In a decisive move to address the alarming rise in kidnapping incidents within Abuja, the Senate on Wednesday summoned the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and the Commissioner of Police, Benneth Igwe.

The summons is part of a broader inquiry into the murder of Chris Agidy, a Senior Legislative Aide to Senator Ned Nwoko, who fell victim to kidnappers in November 2023.

The Senate’s action follows a motion put forward by Senator Nwoko, spotlighting the tragic kidnap and subsequent killing of Agidy, alongside 19 others, in the Galadimawa area of Abuja.

The motion triggered an extensive debate among the senators, culminating in a resolution that demands a comprehensive briefing from the FCT Minister and the police commissioner on measures to curb the escalating kidnapping crisis in Nigeria’s capital.

In addition to the summons, the Senate has issued directives aimed at bolstering security within Abuja and nationwide.

Key among these is a resolution calling on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to significantly enhance security patrols and surveillance efforts.

The legislative body also advocated for the strategic installation of CCTV cameras across Abuja, particularly along highways, to aid in monitoring and deterring criminal activities.

Further, the Senate has instructed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to ensure the operational readiness of dedicated emergency numbers.

These numbers are intended to facilitate prompt communication with the police, ambulance services, and fire departments, thereby improving the efficiency of emergency responses.

Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, indicated that the FCT Minister and the Commissioner of Police are to engage with the Senate in a closed-door session.

The specifics of this meeting, including the date, will be communicated to Wike and Igwe through an official letter of summons, to be dispatched by the Clerk of the Senate, Chinedu Akubueze.

Akpabio said, “The FCT Minister and Police Commissioner would appear before us in closed session on a date to be sent to them by the Clerk of the Senate.

“Their expected appearance before the Senate is to hear from them, measures and strategies being put in place to stem the ugly tide of kidnappings in the FCT.

“Incidences like kidnapping and killing of SLA of Senator Nwoko and some residents of FC are worrisome and must be stopped not only in the FCT but also in Nigeria generally.”

[NaijaNews]

Countering the minister, organised labour expressed outrage over President Tinubu’s approval for implementation of the Oronsaye’s report on public sector reforms, saying it will lead to massive job losses, among others.

While the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, directed members in the public sector to furnish the national secretariat with impact analysis report focusing on the potential consequences, including job losses, changes in workload, pay/compensation and the overall impact on workers, work, and trade unions, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, set up a three-member committee to monitor the implementation of the report to ensure none of its members loses his or her job.

Already, the Non-Academic Staff of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, has called on President Tinubu to review his stance on the report because of members’ job, querying: “Why did you think the former governments of President Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari refused to implement the Oronsaye’s report? You think they are cowards?”

NLC, in a letter to the public sector unions, titled: “Request for impact analysis of Oronsaye’s report on public sector reforms,” its Acting General Secretary, Ismail Bello, said: “As you are aware, His Excellency, Bola Tinubu, the President of the federation, recently announced the initiation of public sector reforms, with particular reference to the Oronsaye report.

“This comprehensive report outlines proposed measures aimed at restructuring and streamlining various governmental agencies and institutions with the stated goal of enhancing efficiency, effectiveness, and service delivery.

“While these reforms hold the promise of improving governance and public service delivery, it is imperative that we, as representatives of the workforce, thoroughly analyze the implications of such changes on the lives and livelihoods of our members including its possible impact on trade unions. The potential consequences, including but not limited to job losses, changes in workload, pay/compensation and the overall impact on workers, work, and trade unions, need to be carefully assessed and addressed.

“In light of this, I kindly request that your esteemed union conducts a thorough impact analysis of the Oronsaye report on public sector reforms, focusing on the following key areas:

“Job losses- Evaluate the potential impact of the proposed reforms on employment within your sector, including projections of possible job losses and the sectors most affected.

“Efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery – Assess how the proposed reforms may affect the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery within your sector. Consider factors such as resource allocation, institutional capacity, and the ability to meet public demands and expectations.

“Workload of Staff: Examine the potential consequences of the reforms on the workload and working conditions of employees- Identify any risks of increased work pressure, burnout, or stress resulting from restructuring or downsizing measures.

“Pay/Compensation- Appraise its impact on Pay and Compensation structure to ensure that workers are not left with reduced Pay and Compensations during and after the transitions.

General Implications for Workers, Work, and Trade Unions – Analyze the broader implications of the reforms on workers’ and trade union rights, job security, collective bargaining power, and the role of trade unions in advocating for the interests of workers.”

National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) said the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) has agreed to review all the issues raised by the association following the revised guidelines and requirements to be met by nurses and midwives seeking the verification of certificate(s) to foreign nursing boards/councils.

The national president of NANNM, Michael Ekuma Nnachi, disclosed this at the induction programme for newly elected state officers of NANNM, in Abuja.

He said, “The leadership of the association promptly engaged the NMCN through a series of meetings to address the critical issues and the council agreed to review all the issues raised by the association.

“Issue of letter of good standing to be handled by the Head of Nursing services of respective facilities.

“Issue of verification for six months was stepped down. Application fee remains status quo ante. Two years post qualification experience now to be post registration with the Council.

“All the agreed reviewed guidelines will be uploaded on the council portal from first week of March 2024.”

Meanwhile, the nurses have called on the federal government to implement the upward review of nurses salary, extend and include appointment of nurses into key positions as well as members of Federal Boards in order to address extreme marginalisation in the governance structure of the health facilities in the country.

Other demands made by the nurses include “Government to approve creation of a special separate salary package called Enhanced Nurses Salary Structure (ENSS) as a motivation to the nurses and midwives to reduce migration.

“Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) to direct the payment of 25 percent CONHESS adjustment to nurses and midwives working at the three tiers of government, effective from June 2023 as approved by the government, which the financial implication would erode due to the prevailing inflation and implications of removal of fuel subsidy.

“CMDs/MDs to objectively implement government approved policy replacement circulars by replacement of appropriate cadre of nurses due to brain drain syndrome as directed by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

“The FMoH is requested to approve the elongation of the retirement age of nurses from 60 to 65 years to improve on available workforce in the clinical and educational institutions in the country.”

[Leadership]

About 11.2 million active Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards yet to be linked to their owners’ National Identity Numbers (NINs) will be blocked today.

Telecom operators, who confirmed this to Daily Trust yesterday, said this was in compliance with the directive by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC,  Dr Aminu Maida, had earlier yesterday reiterated the commission’s directive to telecom operators to block phone lines not linked to NINs by February 28, 2024.

He spoke in Kaduna at the NCC’s Special Day during the ongoing 45th Kaduna International Trade Fair.

Maida, represented by NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Mouka, said as a matter of critical national security, telecom consumers must link their SIMs to their NINs.

This is despite an injunction by the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday banning telecom operators from deactivating or terminating any phone line or SIM card not linked to the user’s National NIN.

Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa inssued the injunction following an application by a Lagos-based lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, seeking to prohibit the respondents–the  Federal Government, the Attorney-General of the Federation, MTN, NCC and Airtel from deactivating, barring or restricting SIM cards or phone lines on February 28, 2024, or any other scheduled date, pending a decision by the Appeal Court. The NCC and the telecom operators have yet to appeal the court decision.

The federal government had, on December 16, 2020, introduced the SIM-NIN synchronization with the assurance that it would enable security agencies to track criminals.

The synchronization involves validating the NIN with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and matching the subscriber’s NIN records with the SIM registration information (verification) to ensure proper subscriber’s identification.

Nigerians have raised posers on why the security agencies have not utilized the SIM-NIN linkage to track criminals, especially bandits and kidnappers, who often reach out, via mobile phone lines, to victims’ families who paid huge amounts of money as ransom.

At present, there are 224.7 million active mobile telephone lines in the country, according to the information released yesterday by the NCC on its website.

The spokesman of the NIMC, Kayode Adegoke, told our correspondent yesterday that a total of 104 million NINs had so far been registered as of last week.

The NCC had, last year, given February 28, 2024, as the new deadline for the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) to block subscribers without their NINs and those whose NINs had not been verified.

The NCC boss, Maida, on Wednesday reaffirmed that the deadline stood.

“The Commission has directed all telecommunication operators to bar phone lines of subscribers whose lines are not linked to their NINs on or before February 28, 2024.

“As a regulator of the telecommunications sector in the country, the commission carries out its functions to ensure service availability, affordability, and sustainability for all categories of consumers, who are leveraging on ICT/Telecoms to drive personal and business activities,” he said.

A reliable source at the NCC told Daily Trust last night that 11.2 million SIM cards were yet to be linked to their owners’ NINs.

“These 11.2 million lines will all be barred from either calling or receiving calls and will also be denied from accessing service by the telecom operators”, the official stated.

Blockage begins today–Telecoms  operators

In a statement yesterday, the chairman of the Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr Gbenga Adebayo, said compliance to the NCC’s directive would begin today.

“We have directed all telecommunication companies, and also communicated to our members to implement full network barring on all MSISDNs for which the subscribers have not submitted their National Identity Numbers (NINs) and those without verified NINs.”

Adebayo emphasised that all the affected subscribers must be verified (biometrics and bio-data) before their lines would be unbarred.

“The importance of the NIN cannot be over-emphasised. It is crucial for Nigeria’s reliable and sustainable national identity management system. It enables economic inclusion and access to government services and helps address security concerns.

“Supporting the NIN initiative is necessary for a thriving digital economy and a safer society.

“Therefore, our members are committed to implementing the directive as law-abiding corporate citizens who highly support the government’s objective to build a digital economy.

“We, therefore, wish to appeal to esteemed subscribers to kindly enroll for NINs or submit their NINs through the appropriate channel advertised by members to avoid full suspension of services by the set deadlines.

“This is part of an industry-wide directive that requires phone lines for which the subscribers have not submitted their NINs to be barred on or before 28 February 2024.

“About NINs that have been submitted but not verified, such lines are to be barred on or before 29 March 2024, where five or more lines are linked to an unverified NIN.

“Similarly, where less than five lines are linked to an unverified NIN, such lines are to be barred on or before 15 April 2024. All affected subscribers must be verified (biometrics and bio-data) before their lines are unbarred.

“The current directive is a follow-up to the NCC’s directive of April 2022 requiring operators to restrict outgoing calls (one-way barring) for subscribers whose lines are not associated with NINs.

“We encourage affected subscribers to submit their NINs for verification,” the statement said.

Subscribers’ association president seeks more time

Speaking to Daily Trust yesterday, the president of National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers of Nigeria,

Deolu Ogunbanjo, said the telecom operators should give subscribers more time to comply with the NCC’s directive.

Ogunbanjo, however, urged Nigerians to go and link their SIM cards to their NINs to avoid being barred

MTN explains network outage

Meanwhile, subscribers of MTN telecommunication service experienced network glitches for several hours yesterday.

The company said the network failure was caused by multiple fibre cuts affecting voice and data services.

[DailyTrust]

Al-Nassr forward, Cristiano Ronaldo has been suspended for one game after appearing to make an obscene gesture following their 3-2 win over Al Shabab.

This was confirmed by the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee of the Saudi Football Federation (SAFF) on Wednesday.

Ronaldo cupped his ear, before repeatedly pumping his hand forward in front of his pelvic area, in the direction of the Al Shabab fans after the final whistle.

This came as the supporters chanted Lionel Messi’s name.

The committee also said the Portugal captain has been fined 10,000 Saudi riyals ($2,666), which he will pay to the Saudi Football Federation and 20,000 riyals to Al Shabab to cover the costs of the complaint filing fees.

The committee said the decision is not subject to appeal.

[DailyPost]

A fresh crisis is brewing in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over the just concluded Edo State governorship primaries election following the insistence of Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, that he won the primaries and should be given a certificate of return. Shaibu, who emerged as winner of a parallel primary, stormed the National Secretariat of the PDP, yesterday, to demand the certificate of return.

His demand came barely 24 hours after the party’s Acting National Chairman, Amb. Umar Damagum and the party leadership issued a certificate of return to Dr. Asue Ighodalo, who won the primaries recognized by the party. The deputy governor who was at the secretariat with a handful of his aides, did not meet any member of the National Working Committee, NWC.

He, however, insisted that the party must abide by its own rules or be prepared to face legal action. Speaking to reporters shortly after leaving the office of the PDP acting national chairman, Shaibu said: “Today is 28th of February, 2024. By the PDP guidelines approved by the NWC on the Edo 2024 governorship primary, today is the day set aside by the electoral guidelines that the certificate of returns will be issued. “I am here to receive my certificate of return because I won the primary in Edo where the authentic delegates voted. If you look at the board of the party office here, you will see the names of all the delegates that voted for me.

“Today is the presentation of Certificate of Return according to the party, so PDP must follow its rules and guidelines. This is what we are talking about.

“The process of producing a candidate has been compromised from the onset and we ask that those things be corrected. Even the committee that recommended the political solution is fully aware that there were abnormalities in the process that led to my emergence and whoever.

“But why I am here is to obey the guidelines to come and receive the certificate of return and I was told that somebody else came here yesterday and was given the certificate. “I think the court will tell us who between us is the real candidate, but I am here in fulfillment of the electoral guidelines of the PDP to receive my certificate… I told them that I was coming, but none of them had come to work, only the staff of the secretariat are here. I don’t know why they are not here. That is strange and that is in line with why they were in a hurry to give the certificate of return yesterday (Tuesday).”

Asked whether he was ready to give peace a chance following calls by both the party leadership and its recognized candidate, Ighodalo, for a truce, Shaibu expressed doubt over the sincerity of Governor Godwin Obaseki and his team. He said: “Maybe the acting chairman may be very honourable and mean what he is saying but the others talking about reconciliation don’t really mean what they are saying.

“They are intimidating us, and harassing us. As I speak, they are even threatening to impeach me and that is their way of dealing with people. They suspend, sack people, make phone calls intimidating people telling people, they will come after you.

“During the military, these were the kind of threats that we were getting and we cannot return to the era of intimidation and harassment, and that is the issue in Edo State.” Asked if he was considering seeking legal redress, Shaibu said: “When the party’s internal mechanism is followed and it is obvious that the party is not ready to listen, the next line of action obviously will be the judiciary, but I pray we don’t get there and that is why I came here today.

“I’m sure in the coming days, the acting National Chairman and others will adhere to what brought me here today and when they do so, there will not be a need to go to court.” I will surpass Obaseki’s performance, if elected – Ighodalo Meanwhile, Dr Ighodalo has said he was committed to transforming the state and surpassing the achievements of outgoing Governor Obaseki if elected on September 21, 2024. He gave the assurance while addressing party supporters who thronged the Benin Airport to welcome him back from Abuja. Recall that Asue Ighodalo who was recently nominated as PDP candidate in a primary election many judged to be transparent, free and fair was on Tuesday in Abuja given the certificate of return by the party’s national leadership.

He said: “If elected, I will commence work from where Governor Obaseki would stop and even do more for the people.” He maintained that having been given the PDP return certificate, the real work has commenced and appealed to the people to help support his ambition. He said: “I want to thank you all for this show of love and support because we wouldn’t be where we are now without your support. “This is the time for the real work to commence and by the grace of God, we are going to work hard in order to achieve our target. “Where the Governor will stop in terms of development, we are going to continue from there and even do more”, he assured.

[Vanguard]

One of the oft-repeated myths in this country is that when the poor are hungry enough, their final resort will be to eat the rich. But when one considers the Nigerian situation, one wonders just how much more hungry people need to get before they finally combust. Several revolutions in human history have been triggered by people who could no longer manage their hunger pangs. From Russia in the 16th century to South Africa in 2020, hunger has launched the public protests that changed the course of history. Only time will tell if the physiological experience of hunger will drive the urgency of political action in Nigeria.

No thanks to the current economic situation, “ebi ń pa wá o!” has become the defining anthem of the Bola Tinubu era. The gustatorial politics of jęun sókè that made our man popular has been overtaken by the insatiability of the gut. Last Friday, a stampede that occurred during the sale of rice “seized” by the Nigeria Customs Service Yaba office reportedly killed seven persons. There is so much one can begin to say about the organisers who failed to factor in crowd control properly. What technical and organising capacity did they have that they trusted themselves to efficiently handle the starving multitude that would surge to their offices to buy food a little more affordably?

Given the rate at which the politics of ethnicity and religion are being weaponised as a taming mechanism to curtail agitation, maybe we are seeing all there is to the shouts of ebi ń pa wá o! The Yoruba elders in the socio-cultural group Afenifere, for instance, begged fellow Yorubas not to join the public protests breaking out over the current economic hardship. Reuben Fasoranti, chairman of Afenifere’s elders caucus, said that though people face hardship, they must also be understanding. After restating the same trite excuse that our situation is comatose because of the failures of past administrations, he added, “The government’s commitment to implementing these measures is a testament to its dedication to addressing the root causes of our economic challenges, inherited from the ills of the previous years.”

I do not know if Baba Fasoranti is an economic analyst to trust that the ongoing reforms are truly as restorative as government officials insist, but I can bet that the elderly man has witnessed enough of Nigeria’s history to know that what he describes as “the ills of the previous years” does not exclude key actors in this present administration. Nigeria did not become the way it is presently because a bunch of aliens dropped from Mars to inflict pain on us. We are stuck in history because we are repeatedly being served by the same old executioners garbed in the robes of statesmen.

Even Sunday Igboho, the so-called revolutionary who stepped up for the “Yoruba nation” during the Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)’s administration too has joined the company of Yoruba attenuators. He also exonerates Tinubu from the ongoing hardships and blames Buhari instead. I think he forgets that the insecurity situation that prompted him to become a “freedom fighter” in the Buhari era also predated the Buhari presidency. I do not recall him offering Buhari the same alibi he is now tossing around for his kinsman. The fact that every Nigerian problem is a carryover from a previous era does not mean we should merely shut up and suffer. What is the point of electing a president when the best he can do is to merely contextualise the problem we—not them—live through every day?

By now, if there is one consistent quality one has come to expect from our people, it is that the politics of identity will always trump the affinity of class. Even amidst the hunger that killed seven while they struggled to buy cheap rice, our people still manage to maintain some clarity on the ethnic import of their reaction to the hunger. Even the NLC protests planned for Tuesday and Wednesday could barely be held after several unions backed out.

Former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Prof. Usman Yusuf, who has been making provocative public statements in the media regarding the worsening economic hardship recently wondered “why the South-East is uncharacteristically quiet.” Several self-appointed representatives of the South-East handed him some self-justificatory answers, but who can blame any southeasterner for not joining or staging protests after all the traumas they went through under the Buhari administration? The man’s politics, especially his imprudent response to the rise of IPOB, did not bode well for the South-East. Why go through another phase of unrest again and so soon too?

Then, of course, there was the 2023 elections where an Igbo man was a leading presidential candidate. While he managed to upend the structuration of Nigeria’s political calculations, the election outcome was another story. Not only did the results feature many instances of electoral manipulation, but the triumphalism of the supposed winners fuelled toxicity. The silence of the South-East can therefore be a manifestation of a well-earned schadenfreude. Really, why should they not gloat now that “èmilókàn” has become “ebi ń pa wá o”? Let those who opened their eyes wide to retain the APC after suffering eight years of affliction under Buhari stand up and fix what they broke.

Whatever one might think of Yusuf’s singling out a region in his expectations of political agitations, he had a point about how public protests work in Nigeria. If Nigerians who have been serially hit by Tinubu’s harsh policies are now pacifying themselves with stories of how everything got spoiled by previous administration(s), it is not because they have a better perspective on their history. If, by now, the South-West has not brought out its famous rage machine to antagonise the government of the day over the excruciating economic conditions that their people—crying ebi ń pa wá o! in the streets—are enduring, how else do we account for their complacence other than the “àwalókàn” sentiment?

Under a different set of circumstances, certain characters—you know them—would have been jumping from one media house to another to register their aggrievement over the unfortunate incident of the deaths at the Customs Office. They would have been alleging a systematic plot to diminish the “Yoruba race” and be threatening fire and brimstone. But now, they ask us to sit still. Not even the affliction of hunger can put paid to our people’s marshalling of tribal troops.

If Atiku Abubakar or Peter Obi had won the 2023 presidential election, would Fasoranti have issued a statement cautioning the Yoruba people against public protests? I know it is a hypothetical question, but it is one that can be answered by considering precedents. Under Dr Goodluck Jonathan and Buhari, did they also enjoin Yorubas not to protest because the hardship was for the eventual good?

If we will advance as a people, we need to reach a point where the region (and the religion) that succeeded in putting a candidate into power should be the one to lead the agitation if that leader starts faltering. If you voted out of a conviction that the person can level mountains, then you owe the rest of us the legwork to see that the better world you envisioned while casting your vote is realised. People who go all out for a candidate should take the pains to also hold them accountable. It should not be enough to want to see your tribe (or religion) in power, but you should also go all out to ensure that their administration represents the best your tribe has to offer the country.

Seriously, Tinubu’s supporters owe us public protests and accountability for opening the door to an affliction everyone knew would happen.

Two senior executives at Binance have been detained in Nigeria.

According to Financial Times (FT), a UK-based business news outlet, the passports of the unnamed Binance executives were seized.

FT gathered that the executives flew to Nigeria following the country’s decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites last week but were detained with their passports seized.

Officials did not provide details on why the Binance employees are being detained and it remains unclear on whether they have been charged with any violations of Nigerian law.

Recall last week Federal Government blocked the online platforms of Binance and other crypto firms to avert what it considers continuous manipulation of the forex market and illicit movement of funds.

Apart from Binance, other platforms such as Forextime, OctaFX, Crypto, FXTM, Coinbase, and Kraken, among others were also blocked.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday raised concerns over $26 billion that flowed through Binance Nigeria over the past year from “unidentified sources”.

CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, expressed worries over the significant volume of transactions passing through Binance Nigeria, emphasizing that the origins and beneficiaries of these funds are yet to be adequately identified.

“We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these entities and suspicious flows at best.

“In the case of Binance, in the last one year alone, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” he stated.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, on Wednesday, said the importation of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, into Nigeria has reduced by 50 per cent since the withdrawal of subsidy on the commodity.

During his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, President Bola Tinubu declared that fuel subsidy was gone. Within 24 hours after that declaration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Nigeria’s sole importer of PMS, withdrew subsidy on petrol.

This led to a jump in the price of the commodity from about N198/litre to over N500/litre, as it later moved up to over N600/litre and currently sells for between N620/litre and N700/litre depending on the area of purchase.

Speaking at the third edition of the ministerial press briefing series in Abuja on Wednesday, where the Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare addressed journalists, Idris stated that subsidy removal had led to the reduction of fuel imports by 50 per cent.

“Petrol importation has been reduced by 50 per cent since the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy,” the information minister stated.

He explained the continent lacked extensive traditional energy infrastructure, but stressed that this had presented an opportunity for leapfrogging in a more efficient way to renewable technology.

“Our aspiration in the area of energy security and energy transition will remain aspiration unless we have access to adequate funding resources that we control. With a lot of international banks withdrawing funding out of the oil and gas sector, the investment in the industry has become severely limited with the corresponding impact on exploration and production.

“Afreximbank has intervened in a big way, quickly becoming the largest financier of oil and gas deals in the continent. The support provided to the sector by the bank is in excess of $30bn. Nigeria has been one of the largest beneficiaries accounting for almost 60 per cent of the total funding of the sector.

“And it’s important to the point that afreximbank has been able to make those modest contributions in the oil and gas sector because the bank is predominantly African in ownership and control,” he stated.

Oramah disclosed that Afreximbank would be managing the proposed Africa Energy Bank to ensure its best chance of success.

“The strategic goal of the Africa Energy Bank is to play a leadership role in shaping the energy landscape in Africa through strategic partnership with proven African and international financial institutions and investors and also to provide sustainable financing in this area of the oil and gas sector.

“The Africa energy bank will need considerable support to get off the ground. We will need support from member states to achieve the level of capitalization that is adequate to support the energy sector,” he stated.

NNPCL partners OPEC

Also on Wednesday, NNPCL and the Organisation of the Oil Exporting Countries pledged to work together to achieve the Nigeria’s aspirations to attract investments and grow production.

The two organisations came to this accord when the Secretary-General of OPEC, Haitham al-Ghais, paid a courtesy visit to the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, at the NNPC Towers in Abuja.

Speaking at the event, al-Ghais stated that OPEC was completely aligned with NNPCL’s vision as captured in its payoff line: “Energy for Today, Energy for Tomorrow”.

This, he said, was because of the oil firm’s inclusive view of energy as opposed to the view being pushed in some quarters that some sources of energy were bad.

He disclosed that in spite of the pushback on oil and gas, the world would require about $14tn investments from now till 2035 to be able to meet global demand, and urged NNPCL to do everything to tap into that opportunity to raise its production.

“We will continue to ensure that the market is stable. The global market has to be stable in order for Nigeria to be able to attract investors. If there’s volatility, if there’s no stability in the market, it will only create havoc for everybody, whether it’s a producer or consumer country.

“So, we will continue to do that in OPEC. We count on Nigeria’s support,” the OPEC helmsman stated.

In his remarks, Kyari said NNPCL was working very hard to recover lost production and provide the right fiscal environment to attract investments.

He expressed appreciation to OPEC for its support to Nigeria, adding that NNPCL would continue to support the organisation in whatever way it could.

Nigeria reaping

Meanwhile, at the briefing series by the information minister, which was initiated to provide a platform for public officials to reel out their achievements and apprise Nigerians of the challenges of governance, Idris said Nigeria had begun to reap the benefits of the reforms being spearheaded by President Tinubu.

He said  that the Nigeria’s gross domestic product grew by 3.46 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023, as against 2.54 per cent recorded in the third quarter of 2023.

 He also said capital importation rose to 66 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023, reversing a 36 per cent decline in the third quarter.

“The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index crossed the 100,000 mark – its highest ever, mainly due to the pragmatic reforms initiated by the President, which inspired investor confidence in the Nigerian economy.

“It is also encouraging to state that oil production has risen from 1.22 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2023 to 1.55 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2023.”

President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, saying, “Subsidy is gone.”

Idris notes that President Tinubu has also given a directive for the design of a Social Security Unemployment Programme to cater for the unemployed graduates.

“This is in addition to setting up of a Social Consumer Credit Scheme to boost the purchasing power of Nigerians, as they make adjustments in view of the temporary economic hardship.

“As the government rejigs the National Social Investment Programme, the direct payments of N25,000 to 15 million households will resume immediately.

“The government is equally tackling insecurity headlong and more success stories are coming in on daily basis. Without any doubt, we are winning the war against insecurity,” he said.

[Punch]

On Monday, January 8, 2024, Nigerians woke up to the news of the suspension of Betta Edu, who was formerly the minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. On the same day, Babatunde Ayokunle Irukera who was, for six years, Executive Vice Chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, (FCCPC), was relieved of his appointment.

Both developments compelled an essay which I titled “On Betta Edu and Tunde Irukera.” The media generously ventilated the article even as I attempted to draw comparisons between two public officers with different pedigrees and “misdemeanours”. Evidence in the public domain attested to blatant disregard for public service rules and mammoth thievery by one of the two people I wrote about. The other public servant was uncharacteristically innovative, transparent and altruistic in his approach to work. He literally excavated a government agency in the throes of asphyxiation and obliteration, to a world-class organisation, to local and international aplomb.

Much unlike me, I had, just weeks before, written about Irukera following the recognition of the agency he superintended over as “Government Agency of the Year”. This was evidence of how very closely I followed the good works of Irukera. The honour in question came from Leadership Newspapers, one of Nigeria’s most reputable tabloids. FCCPC was selected for the acclamation for “promoting fairness, regulatory stability and consumer protection within the marketplace.” My piece alluded to the uncommon-ness of Irukera’s attitude to public service which many officeholders construe as a licence for the wholesale looting and holistic decimation of departments assigned to them. Haven’t we just been told that nine officers in the Nigerian Customs Services, (NCS) were recently fingered in a N12 billion scam?

In pronouncing the FCCPC under Irukera as an authentic public service exemplar, Leadership noted that since his appointment in 2017, the organisation had pursued “a transformative journey reshaping and rebranding the erstwhile Consumer Protection Council, (CPC)”. Further, the newspaper noted that the organisation had been refocused as a “proactive and consumer-centric FCCPC.” Irukera’s oversight of the commission’s transformation and operationalisation beginning from January 30, 2019, Leadership noted had been a game-changer. Further still, the awarding newspaper said: “Following the enactment of the FCCPC Act, Irukera has demonstrated “unwavering dedication to fostering a dynamic and responsive regulatory environment”. The FCCPC under Irukera it was observed “has recorded numerous milestones across diverse sectors including healthcare, digital finance and electricity”.

According to Leadership, “one of the standout accomplishments of Irukera’s FCCPC is the strategic development and implementation of the Patient’s Bill of Rights”. That initiative establishes a comprehensive framework empowering patients with essential rights such as informed consent, confidentiality and unrestricted access to their medical records”. The Patient Bill of Rights, Leadership observed, “serves as a charter of principles delineating the rights and responsibilities of patients, healthcare providers and the regulatory body”. This is “an approach which fosters a culture of transparency, accountability and patient-centric care”.

Irukera’s leadership at the FCCPC witnessed other strategic initiatives and impactful interventions in other sectors, notably in digital finance, the power sector and the nation’s bureaucracy. FCCPC was also catalytic in shaping Nigeria’s business environment which became more cognisant of the emplacement of fairness, consumer protection and regulatory stability. Local and foreign investors have continued to experience the transformative impact of standardised practices instituted by the FCCPC. This congruence between national and international standards, in combination with rigorous process auditing and the development of guidelines and standard operating procedures, serves as an imprimatur of quality assurance in the Nigerian marketplace. These are identified perspectives about Irukera’s exertions in public service as dispassionately enunciated by one of Nigeria’s more serious newspapers.

Confident of his transparent governance approach, Irukera was never shy of media engagement. On the eve of the last yuletide, therefore, Irukera hosted the media where he noted that the FCCPC under him, had become a wholly self-sustaining department. According to him, the FCCPC made history in 2023 by generating N56 billion. The feat was achieved by the simple enforcement of compliance with existing laws vis-a-vis the payment of penalties by defaulting companies. This was a novelty by any standards in a milieu where many government-funded establishments overdraw their allocations, expend their internally generated revenues (IGR) and still prospect for supplementation. Irukera noted at that media interface that the organisation hired new staff in strict adherence to service procedures. This assisted the federal government in taking young, qualified, unemployed people off the streets.

Perhaps if every ministry, department or agency under the thoroughly dysfunctional Muhammadu Buhari regime had transparently recruited qualified youths across board, the national despondency levels would have been mitigated albeit marginally. Much of what we picked up in the media space was hush-hush recruitments into “A-grade” MDAs like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and so on. After addressing staff emoluments, overhead costs and capital requirements, the FCCPC, Irukera noted, gifted the federal government N22 billion by way of remittances! This was a most un-envisaged precedence by a government agency which was picked up from the backwoods and transformed into a national model, even bride.

On Wednesday, February 28, 2024, the Senate of the Federal Republic under the leadership of Godswill Akpabio, rubber-stamped the request of President Tinubu to sack Irukera. He was deemed inefficient! For those who have followed the quiet yet impactful revolution which Tunde Irukera has pursued in the past six years, nothing can be more preposterous. There wouldn’t be a joke more cruel, more malevolent, more unfeeling than such a testimonial to a man who has invested so much in service to the nation at testy times such as we have been in the past decade. Irukera demonstrated that government concerns can be effectively and productively run. What do we make of an organisation like the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies, (NBAIS), which was in September 2022 reprimanded by the legislature for unjustified spending? The Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriation queried NBAIS for spending N8.5 billion annually, on 6,000 employees to administer examinations to 500 students. No heads have rolled ever since in the Professor Muhammad Abdullahi-led organisation.

The spiteful removal of Babatunde Ayokunle Irukera from office the way it has been done is a gross injustice and a colossal disservice to patriotism and sacrifice. There have been unfounded suggestions to the effect that Irukera was blackmailed as one of those who “substantially” supported former Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo’s bid to contest the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) in 2022. This is most farfetched for a technocrat like Irukera whose gaze is almost permanently fixed on his desk treating official correspondences, receiving briefs, and holding meetings. In other climes, Irukera should by now have in the bag recognitions like the “National Productivity Order of Merit,” (NPOM) as well as a minimum investiture with a national honour in the category of “Officer of the Order of the Niger,” (OON). He chose, however, not to hunt for titular aggrandisement preferring to immerse himself wholly and completely in service to fatherland.

Irukera’s mistreatment echoes the manner Damilola Ogunbiyi who was managing director of the Rural Electrification Agency under the Buhari government, was unjustly treated in 2019. She has since moved on to the global heights of the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All. She is also Co-Chair of UN Energy.

Irukera always had a flourishing law practice in the United States before heeding the call to avail the country of his multiplex competencies and experiences. He is not a jobber like many whose only CV is “being abroad”. For as long as he remained in his job in Nigeria, he ran his family by telephone, virtually. The manner he has been treated will be a major disincentive to Nigerians out there who would otherwise be glad to come contribute their quotas to national development. In Irukera, Nigeria has a brand ambassador who should be engaged to hoist the nation’s banner across the world. He deserves to be genuinely apologised to, pacified and given his flowers.

Olusunle, PhD, poet, journalist, scholar and author is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (ANA).