The US Dollar supply turnover at Wednesday’s official foreign exchange market surged by 51 per cent to $240.72 million as the Naira recorded marginal gains.

FMDQ data showed that FX Turnover increased to $240.72 million on Wednesday from $117.32 million on Tuesday.

The figure represented a $123.4 million FX turnover increase at the close of trade on Wednesday.

The development led to the appreciation of the Naira to N1,542.58 per US dollar on Wednesday from 1,551.24 on Tuesday.

DAILY POST gathered that this is the second time the nation’s currency has appreciated against the US dollar at the official foreign market since last Thursday.

DAILY POST recalls that the turnover of US Dollar supply at Tuesday’s official foreign exchange market surged by 76.61 per cent to $117.32 million as the Naira appreciated.

However, at the parallel market, the Naira dropped N1,860 per US dollar on Wednesday from N1,740.00 on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, at Binance, a P2P market, Naira appreciated N1,608 per US dollar on Wednesday from N1,936 on Tuesday, amid reported access restrictions in Nigeria.

The development came days after operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, raided illegal Bureau De Change operators in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Oyo states.

DAILY POST recalls that in the past weeks, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has rolled out several policies to checkmate the continued fluctuations of the Naira in the FX market.

The federal government of Nigeria has banned the exportation of cooking gas as part of efforts to beat down the price within the country and make the product available.

This was made known on Thursday by the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ekperikpe Ekpo.

Speaking at a stakeholders workshop in Abuja with the theme, “Harnessing Nigeria’s Proven Gas Reserves for Economic Growth and Development,” Ekpo explained that once there is a stoppage of the export of locally produced domestic gas, there will be more volume for the domestic market which will automatically reduce the price of the product.

He added that his ministry is constantly discussing with critical stakeholders like the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and operators such as Mobil, Chevron, and Shell to address the issue.

His words: “We are interacting with critical stakeholders to ensure that there is no exportation of LPG.

“All LPG produced within the country will have to be domesticated. And when this is done, the volume will increase and of course, the price will automatically crash.

“I am in contact with the regulation, NMDPRA, we hold meetings almost on daily basis, and the producers such as Mobil, Chevron, and Shell. So there is that hope that things will turn around. We don’t need to make noise about it.”

In an imminent move to alleviate the cost burden of pharmaceuticals on Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu is set to sign executive orders aimed at reducing the prices of essential medicines.

The announcement was made by the Minister of State for Health, Tunji Alausa and communicated through a post on X by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga on Wednesday.

This strategic decision comes as a response to the soaring prices of pharmaceutical products, which have increasingly become a concern for many Nigerians.

According to Minister Alausa, the executive orders are expected to provide “immediate succour” to citizens, addressing the urgent need for affordable healthcare products in the country.

The move to regulate pharmaceutical prices through executive orders was underscored a month prior by the Minister of Health, Ali Pate.

He highlighted the necessity of such measures following the withdrawal of major multinational pharmaceutical companies from the Nigerian market.

This departure has exacerbated the challenge of accessing reasonably priced medicines, making the government’s intervention critical.

The minister said, “On what the government is doing regarding the high cost of pharmaceuticals, Mr. President has asked us to come up with a set of Executive Orders that he is going to sign to provide immediate succour to Nigerians about the high cost of pharmaceuticals.

“And these executive orders will get to the President’s table in the next few days. And that is the short-term solution to bringing down the cost of high pharmaceuticals and medical consumables that the citizens are experiencing currently.

“We are also working on medium-term solutions and long-term solutions.

“For us at the ministry of health, we are collaborating with the ministry of industry, trade and investment, and others to develop medium and long-term plans so that the situation we suddenly find ourselves in will not be here ever again.

“This cost of high pharmaceuticals that we are noticing now is due to inadequate planning in the past, but we are working on plans and solutions that will be durable and sustainable.”

Alausa added that the president is very committed to getting to the “end of this problem very quickly”.

He added, “As we know, the president made a lot of campaign promises to revamp, improve, and put the healthcare system of Nigeria on a sustainable pathway.

“As we can see, Mr. President is meeting a significant chunk of his campaign promises, and he is going to meet all of his promises. The healthcare budget for 2024 is the biggest ever that we have had in the history of Nigeria.”

While asking Nigerians to bear with the current administration, the minister assured that the costs of pharmaceuticals will plummet pretty soon.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Governor of Lagos State has declared a 25 percent reduction in transport fares for government-owned transport schemes.

Sanwo-Olu made this announcement during a live media chat, ‘Sanwo Speaks’ on Thursday.

He also announced that civil servants from levels 1–14 will begin to work three days a week as part of measures to ease the economic challenges for residents.

The governor noted that the forum was intended to intimate residents of steps being taken to reduce the economic burden on Lagosians.

He said workers in the teaching sector will, however, maintain the five-day-a-week work schedule, but the government will ensure additional transportation support for them.

A former governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi has claimed that Senator Adams Oshiomhole attempted to impose a gubernatorial candidate on the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State.

Fayemi accused the governor of playing a “disruptive” role during the February 17, 2024, governorship primary election in the state.

Recall that three governorship aspirants were declared winners of the primary election by three different umpires.

The governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, and chairman of the primary election committee, declared Dennis Idahosa, a member of the house of representatives, as the winner of the election.

However, Ojo Babatunde, spokesperson of the returning officers, declared Sunday Dekeri, a lawmaker representing Etsako federal constituency in the house of representatives, as the winner of the primary.

In another twist of events, Monday Okpebholo, the senator representing Edo central, claimed that he won the election with over 6,000 votes.

On Tuesday, the national leadership of the APC declared that the primary election was inconclusive.

The party fixed Thursday, February 22, 2024, as the new date for the completion of the primary election process.

The party subsequently appointed the governor of Cross River State, Bassey Otu as the chairman of the primary election committee.

However, speaking via a statement by Ahmad Sajoh, his media aide, Fayemi claimed that Oshiomhole ousted the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki during the buildup to the 2020 gubernatorial poll in the state.

The former Ekiti governor said Oshiomhole should have ensured a level playing field for all aspirants in 2024 instead of trying to impose a candidate.

“Earlier, Oshiomhole had attempted to eliminate some aspirants from contesting the primaries but failed. This is reminiscent of his high-handedness as national chairman when he manipulatively schemed Governor Godwin Obaseki out of the electoral process. That action led to the unfortunate loss of Edo state by the APC.

“It would appear the ground was being prepared by Oshiomhole yet again for the APC to lose the coming election in Edo state because of his unconscionable behaviour.

“However, the party has demonstrated independence and impartiality in cancelling and reordering the primaries.

“We hope the fresh primaries will now take place in an atmosphere deemed free and fair by all, for the sake of our great party.

“Oshiomhole may decide to support any of the aspirants if he chooses not to be neutral but the process must be open, free, and transparent, following the laid down rules.

“My interest is the APC and the party must put its best foot forward in the forthcoming elections,’’ Fayemi said.

THE Edo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP,) on Thursday held a parallel Congress that produced the deputy governor of the state, Rt. Hon Philip Shaibu is the candidate.

While some delegates were being accredited to proceed to the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium venue of the primary election, another set of delegates met in a facility in Commercial Avenue where they announced Shaibu the elected candidate of the PDP.

They claimed that they went to the venue for accreditation but were chased away by security agencies. They also alleged that the list of delegates published by the national leadership of the party was not the authentic one alleging that they saw names of people from Bayelsa state and names of people who are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Declaring Shaibu winner of the election, Bartholomew Moses said “During the counting of this primary election, Philip Shaibu has a score of 301 votes and therefore, we hereby declare Philip Shaibu as the authentic elected candidate for this election in the PDP”
The people had barely finished their exercise when gunmen invaded the venue. They were dressed in vigilante outfits and came in several vehicles including two black unmarked Toyota Hiace Truck, an unmarked white sienna, a white Hilux and several other vehicles. They were shooting sporadically into the air and the people scampered in different directions for safety

Before the election, the delegates led by Festus Owu had protested to the deputy governor’s official lodge where they complained to him that they had been disenfranchised.
Speaking to the protesting delegates, Shaibu said “I appeal to all of you to be peaceful I don’t want anybody to be injured, I don’t want anybody molested and I am happy the way you have conducted yourselves peacefully and have come to report to me that you were not allowed to be accredited but I want to tell you that no one man can determine the destiny of a people and by the grace of God they cannot disenfranchise you people.

The law is clear that you people are the authentic delegates. Now that they have pushed you away, they want to go and replace you but I assure you that your vote must count, they cannot change and replace your names. I assure you that I will take your protest to the committee that is coming but you must remain peaceful in everything you are doing.”

Speaking to journalists later, Shaibu said “I saw the crowd outside and I asked who they are and they said they are delegates, I said they should be directed to the venue of the accreditation but they said they were protesting because they have been sent away from the venue if accreditation and they won their election and they have their results.

The election will hold and if a winner emerges with fake delegates, the election will not see the light of the day but if a winner emerges with the authentic delegate, there will be no problem, I am sure.”

Nigeria’s politicians have perfected the art of burying themselves with one foot sticking out. And it appears that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will, once again, stage this rite of self-destruction in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State.

The party’s primaries on Saturday was such a shambles, it has now been forced to conduct it again, with no guarantee of a sensible outcome for an exercise involving perhaps less than 500,000 members (parties routinely inflate their roll). If Governor Godwin Obaseki’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had paid to put a spell on APC, the outcome would not have been more potentially devastating.    

Yet, this is a governor whose bet to install a successor from his own party is not necessarily based on his own record, but on the gift of an opposition in disarray.

After the turbulent last four years at Osadebey House between Obaseki and his deputy, Philip Shaibu, it looked all but certain that the divided house of PDP would collapse when elections hold again in September.

And this was not wishful thinking. Not only has the common political front that paved the way for Obaseki’s ascension to power in his first term eroded; in his second term, he has been fighting both internal and external political enemies, severely limiting his attention and performance.

If his first term was uneventful, it was precisely because that was when the seed of the state’s future political crisis was sown. Even though his benefactor, former Governor Adams Oshiomhole, had installed him in office in the hope of replicating the Tinubu-Fashola model in Lagos, Obaseki had other plans.

The new “tuke-tuke”

Once he was ensconced in office, he made a point of telling the remnant of the Oshiomhole crowd still hanging around the corridors of power, that power had changed hands. No longer, he reportedly said, were the days of “tuke-tuke” politics, a carryover from the era of Tony Anenih, which former Edo State Commissioner for Information and presidential aide, Louis Odion, once described in Louis-pedia as a political variant that empowered touts and prioritised rent for politicians for doing little or no work.

Obaseki, the blue-eyed Lagos Boy and financial consultant, advertised as the answer to Edo State’s private sector woes, should know. He was a core member of Oshiomhole’s cabinet, now determined to carve his own path.

When after taking power, however, he began to cut off the supply line to the trough, starving the APC’s political structure in the state of nutrition, the battle line with Oshiomhole was drawn. The former governor who had also become the Chairman of the APC at the time, used his position to block Obaseki from getting the party’s ticket for a second term.

Obaseki of course milked public sympathy and later decamped to the PDP where he contested and won re-election. As a result of his defection, he governed with a hostile, hobbled parliament. Fourteen – and later 10 – out of the 24 members of the State House of Assembly were in the opposition and they operated mostly from a hideout provided in Abuja by Oshiomhole.

Significantly damaged in legitimacy, there was very little Obaseki could do. He has spent a greater part of the last four years watching his back for a deputy who, were he in the opposition, could not have plunged more daggers in the government’s back.

Residents have borne the brunt. Not only has Obaseki replaced the old cult of “tuke-tuke” with the new cult of “yes-men,” reports from the state also indicate that there are few paved roads and other social infrastructure such as water, hospitals, and schools, especially in areas outside the capital, Benin City.

The more you look…

Not unlike a good number of the states, the doubling of the state’s internally generated revenue from N1.8billion monthly in 2016 has barely been felt in rural areas where homes are still without water and school buildings are still largely without roofs and students without teachers.

Although Edo is currently ranked above its peers in the South-South poverty league with 1.4m (out of the state’s 3.9m population) leaving in multidimensional poverty, a government determined to make its mark could have done far more to lift the people.

Obaseki has done well in cultivating an elite in smart suits, while keeping up a façade of performance, especially with high-profile media events like Edo Best, Alaghodaro Summit, and the renovation of the Secretariat. But as surely as the ball of pounded yam never fails to press into the straying fish crumb in the soup, these projects have been criticised, particularly by the opposition, as the government’s conduit pipes.

Edo could not have been riper for the taking than in its present state, but Oshiomhole’s ambition may well be the wrecking ball. In my forecast entitled, “What you might expect in 2024,” published last December 28, I said, “The biggest danger to APC’s victory is Oshiomhole…except the APC finds an overwhelmingly appealing candidate, the party could be in for a surprise.”

The result of the party’s “inconclusive” primaries on Saturday, showed that the surprise came early. From reports, Oshiomhole, APC’s certified nemesis in Edo, managed to suborn forces in the Presidency to hand over the party’s flag to Dennis Idahosa – a candidate that Oshiomhole’s government had once described as “untrustworthy,” the most flattering of the government’s description at that time. 

But suspects have their moments of redemption. Except that in this case reports on the conduct of the primaries on Saturday showed that even the redeemer seemed so far gone in his waywardness, he suborned not only Abuja, but also one of the most notorious political conductors to supervise the primaries.

A crime scene

The result, of course, were parallel primaries. One with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officers present – as it should be – that produced Monday Okpebholo; and the other, which invariably produced Idahosa, became a crime scene.

The outcome was neither organised, even from the point of a common heist, which it was; nor was it politically strategic. Idahosa, the beneficiary of that crime scene, is from Edo South, where Obaseki, who is backing Asue Ighodalo, a candidate from Edo Central, could significantly undermine APC’s votes. A third candidate, Anamero Dekeri, even emerged from the woodwork, to claim victory!

It’s true that whether a political party holds its primaries in the motor park or at a brothel, it is not the business of non-party members. The point, unfortunately, is that we have seen that in the end, voters pay for the travesty, corruption and incompetence in the parties.

APC should have learnt that lesson in Zamfara four years ago when a court ruling invalidated the entire state election over shambolic party primaries, never mind a recent Supreme Court ruling that has further muddied the waters.

At elections, voters often have uninspiring candidates – Tweedle-dee and Tweedledum – inflicted on them by party primaries that were anything but primaries. The crimes committed by politicians behind closed doors soon become public bastards, often leading to voter apathy, bitter wranglings or needless court disputes. It’s incredible that parties that can’t even manage their own affairs want a chance on the bigger stage.

PDP may laugh – and indeed it should, as it appears that the APC has already handed it the shovel to finish off the burial rites. But with Obaseki’s deputy, Shaibu, threatening to bring down the roof, it would be interesting to see how the PDP and the Labour Party, which is also having its own troubles, organise their own primaries.

If Nigeria’s elections – party, local council, state or federal – has taught anything, it is that as surely as a stumble precedes a fall, shambolic primaries lay the foundation for turbulent electoral outcomes and unstable governments.

Once again, Edo is proving that the story is not about to change.

Azu Ishiekwene is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP. 

Godswill Akpabio (then Akwa Ibom State Governor) once stated that only the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan could guarantee peace in Nigeria. At an​ interdenominational ​church service beamed live on the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) network on 2 January 2015, he declared: “As a PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) chieftain, I have found the solution to the peace we are seeking in Nigeria. That solution is the election of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for a second term in office. When you do that, you would show that you are not a religious bigot. When you do that, you would show that you are not an ethnic jingoist and that you believe in the unity of this country.”

Of course, we know Jonathan lost the presidential election that year. But Akpabio won his bid to be a Senator. Ordinarily, by their Standing Rules at the time, positions of Principal Officers were reserved only for ranking senators. But on the strength of his previous position as chairman of PDP Governors Forum and the depth of his pocket, the Senate broke their own rule to accommodate Akpabio as Minority Leader. The hope was that he would help to rebuild PDP as a robust opposition platform to counter the excesses of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The hope was misplaced.

Two years into his tenure as Minority Leader, Akpabio resigned from the PDP to join the APC and offered a perfect excuse. “The first thing you need to know about the APC, from the point of view of leadership, I am quite impressed the president has kept his integrity intact. He has been able to improve the image of Nigeria and restore a lot of respect to Nigeria from the international community,” Akpabio said while heaping praises on then President Muhammadu Buhari who later offered him a ministerial appointment after losing his Senate re-election bid. “I am joining the APC to stabilize the government and to assist the government to create employment opportunities for Nigerians so that we can fight the twin brother to corruption, which is poverty.”

We are aware that Akpabio has been fighting poverty with his garrulous and ostentatious lifestyle for almost two decades. Incidentally, on 23 February 2018, while presenting the Special Achievement Award conferred on then Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor by the Silverbird Group in Lagos, Akpabio commended Godwin Emefiele for maintaining the global integrity of the apex bank and stability of Naira, describing him as “a humble and silent achiever”. Now, after being enabled to the office of Senate President by the current President Bola Tinubu, Akpabio is singing a different tune.

 During a thanksgiving service in Rivers State on Sunday, Akpabio compared the economy left by Buhari for Tinubu to a spoof. “Nigeria was like a foam inside a pail. As the foam has filled the pail you think that it was water. The economic situation was tricky. By the time you push your hands (inside), you will only touch water towards the bottom. So, the kind of economic mess we were in, a lot of people do not understand.” After dissing the ‘anti-corruption’ president under whom he was a minister, Akpabio descended on Emefiele. “We don’t even know what to charge the former Central Bank governor (Emefiele) with. Whether to charge him for putting foam on top of the pail or to charge him for printing notes without income. I don’t know what we will charge him with,” Akpabio said, raising questions about the credibility of the ongoing court case if they are still trying to frame the alleged crime. “What we know is that we are here today because of the actions and policies that they (Buhari administration) took, and we recognise that, but we are now battling to ensure that Nigerians can sleep with their eyes closed and have three square meals on their tables.”

 ‘A Man for All Seasons’ is a British historical drama that celebrates the life of Sir Thomas More, the 16th century Chancellor of England who chose death (he was beheaded) to helping Henry VIII achieve his diabolical aim to jilt his wife for another in a desperate bid for a male child. If that popular drama depicts someone whose moral strength did not bend even in the face of death, then what do you call a man like Akpabio? The only phrase that comes to mind is a man for every new season. That has been the story of the ‘Uncommon transformer’ who for the past 22 years has been a ‘government pikin’—a man whose livelihood has depended on political office: Commissioner, Governor, Senator, Minister and now Senate President!

 While endorsing Tuesday’s decision to probe how the N30 trillion Ways and Means CBN loans approved by the last Senate was spent by the Buhari administration, Akpabio said “The food and security crises confronting the nation now are traceable to the way and manner the said Ways and Means were given, collected and spent.” Akpabio may be right but how does such a probe bring down the price of garri in the market or help in halting the depreciation that has rendered the Naira almost of no value? We know that, like all previous probes, it will serve no useful purpose beyond buying time for the government while Nigerians are regaled with tales. Besides, was Akpabio, who has dismissed those protesting the rising cost of living in the country as “sponsored protesters”, not part of the Buhari administration? Does the president need people who can help him find solutions to our mounting economic challenges or those who are good only at inventing self-serving excuses?

For those who may have forgotten, under Buhari, Akpabio was an all-powerful Minister of Niger Delta. He came up with the idea of an Interim Management Committee (IMC) arrangement at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) – whose members he kept sacking while practically running the show so that nobody would “kill the forensic audit”. In the ‘Off the mic’ drama involving one of his henchmen, it was Akpabio who admitted before a House of Representatives committee chaired by the current Internal Affairs Minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo that our lawmakers are also contractors while inadvertently indicting himself in the process: “I just told you that we have records to show that most of the contracts in NDDC are given out to members of the National Assembly, but you don’t know about it, the two chairmen can explain to you. I was a member of the NDDC committee; so, I know about it.”

In a milieu where politics has become a vehicle to secure power and privilege (rather than advance the public good) and public office merely provides access for the control of resources, it is no surprise that people like Akpabio thrive. He is of course not alone on this, so I do not begrudge him his good fortune. But those whose palm-kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit, to borrow from the eternal wisdom of Chinua Achebe, should not insult our collective intelligence. By virtue of his current office, Akpabio is one of the few people with unhindered access to President Tinubu. If this is what he says publicly at a time like this, one can only imagine what he is telling the man in private moments.

Let me break it down for the Akpabios of this world who may not be aware of the current situation in Nigeria. If, going by the World Bank parameters, living in extreme poverty means surviving on less than $1.90 (now more than N3000) per day, and minimum wage still stands at N30,000, one can then imagine what many Nigerians are going through. As of last year March, when the situation was not even this bad, a World Bank report revealed that “as many as 4 in 10 Nigerians live below the national poverty line.” Several households in the country, the report added, had to adopt “dangerous coping strategies, including reducing education and scaling back food consumption, which could have negative long-run consequences for their human capital.” 

That report was based on the reality of 2022 when Akpabio was still a minister under Buhari. Today, things are far worse. The removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the Naira have combined to push basic necessities beyond the reach of most Nigerians. With daily hikes in the cost of staple foods, essential drugs, transportation costs, school fees, house rent etc. at a time when there seems to be no bottom to Naira’s depreciating value, millions of Nigerians are groaning under an unprecedented level of misery. Nothing depicts our dire situation more aptly than the trending video of a crowd of women rushing to scoop from a pot of rice being cooked by a food vendor, almost like animals. Therefore, if the president listens only to people like Akpabio, how would he understand how dire the situation is for most Nigerians today?

Let me also be clear here. Buhari and Emefiele deserve all the opprobrium anybody can heap on them for mismanaging our economy. That is not my issue with Akpabio. But not all of us suffer from the Nigerian malaise of collective amnesia. A country where an enabler of every sitting president like Akpabio is a source of state wisdom cannot but end as a basket case. It is therefore no surprise that in a bid to address the fast-depreciating value of the Naira, Tinubu’s henchmen have reduced monetary policy to chasing BDC operators around the streets of Abuja with guns!

ECOWAS and Vanishing Democracy

 On Monday, military authorities in Guinea dissolved the interim government it had put in place since June 2022.  They pledged to appoint a new administration. We recall that Colonel Mamady Doumbouya toppled President Alpha Conde in September 2021, in a coup hailed by many Guineans. Conde invited it upon himself by forcing through a controversial constitutional amendment that gave him a third term in office. And he brutally crushed the street demonstrations that followed, killing many before he was ousted. Although the military promised to return power to elected civilians by the end of this year, there is nothing to suggest such proposition is still on the cards in Guinea.

However, the latest challenge for the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) is in Senegal where President Macky Sall, whose tenure expires on 2 April, is also playing the sit-tight game. First, he toyed with the idea of a third term that elicited street protests. When that gambit failed, Sall postponed the election scheduled to hold this Sunday, 25 February till December this year. The Constitutional Court in the country has ruled that proposition also illegal. While Sall promised to abide by the court ruling, uncertainties remain about when the election will hold. That ECOWAS is silent about Senegal shows the hypocrisy of the leaders within the subregion. Meanwhile, Sall himself has shown that despite mouthing platitudes, his belief in democracy is driven only by self-interest. And I say this based on a personal encounter I had with him six years ago. Although I did not reveal who secured for me the encounter at the time, I can do so now and the circumstance in which it happened.

In writing my book, ‘Against the Run of Play: How an Incumbent President was Defeated in Nigeria’, I spoke to many of the principal actors, including President Goodluck Jonathan and current President Tinubu. Because he was abroad on self-exile at the time, it was difficult to get the former Bauchi State Governor, Adamu Muazu. Yet, I needed him to clarify certain issues to complete the book, considering he was PDP National Chairman during the 2015 general election. Eventually, we agreed to meet in Dakar, the Senegalese capital where I arrived on the day preceding a special ECOWAS meeting in Abuja on the Gambian presidential election lost by Yahyah Jammeh who decided not to leave office. As it would happen, Muazu had a dinner appointment with President Sall, and I tagged along. Below are excerpts from my December 2017 recollection, ‘Buhari, Sall and Jammeh’s Defiance’ to illustrate the tragedy of Senegal today. 

=======================================================

…While I do not know much about Sall’s stewardship, it was nonetheless a refreshing time with him until we departed the presidential palace at exactly 1.20am (Nigerian time) which was 12.20am local time in Dakar. He said he would be departing for Abuja by 6.30am for the ECOWAS meeting on the crisis in The Gambia. By then, I had learnt a lot about the mutiny in Cote D’Ivoire where soldiers went on strike last week as well as the attempts by the ECOWAS leaders, including President (Muhammadu) Buhari, to resolve the political crisis in The Gambia.

 Fortunately for me, when Sall was receiving us on arrival, I had been introduced to him as a former presidential spokesman in Nigeria, so he had no reason to be on his guard, as most people usually are when with reporters. That gave me ample opportunity to ask probing questions during dinner without raising any suspicion about my interest. I started by reminding Sall of what he already knows: that whereas the problem in The Gambia may be a challenge for ECOWAS, it is one that his country (Senegal) would have to deal with. He agreed with my summation before also expressing optimism that it would be resolved before January 19 (2018). He was confident that Yahya Jammeh will go because the consequences of doing otherwise would be too much for the Gambian dictator. Already, some of Jammeh’s ministers have started voting with their feet.

 However, Sall is also mindful of old prejudices between the two countries that for a period in history were one (Senegambia), especially when I asked him whether he was ready to offer asylum to Jammeh; having already told me of such a plan and some of the countries that could play host without mentioning Senegal. “I can have him here in Senegal, but I don’t think he will come,” Sall said as he explained the complications of the negotiations to oust Jammeh. “I think he fears what might happen to him when he leaves office, especially with the International Criminal Court that could look into some things that happened under his watch.”

To say that it will not be easy is an understatement given that Jammeh is digging in, and he is not without his own supporters. For instance, The Gambian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Mr. Samsudeen Sarr, recently took to the social media to reiterate his “unflinching support for His Excellency Shiekh Professor Doctor Alhagie Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh Babillimansa” while attacking Senegal that “has always overtly or covertly expressed its compulsion to annex our Anglophone nation into its 8th region.”

 According to Sall, raising the stakes by Jammeh may prove to be no use for him at the end, given that Charles Taylor of Liberia also negotiated his way out of power before he was apprehended three years later under circumstances that were not particularly edifying for Nigeria. The best way out for Jammeh, the Senegalese president argued, was the first option he took to concede the election before reneging. But Sall believes that he and other African leaders have a responsibility to ensure Jammeh’s exit without damage to his country and Senegal will play a decisive role in that direction…

ENDNOTE: President Sall indeed played a very critical role in ECOWAS efforts to force Yahya Jammeh out of Banjul in defence of democracy in the subregion and peace in The Gambia. It is therefore a shame that he would now seek to plunge his own country into avoidable crisis on the altar of inordinate ambition. But the greater challenge is for ECOWAS that must be worried about the state of democracy, anchored on the rule of law, and expressed will of the people within the sub-region.

• You can follow me on my X (formerly Twitter) handle, @Olusegunverdict and on www.olusegunadeniyi.com   

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Ibrahim Khalil Gaga as executive director, Corporate Services, at the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM).

According to a statement by Presidential spokesman Ajuri Ngelale on Wednesday, Gaga, a lawyer, has gained over 25 years of experience in the banking sector as well as in legal services.
He said prior to his appointment, he was the Board Secretary and Legal Adviser at NEXIM Bank.

“The President expects that Gaga will bring to his new role renewed zeal and diligence to enhance NEXIM’s mandate of providing finance, risk mitigation services, accurate trade and market information, as well as export advisory services to Nigerians in full support of the economic development agenda of his administration,” he said .

[:eadership]

Two weeks after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to release 42,000 metric tons of maize, millet and other commodities from the national strategic reserve to Nigerians for free, the items are yet to be distributed.

This is amidst the biting cost of living crisis in the country which is believed to be largely caused by the present administration’s policies of petrol subsidy removal and currency floating.

The president’s directive to release grains to the citizens was aimed at addressing hunger which had triggered protests in some states.

Following the directive given on February 8, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, last Wednesday at a press conference in Abuja, said grains would be distributed free to poor Nigerians.

Kyari said, “This 42,000MT is going to the needy free of charge. It will be directly to the needy at no cost.” 

The minister said the grains would be released to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for onward distribution to Nigerians because the agency has the poverty index of the country.

“They know exactly where it is needed and they have a policy on how they transport and store it before it is distributed to the needy free.

“We have started working on that. We have already instructed NEMA to give us their work plan so that we can quickly go ahead and take possession of those stocks,” the minister said.

However, Daily Trust’s checks in many states showed that the grains were yet to be made available for distribution as of yesterday.

In Kano, grains had not been released to the state when our correspondent checked yesterday.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Food Security, Hajiya Aisha Muhammad Idris, said the state was ready to distribute food items as soon as they were released.

Our correspondent in Kwara State reports that the grains promised by the federal government had not been released to the state.

NEMA’s head of operations for Kwara and Niger states, Zainab Saidu, told Daily Trust yesterday that “NEMA is not in possession of any grains yet. If there were, they would have contacted us at the zonal office and delivered straight to us. But there is nothing like that yet. I have not heard from my headquarters on the issue and I believe they (federal government) have not released anything yet.” 

Kwara SEMA chairman, Moshood Magaji, also said: “We have not received any message on the issue and my office is not handling anything like distribution. I do not know of any distribution from the federal government.”

Reports from Taraba also indicated that no grains had been released to the state as there were no grains at the NEMA office in the state when our reporter visited yesterday.

The situation was the same in Gombe and Ogun states, as NEMA officials there said they were yet to receive grains from the federal government.

Reports from Niger, Oyo, Cross River, Benue, Bauchi, Yobe, Kogi, and Nasarawa states also indicated that the federal government had not released food items to them yet.

We’re waiting – NEMA hqtrs

At its headquarters in Abuja, NEMA said it was yet to receive the grains from the agriculture ministry for distribution to Nigerians.

Its head of Press and Public Relations Unit, Manzo Ezekiel, however, told Daily Trust yesterday that they were in talks with the agriculture ministry on the development.

He said as soon as the grains were handed over to the agency, distribution would commence.

Why there’s delay – Agric ministry

The Director of Information, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Joel Oruche, neither answered phone calls nor replied to a text message sent to him by Daily Trust for explanation on why the grains had not been released as promised.

But an official in the ministry, who spoke to Daily Trust, on condition of anonymity, attributed the delay to data authentication.

He said this was to avoid the mistakes made during the previous distribution of palliatives.

“The ministry has been holding several inter-agency meetings at various levels to make sure the grains reach the intended impoverished people rather than falling into the wrong hands,” he said.

The official said the grains were in silos located in different parts of the country.

He added that the logistics and security modalities had to be properly worked out to have a hitch-free distribution exercise across the country.

However, credible sources told Daily Trust yesterday that despite claims by government officials, there is not enough grain reserve in the country.

One of the sources said it is better for the government to tell the citizens the truth instead of making promises that would not be fulfilled.

Findings revealed that Nigeria has 33 silos with a total capacity of 1.3 million metric tons for its Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) system.

However, about 19 of these silos were concessioned to the private sector for a number of years.

The ministry has not given details of what is available in the national strategic grains reserve silos, describing it as a national security issue.

Agric Minister Abubakar Kyari during a recent briefing at the Joint Senate Committee on the State of the Economy, insisted that Nigeria’s grain reserves were not empty.

“On the issue of food reserve, I think a question was asked: Are the grains available? I will say yes, the ones we are about to release are available,” he said.

Meanwhile, the United States has urged the federal government to invest in agriculture to address the food security challenges in the country.

The US Charge d’Affaires in Nigeria, David Greene, made the call yesterday at Ipao Ekiti, in Ikole Council Area of Ekiti State during a visit by the US Embassy to the 15,000-hectare Agbeyewa Farms. 

He urged leaders in Nigeria to harness the abundant arable lands, fertile soil and favourable weather endowments to provide food for Nigerians and for export. 

He said: “We are aware of the food security challenge and the post-harvest losses in Nigeria. With investments and leadership like this, I think the lives of a lot of Nigerians can be changed for the better.”

[DailyTrust]