would have spared the Telegraph the embarrassment of publishing this drivel.”

    He also noted that there were several other inaccuracies and baseless statements in the piece.

    “But Mr. Coughlin is too enamoured of his anonymous sources to realize they might be misleading him, or be as ignorant about the situation as he is.

    “The suggestion that Boko Haram is going “from strength to strength” is an eminently laughable one; not even Nigeria’s opposition party would make such an absurd claim.

    As an indication of success against the insurgents, he said that schools in Borno State, shut for more than one year under the previous government have reopened since President Buhari took office.

    “The same applies to the airport in Maiduguri, shut down in December 2013 after a devastating Boko Haram attack on the nearby Air Force Base.

    “Thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have now started returning home. Last Sunday, El-Kanemi Warriors Football Club played its first game in its home base of Maiduguri in more than two seasons. Until now they had been forced to play home games outside the region, on account of security concerns.

    “There are several more examples of how the people of the region are finally getting a chance to rebuild their lives, as the Nigerian Armed Forces and a Multinational Joint Task Force continue their work of routing the terrorists.

    “Mr. Coughlin not only sounds like a spokesperson for the very people whose corruption and mismanagement allowed Boko Haram to bring Nigeria to its knees – and whose disastrous legacy President Buhari has spent the last one year redeeming Nigeria from – he is also guilty of failing to observe the most basic rules of responsible journalism.

    “Mr Coughlin needs a refresher course on responsible journalism as much as he needs a crash course on Nigeria. Until he submits himself to these, we’re afraid he will continue to embarrass not only himself, but also the revered British media institution that is the Telegraph.” He stated

  • Okorocha seeks review of university curriculum

    Okorocha seeks review of university curriculum

    Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, on Wednesday urged the National Universities Commission (NUC) to review tertiary education curriculum to ensure that the curriculum is directed towards solving productive problems in key sectors of the economy.

    This, the governor said, would enable young graduates  to become thoroughbred entrepreneurs and professionals  while developing their capacity to become independent in specific fields of their choice.

    Okorocha said this in Abuja on Wednesday when he received a certificate of recognition of the newly established Eastern Palm University in the State from the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie.

    He said that universities were established to focus more on human capital development and to guide students into specific professional areas.

    Okorocha said: “The Eastern Palm University would focus more on human capital development, professionalism, not a situation whereby people read a course and just end up somewhere.

    “It would ensure that people are guided along their talent into a proper profession in order to enable them serve their country. I believe that our education system must be tailored towards developing the resources of our land and not being over import dependent.”

    Earlier, Prof. Okojie urged the governor to ensure all the academic principles of running a university as spelt out by commission are adhered to by the University.

    He called on Okorocha to ensure the running of relevant programmes for the universities.

    Okojie said: “Ensure you take off well. Follow all the procedures and academic rituals and ensure all the standards are met. Eastern Palm university must ensure it it operates programmes that are relevant.

    “We must be very careful in the way we use politics to run our education in this country.”

    With the issuance of certificate of recognition, the University becomes the 42nd  state University and  the 143 University in Nigeria.

  • Fuel scarcity to end in few days – NNPC

    Fuel scarcity to end in few days – NNPC

    • Receives more stock as imports cost $1.8b per quarter

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Wednesday assured that the persistent fuel scarcity in the country will be a thing of the past in the next few days.

    The latest assurance was given by NNPC management team led by its Chief Executive Officer (Upstream), Bello Rabiu, while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on an update on the supply and distribution of the product.

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, who told State House correspondents last month that he could not perform magic to end fuel scarcity, had put early May as the earliest time for queues to disappear.

    He immediately denied what he told the journalists when the heat was on him.

    Kachikwu, who later told National Assembly lawmakers that the fuel queues will ease off by the 7th of this month, has not been able to keep his word as fuel scarcity still persists across the country.

    But Bello Rabiu, who was flanked by the Chief Operating Officer (Downstream), Henry Nkem-Obi; Chief Operating Officer (Refineries), Anibo Kragha and Group General Manager (Public Affairs), Garbadeen Mohammed on Wednesday, said that the Corporation will soon saturate the market with more petrol than the nation can consume.

    According to him, five vessels were already discharging products in various parts of the country.

    Apart from this, he said that private importers were also discharging at least 120 million liters of the product to complement NNPC’s imports.

    The only delay now, he said has to do with circulation of the products across the country using trucks as pipelines were still not in good condition.

    He said: “The plan going forward from today, we want to make sure that we give more than what is required in the whole country. The total requirement of the country is just about 1,300 trucks, but our plan is to make at least 1,500 available everyday until this thing clears up.

    “So, we want to make sure that we saturate the market in a very short time and I think you can see clearly now that Lagos is almost cleared and Abuja is getting better. Other places will follow.”

    Stressing that the Corporation knows what each state needs, he said that the demand would be met.

    He apologized for the fuel scarcity on behalf of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu and the NNPC, assuring that it would never repeat itself.

    He said that part of the ways to guard against reccurrence was to have in-country storage capacity so that it would take minimum time to move products to depots in any part of the country.

    He said that the NNPC is focusing on doing that.

    Efforts, he said, were also underway to ensure that the refineries and the pipelines were put back to order to achieve stability and make fuel queues a thing of the past.

    He appealed to Nigerians to refrain from panic buying as the products would now be available on a regular basis in all the filling stations around the country.

    According to him, the Port Harcourt Refinery has started delivering about 5 million liters a day enough for Port Harcourt and Bayelsa areas while Warri was close to adding another 2 million liters.

    He also disclosed that 12 cargoes of fuel ordered by the Corporation online were expected to be on Nigerian waters by next week to meet the demand and supply balance.

    NNPC, he said, is also working to ensure that private importers who have approvals to import get foreign exchange cover to bring in the cargoes on time.

    Rabiu revealed that the country was spending about $1.8 billion per quarter to import fuel.

    He said: “As we speak today, a cargo of products of about 49 million liters  will cost us about 13 to 14 million dollars and we need about 45 to 50 million liters to satisfy the country fully depending on the time.

    “So, if you assume that about 16 million dollars per day, it can also go up to 20 million dollars depending on the price. It means you need 20 million dollars multiplied by 90 days for a quarter. That is $1.8 billion.

    “So, this amount is required to import the country’s fuel requirement for one quarter. Every month, we need $600 million to import fuel. So, we need $1.8 billion to import the country’s requirement for one quarter.” he stated.