• Fresh protest breaks out in Niger after arrest of 25 protesters
• Sowore demands release of Minna protesters
• FG: We’ll open national reserves to address rising food costs
• 88.4m people in Nigeria living in extreme poverty – Ministry of Agriculture
• Lukman, Aborisade, Youth Party slam APC for blaming protests on opposition parties 

Spreading like wildfire, more states are joining in the protests against the high cost of living in the country, which is a reminiscent of the 2011 #OccupyNigeria protest against petrol subsidy removal that lasted more than a week, and 2020 #EndSARS protest against police brutality that dragged for nearly a month.

After what could be termed a warning shot to ‘test the microphone’ with protests in Kano, Niger and Osun states, another protest broke out yesterday on the streets of Suleja in Niger and Kogi State over the rising cost of living. This is coming two days after protesters stormed the streets of Minna, the Niger State capital.

Suleja, the commercial nerve centre of Niger, is only a few kilometres away from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

An eyewitness, Mr. Yazid Abubakar, said the protesters stormed the popular Moroko Road where the biggest market is located in the town. They carried placards with various inscriptions such as “Leadership is all about improving the life of the masses”, “No food, we are dying of hunger” and “Nigerians are suffering, stop the hardship now,” among others.

They accused political officeholders of insensitivity to their plight as they lamented their inability to feed even once a day.

In response to Monday’s protest, the Niger State Police Command clamped down on 25 protesters. Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the arrest of one Aisha Jibrin, the initiator of the protest, and 24 others. The earlier protest forced President Bola Tinubu to order a food intervention to check the shortage of food in the country.

Abiodun, in a statement, said: “A large number of women and miscreants mobilised themselves on Monday and blocked Minna-Bida road and Kpakungu roundabout, claiming to be protesting against increase in food prices, causing major obstruction on the highway and deprived motorists, travellers, and other road users from gaining access to attend to their lawful businesses.

“After much persuasion by the police, the protesters deliberately refused to clear the road for public use, while the deputy governor of Niger State, Yakubu Garba, addressed the group, yet they turned deaf ears and chose to be violent.

“However, the police adopted minimum force to disperse the protesters who turned violent by attacking the police with dangerous weapons such as stones, bottles, sticks, cutlasses, and damaged police patrol vehicles and parts of the Kpakungu Division roof.
“In the course of this, the police arrested the initiators of the protest, one Aisha Jibrin 30yrs, Fatima Aliyu 57yrs, Fatima Isyaku 43yrs, and 22 other miscreants with dangerous weapons.”

Reacting, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the last general election, Omoyele Sowore, called for immediate release of the women allegedly arrested for initiating the recent food price protest in Niger State, saying the protest was heroic.

He wrote on X: “I have just received information that the woman who initiated the food price protest in Niger State has been arrested by the @PoliceNG for organising this heroic act, she and other women are to be arraigned by the police. The police must release them immediately. These women are going to be the face of this uprising coming the way of Nigeria.”

Protest in Minna over High Cost of Living.Photo: Arise News

Similarly, traders in Lokoja, Kogi State, trooped out to protest the high cost of essential commodities and general poverty across the state. The traders, mainly market women and men, lamented the soaring prices of food items which have affected patronage.

A trader who simply identified herself as Mrs Ladi, who deals in rice and beans, said the sharp increase in the cost of the commodities had affected her business capital as sales were low. She stated that she could hardly make profit after trading.

Another trader, Mrs Laruba, who sells palm oil, lamented that she usually travels to Kogi East to purchase the commodity. But she expressed regrets that the business is no longer profitable. She added that by the time she calculates her expenses and subtracts the same from the cost of the items, buyers often feel cheated.

Weighing in, a Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday ordered the Federal Government to fix the price of goods and petroleum products within seven days. Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa granted the order following an originating motion filed and argued by the applicant and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN).

“I have heard the applicant, Femi Falana in a suit no FHC/L/CS/869/2023 and I have also discovered that despite the service of the originating motion on the respondents namely, Attorney-General of the Federation and the Price Control Board, no opposition to it by way of counter affidavit. So, it is the law that all the facts deposed in the affidavit attached to the originating motion are all deemed admitted. Consequently, all prayers that are sought for in the motion papers are hereby granted as prayed,” the judge declared.

The judge ordered the Nigerian government to fix the price of milk, flour, salt, sugar, bicycles and its spare parts, matches, motorcycles and its spare parts, motor vehicles and its spare parts as well as petroleum products, which include: diesel, petrol motor spirit (PMS) and kerosene.

Falana had approached the court for the following: “whether by virtue of Section 4 of the Price Control Act., the first defendant (FG) is carrying out its duty to impose a price on any goods that are of the kind specified in the First Schedule to the Price Control Act.

“A declaration that by virtue of Section 4 of the Price Control Act Cap, the defendants are under a legal obligation to fix the prices of bicycles and spare parts; flour; matches; milk; motorcycles and spare parts; motor vehicles and spare parts; salt; sugar and petroleum products including diesel, petrol motor spirit and kerosene.

“A declaration that the failure or refusal of the defendants to fix the prices of bicycles and spare parts; flour; matches; milk; motorcycles and spare parts; motor vehicles and spare parts; salt; sugar and petroleum products including diesel, petrol motor spirit and kerosene, is illegal as it offends the provision of Section 4 of the Price Control Act, Cap…, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has said the Federal Government is planning to unlock the national food reserves to ameliorate the effect of food inflation on the citizenry. .

This is arising from Tuesday’s presidential committee on emergency food intervention meeting at the presidential villa. Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, Idris said the government is very concerned about what Nigerians are going through.

“Of course, this meeting is not by itself exhaustive. It is going to continue tomorrow and the day after. Now, some of these will involve unlocking the food that is available in most of the storage facilities around the country. You know that the federal ministry of agriculture has some food reserves. That is going to be made available to Nigerians.
“The government is also talking to major millers and major commodity traders, to also see what is available in their stores, to open it up, so that the government will provide some intervention and make this food available to Nigerians.”

Idris said the government has noticed that there is sufficient food in the country, which is being hoarded based on the depreciation of the naira.

“Government will not fold its arms and see the way Nigerians are suffering in terms of the availability of these food items,” he said.

Mr Temitope Fadeshemi, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, says 88.4 million people in Nigeria are living in extreme poverty. Fadeshemi spoke yesterday in Kaduna during the distribution of farm inputs and empowerment materials to 250 smallholder farmers.

President Bola Tinubu

He said: “The level of poverty in Nigeria is alarming. An estimated population of 88.4 million people in Nigeria is living in extreme poverty. The number of men living on less than 1.90 U.S. dollars a day in the country reached around 44.7 million, while the count was at 43.7 million for women.

“Overall, 12.9 per cent of the global population in extreme poverty was found in Nigeria as of 2022. This is why the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning in collaboration with FMAFS is making conscious efforts at reducing the spate of poverty across the country.”

According to Fadeshemi, the event marked a significant milestone in the Federal Government’s collective commitment to uplifting the lives of smallholder farmers and fostering sustainable agricultural practices.

Despite government’s several interventions, more Nigerians have continued to lament the rising cost of living. The sharp increase in the cost of essential goods, The Guardian gathered, has compounded the woes of a nation already grappling with high inflation, rising unemployment and stagnant wages.

Since President Tinubu assumed office, the cost of living for ordinary Nigerians has become increasingly burdensome, with essential items becoming increasingly out of reach for many households. Tinubu, in one of his broadcast messages, promised to ease the cost-of-living pain in the country, where he announced a series of measures aimed at easing hardship for Nigerians.

At the broadcast, he expressed confidence in the effectiveness of his proposed measures to improve the country’s economy and citizens’ well-being. However, six months down the line, Nigerians said they were yet to enjoy the benefits of the reforms.

Checks by The Guardian reveal alarming spikes in the prices of key commodities across the country, painting a grim picture of the economic landscape.

The price of a 50kg bag of rice, a staple food in Nigeria, has surged by 85.7 per cent from N35,000 in May 2023 to N65,000 in February 2024.
Similarly, the cost of a 50kg bag of flour has risen by 75.4 per cent during the same period to N50,000 from N28,500.

The story is no different for other commodities; the price of a 50kg bag of beans has skyrocketed by 106.7 per cent to N62,000, up from N30,000 in May 2023.

Meanwhile, a bag of onions now commands a whopping N60,000, representing a 114.3 per cent increase from N28,000. Currently, a crate of eggs has risen to N3,600, leaving one egg at N150.

The former director general of the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF), Dr Salihu Lukman, has thrown his weight behind protestations against biting poverty among Nigerians. Lukman in a piece titled: “Renewed Hope Exchanging for Renewed Anger” argued that the protestations in Minna, Kano and other parts of the country spoke volume of the realities on the ground.

He identified the decision to remove fuel subsidy, the floating of the exchange rate of the Naira as key reasons behind the astronomical rise in the cost of living in the country.

Lukman, who was the immediate past national vice chairman Northwest of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), faulted the party for blaming the opposition political parties for the protests over the hardship being faced by Nigerians.

He said: “The protests in Minna and Kano confirm the validity of the concerns raised as far back as August 2023. Sadly, six months after those concerns were raised, the situation is only getting worse as prices of food items are beyond reach of most Nigerians.

“If the truth must be told, there is hunger in the land! As a committed member of APC, it is very depressing that this is happening under the leadership of our party. Even more depressing was the statement issued by Mr. Felix Morka, our National Publicity Secretary, alleging that opposition parties are behind the protests.

“How can we be talking of opposition sponsoring protests in the strongholds of the APC? Both Minna and Kano are strongholds of APC. In the case of Minna, Niger State, APC is the ruling party. Kano is the home state of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the APC National Chairman.

“To suggest that any opposition party could mobilise citizens to protest our government is already defeatist. The hard reality is that these protests are logical responses to the realities facing Nigerians. If these realities continue unattended to, these protests will spread like bush fire across every part of the country within a very short period.”

Speaking with The Guardian, National Publicity Secretary of Youth Party, Ayodele Adio, stated that comments from the presidency, describing the protests as being politically motivated, is insensitive and deeply unfortunate.

According to him, the statement demonstrates how removed those in authority are from the realities of the average Nigerian, and a lack of empathy for the people they were elected to serve.

He said: “Facts are stubborn things, just as no one can hide pregnancy for too long. The reality is that Nigerians are experiencing one of the highest levels of food inflation in close to 40 years while real wages have remained stagnant. The naira has lost close to 80 per cent of its value and has eroded the purchasing power of low- and middle-income earners.”

He said to suggest that anyone needed to be sponsored to express their grievance as was done in Niger and some parts of Kano is to suggest that the Nigeria people are helpless subjects who should be grateful for scraps.

Human rights and lawyer, Femi Aborisade, and former Oyo State Chairman, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Andrew Emelieze, yesterday, said the protests across the country are justifiable. They said the protests were as a result of hunger and hardship in the land.

Aborisade said: “It is compelled by hunger. An hungry man is an angry man. There is hunger in the land. The protests are justifiable. People have been pushed to the wall by hunger, hardship and high cost of living.”

Emelieze said: “As regards the state of the nation, we observed that it has been hellish for the Federal Government workers and indeed Nigerians, since the removal of subsidy on petrol. Our people have been pushed to depression and suicide cases in Nigeria has increased more than ever before. A bank worker just committed suicide leaving behind a suicide note blaming hardship, a soldier in the Nigerian army equally committed suicide, though military authorities had denied the claim of suicide in a manner that suggest falsehood. It is as if our government has declared war on the Nigerian people.”

[Guardian]

Popular Nigerian singer Timaya has taken to social media to issue a safety advisory to fellow Nigerians in South Africa following Nigeria’s victory over South Africa in the semi-finals of the AFCON football tournament.

The match, which ended with Nigeria securing a spot in the finals, seems to have sparked concerns regarding the safety of Nigerians in the host country.

Timaya, through his Twitter account, urged Nigerians in South Africa to “just day your day,” implying that they should remain indoors to avoid potential harm or clashes that could arise following the football match.

The tweet comes in the wake of heightened emotions surrounding the football match.

“If you’re a Nigerian and in SA tonight pls just DEY YOUR DEY!,” Timaya wrote.

Super Eagles captain, William Troost-Ekong has named Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand as one of the players he would give his No.5 jersey up for amid the ongoing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

William Troost-Ekong said this in a post via his X account after Nigeria defeated South Africa on Wednesday to qualify for the AFCON final.

Recall that Troost-Ekong was exceptional as the Super Eagles beat the Bafana Bafana to set up a final clash with the host nation, Ivory Coast.

Ferdinand had in a show of support to the Super Eagles, posted several Nigerian flag on X and shared a picture holding the Super Eagles jersey with “Ferdinand 5” boldly written on it.

However, Troost-Ekong retweeted Ferdinand’s post and wrote: “One of the few players I would be willing to give my number up for! Legend!”

Troost-Ekong will hope to lead Jose Peseiro’s men to victory when they face Ivory Coast in the final.

[DailyPost]

The mismanagement of crisis of nation building in most post-colonial African states created without rhyme or objective criteria by self-serving imperialist powers has always been the source of disintegration of many of these states. The owners of these new states created to satisfy the greed of their colonial owners had no illusion. In deed many of their local public officials including Oliver Stanley, predicted their departure will result in a descent into turmoil of warring groups, outright civil wars and underdevelopment. 

Unfortunately, those who have the historic opportunity to change the narrative including Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari did everything except revisiting the unresolved national question.  But because of President Tinubu’s many years of preparation for his current job, Nigerians had expected him to take the first step towards a national rebirth by ensuring distributive justice through resettlement of those condemned to IDP camps by terrorist that have been identified as immigrant Fulani herdsmen back to their ancestral homes.

Unfortunately, as if it were possible to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result, Tinubu like his predecessors, chose to focus exclusively on the ‘economies of the national question’. The result is that even with the new Sheriff in town, mindless killings, banditry and kidnapping for ransom continued in Plateau and other parts of besieged northeast and northwest. With last week’s killings of three Obas and kidnapping school children from his otherwise safe Yoruba nation that had hitherto provided succour for those fleeing violence from other troubled areas of the north, the battle has finally been brought home to him.

With what now appears to be an open challenge to his legitimacy, it is hoped the president understands it is time to stop playing the ostrich especially as regards immigrant Fulani terrorists and behave like an elected sovereign with a license to breach the constitution, if necessary, to protect the nation from those holding her hostage.

On the unresolved national question, the president has so far aligned himself with those who believe attainment of economic justice i.e.  “Ensuring equitable allocation of resources and effective and sustainable production and distribution of appropriate goods and services is the ultimate solution to the national question”. The promoters of this approach led by Professor Dupe Olatubosun, formerly of NISER and a United Nations Consultant for many years and his fellow school of thought had argued that “promoting efficiency within existing structure will usher in all round prosperity and life abundant for all the people of Nigeria which will in turn lead to peaceful and equitable cohabitation of the various communities in Nigeria”. (The economies of the national question in Dupe Olatunbosun: An Autobiography (2005) pg. 175.

Unfortunately, today 24 years into the fourth republic, we are more divided than we were in 1999.  Instead of ‘life abundant for everyone’, Nigeria has become world poverty capital. The problem with proponents of this approach is the assumption that every nationality wants life abundant for its people. Although, while they admitted we are a multicultural and a heterogeneous society, they however ignored the fact that it is the level of cultural development that determines if the ruling political elites create an egalitarian society or seek power to preside over an empire of slaves.

There is a competitive spirit in every Igbo man which makes him believe he could, with hard work, become a Coscharis (Cosmas Maduka, Kalu Uzor Kalu or Rocha Okorocha, Igbo multibillionaires who started by hawking on the streets. For the average Igbo man therefore, it is self, first.

The north remains the poorest part of Nigeria despite monopoly of power for the greater part of our history. The north harbours more than two-third of Nigeria estimated 15million of out school children while their political elites send their children to the best schools in the world. Rather than a crusade for ‘life more abundant’ for the impoverished people of the north, the goal of the northern ruling elite is presiding over an empire of slaves. 

The South-south political elites especially the Ijaw, the fourth largest ethnic group in the country, share the same world view with the north they had aligned with since independence. Their leading light include the likes of Alfred Diete Spiff, governor of Rivers in his twenties and remembered more for shaving with a broken bottle, the head of a reporter who ran a story about the governor’s inability to pay salaries of teachers on the occasion of the governor’ birthday. It turned out that was at a time he was cruising around the Atlantic Ocean in his private ship according to Murtala Muhammed regime that demoted and retrieved a number of properties from him. We remember Peter Odili who secured a perpetual injunction against probe for financial malfeasance against his state by EFCC. There was the late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who escaped arrest and prosecution in Britain for defrauding his state by disguising as woman while on a flight to Nigeria. We can add James Ibori who served a jail term in Britain for defrauding his Delta people as a governor.

And if Tinubu needed additional reasons to know the answer to our crisis of nation-building is politics, the ongoing conspiracy of dubious bank owners to derail his government through foreign exchange manipulation provides just that. The time to placate them is over.

Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, our former foreign affairs minister once said that most Nigerian billionaires made their money through government. From the revelations from the ongoing probe of Emefiele’s leadership of the CBN, isn’t it time we beam light at the source of wealth of those who without inheriting industrial empire from their parents’ bought banks and today leave like film stars?

Yemi Cardoso, the current CBN governor last Monday told the nation that the Tinubu government met $7 billion in unpaid obligations and that the results of Deloitte forensic audit of what is valid or not, revealed that: $2.4 billion had issues including not having valid import documents; that entities that did not exist got allocation; entities who asked for forex got more than they asked; and that entities that did not ask got allocations. All these went through the banks that are currently engaged in foreign exchange speculation that has moved the exchange rate from about N750 to N1,400.

Do we need further explanation as to why some of these banks are declaring such huge profits that will make bankers in Europe and America green with envy?

It is on record that two-third of staff of the banks declaring profit in trillions pay slave wages of about N75,000 to their workers. President Tinubu, as an elected sovereign can borrow a leave from Niccolo Machiavelli, the apostle of politics of ‘the end justifies the means to charge the forex speculators trying to sabotage his economic policies for defrauding their workers.

The president’s other political battle over the national question is restructuring or devolution of power. There is no known multi-ethnic nation in the world that has survived by operating a federal constitution where close to 70% of the items are on the exclusive list. With about 23 states already managing one form of security outfit or the other, the time for state police is now. Local people are best at providing security for themselves even if elder statesman Theophilus Danjuma did not accuse the military and federal police of betrayal.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday joined the battle to halt further depreciation of the naira against the dollar.

It launched a crackdown on dollar speculators, hoarders, racketeers and firms issuing invoices in foreign currency.

The anti-graft agency said it had raised 14 special task forces to fish out culprits.

The anti-graft agency, which announced the arrest of many racketeers in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kaduna, said each task force will operate from the agency’s 14 zonal commands.

It has also invited for questioning some proprietors of privately run varsities and higher institutions who charge fees in dollars.

The development came on a day the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) requested that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) allow its members to resume dollar sales.

The naira exchanged yesterday for N1, 490/$ at the parallel market and N1, 418/$ in banks.

In a statement by its Head of Media and Publicity, Mr. Dele Oyewale, the EFCC said the task forces will ensure “the enforcement of extant laws against currency mutilation and dollarisation of the economy.”

 “The task force, inaugurated by the Executive Chairman of the Commission, Ola Olukoyede, was raised to protect the economy from abuses, leakages and distortions exposing it to instability and disruption.”

The CBN frowns at the use of foreign currency as a medium of exchange in Nigeria.

In a statement by its erstwhile Director, Corporate Communications, Ibrahim Mu’azu, the apex bank drew attention to the consequences of contravening the provisions of the CBN Act of 2007.

According to the Act, “the currency notes issued by the bank (CBN) shall be legal tender in Nigeria…for the payment of any amount.”

The statement reads: “The attention of the Bank has been drawn to the increasing use of foreign currencies in the domestic economy as a medium of payment for goods and services by individuals and corporates.

“It has also been observed that some institutions price their goods and services in foreign currencies and demand payments in foreign currencies rather than the domestic currency (the naira), which is the legal tender in Nigeria.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the attention of the general public is hereby drawn to the provisions of the CBN Act of 2007, which states inter-alia: ‘the currency notes issued by the Bank shall be legal tender in Nigeria…for the payment of any amount’.

“Furthermore, the Act stipulates that any person who contravenes this provision is guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a prescribed fine or six months imprisonment.

“This prohibition, however, is without prejudice to foreigners, visitors and tourists who are encouraged to continue to use their cards for payments or exchange their foreign currency for local currency at any of the authorised dealers’ outposts.

“The general public is hereby advised to report any contravention of the provision of this Act to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for appropriate action.” 

Although the EFCC was silent on the number of those arrested, it said some suspects have been undergoing interrogation.

The statement added: “Already, the commission has arrested some perpetrators of issuance of invoices in dollars and mutilation of the naira in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

“Also, proprietors of private universities and other institutions of higher learning charging fees in dollars have been invited by the commission.

“The commission is committed to the enforcement of all laws in place for the reflation and stimulation of the economy.”

In a separate statement, the EFCC said its operatives in the Kaduna Zonal Command arrested three persons in connection with suspected currency racketeering.

It listed the suspects as Musa Gideon, Abdul Seidu Adamu and Justine Musa.

They were arrested yesterday on Yakubu Gowon Way, Kaduna while trying to “sell new naira notes to an EFCC’s undercover operative”.

“The operative, a member of the special task forces set up for the enforcement of extant laws against currency mutilation and dollarisation of the economy, functioned in a sting operation carried out by the team.

“The operation yielded the arrest of the three suspects selling new and old naira notes to the tune of N1, 307,400 and in possession of many Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards.

“The suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded,” the EFCC statement said.

BDCs to CBN: let our members resume dollar sales

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has requested that the CBN allow its members to resume dollar sales.

It said dollar distribution at the retail end of the market would recommence if the proposals it submitted yesterday to the CBN were approved.

The association also proposed the return of the self-regulatory status of ABCON by the apex bank. This, according to the association, will ensure compliance by its members with regulatory guidelines.

President of the Association, Aminu Gwadabe, said the BDCs would also partner with International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) to ensure the economy attracted more forex proceeds to deepen market liquidity.

The CBN had in July 2021 stopped forex sales and issuance of new licences to prospective BDCs after its Monetary Policy Committee two-day meeting in Abuja.

[TheNation]

A former member of the House of Representatives, who represented Ika federal constituency of Delta State, Dr Cairo Ojougboh, is dead.

Reliable sources said that the outspoken politician and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) died on Wednesday night while watching the AFCON 2023 semi-final match between Nigeria and South Africa.

“As soon as a penalty kick was awarded against Nigeria during the AFCON match with South Africa on Wednesday’s semi-final clash in Bouake, Ivory Coast, he slumped,” a source privy to the incident told LEADERSHIP on Thursday.

Details Later…

[Leadership]