The Nation Newspaper

Tag: crisis

  • This crisis is an opportunity!

    This crisis is an opportunity!

    Nigerians are hurting, now is time to take the bull by the horn

    • By Femi Awoniyi

    As harsh as the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy and abrogation of the multiple exchange rate regime is, the two policies offer Nigeria a big opportunity to fundamentally change its economic course. For eight long years, economists and international financial organisations, including the IMF, called for an end to the fuel subsidy scheme and the multiple exchange rates regime.

    The main reason for calling for the cancellation of both policies is that the resources that could be spent on education, healthcare and transport and other infrastructures were being expended on consumption.

    Moreover, the two policies have been described as conduit pipes for a few connected people to massively loot the financial resources of the country.

    Now that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has finally decided to let go of these two polices, we are faced with a seemingly untameable inflationary trend that has worsened the living condition of most Nigerians.

    Like Albert Einstein said, “in the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.”

    The current national economic crisis offers a real opportunity to Nigeria to change course. Given our population strength, geographical size and natural endowment, we simply produce too little.

    Increasing food production

    Take the current high prices of foodstuffs which is often blamed on increased transport costs. However, the real cause of unaffordable food is underproduction.

    The main near and medium-term response to the ongoing crisis is to increase food production.

    The question that we should seek to answer is should it not be more economical to grow tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beans and other perishable foodstuffs in our localities.

    And the answer should be answered by the governments of the states that are ‘net importers’ of these produce from other parts of the country.

    Read Also: FG secures $500m for local funding, says Bosun Tijani

    A friend recently mentioned the dependence on Abuja yams and Benue yams in Ekiti these days. This is a state where yam is not only food but also a cultural good. Why should we not be able to grow enough yams in Ekiti, whose people are famed for their love for pounded yam, at least to meet local demand?

    Why should tomatoes produced in Ogun, Osun or Oyo not have competitive advantage over those brought in from Kaduna and Kano, about a third of which perish during transportation?

    We all talk about the need for restructuring so that sub-national governments can control the resources in their territories. The fact is, the most precious resource, land, is already under the control of the states, courtesy of the Land Use Act of 1978.

    States should take agriculture seriously now!

    While efforts should be made to attract investment into industrial-scale agriculture, states should support smallholder farmers to boost production of foodstuffs. The goal should be that the supply chain of food consumed anywhere in the country start with the regional producers.

    There are many young people who are unemployed. They can be trained and supported to start smallholder commercial farming with funding and extension service.

    In fact, and like Parviz Koohafkan, the president of the World Agricultural Heritage Foundation, recently said, “The future sustainability of agriculture depends on young people staying in rural areas, implementing farming innovations and creating sustainable livelihoods”.

    Sustained support and promotion of smallholder farming can invigorate the rural economy.

    Palm oil, sugar, etc

    Nationally, there should be a clear road map for the long overdue self-sufficiency in the production of palm oil, vegetable oil, sugar, rice etc. These are commodities that can easily be produced in Nigeria. In fact, we have the potential to become their net exporters.

    Take palm oil, which is used in many products from food, cosmetics, detergents to biofuel, as an example. Nigeria’s current production of 1.4 million metric tons does not meet local demand of 3 million annually. Hence, we have to import the product, of which Nigeria was once the world’s biggest producer. According to experts, the oil palm is native to West Africa and is endemic to Nigeria.

    Nigeria spends about $500 million annually on palm oil importation, according to the Central Bank.

    In the early 1960s, Nigeria was the world’s largest palm oil producer with a global market share of 43 per cent. Today, its annual production of 1.4 million tonnes is a dismal fraction of Indonesia’s 44.5 million metric tonnes (2021).

    Indonesia is not only the world’s biggest producer but also the world’s biggest exporter, exporting 28.4 million tonnes of palm oil in 2022 and earning about 30 billion US dollars.

    Palm oil is a very valuable commodity that is even more expensive than crude oil on the international market.

    A ton of palm oil goes for US$900 while that of crude oil is about US$640 (July 2023). Please note that one barrel of crude oil equals 131.27 kg and a tonne is 1000 kg; hence, a tonne is equal to 7.618 barrels.

    The current crisis is a challenge to states in the southern part of the country, which used to produce palm oil for export in the past, to revive the palm produce industry. These states can strategically begin to promote the cultivation of oil palm on a large scale and encourage the setting up of modern oil mills with incentives.

    Edo, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Delta, Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom, among others, should wake up!

    A thriving local palm produce industry will also create new sources of tax revenue for government in addition to creating jobs and leading to increased activities in many other economic sectors.

    Sugar is another commodity, of which Nigeria can and should become a self-sufficient producer. Despite the efforts of the National Sugar Master Plan, initiated in 2008 to work for the attainment of self-sufficiency in sugar “within the shortest time possible”, Nigeria’s import has progressively increased. It’s today, 15 years after, nowhere near self-sufficiency.

    Nigeria currently produces only about 10 per cent of its annual consumption of 1.7 million tonnes. The rest is imported mainly from Brazil.

    The current Backward Integration Policy (BIP) policy of encouraging sugar refiners to invest their profit in growing sugarcane in a backward integration strategy has failed. And that much has been admitted by the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive, National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Zacch Adedeji.

    It’s simply easier and more profitable for these refiners to import raw sugar and refine and sell. And these companies – Dangote Sugar Refinery, BUA Sugar Refinery and Golden Sugar Refinery, are the only ones allowed to access forex at the CBN for the importation of sugar. Nigeria spent $980 million on sugar import in 2021.

    A new strategy of bringing in other players to produce raw sugar for the local refiners, which claim to have the capacity to refine 3.5 million raw sugar, far in excess of local demand, should be initiated. This could be achieved by working in partnership with the governments of states most suited for the production of sugarcane.

    In India, the world’s largest producer of sugar (36 million tonnes in 2021/22), 50 million farmers are involved in sugarcane farming. In Kenya, which produces around 700,000 tonnes (2022), more than 250,000 farmers are engaged in the production of sugarcane for the country’s 16 sugar factories.

    This means that if local farmers are mobilised to supply sugarcane to the country’s millers, hundreds of thousands of jobs would be created in Nigeria.

    Palm oil and sugar are just two examples. There are many other products whose production Nigeria can, as a matter of national priority, promote.

    Better organised transportation

    The current crisis also provides yet another opportunity to organise a more economically efficient public transport.

    Take Lagos where thousands of small cars and mini-buses are the backbone of public transport. These are uneconomical means of mass transit. Moreover, these vehicles clutter the roads and are a cause of the traffic gridlock for which the city is notorious.

    Lagos should begin to consider the ratio of number of passengers carried to fuel consumption when licensing vehicles for public transport. Hence, only buses that can averagely carry passengers in a fuel-efficient way should be allowed to operate public transport in the long term.

    For example, only buses that can carry 60 passengers should be allowed to operate on some major routes, such the Lekki-Epe Expressway, and these will only stop to pick or drop passengers at designated bus stops. There are many other routes in the mega city where such a rule can be introduced. The same should go for other states and even interstate routes.

    Like that we will reduce national fuel consumption and there would be fewer vehicles on the roads with the attendant benefits.

    Time to go solar

    A major use of diesel and petrol in Nigeria is to run power generators for private and commercial uses. This is not only bad for the environment and our health, it’s also ruinous for our economy.

    These generators are grossly inefficient in the use of fuel to generate power. Technically, a substantial part of the fuel burnt is wasted as it is not converted into electrical energy.

    There are better alternatives to these generators. While efforts are being made to improve electricity supply through the national grid, the use of renewable energy should be actively encouraged.

    It has never been cheaper to generate electricity from the sun and wind!

    Solar technology has become very efficient and more economical than generators in the medium to long term for private homes, for example.

    Government should encourage the use of solar technology by removing import duties on solar power equipment such as batteries, solar panels, inverters, charge controllers and other accessories needed to install solar home systems.

    Also, only energy-efficient electrical appliances should be allowed into the country. This will help reduce demand for electric power.

    Moreover, renewable energy technology should be introduced into the curriculum of our technical schools, polytechnics and universities. We should not be left behind again as the world now races to develop the most efficient ways and means of extracting energy from the sun, wind and ocean waves, among other renewable sources.

    Making investment attractive

    Long term, Nigeria has to create favourable environment and climate for economic production to take place. This country produces too little for its own use which is why most things used in daily life in Nigeria are imported. And that explains the mass unemployment and the poverty in the land.

    This crisis calls for better economic governance as Nigeria cannot and will not be able to continue on the path it has threaded these past decades. Without matching an increasing population with the commensurate economic growth and development, Nigerians will continue to be poorer.

    In conclusion, it must be admitted that no economic development can take place in the midst of insecurity. Hence, the absolute priority of the government of President Tinubu should be to improve the security of the country so that people can go about economic activities without let or hindrance.

    Hence, the success of this government will be to the extent to which it’s able to improve the security situation in the country.

    •Germany-based Awoniyi is the publisher of ‘The African Courier’ and the immediate past president of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Germany.

  • ‘Ogoni re-entry plan is recipe for crisis, bloodbath’

    The Ogoni Elders’ Forum, Gbo Kabaari Ogoni, has described the Federal Government’s Ogoni re-entry project execution plan, without genuine and constructive engagement with Ogoni stakeholders, as a recipe for crisis and bloodbath.

    The group, consisting of elder statesmen and seasoned professionals of Ogoni extraction, at an interactive session with reporters yesterday, kicked against the Oil Mining Lease (OML)-11 Ogoni re-entry plan “through the back door and adopting divide-and-rule tactics”.

    The Ogoni leaders, from the four Local Government Areas of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme in Rivers State, said the concluded arrangements by the Federal Government to re-enter Ogoni through Korokoro in Tai council were ill advised, insensitive and ill-timed, “considering that the polluted Ogoni environment had not been cleaned despite the August 4, 2011 submission of the report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the environmental assessment of Ogoniland”.

    The elders at the interactive session included the Chairman, Senator Bennett Birabi; Secretary Dr. Desmond Nbete and a former President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) Ledum Mitee, among others.

    They said: “We are intervening to avert crisis in Ogoniland. We have now received more detailed and very credible information showing that the Federal Government has begun activities, including procurement preliminaries and timelines, for the Ogoni re-entry project.

    “It is more disturbing that the planned activities to re-enter Ogoniland, deliberately failed to recognise that oil activities in Ogoni and OML-11 have a unique history that cannot be wished away by an executive fiat for a re-start of oil exploration and production activities, without duly engaging the people in a proper and painstaking conversation. We have observed that the planned re-entry programme violates industry standards and global best practices.

    “Production activities in OML-11 stopped about 26 years ago, and in line with industry practices, such fields like OML-11 ought to be treated as Green Fields and not Brown Fields. It is thus not acceptable to summarily commission an Early Production Facility (EPF) to start oil production, without the necessary procedures and approvals for a Green Field development. We expect that the extant provisions and industry regulations for Green Fields will be triggered and followed appropriately.”

    Gbo Kabaari Ogoni added that the group’s checks with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Federal Ministry of Environment and the other stakeholders, showed that no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) had been done for the re-entry project.

    “Any clean-up that is going on in Ogoniland or in Korokoro specifically is still inchoate. The Federal Government’s projected timeline of the second quarter of 2019 for first oil in Korokoro Oilfield is unscientific, insensitive and inconsistent with all extant regulations, industry standards and global best practices.

    “Information at our disposal shows that the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has already shortlisted contractors for Well Services Contract, through selective bidding criteria.

    “While we do not have any interest in interfering with the procurement process, however, such black-box secretive procurement process is a red flag to all stakeholders. The indigenous contractors in Ogoni have only been earmarked for grass cutting and other menial jobs, while our checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) show that the companies already shortlisted have no Ogoni content.”

    The Ogoni professionals said they were not against the resumption of oil production in Ogoniland, but insisted that things must be done rightly to ensure peace and move the neglected area forward.

    The Anglo/Dutch oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company or Nigeria Limited (SPDC), was sent packing from Ogoniland in 1993, while a renowned environmentalist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight other Ogoni martyrs were hanged at the Port Harcourt Prisons on November 10, 1995, during the regime of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.

  • Don’t throw Nigeria into crisis, NLC tells politicians

    •Congress asks Nigerians to come out and vote

    THE Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has cautioned politicians contesting the general election to bear in mind that they cannot be leaders, if they throw the nation into chaos because of their ambition.

    In a statement yesterday, its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, urged Nigerians to go out and cast their vote for candidates of their choice.

    He added that they cannot complain of bad governance, if they refuse to vote.

    Wabba appealed to Nigerians to note that when they sponsor or stoke violence, nobody could predict its course or end.

    “We should, therefore, do all that is necessary to prevent it,” the NLC president said.

    The statement reads: “The NLC once again wishes to commend Nigerians for mustering to vote after the last-minute postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections last Saturday.  However, as Nigerians go to poll, we appeal to the finest traditions, highest values, utmost sense of responsibility and unflagging patriotism in them.

    “Our survival as a nation, the pride of place, which we seek to occupy in the community of nations, the respectability we crave in other lands depend not on how many barrels of crude oil we export in  a day or how populous we are or how many billions of dollars we illegally siphon outside the country, but on  the choice we make, and how we make that choice: cast our vote wisely or sell it for pittance; cause violence or exhibit decorum; levy war or wage peace; eschew egotism or elevate it.

    Read also: A conspiracy of evil forces

    “All candidates have potential to win or to lose. However, that decision rests not with the candidates, but the electorate. It is, therefore, infantile or naive for some candidates to assume they cannot lose.

    “The moment of truth has come, and we must of necessity perform our civic duty in fulfillment of our beliefs or in betrayal of them. Our conduct will reveal our true identity, betray our intentions and test our claim to nationhood.

    “We, therefore, challenge you the candidates, politicians, supporters, security personnel and INEC to be of utmost good behaviour and ethical standard as well as conduct yourselves with civility, humility, truth and abide by the rule of law.

    “We urge you to remember the oft-rehashed phrase, that the victory or loss of any candidate is not worth the blood of any Nigerian, not even the blood of a chicken! We want to remind all of us that nobody’s ambition is worth a square millimeter of the Nigerian territory. We similarly want to inform all and sundry that we cannot hold political offices without peace or country. We appeal to all to note that when we sponsor or stoke violence, we cannot predict its course or end. We should, therefore, do all that is necessary to prevent it.

    “We urge all Nigerians to note that we are going to the poll and not war, and they should accordingly tone down their rhetoric or blood pressure. In this contest, there must be losers and winners, and we do not need to rig to win or snatch ballot boxes or cause mayhem to be reckoned with. Those things do not project our strength or power, but primitivism, primordiality and our weakness.

    “We urge INEC to be fair, impartial and just to all parties or contestants. The onus rests on them to conduct free, fair and credible elections and earn the confidence of the electorate.  If INEC conduct itself transparently, there will be very little need to contest their results.  It similarly behooves on us to respect and accept their results or verdict. We therefore urge politicians or candidates while criticising INEC to be careful so as not to destroy completely their image or credibility.”

     

     

     

  • Presidency expresses worry over crisis of youth bulge

    The Presidency yesterday expressed concerned over the impending crisis of youth bulge, saying the challenge should not be left to the military and security agencies alone.

    According to the Presidency, kidnapping for ransoms, armed robbery, insurgency and terrorism have in recent times dominated national security discourses due to the large number of youths involved in crimes and criminality.

    National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Muhammadu Buhari Major General Babagana Monguno (retd) made the remarks at the National Defence College, Abuja,  during a national security seminar with the theme: “Youth bulge in Nigeria: Implications for national security.”

    The seminar was organised by the Alumni Association of the National Defence College (AANDEC) in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the National Defence College, Abuja.

    Monguno said the youth in various countries are rapidly increasing in population and most of them who are unemployed have become willing hands to be used by criminal groups to perpetrate crimes.

    The NSA, who was represented by Director, Counter Terrorism Desk in the ONSA, Rear Admiral Y.E.M. Musa, noted that “the increasing rate of criminality and involvement of the youth has been a major concern to security planners”.

    “This is more so that the solution does not lie solely with the military. Everyone has a role to play towards gainfully engaging the youth beyond seeking white collar jobs. The private sector, civil society, youth leadership and entrepreneurial developers as well as philanthropists would need to take ownership of the solution to the challenges posed by increasing youth numbers.

     

  • Ayogu Eze and the crisis in Enugu APC

    Now that the Federal High Court, Abuja Division has in a judgment delivered on Tuesday February 5, by Justice InyangEkwo ordered that the name of Barrister George Ogara be immediately forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the duly nominated governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, what next for Senator AyoguEzehitherto parading himself as the party’s governorship candidate in the state?

    This, according to the judgment, is because Ogara scored the highest number of votes cast in the 270 wards of the 17 council areas in the state during the primaries. The judge further restrained INEC from accepting any other name than Ogara for purpose of governorship election in the state.   With this judgement, justice has been done, not only to Ogara, but to the foundation members and entire genuine APC faithful in the state that were before now shortchanged and disappointed by the imposition of Senator Eze and his cohorts as party’s candidates by the Ben Nwoye-led faction of the party. To the foundation members of the party in the state, the judgment did not come as a surprise, considering the compromised and controversial circumstances that brought about Senator Eze’s defection to the party, his subsequent hijack of the party structure in flagrant disobedience of the party’s constitution and guidelines to impose himself and his cohorts as party’s candidates. Handy to assist them in this illegality as now affirmed by the court judgment was Dr. Ben Nwoye-led faction of the party. This was done against the plea and advice of majority party leaders and members, who had warned that handing over the party tickets to unpopular PDP defectors with no political followers or value and against the party’s constitution, would be counter-productive.

    Senator Eze and his cohorts in their usual hubris and arrogance had believed that so long as the national leadership accepted their kangaroo emergence as party’s candidates, it is over for Ogara and other aggrieved party members. The party leadership even went out its way to harass some aggrieved members by ordering them not to approach courts to seek redress from the fallouts of the primaries until President MuhammaduBuhari countered the leadership and urged aggrieved members to explorethe judicial option.

    Not even a sponsored attack on Ogara’s campaign office, opposite Ogui Enugu Fire Service Station, where three buses were burnt beyond repairs discouraged or daunted Ogara’s push for justice over his stolen mandate.Now that Deacon OkeyOgbodo-led executive and Ogara’s efforts in this direction have paid off with the recent judgement affirming Ogara as the party’s authentic governorship candidate in the state, one can comfortably say that APC in Enugu State has been rescued from the undertakers who wanted to reap where they did not sow. Even though, these defectors have done much damage on the party’s chances of winning the next elections in the state, with this judgment, unity, understanding and support of the party’s stakeholders and members, coupled with Ogara’s popularity and acceptance, the situation could be salvaged in a matter of days before the elections. While Senator Eze licks his self-inflicted political wound for now, it behovesOgara to hit the ground running, because time is of essence.

    It was obvious from the inception that these defectors were not in the APC for the progress, growth and peace of the party ahead of the forthcoming elections. They defected to APC few days to the primaries to hijack the party platform to promote their immediate selfish political interests and abandon the party thereafter. This was made clear by the way and manner they carried on after the fallouts of the primaries that tore the party apart. Instead of working for peace and genuine reconciliation after the primaries, Senator Eze and cohorts carried on as if nothing was wrong with their emergence as party’s candidates in the elections. This is even when it was obvious that their emergence lacked the support of majority party stakeholders and members in the state. Indeed, anybody who had followed Senator Eze’s activities and campaigns in the state before the judgment was delivered would have observed that the campaigns lacked the expected momentum and followership, especially among the voters and party faithful. Not even President Buhari’s recent visit to Enugu for the rally, where he raised Eze’s hand changed anything given the palpable nonchalance of the majority voters and party faithful towards Eze’s candidature. Again, the jubilation of Eze’s sack by party members in the state is a confirmation of his unpopularity and non-acceptance among the party faithful.

    The court judgment is not only a huge setback to his governorship ambition, the same fate he had suffered in the PDP in 2015, it is a double political tragedy for a man, who had always believed he can do it alone, forgetting that politics is about the people and carrying them along. Well, it may be true as being widely insinuated and rumoured that Senator Eze is not truly contesting the governorship election in the first place, knowing that he is not popular in the state, but rather trying to use the election as a bargaining chip for federal appointment if APC wins the presidential election. Whatever is Senator Eze’s game plan for political survival, what is important and gladdening to genuine APC stakeholders and faithful in the state is that the party has been rescued from the interlopers and we have the responsibility of rebuilding and repositioning the party collectively for better performance in the forthcoming elections.

    While all those that contributed to the party’s crises need to be reprimanded for dragging the party to the mud for selfish reasons, there is need to ensure that such does not repeat itself again. The party should never tolerate or allow the case of Monkey dey work, Baboon dey chop again as witnessed in the case of Senator Eze and his co-defectors who were handed party’s tickets in a kangaroo primary few days after defecting to the party. This will help to avoid protracted legal tussle that will hold the party down in subsequent elections. If not for the timely court judgment that sacked Eze and his co-defectors as the party’s candidates, what would have been the fate of the APC, its stakeholders and members in the state in the elections? It would have been a disastrous outing. With Ogara as the party’s candidate now, the party will surely bounce back to reckoning and quickly too.

     

    • Agboeze wrote from Abakpa-Nike, Enugu State.

  • Oil revenues crisis

    •Government must act quickly on the impending revenue shortfalls

    With Nigeria’s economy only just gradually stabilizing after exiting recession in the second quarter of 2017, a substantially above average performance in the implementation of the 2019 budget is critical to the achievement of accelerated and inclusive growth that is accompanied by massive jobs creation and concrete poverty alleviation among others. The reduction in the size of the proposed 2019 budget estimates from N9.1 trillion in 2018 to N8.6 trillion next year is informed by considerable shortfalls in revenue projections for this year and indicates an economy that is still essentially fragile.

    The decline by N840 billion in budgetary revenue projection from N7.16 trillion in 2018, to N6.32 trillion next year, demonstrates less optimism by government as regards its capacity to significantly improve on its revenue performance next year.  Minimal success in the implementation of the 2019 budget depends largely on the degree to which the oil production targets of 2.3 billion barrels per day and an oil price benchmark of $60 per barrel are attained.

    Against this background, it is obvious that the requirement by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that Nigeria participates in oil production cuts for the first half of 2019 to reduce oversupply and shore up prices may pose a grave danger ahead for the 2019 budget. The agreement to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day effective from next month was reached earlier this month between OPEC and 10 non-OPEC countries.

    If Nigeria acquiesces to OPEC’s plan, the country will be expected to cut its crude oil production by 3.04% to 1.685 million barrels per day for the first six months of next year. This in effect means 53000 barrels a day cut in Nigeria’s oil production. True, this is quite negligible compared to Saudi Arabia’s expected cut in production of 322,000 barrels per day, Iraq’s 141,000 barrels per day and United Arab Emirate’s cut of 96,000 barrels per day to name a few. But none of these countries faces economic challenges as severe as Nigeria does.

    While commenting on the proposed cuts in Vienna on December 7, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, noted that it would be very difficult for Nigeria to reduce its crude oil production levels as required by OPEC but said that the smaller the cuts required, the more Nigeria would be amenable to participate. In his words, “We have got exemption three times understandably. This time around, I think there is a decision that everybody should be seen to chip in”.

    It is, however, instructive that Iran, Libya and Saudi Arabia have been exempted from these cuts. Nigeria has been exempted from previous cuts since January, 2017, because of militancy in the Niger Delta and vandalizing of the country’s critical pipelines. Although destructive militancy has been discontinued in the Niger Delta, Nigeria’s economic and security situation remain precarious and a case can surely be made for further exemption. It is noteworthy that Indonesia suspended her membership of OPEC in 2017 after refusing to participate in the production cut deal.

    Theoretically, Nigeria may be a beneficiary if OPEC’s oil cuts lead to a marked increase in crude oil prices. But there is no guarantee this will happen as there has been a marked shift in the dynamics of the oil industry especially with the increasing influence in the market of Shale oil production by the United States. Rather than passively accept OPEC’s decision on oil production cuts, Nigeria should engage in aggressive diplomacy to press for further exemptions at least for the first half of next year in the first instance. If, however, it is impossible for Nigeria to obtain any more exemptions, then the Federal Government should begin to consider emergency measures now to contain the obvious dangers ahead.

    Again, we urge for the umpteenth time, that Nigeria must rigorously work herself out of excessive dependence on oil revenues; she must strive to achieve a viable economy beyond oil. If only for the reason that supply and pricing dynamics will always stump oil-dependent economies.    

  • Crisis hits Adamawa IPAC over ‘endorsement’ of Atiku

    The Adamawa State chapter of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has been hit by crisis, with members who want the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar endorsed as their common candidate in one camp and those against such idea in opposing camp.

    Twenty-eight political parties make up IPAC in Adamawa State, but of the number, 17 were named at a press briefing yesterday as rejecting an endorsement of Atiku as purportedly made by the leadership of the council in the course of a visit to Atiku.

    “We want the public to note that the statement made by Bakawu Usman, the Adamawa State IPAC publicity secretary on  November 19, 2018 that Adamawa IPAC had endorsed Mr Atiku Abubakar is completely not true,” the state chairman of the Change Nigeria Party (CNP), Mr Aboki Wunuji, who read the text of the press briefing by the aggrieved IPAC members, said.

    The Adamawa IPAC is led by the state chairman of the PDP, Tahir Shehu who is leading the pro-Atiku endorsement campaign, but the state Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr John Muva who earlier lost narrowly to Shehu in the contest for the Adamawa IPAC leadership, is among the 17 IPAC party chairmen not favourably disposed to the endorsement of Atiku and was at yesterday’s briefing.

    CNP’s Aboki Wunuji mentioned in the press briefing text dismissing the reported endorsement of Atiku that the state PDP chairman, during the visit to Atiku, claimed that the various parties visited to endorse Atiku as their presidential candidate for the 2019 election, but that majority of the members of IPEC “became annoyed as this was not their mission,” but just to congratulate Atiku on his appointment as Waziri Adamawa.

    Wunuji therefore urged the general public to disregard the purported endorsement of Atiku by IPAC as only some of the members of the council welcomed such idea.

    Other state party chairmen listed among the 17 not supporting the endorsement of Atiku include Bello Babaji of Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Ayuba Timiwge of the Progressive Party of Nigeria (PPA), Sapwavemo Hillary of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Aliyu Chamalwa (Accord), Liston Ibrahim (Young Progressives Party), Abdullahi Usman (National Conscience Party), Chahandi Ahmed (Action Alliance), Denis Taran (Peoples Progressive Party), Emmanuel Yerima (African Peoples Alliance), Bundi Pius (New Nigeria People’s Party), among others.

    Adamawa, a state with Governor Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow belonging to the All Progressives Congress (APC), has a strong tendency for the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari. Although the emergence of the son of the soil Atiku as the PDP presidential candidate affected Buhari’s support base, it remains too strong for pro-Atiku sentiments to assail easily.

    The Atiku Presidential Campaign Organization has said it did not authorise any grants. In a statement by the organisation, it was not part of a scheme whereby innocent citizens are being asked to buy a form for N500,000 in order for them to be beneficiaries of a financial grant allegedly being sponsored by Atiku Abubakar.

    The statement said “We want to put it on record that neither the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar nor the campaign gave any approval to this scheme or any other one like it.

    “We are aware that a great number of Nigerians are passing through rough patches as millions of people have slipped into the poverty conveyor belt as a result of the bad socio-economic policies of the current administration since 2015.

    “Jobs are being lost in quantum scale, businesses are folding up, foreign investors are afraid to bring in new capital for investments and the cost of living has ballooned to skyrocket proportion. The immediate consequence of all these is that the Nigerian has been laid prostrate for fleecing, out of the desperate bid to burrow their way out of financial incapacitation.”

    It advised citizens to shun such a phantom scheme.

     

  • Assassination plot: Crisis rocks MOSOP

    PRESIDENT of the Movement for Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) Chief Legborsi Pyagbara, and Spokesman of the movement, Fegalo Nsuke, yesterday, disagreed on the assassination attempt on Nsuke.

    MOSOP’s Publicity Secretary claimed that Pyagbara sent assassins after him in Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoniland, which is the seat of Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, calling for resignation of the MOSOP president.

    Ogoni Activists’ Forum, in a statement signed by a former Chairman of the MOSOP Kingdom Coordinators’ Forum, Frank Jonah, described the assassination attempt as despicable and condemnable.

    The Ogoni activists’ forum said: “We are particularly appalled that the attack on Mr. Nsuke was planned by the current MOSOP President, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, and executed by a gang led by Bariledum Yaamene, with funding from Pyagbara, through the Financial Secretary of MOSOP, Chief Theophilus Dike, an indigene of Buan in Khana LGA.

    “Confessional statement obtained from the gang leader, Bariledum Yaamene, clearly showed that Mr. Pyagbara called the gang leader and asked him to deal with Mr. Nsuke.

    “Pyagbara’s recent conduct, including the plot to assassinate the Publicity Secretary of MOSOP and his blatant disregard for the constitution of MOSOP and failure to put in place the necessary processes for the conduct of elections, which are overdue, are unacceptable.

    “We ask for the immediate resignation of Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, as he has sufficiently constituted himself into a security threat and also an embarrassment to the Ogoni nationality.”

    MOSOP president, while reacting through the Administrative Manager/Secretary of the umbrella organisation, Peter Nbotem, described the assassination claim as false, ill-conceived, totally misleading, and should be discountenanced in its entirety.

    Nbotem said: “It is indeed an amusement to read the campaign of hate and calumny being concocted by a faceless group and its sponsors on a daily basis, aimed at assassinating the character of the MOSOP President, for no apparent reason, other than to please some desperate men and power mongers. It is, however, counterproductive, as despite the strength of the smear  campaign, many genuine watchers now know that all the lies have been falling like a pack of cards.

    “MOSOP, ordinarily, would not react to such frivolous claims, if not for the purpose of putting the records straight. This also becomes necessary for the fact that the claim is part of a larger campaign of calumny and a calculated attempt by the sponsors of the campaign of hate to smear and assassinate the character and the hard-earned reputation of the MOSOP President.

    “As a responsible organisation, we took steps to inform the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Bori, about the the planned attempt to invade and occupy the MOSOP Peace and Freedom Centre, Bori, requesting him to provide adequate security around the centre. As requested, the DPO deployed officers and men of the police to protect the centre and patrol the area. By 4 pm., the policemen retired to their station.”

    As soon as this happened, some unknown young men, numbering about ten, tried to forcibly enter the centre, but they were gallantly repelled by the local security guards, who have been securing the property since 2017. These local security guards are well known to Mr. Fegalo Nsuke, because most of them are from his community, Yeghe. It is on record that on most occasions, Mr. Nsuke had been the one dealing with the security guards, as people from his community.

    “Some moments after the invaders were chased away, Nsuke arrived and threatened the local security guards, but he was informed that the centre could not be opened for him, because there was no approved application to use the place for any meeting and he started a fight with the leader of the local security team, whom he accused of betraying his community, and that he would be dealt with, upon his (Nsuke) becoming MOSOP President.”

    MOSOP’s administrative manager also stated that the local security arrangement was put in place in the wake of the constant invasion and looting of the centre by criminal gangs, which was described as a collective decision of the national executive of MOSOP, with Nsuke proposing the membership of the team, insisting that it was laughable to hear the spokesman claiming that the guards were hired by Pyagbara.

    MOSOP president was described as a non-violent person, who remained the symbol of the non-violent struggle in the Niger Delta, with Nbotem calling on all well-meaning persons, institutions and lovers of the struggle for justice and equity to ignore the false and deceitful claims of Nsuke and his supporters.

     

     

     

  • Crisis rocks PDP over Lagos Central senatorial ticket

    A crisis is brewing in the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the Lagos Central senatorial ticket for next year’s election.

    Four aspirants are jostling for the ticket. They are: Chief Adesunbo Onitiri, a successful estate surveyor/valuer who is also the General Secretary of Lagos Elders Council; Mr. Kolawole Vaughan and two others.

    There are agitations over an unpopular aspirant, whose name was said to have been illegally submitted to the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.

    The aspirant is believed to be least popular, least competent and least credible for the ticket.

    In a letter, dated October 8, to the party’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus, in Abuja, and its state chairman in Ikeja, the party’s local government chairmen in the senatorial district said Chief Adesunbo David Onitiri’s name was forwarded as the consensus candidate for the seat.

    Titled: Selection Of Chief Adesunbo David Onitiri As Consensus Candidate For Lagos Central Senatorial, the letter reads: “We, the undersigned leaders in Lagos Central Senatorial District, wish to inform you that we have unanimously selected Chief Adesunbo David Onitiri as the consensus candidate for the Lagos Central Senatorial District.

    “After proper review of the shoddy election process, which was poorly organised and failed two attempts at the primary, the leaders in the Lagos Central took this decision in view of our readiness to present our candidate for the general election in 2019.

    “We have reviewed the credentials of the four aspirants as regards their integrity. We have come to the conclusion that Chief Onitiri is the most qualified, most credible and most competent. We shall be grateful for your kind consideration and positive action on our request.”

    The letter was jointly signed by Dr Amos Fawole, Alhaji Alfa Adeoye (Chairman, Surulere Local Government Area), Mr Kehinde Fasasi (Chairman, Eti-Osa), Mr. Rotimi Kujore, Mr. Malomo (State Exco), Mr. Mike Kolawole (Vice Chairman, Apapa) and Ajisefini Fatai (Acting Chairman, Apapa).

    Lagos Central Leaders who signed the letter include Senator Kofo Bucknor-Akerele, Board of Trustees (BoT) Member, Lagos and Mr. Adeniyi Adams, State Youth Leader.

    The party leaders noted that if the PDP desires to win in Lagos, it should field credible, popular and electorally valuable candidates.

     

  • Crisis rocks PDP over ‘automatic tickets’ for lawmakers

    Alleged offer of automatic tickets to serving members of the National Assembly for the 2019 elections has sparked crisis between the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the aspirants.

    The protesters, who stormed the party’s Abuja secretariat yesterday, demanded a level-play field for all aspirants through free, fair and transparent primaries across the states.

    One of the protesting groups from Kogi State said offering automatic tickets to the legislators was a violation of the Electoral Act, the PDP constitution and the party’s guidelines.

    In an address read by Dr. Halimat Hamzat on behalf of the group, the aspirants insisted that they must be given equal opportunity to be voted for, either through delegates’ election or direct primaries.

    Hamzat said the party’s plot to offer automatic tickets to the lawmakers was uncovered last week when an aspirant for the House of Representatives visited the Abuja home of one of the party’s leaders, where he met a serving PDP senator.

    He said the senator reportedly told the aspirant that tickets for National Assembly positions had been allocated to serving members of the Senate and House of Representatives.

    “As if that was not enough, Senator Dino Melaye met members of the seven local governments in Kogi West on Friday and boasted that the issue of senatorial ticket has been settled by the highest organs of the party.

    “Melaye told them that PDP’s senatorial ticket for Kogi West has been given to him, even as someone who recently defected to the PDP. This is in total disregard for the interests, eligibility and qualification of other aspirants,” Hamzat said.

    The group expressed reservations about the possibility of the party leadership conducting free, fair and transparent primaries into the available National Assembly seats.