The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has issued a stern warning about potential industrial action due to delays in establishing a committee to discuss the new minimum wage for public sector workers.

The Federal Government’s inertia in naming its representatives to the committee has been a primary cause for concern, particularly as labour unions have declared their readiness to commence negotiations.

This development comes amidst growing frustrations among workers grappling with the surging cost of living.

Since the removal of the fuel subsidy by the Federal Government, there has been a significant increase in the prices of goods and services, leading to rampant inflation.

The impact has been profound, with workers finding their current wages insufficient to cover basic needs.

In June 2023, a group of workers and labour leaders called for a substantial increase in the minimum wage, from N30,000 to N250,000, citing the dire economic situation.

This figure was later adjusted to N200,000.

The Assistant General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Chris Onyeka, highlighted the plight of many workers who are struggling to pay rent and school fees for their children.

He also noted the dramatic 300% increase in transportation costs, forcing many civil servants to walk to work.

President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had earlier pledged to prioritize the improvement of living conditions for Nigerians, with a focus on people-centric economic policies.

He assured that the national minimum wage would be reviewed to reflect the current economic realities.

Despite these promises, the hardship for Nigerian workers continues, exacerbated by soaring inflation.

The last minimum wage revision was on April 18, 2019, from N18,000 to N30,000. However, implementation has been uneven across the 36 states, with several yet to comply with the new minimum wage.

The then-Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, emphasized the necessity for all employers in the country to adhere to this national law.

He mentioned that a committee was being formed to propose new wage adjustments for those earning above N30,000.

The TUC expressing its impatience with the government’s slow response, has threatened to launch a strike if the issue is not addressed with urgency.

The Deputy President of the TUC, Tommy Etuk, expressed dissatisfaction in an interview with Punch, stressing the overdue need for a new minimum wage, which was expected by April 2024.

The TUC and other labour organizations have already appointed representatives for the National Minimum Wage Review Committee, which is legally tasked with overseeing negotiations and advising the government on suitable wage rates in line with economic changes.

He said, “If there is no agreement on the minimum wage review, there’s nothing anyone can do. I assure you that it is a recipe for industrial disharmony. The government should inaugurate the committee and let it start work on time to see some grey areas where we can agree or disagree, and work in tandem with the principle of collective bargaining so that we can arrive at a collective agreement.

“We believe it’s the best option rather than waiting for the 11th hour to decide what to give to the organised labour. It will not work that way.”

Etuk added that the right thing for the Federal Government to do was to set up the National Minimum Wage Committee to oversee the modalities across the board.

He said, “The National Minimum Wage Committee should have been inaugurated because the task ahead is a difficult one. It’s not about getting the committee in place and there is a lot to be done. It is about the government to inaugurate the committee and appoint a chairman so that they can start work in earnest.

“April is around the corner, and if things are not done this January, things might get out of hand. This isn’t going to be a fire brigade matter like they always do.

“But I can assure you that the organised labour will not leave any stone unturned to ensure that the needful is done. Whether it is a delay strategy on the part of the government, or not, we have got to follow due process, because it is a matter of law.

“This is because it will go to the National Assembly and the President before it becomes a law.

“The government is conscious of this, and on our part, we’ve done what we should’ve done. It’s just for them to inaugurate the committee and the committee will start working.”

Etuk added that Tinubu seemed like a man who would not play with the welfare of workers since he had been talking about living wage before he became President.

Speaking on the living wage, Etuk said a lot of things must be considered such as transportation, housing, health and education.

He said, “These are critical components that will form the negotiation for minimum wage. With what’s going on now, it’s not even enough. In a month, a worker will spend not less than N70,000 on transportation. We’ve not even spoken of rent where a one-bedroom apartment goes for about N400,000.

“When you consider all these and look at the negotiation of the N200,000 minimum wage that was then. It’s no longer realistic to look at the inflation rate, which is 28.9 per cent as of today.

“Whatever is being given as minimum wage is to be consumed by inflation. Even the N200,000 being clamoured by organised labour, I don’t think that is the right thing to do. This wage doesn’t cover the National Health Scheme and you don’t expect a worker to die because of cancer or another life-threatening disease.

“These are the components that will form the discussion and engagement with the government on a minimum wage that will be measured.”

Etuk added that negotiations had successfully started across the 36 states for a living wage as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy.

He stated, “When it comes to the issue of palliative, it is to ensure that there is industrial peace and harmony, and also to stop the socio-economic challenges facing the workers. We believe that it is incumbent on the NLC and the TUC in the states to develop a strategy to engage the government to do the needful.

“Most of the state governors have been saying they’ve given palliatives in terms of an additional N10,000 every month, some said they’ve paid 13th month salary and also distributed grains.

“It is incumbent on every organised labour in the states to develop a strategy to engage the government to do the necessary things. We are also begging the Federal Government to live up to the memorandum of understanding they consciously signed on the payment of the N35,000 wage award. I can also assure you that the Minister of Labour recently acclaimed that they’re working on it and they know the implications.”

May I congratulate Alhaji Aliko Dangote for finally giving birth to a “bouncing” refinery after being in the labour room for a decade. It is heartwarming to learn that father and baby are doing well. Of all the adventures Dangote has embarked upon in his life — starting from his primary school days when, according to him, he was buying sweets with his lunch money and giving them to the maiguard to resell for him — the refinery project is surely the roughest and the toughest. For someone who took a multibillion dollar loan at N160/$ and has had to repay at the prevailing exchange rate per time, the refinery venture is enough to ruin his empire and turn him to a forgotten man. But he survived.

I am also thankful that I am alive to witness history. Since the early 2000s, I have been a fierce advocate of building of refineries in Nigeria, although my agitation was that the government should do it since the private sector was reluctant because of thorny issues around deregulation and subsidy. When Dangote announced in 2013 that he was going to build a refinery, I was over the moon. I celebrated it with an article, ‘The Refinery We’ve Been Praying for’ (THISDAY, September 22, 2013). As at then, he was thinking of 400,000 barrels per day and working with a budget of $9 billion, covering two other petrochemical projects in Edo and Ogun states which were initially in his plans.

I asked him why he would build a refinery despite the failure of the Nigerian government to deregulate the downstream sector. Most private sector investors had said they would not build refineries without deregulation. Dangote replied: “With or without deregulation, there is nothing stopping anyone from building a refinery. I am not a marketer. All I will do is buy crude oil at the market price, refine and sell to marketers at the market price. It is marketers that deal with subsidy. If government continues to subsidise, marketers can buy products from us and then collect the subsidy from government. If not, they can sell to motorists at the market price. It’s not complicated.”

Now that the refinery has taken off, the notion that it will bring down the pump prices of petrol and diesel, etc, needs to be toned down. This notion has been promoted by unionists and activists for decades: that local refining would eliminate subsidy. No, it won’t. Dangote Petroleum Refinery Ltd buys crude oil at the going rates in the international market. It will price its refined products accordingly. You can’t buy raw materials at higher prices and sell the finished products at lower prices. Marketers will buy the products from the refinery and sell to motorists. It is now left for the Nigerian government to decide whether or not to subsidise at the point of purchase by Nigerians. 

Dangote reminded me then that when marketers imported petrol from foreign refineries, they bought at market prices over there before claiming subsidy payments from government. He went a step further by saying Nigeria should start focusing on exporting petroleum products. “The way forward is for us to start exporting refined products rather than crude. We will get far much better value that way. In the next five to seven years, we should stop exporting crude altogether. Apart from South Africa, the refining capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa is grossly insufficient. Angola has a refinery that can only handle 30,000 barrels per day, whereas they consume 120,000 barrels,” he said.

While promising that his own refinery could be completed by 2016, he projected that other African countries would be coming “to buy products from our refinery… that is our strategic plan”. A lot of things changed along the line. Costs ballooned and deadlines were shifted various times. I must confess herein that at a stage, I was doubting if the refinery would ever be. This was worsened by unending negative media reports about the hiccups and setbacks. But on January 13, 2024, the refinery finally came alive. Mr Femi Otedola, his billionaire friend, calls it the “eighth wonder of the world”. For those of us who had followed the trajectory for so long, this was indeed momentous.

The stats, as made public by Dangote Refinery, are very impressive: sitting on about 2,635 hectares in the Ibeju-Lekki export-processing zone, the $19 billion facility is the world’s largest single-train 650,000 barrels per day refinery with a polypropylene plant that will produce materials for plastic packaging, plastic parts for machinery as well as fibres and textiles. For comparison, the combined installed capacity of Nigeria’s four sick refineries is 445,000 bpd and it has been so since 1989, when President Ibrahim Babangida inaugurated Port Harcourt II. Both Port Harcourt refineries were built to be able to refine 210,000 bpd; Warri, 125,000 bpd; and Kaduna 110,000 bpd also. All on paper.

Several stats have been published by Dangote Refinery, but the one that easily pops at me is that when producing at full capacity, it can meet all our petrol, diesel and aviation fuel needs. In other words, we would not have to import refined products again. I find this satisfying: my dream has always been that we would stop importing products. We pride ourselves as an oil-producing giant but we are not even enjoying most of the benefits in the industry chain because of poor thinking. I used to campaign vigorously that government should take the bull by the horn by investing in a mega refinery to meet our local needs. It could then lease out management and sell it off in the future.

I received a long lecture from the CEO of a downstream company at the time who told me emphatically that building refinery was a waste, that it was not a profitable business. He said no new refineries were being built globally. He also said, ominously, that there would be little or no difference between local refining and importation of petroleum products, concluding that the business case for a refinery was bad. “The difference between refining in Nigeria and importing from Europe is shipping cost,” he said and I paraphrase. “If you may know, shipping is the cheapest form of transportation in international trade. There is no advantage with having a refinery in Nigeria.”

I did not agree with him, even though he sounded convincing. I was thinking of the local jobs and the value chain, but I was not ready to argue my case. He was enjoying so much patronage in the fuel importation business under the President Obasanjo administration that I did not expect him to agree with my proposal. And he had a strong voice in the policy direction of the government in the oil sector. Government officials consistently said privatisation was the way to go and that Obasanjo was not going to build a new refinery. Since then, we have been spending billions of dollars on treating our sick refineries without success. (Well, the jury is out on the latest Port Harcourt rehabilitation).

Now that Dangote Refinery has seen the light of the day, I am thinking of what might have been. If we were a thoughtful nation, we should be having regrets. Maybe someone would do the math one day and unearth the amount of forex we have been burning on fuel imports since 1999. There are many reasons for the sorry state of the naira today and fuel importation cannot be considered as a trivial factor. Fine, we are earning billions of dollars from oil export, but so also are we concurrently burning our forex income on fuel imports. The resources that should go into building our reserves are depleted on importing fuels. Let us now hope that forex demand for fuel importation will end.

The second regret is the way we have been trading away value through crude swap deals in the last 10 or more years. We created an arrangement under which we would basically barter crude oil for fuel imports. Using traders, we would exchange a barrel of crude valued at $70 for litres of petrol worth $70. I have always been wondering: what happens to the other products and byproducts in the same barrel? For all you care, those ones could be worth another $70 (just guessing). What a waste! But that is what happens when you have more oil than sense — or, to put it less dramatically, when the buccaneers, who know where all the value is, collude with those in authority to skin us.

Now that Dangote Refinery is onstream, we should expect an end to this. There will be byproducts both for export and local utilisation. Fertilisers aside, there is the carbon black which is raw material for paints, inks, rubber products, car tires and food colorants. The refinery plans to produce bitumen, which Nigeria currently imports. These are some of the benefits we threw away for decades, swapping crude oil for petrol and arguing that shipping cost is the only difference between local refining and fuel importation. Take a moment to imagine the lost forex revenue and the jobs that we bartered away while complaining that unemployment, poverty and crime were on the rise.

All said and done, we cannot undo the past. We took a lot of missteps in the past two decades. Some were genuine mistakes. Hindsight is usually a perfect 20/20 and we can all become wise after the event. But some missteps were self-serving. Remember that the fuel import and subsidy regimes created a generation of rent-made billionaires who were nothing but devourers and cankerworms. The past can remain in the past while we make the best of a possible new order. I know many people are suspicious of Dangote because of his business practices, but that is down to regulatory failure. I want to sincerely hope that the success of this project will attract more investors to the sector.

If the Port Harcourt Refinery really works as promised by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), that means we could start exporting refined products sooner than later, having achieved self-sufficiency in Nigeria. That would be a dream come true for me. I have always hoped that Nigeria would be among the world’s biggest exporters of refined products. The forex income is the first thing that jumps at you today given the parlous state of the national currency, but there are several other benefits. What about the tens of thousands of jobs? What about the potentially huge new economy around the petrochemical industry? Dangote took a big risk. Let us start enjoying the benefits.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

FCT KIDNAPPERS

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria’s seat of power, has come under unwanted attention recently with the upsurge in kidnappings. It has never been crime-free — we should remember how Boko Haram used to bomb FCT with ease — but hopes that it has become a safe haven in recent years are fast disappearing. The brutal nature of the kidnappings — a young student was killed while ransom money was still being mobilised — might suggest a touch of terrorism. Kidnappers hardly kill their victims who are co-operating with them, but terrorists are usually desperate and murderous as they seek to raise funds for their operations. This is for the security agencies to consider. Terrifying.

IBADAN ARMAGEDDON

Wednesday night brought trauma to Ibadan, Oyo state, with the explosion that rattled the city, grinding houses to dust and sending five people to early graves. Those who survived need attention. Some will develop hearing problems, mental health issues and PTSD. Treating physical injuries and discharging patients from the hospital should be complemented with therapy. I can see we are trying to blame foreigners for the disaster, but maybe we need to look inwards too. What sort of system allows a private residence to stockpile explosives? This is a national security issue. The trucks must have passed various security checkpoints after paying the dirty tolls on its way to that house. Porous.

TWO PLANETS

The company at the centre of the social register verification contract saga is New Planet Projects Ltd, founded in 2009 by Mr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, now minister of interior, and not Planet Projects Ltd, as I mistakenly wrote last week. Planet Projects Ltd, the transport infrastructure company, was founded by Mr Biodun Otunola and is best known for building the Oshodi bus terminal. It was registered in 2007. Although I am not making any excuses, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) surely created a room for the mistaken identity. By just adding “new” to an existing name, you can get the CAC to register your company with the help of insiders, even when it could amount to “passing off”. Chaos.

NO COMMENTS

On Thursday, Mr Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said something we knew all along but had been silent upon for years: that the anti-graft body stinks. The elephant in the room. “The craze and quest for gratification, bribes and other compromises by some of our investigators are becoming too embarrassing and this must not continue,” he lamented. We should pray for him as he prepares to take on the monsters within. Olukoyede may also want to find out why Nigerians pay N60,000 under the table to get the SCUML certificate. Restoring public faith and confidence in the commission will definitely take a while, but it is worth a try. Uphill.

The Kaduna state government has confirmed that one person was killed while 10 others were killed in an explosion that rocked Kidandan community in Giwa Local Government Area of the state on Saturday afternoon.

Samuel Aruwan, Overseeing Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, said in a statement on Saturday night, said one person had been confirmed dead while about 10 injured victims were receiving medical attention at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Shika – Zaria.

Aruwan said “preliminary reports from the traditional institution and security agencies, one of the pupils learning under a local cleric picked up an object from the bush, which later exploded amidst his fellow pupils.”

He added that, “As of the time of this update, one pupil, Zaidu Usman, has been confirmed dead, while about ten injured victims are receiving medical attention at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika.”

The statement said, “Governor Uba Sani, received the report with shock and sadness, and sent commiserations to the victims and their families, praying for the repose of the soul of the deceased, and a quick recovery for the wounded.

“The governor also appealed to parents and community leaders to increase their vigilance on the activities of their children and wards, given their susceptibility to various dangers.”

Aruwan said, ” The governor has directed the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs to liaise with security agencies for an urgent investigation into the cause of the explosion to ensure the safety of residents, mobilize emergency support and ensure prompt medical attention to victims.

“Further updates will be duly communicated by the Kaduna State Government.”

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has reignited its legal fight against the Mobil Workers Multipurpose Co-operative Society, Eket, Akwa Ibom State in a bid to reclaim a debt totaling N14,733,502,334.06.

In an amended statement of claim presented before a Federal High Court in Lagos by a Lagos Attorney on behalf of AMCON, the corporation revealed that it acquired the non-performing loan of the Defendant from the United Bank of Africa (UBA) Plc in 2012, exercising its powers under the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria Act 2019.

AMCON alleges that prior to taking over the loan, the bank had granted a N7 billion Term Loan facility to the defendant for the personal needs of its members. The terms included the irrevocable domiciliation of monthly contributions and deductions by Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, the parent company of the defendant.

The defendant, according to AMCON, accepted the facilities through its board resolutions in September 2007 and March 2008, making a complete drawdown of the N7 billion.

AMCON claims that the defendant failed to carry out the agreed instructions, leading to multiple defaults in monthly interest and half-yearly principal repayment.

The corporation is seeking a judgment of N14,733,502,334.06 against the Defendant and additional interest until the complete liquidation of the judgment debt.

The case is scheduled for hearing on February 19, 2024.

The Oyo State Government has approved the sum of 500,000 Naira as bursary allowance for indigenes of the state studying at Nigerian Law School campuses across the country in 2023.

According to an announcement by the Chairman of the Oyo State Scholarship Board, the bursary is part of the yearly package instituted by Governor Seyi Makinde since he assumed office in 2019.

The scholarship board has scheduled verification screening exercises for the law students to ascertain their eligibility. Students from the Lagos and Abuja campuses are expected on Wednesday January 24th while those in Kano, Enugu and Yenagoa will be screened on January 25th. Screening for Yola and Port Harcourt students comes up on January 26th.

The screenings will start by 10:00am daily at the Board’s conference room at the Ministry of Education headquarters in Ibadan.

The government advised members of the public, especially parents and guardians of the benefiting law school students, to take note of the screening dates.

About 500 students are expected to benefit from the 500,000 Naira bursary allowance this year.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has justified its involvement in the controversial $3.3 billion crude oil pre-payment loan it signed with the African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim-bank) last year.

In an interview with journalists, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer (CCCO) of NNPCL, Mr. Femi Soneye, explained that the deal christened ‘Project Gazelle’ – the forward sale of oil, which is the first of its kind to be facilitated by any government institution in Nigeria, was to ultimately provide dollar financing to the federal government.

Earlier in August, NNPCL had announced that it secured a $3 billion emergency loan from Afrexim-bank to stabilise the country’s volatile foreign exchange market.

The deal came over a year after the national oil company had similarly secured a $5 billion corporate finance commitment from the same Afreximbank to fund major investments in Nigeria’s upstream sector.

In late December last year, the federal government had announced receipt of $2.25 billion out of the $3.3 billion facility from the multilateral financial institution.

Afreximbank is the lead arranger of the loan, while some other sub-lenders included VITOL; Guvnor, one of the world’s largest energy trading houses by turnover; Sahara Energy Group; Oando and the United Bank for Africa (UBA), which chipped in $100 million.

However, while the loan attracted mixed reactions from Nigerians, especially over concerns about the implication of the facility for Nigeria’s oil production, the NNPCL Spokesman argued that the loan was needed as a short to mid-term solution to the foreign exchange shortage challenge currently being faced by the country.

Soneye added that Nigeria needed to urgently improve its foreign exchange position, pointing out that as of June 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had over $6 billion of unmet obligations – forward contracts with third-party institutions that were past their expiry dates.

He explained, “NNPC Ltd entered into this arrangement to ultimately provide dollar financing to the federal government. It is a short to mid-term solution to the foreign exchange shortage challenge currently being faced by the country.

“Nigeria needs to urgently improve its foreign exchange position. As of June 2023, the Central Bank had over S$6 billion of unmet obligations – forward contracts with third-party institutions that were past their expiry dates.

“These unmet obligations have pressured the nation’s external reserves and resulted in a significant devaluation of the naira. The pre-financing arrangement allows the federal government to receive foreign exchange, in advance, to enable it to resolve its unmet FX obligations. These inflows of foreign exchange will ensure exchange rate stability and is an immediate quick-win available to the country.”

He further explained that forward sale contracts help resource-producing companies such as the NNPCL to deliver significant upfront funding for new projects before eventual production and export.

The NNPCL spokesman maintained that the funding available is used as investments in existing and prospective resources, adding that this could result in more oil and gas production in the country as new projects come onstream, and higher oil and gas exports, bringing in more dollars and foreign currencies.

He further argued that international banks have a track record of providing forward-sale financings, which brings new Foreign (FDIs) into the country.

With Nigeria having over 35 billion barrels of proven reserves that need to be exploited and produced, Soneye said a fraction of these prospective reserves could be used to raise the required funding.

With a forward sale financing, he noted that the country could securitise these proven oil reserves today, saying this improves foreign currency inflows immediately rather than having to wait for years.

“Also, by supporting more exports and bringing in overseas financing, forward-sale financing can significantly boost the availability of foreign currency for an oil/gas-dependent country. This improves the country’s ability to pay for imports and manage its overall economy.

“When exports finally start, the forward-sale investments are repaid using the money earned from those same exports. This improves the country’s balance of payments.

“The financing gives the government more stable and predictable oil earnings. This helps in planning budgets and managing foreign exchange reserves,” he noted.

On repayment of the Project Gazelle, he said up to 90,000 barrels had been earmarked for the purpose.

According to him, “the quantity of crude earmarked is sized to ensure that there is sufficient cash available for the repayment of the facility as and when due and ensure that the Borrower can also meet the other cashflow obligations, taking into consideration the expected future price of crude oil globally.”

Ivory Coast legend, Didier Drogba, says the Super Eagles of Nigeria can progress as far as winning the African Cup of Nations AFCON 2023 currently holding in his native country Ivory Coast.

The former Chelsea striker’s comments comes days after Nigeria humbled the hosts 1-0 thanks to William Troost-Ekong’s penalty in a match few gave Jose Peseiro’s men any chance.

Drogba has, however, admitted that the Nigerian national team can aim for the finals of the tournament despite not being among the favourites to win the competition in an interview monitored by Official54fx.

“They can go far,” Drogba started. “But we [Ivory Coast] have to sill finish in front of them,” the former Olympic Marseille player quipped.

“Of course, I want Ivory Coast to win but the best team has to win, and if it is Nigeria- whichever team- fair to them and well done to them.

“But we are going to fight till the end because we play at home and we want to show that not only can we host the competition [but can also win it].”

Nigeria is currently second ingroup A with four points from two matches, two points behind surprise leaders Equatorial Guinea who have qualified for the knockout stage.

Ivory Coast are in third place with three points and must not lose to Equatorial Guinea to have a chance of qualification to the next round.

Former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has disclosed that the only financial benefit he receives from the government is N577,000 monthly pension as a former governor of Lagos State.

He also said that he is not receiving billions of naira from the federal government as speculated by some Nigerians, after serving eight years as the minister.

Fashola said this on Saturday while appearing as a guest on Arise TV programme, ”Perspectives.’

When asked if there were financial benefits accrued to him as a former public servant, he said, “The benefit I get I think is N577,000 monthly pension from Lagos State. That’s all I get.

“So, in spite of all the stories that we got several billions of money (after leaving office), I’ve come out to deny that repeatedly. Well I don’t know how long it lasts, but all I know is that I get N577,000 per month consistently.”

When asked if there were other benefits from the federal government, he said “no.”

Responding to a question on if he could advise current public office holders, the former Lagos governor said he was not in the position to issue advice but admonished that they “should remain true and authentic” in their duties.

In September 2023, Fashola said he did not need to hold office for serving in President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

“I do not need a title to serve: the president can only appoint at least one minister, for example, from each state in which he has done that,” Fashola had said.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) said it has reviewed the Supreme Court judgement on the Kano State governorship election.

The party said it is taking steps to create a strong avenue that will unite its members and welcome new members into the party.

DAILY POST recalls that on Friday, the Supreme Court affirmed the election victory of Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf.

His earlier victory in the March 2023 poll, which had been overturned by the two lower courts, was unanimously reinstated by a panel of Justices led by Inyang Okoro.

The Supreme Court set aside the concurrent decisions of the two lower courts that had initially removed the governor from office based on allegations of irregularities during the disputed March 2023 election.

In a communiqué signed by the APC National Chairman’s Chief of Staff, Mallam Muhammad Garba, the party appreciated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his support and dedication to Kano State and the APC family.

The party acknowledged his commitment to the progress and development of the party in the state and the country as a whole.

Mallam Muhammad Garba, speaking on behalf of the party, stated that the stakeholders’ meeting had resolved to keep the doors of the APC in Kano open for hundreds of new members willing to join.

He added that the party is actively seeking to attract new members, both at the group and individual levels, owing to the good governance and promises of the party.

Garba noted that the meeting also resolved to convene an extensive stakeholders’ meeting in Kano to strategize on how to further unite the party for enhanced development.

“The meeting also appreciated members of the party for their maturity, support, and patience during the period of the legal battle and called on them to remain calm and await the outcome of the expanded stakeholders meeting scheduled for Thursday, January 25, 2024,” he said.

Participants in the meeting included selected Kano APC stakeholders, presided over by the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

Super Eagles star, Alex Iwobi has issued warning to his side’s opponents after Nigeria’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, win over Ivory Coast on Thursday.

Iwobi said the Super Eagles are afraid of no team currently participating at the ongoing AFCON.

Recall that William Troost-Ekong’s penalty gave Jose Peseiro’s men the victory against the host at the Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara in Abidjan.

Speaking to reporters in the mixed zone after the game, Iwobi said: “The formation was different.

“We defended as a team, from Victor to the goalkeeper, everyone defended well so I feel like that formation change helped us.

“We have to concentrate on the next game, we take it game by game but we have the belief that we can do so, we have to wait and see.

“We are afraid of no one but we treat every team with respect.”

Nigeria will face Guinea-Bissau in their final Group A tie on Monday.