There is no denying the fact that Prof. Farooq Kperogi is as engaging as he is informed about Nigeria that he discusses with passion and flair. He writes with conviction and leaves no one in doubt he wants the best for his country, Nigeria. Many Nigerians have shed the toga of patriotism that Kperogi still wears like a badge. Nigeria, to many, is a lost cause already.

 A professor of dentistry compared Nigeria to a cancer patient whose cancer can no longer be isolated for treatment because the virus has metastasized to other vital organs of the body. Even advocates of restructuring have since moved away from that prescription, believing that events have overtaken it. But no matter what we may say, Nigeria hopping on one leg is still a pot of delicious soup for those in the kitchen where the food is prepared. 

How much of the suffering of the people do our leaders in all honesty feel? They are too far removed from the suffering to feel the pain. It’s like a fairy tale or Alice in Wonderland when you describe the deprivation that hapless Nigerians have to put up with. How people who do not feel the pinch will solve a problem they know little or nothing about remains to be seen.

Yes, Tinubu cannot and must not attempt to govern like Muhammadu Buhari did. Buhari’s administration was the most ruinous ever in the history of this country. He destroyed the present and mortgaged the future. He piled up mountains of debts for this and coming generations with nothing to show for it. 

Like Fela's crooning, misery, sorrow and tears were Buhari’s regular trademark. His administration met us with only the scourge of Boko Haram but left those of Fulani herdsmen and bandits in addition. Blood flowed freely all over the country. Historians record that King Nero fiddled while Rome burned. 

One carton I saw pictured Buhari picking his teeth while herdsmen, bandits and other sundry criminals ran rings around hapless Nigerians killing, maiming, destroying life and property and walking away free. Kidnappers strolled to the bank to collect ransom money. Yes, Kperogi is right: Tinubu cannot – and should not – govern like Buhari did. No country can survive two Buharis in a row!

Kperogi followed the mainstream narrative of the twin policy of fuel subsidy removal and one-window foreign exchange policy being the cause of the unmitigated suffering in the land and the recent protests over high cost of living, especially of foodstuffs, in some parts of the country. There is no denying the fact that these policies have contributed but they are not the real cause of the problems we face today. They may have acted as catalysts but the problems have been knocking on our door for decades.

 The colonial masters diverted our attention from growing what we need (food crops) to growing what they need (cash crops). That was the beginning. Growing up in the late fifties, my father was a merchant-cum-farmer. He had sprawling cocoa farms with food crops like yams, maize, cassava and what-have-you interspersed in them. My mother was a petty trader and food vendor who also engaged in subsistence farming. On holidays, most children followed their parents to the farm, to return only a day or two before the resumption date. No more!

We are now all in the cities engaged in white- or blue-collar jobs! The farms are abandoned. Where will the foodstuffs come from? The problem of insecurity that has driven the remaining hands off the farm has accentuated the problem. That is why the food protests which, ordinarily, should have started in the big cities where the cost of living is more biting, have started from so-to-say agrarian backwoods. Why? Because agriculture is the mainstay of their sustenance. 

There is little commerce that takes place there. So, with the dislocation of agriculture caused by insecurity, they are left high and dry. It may not be politics at work; hunger is what is inciting the people. Agrarian societies, where hunger, suffering and deprivation are more pronounced, are less able to survive in today’s Nigeria than the commercial centres.

Were we not aware that rural-urban migration that has been on for ages, draining the rural areas of the needed energy and manpower, would have deleterious consequences on food production? What did we do to stem the tide? Were we also not aware that uncontrolled population explosion (Malthus theory), where population growth outstrips the resources available, would also lead to undesirable consequences? 

Think also of the three curses, nay four, that we have allowed to befall this country: The first is the resource curse where we depended, and still depend, on one resource – crude oil – and have failed to leverage on it to develop our agricultural and industrial sectors. Instead, we squandered our riches. One-time military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, said the problem of Nigeria was not money but how to spend it! And not knowing how to spend the oil windfall, we squandered it again and again! And we think we will not pay a steep price for that down the line?

Growing up, we ate rice only during festive periods. Bread was not on the menu those days. Today, our taste buds are no longer for the foods we grow but for foreign foods and goods. We waste billions of dollars on food imports. Rice curse and wheat curse combined drain us of billions of dollars yearly! We are a country of net importers and we wonder why our Naira is weak! 

In those days, foreigners came here to school; no more! Instead, we now spend billions of dollars yearly to send our children to schools abroad. In those days, our hospitals were, perhaps, the best in Africa, especially the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. No more! Today, led by our shameless leaders, we spend billions of dollars on medical tourism yearly. Industries that used to be here have voted with their feet. We produce nothing but consume everything foreign – and we think there would be no consequences?

In one of my recent columns, I proffered reasons why I think Nigeria was not moving forward. My editor, Comrade Nojeem Jimoh, called and said we should stop asking that Nigeria move forward! Instead, we should advocate that it goes backward! Yes, because our best days and years are in the past! May you not know better yesterday! But Nigeria has known better yesterday! Each government that comes appears worse than the one before it!

 Nzeogwu and his colleagues who plotted the first coup described the politicians of the First Republic as “ten-percenters…who make this country look big-for-nothing” Today, our leaders not only take 100 percent after they have mindlessly inflated the contract sum, they also end up only signing papers and doing no job! Where any job is done at all, it is shoddy! Revelations coming out of the tour of duty of the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, confirms that. What Nzeogwu called corruption in his own days is like comparing a mere headache with today’s cancer that has eaten deep into every fabric of Nigerian society. And we think there would be no consequence regardless who is the president?

My own thoughts, dear Kperogi, is not Tinubu’s removal of subsidy and trying to stop forex round-tripping but what he has failed to do. Everyone agreed on the policies - but how and what should replace them? And what should we subsidize instead?

Tinubu was hasty in his announcement. It appears he did not have a plan of action on ground before making the announcements. He leaped before he looked. He acted before he had a full picture of what he was coming in to meet. Most importantly, Tinubu, surprisingly, has not engaged with the Nigerian people enough. He appears more intent on defending Buhari/APC than acting on the side of Nigerians. He seems more prepared to make himself the sacrificial lamb than haul Buhari and his henchmen into the public domain to give account of their stewardship, which many Nigerians would have preferred. 

It is not that Tinubu, like Buhari, does not command his own cult-hero image but it appears he is reluctant to activate it. Wasn’t the same Buhari stoned in the North? Tinubu has what it takes to match any anti-Tinubu protests with his own pro-Tinubu protests. He can turn the tables and have the people in his corner - but will he?

Is it also not preposterous to hint that the South-west will abandon Tinubu where the feudal North did not abandon clueless and incompetent Buhari? The South-west is politically savvy enough to see through the trick and refuse to fall into the trap. Why is Tinubu unpopular in Christian Northern Nigeria, according to Kperogi, when Muslims in the same North accuse him of surrendering his government to Christians? 

Christians have the very powerful offices of First Lady, SGF, Minister of FCT, Minister of Works, Minister of the money-guzzling Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, among others. What more does Christian Northern Nigeria want from Tinubu? His blood?

One advantage of subsidy removal has been the humongous amount that state and local governments now collect every month from the Federation account. What are they doing with this money? Food protests will achieve better results if the heat is turned on state and local governments rather than chasing after Abuja. After all, every politics, they say, is local! 

President Bola Tinubu will, on Thursday, February 15, depart Abuja for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to participate in the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU). 

The theme of this year’s summit is ‘‘Educate an African fit for the 21st Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning in Africa.’’ 

The President will join other African leaders in high-level meetings on institutional reforms of the African Union; peace and security; specific thematic issues such as climate change, as well as modalities of participation and priorities of the continental body in the G20. 

On the margins of the summit, President Tinubu will also attend an extraordinary summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in his capacity as the Chairman of the regional body.

President Tinubu will be accompanied on the trip by some ministers and other top government officials, and he is expected to return to Abuja following the conclusion of the summit.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

February 14, 2024

The Federal Government has made a U-turn on its earlier statement indicating that United Kingdom, UK, lawyers are allowed to practice in Nigeria.

Nigerian Minister for Trade and Investment Doris Uzoka-Anite, in a statement, highlighted that the UK-trained lawyers can practice in Nigeria following an Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership signed by Nigeria and the UK on Tuesday.

However, after fierce criticism, particularly by the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Uzoka-Anite retracted her earlier statement.

In a series of posts on her X account, Uzoka-Anite said: “Earlier today, Nigeria signed a far-reaching MoU with the United Kingdom for Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership.

“Regrettably, our earlier report erroneously suggests that Nigeria has signed a Memorandum of Understanding that allows lawyers licensed in the United Kingdom to practise in Nigeria. We wish to state emphatically that there is no such provision or agreement in the MoU.”

The minister explained that Nigeria does not have a Mutual Recognition Agreement with the UK and made no commitment under the MoU or elsewhere to allow UK-licensed lawyers to practise in Nigeria.

“As it currently stands, foreign licensed lawyers (including those licensed in the UK) cannot practise in Nigeria, as categorically stated in the MoU.
“We recognise that cross-jurisdictional practice between Nigeria and the United Kingdom is still an ongoing conversation amongst relevant stakeholders within the legal practitioners community in Nigeria, and this was reflected in the MoU,” she added.

Recall that the NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau, had condemned the purported agreement in a statement on Tuesday, stating that the statement credited to the Minister was “ridiculous, unpatriotic, and uninformed”.

The Nigerian Senate has disclosed plans to make registration of Nigerians compulsory in a bid to address insecurity in the country.

Speaking on the outcome of a closed door meeting between senators and security chiefs that lasted nine hours on Tuesday, Senate Committee Chairman on Media and Publicity, Yemi Adaramodu, said the plan to make the registration of Nigerians compulsory is aimed at preventing the infiltration of foreign criminals into the country.

According to him, senators listened to a presentation by the security chiefs, particularly on efforts they have put in so far to address insecurity.

This, he said, led to passing a vote of confidence on the security chiefs for what they have been doing.

Adaramodu added that the efforts of the security agencies were yielding massive results as many criminals have been eliminated and arrested in the last few days.

He said: “Senate is particularly impressed with arrest of about 90 per cent of those who perpetrated heinous crime across the country in recent times.

“We however urged the various security agencies to do more by ensuring synergy in their operations for total security of lives and property in the country.”

He said the upper and lower legislative chambers will continue to offer support with a view to stem the menace of insecurity.

The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, Minister of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Gaidam and Minister of Interior, Hon Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, attended the meeting with the senators.

The Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described as devastating, the sudden demise of the state chairman of the party, Fatai Adams.

While describing the development as traumatic, the State Publicity Secretary, Kennedy Peretei, disclosed that the secretariat of the party in the state will be shut down in order to mourn the deceased.

Peretei, in a statement issued shortly after Adams demise was announced, added that the flags of the party across the three senatorial districts would be flown at half mast.

The late Adams was a member of the Ondo State House of Assembly between 2007 and 2011.

He was elected state chairman in August 2020. He had also served as Deputy State Chairman of the PDP.

“Our party commiserates with his family and the Ondo State PDP at large,” the statement added.

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, has confirmed he will return to Chippa United after the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON.

There have been speculations linking the 27-year-old away from the South African club.

Added to that, Nwabali has been the subject of threats from fans in the country, after Nigeria beat Bafana Bafana at the tournament.

Nwabali saved two spot-kicks during the shoot-out as South Africa were eliminated in the semi-final.

But the goalkeeper has insisted he will be back at the Chilli Boys.

“I must go back to my club, but talking about the threats, this is football,” Nwabali said according to BluePrint as reported by KickOff.

“You can’t threaten someone because they also won some other teams too.

“How about if those they beat decided to keep threatening your players, would it make sense?

“It’s football, I don’t think there’s anything attached to it. Maybe it was just someone writing on social media.

“It’s cool to me because I spoke to my [Chippa United] chairman three days ago, but he didn’t say anything like all that stuff.

“So, he felt like, ‘No, it’s cool, you can come back’. I must go back to my club because they own me.”

Following the report of his contract expiration with the Super Eagles after the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Jose Peseiro has emerged as a potential candidate for the coaching position of the Algeria national team.

Reports from Algeria suggest that the Portuguese coach is being seriously considered to lead the Desert Foxes.

Alongside Peseiro, former coaches Carlos Queiroz and others have also been associated with the job.

Naija News understands that the Algeria Football Federation is actively searching for a new coach after the team’s disappointing performance in Cote d’Ivoire, where they were eliminated in the group stage.

It is worth noting that Peseiro has previously been linked with a prominent Egyptian club, Zamalek.

Recall that Peseiro led Nigeria to the 2023 AFCON final but failed to secure the title for the Super Eagles after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Ivory Coast.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has released the list of players included in the official XI for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) team of the tournament.

Three Super Eagles of Nigeria players were included in the list released by CAF. They are captain William Troost-Ekong, Ademola Lookman, and Ola Aina.

South Africa has two representatives in the team, DR Congo has two, Equatorial Guinea has one, while the host nation, Ivory Coast, has three players in the team of the tournament.

The team is coached by Ivory Coast manager, Emerse Fae.

Here’s a full list of the team

Goalkeeper – Ronwen Williams (South Africa)

Defender – William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria)

Defender – Chancel Mbemba (DR Congo)

Left Back – Ghislain Konan (Ivory Coast)

Right back – Ola Aina (Nigeria)

Midfielder – Teboho Mokoena (South Africa)

Midfielder – Jean Michael Seri (Ivory Coast)

Midfielder – Franck Kessie (Ivory Coast)

Left Winger – Ademola Lookman (Nigeria)

Right Winger – Yoane Wissa (DR Congo)

Striker – Emilio Nsue (Equatorial Guinea)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the Nigerian government has, through the backdoor, resumed the payment of subsidies on the premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.

Recall that on May 29, 2023, during his swearing-in speech, President Bola Tinubu announced an end to petrol subsidy, triggering a hike in the prices of goods and services in the country.

A few weeks later, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) collapsed the different exchange rate regimes into one, with the value of the naira to the dollar weakening.

As of yesterday, it was N1,499/$1 at the official window and N1,515/$1 at the parallel market.

Over the weekend, the IMF issued a statement on the conclusion of its Executive Board’s Post Financing Assessment with Nigeria, and it expressed concerns that the government had capped the prices of fuel at retail stations.

The global lender advised the administration of President Tinubu to completely stop the payment of subsidies on petrol to free funds to run the government.

However, prominent Nigerians and regional groups had at different times scolded the IMF for what they described as “anti-masses policies”, and called on Nigerian government to explore home grown options that would fix the economy and better the life of the people.

In the past few days, there have been reports of queues returning to petrol stations in major cities in the country, but the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited allayed the fears of consumers, assuring that it has enough to go around.

How petrol prices feared since subsidy removal

After the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023, the pump price changed from N185 per litre to N400 per litre, and then to N568 per litre at NNPC fueling stations, while others currently sell above N600.

The government had said the prices would fluctuate after subsidy removal from time to time but the pump price has maintained a steady rise despite the fact that the price of crude oil in the global market keeps going up and down.

The IMF, in its latest statement at the weekend, said the Tinubu administration has “capped retail fuel and electricity prices” ostensibly to “ease the impact of rapidly rising inflation on living conditions, thus partially reversing the fuel subsidy removal.”

Daily Trust investigation in September revealed that despite the numerous assurances by President Tinubu that the subsidy was gone, the federal government paid N169.4 billion as subsidy in August to keep the pump price at N620 per litre.

A document from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), sighted by one of our reporters, showed that in August 2023, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) paid $275m as dividends to Nigeria via NNPC Limited. NNPC Limited used $220 million (N169.4 billion at N770/$) out of the $275 million to pay for the PMS subsidy. Then NNPC held back $55 million, illegally.

Petrol may sell for over N1000/l due to devaluation

The recent devaluation of the naira at the official forex window which has seen it exchange for N1, 499/$ will likely push pump price of petrol to cross the N1, 000 per litre mark.

A breakdown of the landing cost of petrol before the latest devaluation showed that product cost was N627.82 per litre, finance cost was N11.61, and operations/administrative cost N12.32, bringing the total landing cost to N651.75 per litre with local currency pegged at N900/dollar ceiling.

The amount has seen independent marketers adjust pump price three times between August and December 2023, forcing them to sell between N660 per litre to N670 per litre.

NNPC retail outlets have however continued to sale at N617 per litre.

With the old situation, it is fully suggestive that petrol ought to sell at over N720, and someone, most probably, is paying the price differential.

Therefore, the new exchange rate indicates that prices should to be above N1,000 per litre

Oil Marketers react

Leaders of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria of Nigeria, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, and Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria said there was a need for the federal government to intervene to address the impending crisis.

Speaking recently, the National Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, explained that the price of petrol was now driven by the fluctuations in forex, hence Nigerians should expect a hike soon.

Asked whether oil marketers were considering an increase in petrol price, he replied, “Once there is a slack in the naira against the dollar, there is going to be an effect. The demand and supply of forex is a key factor. We should also understand that it is not only petroleum products that use forex.

“It is simple mathematics, once the dollar is going up, have it in mind that the prices of petroleum products would definitely increase because the products are dollar-driven.”

Also speaking to Daily Trust, the Secretary General of NUPENG, Afolabi Olawale Olufemi said: “Our people are losing confidence in the naira and it is unfortunate. People should stop exploiting the situation because it is not good for anybody.

“We are fortunate that there are positive signs that Dangote refinery is going to start very soon. We should be hopeful and that would help moderate the fluctuations that are expected.”

Speaking on the development, Abiola Rasaq, former Economist and Head, Investor Relation at UBA plc said: “The sharp rise in petroleum price is a reflection of both the full deregulation of the downstream oil & gas sector as well as Naira weakness. Notably, crude oil is a dollarised commodity, hence the notable devaluation of the local currency has direct impact on the Naira-cost of petroleum prices, especially as the subsidy removal meant the retail price has to reflect the true market price of the product. So, it’s a double whammy effect.”

NNPC says no increase in petrol pump price

When Daily Trust reached out to the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd, Olufemi Soneye on the likelihood of pump price shifting beyond the current N617 per litre, he said: “We are pleased to confirm that there are no supply issues, and our products remain readily available. The recent tightness experienced in certain areas was due to a brief distribution issue in Lagos, which has since been resolved.”

He said there is no imminent increase in the cost of petrol.

No need for panic buying–Tanker drivers

The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) union has advised Nigerians against panic buying, assuring that there is no shortfall in the distribution of petroleum products.

It gave the advice in a statement yesterday by its National Chairman and Secretary, Lucky Osesua and Humble Power Obinna, respectively.

It asked its members to ignore any threat from the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) not to lift petroleum products from certain depots in the country.

PTD said the alleged plot to remove Osesua, Obinna and Deputy Chairman, Yusuf Garga, had failed.

“There is no shortfall in the distribution of petroleum products across the six geo political zones of the country and PTD, under the legitimate leadership of Comrade Lucky Osesua and his deputy, Comrade Dayyabu Garga, has redoubled its commitment to ensure and guarantee lifting and distribution of petroleum products without encumbrance in observance of its statutory responsibility.

“We equally urge Nigerians and motorists to avoid storing of petrol at home because of the dangers associated with it,” the statement read in part.