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  • N650b debt: Oil marketers threaten to shut fuel depots

    N650b debt: Oil marketers threaten to shut fuel depots

    • 10,000 workers jobs on the line

    The Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN)  has threatened to shut all its depots in less than 14 day time and throw its workforce nof over 10,000 into the labour market.

    The oil marketers gave this fresh threat in a letter dispatched to the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu.

    The letter which was endorsed by DAPPAM’s Executive Secretary,  Olufemi Adewoleb was dated February 20.

    The association said the decision was taken because members could no longer continue operations due to N650 billion owed them by the Federal Government.

    The letter reads: “In the light of the foregoing, DAPPMAN members do not have any other option open to us to forestall increasing debt burden of borrowing to pay staff than (but) to immediately commence massive staff disengagement.

    “The unfortunate primary fallout of this step is the likely shutdown of all DAPPMAN depots nationwide due to lack of man power to operate same pending the ime the federal government will pay off its indebtedness to petroleum marketers.

    “This unfortunately will have a multiplier effect on the nationwide supply and distribution of petroleum products which presently is a struggle.

    “This letter serves as a fresh 14-day reminder from today and an opportunity for the Federal Fovernment tiers and its agencies to speedily approve and pay off its remaning subsidy indebtedness to all our members and indeed all petroleum marketing companies.”

    In an initial letter sent to President Muhammadu Buhari, DAPPMAN said members could no longer access bank funds for their operations and gave a 21-day notice beginning January 24 before it would lay off workers.

    The group also lamented that the banks, in conjuction with the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), are in the process of auctioning the properties provided by its members as collateral for loans.

    According to the letter: “These debts came about as a result of: The foreign exchange differentials which arose as a result of the initial devaluation of the naira (by the last administration) from the initial N165/$; the interest component that arose due to delayed reimbursemnet also by the same administration which the Federal Government had approved for payment to marketers but which was not fully settled by the appropriate Federal Government agencies.

    “The second forex differential component and obviously the largest chunk is due to the last but further devaluation of the naira from N195 to N305 to $1, while the Federal Government agencies had based their reimbursement calculation on N197/$; this devaluation left petroleum marketers within our association with additional unplanned debt burden in excess of N300billon.

    “As a result of the above, the downstream sector as a whole, has been saddled with a debt burden of over N650billion which keeps rising alongside the previous debts because the banks keep charging interests and will continue to do so until the total debt is fully liquidated.”

  • Lagos to shut tax defaulting firms

    Lagos to shut tax defaulting firms

    Tax defaulting firms are to be shut down by the Lagos State Government from today Commissioner for Finance Akinyemi Ashade, said yesterday.

    He said some banks had failed to remit statutory taxes, including withholding taxes on banks’ interests for more than 10 years.

    Ashade said the government had resolved to resort to all lawful means to ensure compliance with statutory tax remittances.

    “Any company found to have evaded tax will not be spared.

    “It is in the interest of defaulting companies and their management to remit the statutory taxes to the state within the grace period to avoid embarrassment to them and their shareholders.

    “All law abiding corporate organisations are advised to adhere to this directive as the state government has given enough grace period for them to remit their taxes.

    “The government will on Monday, November 20, commence the process of shutting down the headquarters of corporate organisations, including banks that have failed to remit statutory taxes to government coffers,’’ Ashade said in a statement.

    He said prompt payment of taxes would enable the government to provide the necessary infrastructure and improve the standard of living of the people.

    “When people pay their taxes promptly, government is encouraged to do more. The administration of Akinwunmi Ambode has shown in the last two and half years that taxes paid are judiciously spent on projects that have impacted positively on the lives of residents,’’ the statement said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the government had on November 7, lamented that only about 600,000 residents out of a population of over 22 million were up to date in terms of tax compliance.

    The government, therefore, directed all its revenue agencies to ensure prompt payment of taxes, including land use charges and also commence enforcement of payment by all tax defaulters with immediate effect.

    Read Also: Lagos goes after tax defaulters

  • 700 schools shut for non-payment of fees

    700 schools shut for non-payment of fees

    Osun State Internal Revenue Service (OIRS) has sealed off over 700 private nursery, primary and secondary schools for non-payment of registration fees and taxes.

    Acting Chairman Bicci Alli said at a news briefing in Osogbo that the institutions disregarded paying or renewing registration fees.

    Alli, who said the schools operated for years without licences, added that the government was left with no option but to shut them.

    He said the exercise was to recoup taxes.

    The acting chairman urged proprietors to pay levies and taxes to support government’s effort to improve education standard.

  • Agric Bank shut over unpaid package 

    A group, under the aegis of Niger Delta Israel-Trained Agricultural Group of Nigeria (NDITAGON), at the weekend shut down the Ughelli branch of the Bank of Agriculture (BON) in Ughelli North Local Government of Delta State, for non-payment of empowerment package to members.

    The youth are beneficiaries of the Advanced Agricultural Training, under the Niger Delta ISAC Israeli-Trained Agricultural Group of Nigeria.

    NDITAGON comprises beneficiaries of a training programme by the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta for youths from the nine states in the region.

    About 90 members of the group denied the bank’s customers access to the financial institution. The group said since their return from Israel, the promises the ministry made to empower them had not been fulfilled.

    Addressing reporters, the group’s spokesmen David Esiekpe and Bekeakpobo Fedekefe expressed disappointment at the ministry’s failure to fulfil its promise.

  • GENCOs threaten to shut operations over N140b debt

    The power sector is under threat as generation company (GENCOs’) operators have warned they will shut  down over huge debts of about N140 billion and shut-in of about 5,000megawatts (Mw) of electricity, following lack of gas supply.

    The GENCOs, in a document obtained by The Nation, showed that stranded power caused by inaccessibility to gas  as a result of renewed attacks by Niger Delta militants is 4991Mw.

    The report stated that the GENCOs can supply the national grid 7856.52Mw, but owing to lack of gas and other issues, the output currently is 2804Mw, reflecting a shortfall of 4991Mw.

    Egbin can generate 880Mw but gives out only 201Mw;  with a shortfall of 679Mw; Transcorp can generate 529Mw, but current output is 280Mw with 249Mw stranded generation.

    Others power stations include Shiroro, 450Mw, 412Mw and 0Mw; Geregu 276Mw, 0Mw and 276Mw; Kainji/Jebba 836Mw, 656Mw and 170Mw; Sapele 120Mw, 65Mw and 55Mw; other stations 4775Mw, 1190Mw and 3562Mw as available capacities, generated capacities and stranded capacities.

    On the debts, according to the report, Egbin is owed N68.71billion, Transcorp N28.29billion, Shiroro N9.66billion, Geregu N7.975billion, Kainji/Jebba N20.94billion and Sapele N9.90billion.  It noted that payments to thermal plants dropped from 47 per cent in January, this year, to 26 per cent in April, while payments to hydro plants were 26 per cent and 29 per cent in January and February, this year, with no payments in March and April.

    The operators said GENCOs have been at the receiving end of the lapses and deficiencies in the sector, as well as the insurmountable challenges in the sector. Very little has been put in place to give the GENCOs a chance of survival based on the realities, they added.

    “While the GENCOs have been carrying the burden of ensuring that the power sector remains functional, and hoping that the obvious gaps, deficiencies and threat to their existence would be addressed, they are presently cringing under the excruciating pains of carrying this burden.

    “The combined effect of these would render the GENCOs and their investors incapable of delivering power despite their willingness and readiness to so do. This is leading to a situation where total seizure of operations by GENCOs is imminent. The GENCOs have very limited options: to either shut operations proactively or be compelled to do so by the  state of affairs in the power sector.

  • Teachers shun classrooms as Oyo schools remain shut

    Teachers shun classrooms as Oyo schools remain shut

    •Govt constitutes education reform committee

    Many pupils in Oyo State yesterday returned home after finding their school gates shut.

    The pupils went to school following the weekend announcement by the state government.

    They were forced to return home because there were no teachers or non-teaching staff to attend to them.

    The development came on a day the government constituted an Education Reform Initiative Committee to tackle the crisis.

    Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology Prof.  Adeniyi Olowofela inspected public secondary schools to monitor the reopening.

    The commissioner visited  Queens School, Government College, Ibadan and Apata Community Senior Grammar School.

    Addressing some pupils, Olowofela said the schools were closed because of the unruly behaviour of some pupils, who destroyed government property.

    He debunked rumours that the proposed policy direction on education was aimed at privatising secondary schools.

    The commissioner advised the pupils to take their studies serious.

    Olowofela assured them that the imbroglio between the government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) would be resolved, urging pupils to desist from thuggery, hooliganism, and other  that can jeopardise their future.

    The Assistant State Secretary of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Mr. Abiodun Oyediran told The Nation that teachers could not resume when the strike declared by the NLC on June 6 was still in effect.

    He said the NLC held a congress yesterday, reaffirming the strike until the national leadership of the NLC directed otherwise.

    “Maybe government had to reopen the schools because it closed them in the first place. Until the issues in contention are resolved, teachers can’t go back to class. We can’t teach with empty stomach,” he said.

    Commissioner for Information Toye Arulogun, last Friday, at a news conference in Ibadan, said the decision to re-open the schools was reached after representatives of stakeholders met with the government.

    The commissioner noted that the 17 schools that had been identified as participants in last month’s protest would remain shut until their management obtain an apology from the pupils  that they would not e ngage in such demonstrations.

    Governor Abiola Ajimobi announced the constitution of the Education Reform Initiative Committee while addressing reporters at the Exco Chambers, Agodi, Secretariat, Ibadan.

    The committee, he said, would comprise 31 members.

    Ajimobi, who was represented by his deputy, Otunba Moses Alake-Adeyemo, listed the members: Education expert (Chairman), University of Ibadan (Nominee Member), National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria (two members), Nigeria Labour Congress and Nigeria Union of Teachers (two members), All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (two members), National Association of Nigerian Student (two members), Market Advisory Council (two members).

    Others include: Christian Association of Nigeria (two members), Muslim Community of Oyo State (two members), community leaders (two members), private sector education practitioners (two members), traditional (two members), Commissioner for Education (two members), Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education, civil/public servants (three members), Commissioner for Justice, Commissioner for Information, Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Nigeria Union of Journalists (one member) and a secretary to be provided by the Ministry of Education.

    Also, following the strike by workers, a 14-man committee set up by the government after a reconciliatory meeting of government and labour leaders will be inaugurated tomorrow at the executive chambers secretariat.

    The committee will include seven members each from government and labour union to resolve the impasse.

  • Ondo Varsity shut over protest

    There was confusion in Akungba-Akoko in Ondo State at the weekend, following a protest by students of the Adekunle Ajasin University (AAUA).

    It was learnt that the students were protesting poor condition of facilities at the University Medical Centre where a student who was hit by a motorcycle died.

    Sources said the students barricaded the major road linking Akungba to Ikare-Akoko.

    Residents ran helter-skelter as guns boomed. Soldiers and policemen drafted in the community could not quell the protest because of the number of students involved.

    During the melee, many public property were destroyed.

    The Regent of Akungba-Akoko, Princess Toyin Omosowon’s pleas for calm were rebuffed.

    Many people who had ceremonies in Akungba, Ikare-Akoko and other neighbouring towns were disappointed as the protest stalled all activities.

    Travellers coming from Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja and other areas could not pass through Akungba-Akoko.

    The university authority has announced the closure of the institution.

    A statement by the Acting Registrar, Sunday Ayeerun, said: “This development followed the destruction of property within and outside the university premises by some students over the death of a student after an accident involving a commercial motorcycle outside the campus on Friday”.

    “The ongoing examination is suspended and all students are to leave the campus and halls of residence immediately.”

    The statement added that students would be informed on when to resume for the completion of their examination.

    It noted that the management has set up a panel to investigate the protest.

  • YABATECH shut

    YABATECH shut

    •Students: we only asked for two weeks •Rector stoned

    There was uneasy calm yesterday at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), as Academic Board closed down the college for a month. The closure, the Board said, is to mourn Comfort Olubukola Dazan whose death sparked a protest on Wednesday.

    The late student died from complications arising from Sickle Cell Anaemia, the school said yesterday. This is contrary to the claim by the deceased’s colleagues, who said the late Comfort died from typhoid fever.

    There was tension on the campus as management ordered students to vacate their hostels. Some students complied with the order, while others vowed not to leave, prompting the school authorities to invite policemen from Sabo Police Station to prevent a break down of law and order.

    Parents besieged the campus for their children. There was gridlock on the campus as students moved their personal effects out of the hostels. Some gathered in groups, discussing the directive. Others saw the closure as opportunity to play football in front of their hostels.

    Four police vans loaded with operatives patrolled the hostel area. A group of excited students waved at the police, screaming: “Oga police, wetin dem say we do?” Some of the students engaged in dangerous stunt, hanging dangerously on the police vans.

    A statement signed by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Charles Oni, noted that the four-week break was to “allow Management, staff and students mourn the late Comfort Dazan.”

    The management directed students to leave the campus by noon. Students went wild on Wednesday, vandalising the school’s medical centre.  A generator supplying power to the clinic was burnt; ambulance and equipment were also destroyed.

    The Rector, Dr Margaret Ladipo, was pelted with stones. She lost her headscarf and slippers as she escaped from the scene.

    A student said the rector was pelted with stones, because she allegedly ordered the arrest of two protesters. He said: “Two students were arrested and taken to Sabo Police Station.  We pleaded with the rector to ask the police to release them, but she refused. She wanted to leave the school and other protesters hurled stones at her.”

    The closure of the school did not go down well with students, who initially demanded two weeks break. They insisted that the personnel at the Federal Medical Centre in Ebute Metta demanded N35,000 before the late Comfort could be treated when she was rushed to the hospital.

    A student, who declined to say his name, told The Nation that the break could be extended beyond a month.

    “We only asked for two weeks to mourn and stay away from lectures. Exam is supposed to start in two weeks, but we the management sent us home for one month. We believe the forced break may be extended based on past experience during which the school was shut for nine months,” he said.

    The protesters locked the two main gates to the institution, leaving students and staff to scale the fence.

    A notice pasted on the school gate, signed by one Comrade Ologun Owolabi, pleaded with students to comply with the management’s directive, while also appealing to the authorities to allow more time for students to remove their personal effects from the hostels.

    Titilayo Osoba, an Arts student, said she had no money to go back home.

    “We only asked for a mourning period not a forced break. I am staying in the hostel but I was unable to come out of the gate because it was locked. Now I have to beg for transport fare to go home because I don’t have enough. I hope the school would be re-opened on time, so that we can start our examination,” she said.

    The Federal Medical Centre has refuted claims that the late Comfort was rejected because of funds.

    Its Clinical Services head Dr Olubukola Aseru said the late student was given oxygen and drip, but died 10 minutes after.

    She said: “The patient was brought in poor condition at 1:10am on Wednesday, with a nurse from YABATECH. She was weak and gasping. We commenced emergency treatment immediately. The patient stopped breathing at 1:20am. The allegation that we requested N35,000 is untrue. There was no need for the money then. The body was taken away in the same ambulance that brought the patient to the hospital.”

  • 33 illegal pharmacies, patent medicine stores shut

    33 illegal pharmacies, patent medicine stores shut

    The Lagos State Task Force on Counterfeit, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods has shut 33 illegal pharmaceutical stores and patent medicine shops.

    Drugs worth millions of naira were carted away from the shops in Ojo, Lagos.

    The measure, the agency said, was to sanitise the drug distribution system and rid the state of the menace of fake and counterfeit drugs.

    The raid was conducted with officials of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), Lagos State Ministry of Health and Rapid Response Squad (RRS).

    Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Health Care, Dr Olufemi Onanuga said the raid came on the heels of government’s war against fake and expired drugs and operators of illegal drug stores.

    Onanuga said the 33 outlets were sealed off for offences contrary to the provisions of the law on the operation of pharmacies and patent medicine stores, adding that the task force has a renewed mandate to comb every part of the state and fish out illegal drug sellers.

    He said: “The raid was necessitated by the persistent defiance of government’s stipulated regulations on drug production, importation, manufacture, sales or display for sales, hawking, distribution, adulteration, and possession of drugs by illegal operators.

    The shops were sealed off for offences ranging from sales of drugs without license from the regulatory authority; to failure or refusal to relocate from a market area and adherence to the mandated distance between a patent medicine shop and market place as stipulated by the law; and sales of counterfeit and fake drugs amongst others.”

    Onanuga added: “Operators of pharmacies and patent medicine stores should ensure that their activities are within the ambit of the law just as he reiterated government’s avowed commitment to stream lining the drug distribution system in the state in order to ensure the safety of the citizenry. It is important that operators of pharmacies and patent medicine stores operate within the ambit of the law regulating their operations as the state government would not take it lightly with any operators of pharmaceutical products who disregard the laws of the State,”

  • ‘Some private schools should be shut’

    ‘Some private schools should be shut’

    The last quarter of this year is busy at Little Saints Montessori School, Ilupeju, Lagos State, where many activities are being carried out to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the school, founded September 1, 1985.

    Its Proprietress, Mrs Bukky Fadayomi, told The Nation she was fulfilled that the school she founded at the age of 25 has produced many successful professionals, who are contributing their quota to societal development.

    “I am happy and on top of the world being where I am today because I am doing something I enjoy doing. I enjoy being with children. If we talk about growth, my own form of growth is not in terms of numbers; for me it is in terms of the children you have passed out; where are they? Are they successful? A lot of our children are doing very well. For me that is growth,” she said.

    However, Mrs Fadayomi is not only concerned about the growth of her school,  but about improving the general quality of education in the society.  As a former executive of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) in charge of schools in Mushin area (including schools in Ilupeju and Oshodi), Mrs Fadayomi said her visits to many private schools revealed that they lacked requisite quality in terms of requisite facilities and pedagogy.

    She said: “I was once the chair person of National Association of Proprietress of Private Schools (NAPPS), Mushin chapter. During that time I happened to go into a lot of schools practicing “Montessori” and I say where are your Montessori materials? And the answer is just that Montessori is for nursery school. No! Montessori is not nursery school.  It is a special type of education created and designed by Maria Montessori, who had the philosophy that you do not train children under the ages of 0 to 7 in the abstract form.  She believed that for everything you are going to teach a child, let the child see, let the child feel.”

    Lamenting that the profit motive of some school owners get in the way of quality, Mrs Fadayomi urged school owners to do what is right.

    “Some school owners see schools as a money earning venture.  You see chairs meant for two pupils; four pupils are sitting on it! In private schools! I have mentors in the education industry, people like Mrs Lai Koiki of Green Springs and she is a wonderful person. I have people that are doing it right. If you have a school, do it right; if not, close it down, we are not selling clothes; we are moulding the lives of children, who are going to be the leaders of tomorrow; we don’t want half baked children,” she said.

    Mrs Fadayomi also urged the government to also monitor private schools better.

    “You can imagine, a school will be on the first floor and a mechanic workshop on the ground floor and the third floor will be a hospital and such school have approval and you wonder how they get it. It does not even matter if they have an approval or not; the fact remains that such school should not even be operating. As soon as it is opening, such school should be closed down,” she said.

    As a certified Montessori Facilitator, Mrs Fadayomi said she is doing her part to improve quality through teacher training.  Rather than establish a secondary school to expand her business, the former Corona School pupil and teacher, said she wants to focus on teacher training, which she said is lacking in the private school education sub-sector.

    “Little saints is my passion too, but I do a lot of training; I am not doing it for the money and why did I stumble into training? A lot of schools are afraid of training their teachers.

    “They are afraid that their teachers would go soon.  But if you don’t train your teachers they are going to continue doing the same thing day in day out. Everyone needs improvement. I want the face of education to change. We don’t expect government to train private school teachers; we expect them to train public schools teachers which they are doing. They are pouring money into the public schools.

    “I will give kudos to the former governor of Lagos State. I went to two trainings in England where a lot of people who were there were teachers of public schools. Fashola has transformed the face education in Lagos State, a lot of public schools that I can categorically say in the next couple of years they will do a lot better than even some of the private schools,” she said.

    Programmes to celebrate Little Saints Montessori School anniversary include a visit to the Little Saints Orphanage this month; variety show featuring cultural day, debate, spelling bee, and quiz competition in November; and parent/staff novelty match, special thanksgiving service; as well as the launch N100m computer library fund in December.