Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has paid a visit to the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

The First Lady’s Media Aide, Busola Kukoyi shared the photos of the visit via her X handle on Monday.

Kukoyi stated, “Former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Senator Oluremi Tinubu after receiving the Former President who came felicitating on the Sallah Celebration on Monday 17th June.”

Obasanjo’s visit is coming barely 48 hours after the former President was seen donning a cap with President Bola Tinubu’s emblem.

Recall that a video of Obasanjo wearing a cap branded with Tinubu’s insignia at an event attended by some African dignitaries.

As Ondo govt activates surveillance for immediate response

THE Lagos State government, yesterday, explained that the strain of cholera in Lagos is highly aggressive and contagious.

Recall that Lagos has recorded 17 confirmed cases of cholera and 15 fatalities so far.

It also said laboratory investigation has confirmed the strain to be cholera sub-type O-1, adding that the subtype is associated with more severe diseases.

The Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, in a post on X, said the identified strain is “highly aggressive and contagious, with potential for widespread dissemination.”

Abayomi said through community-based case finding and contact tracing, the government observed that the number of cases “has peaked and is now significantly declining.”

He said: “The geographical distribution of suspected cases by Local Government Area showed that Lagos Island is the epicentre of the outbreak with 106 cases, followed by Kosofe with 49; Eti-Osa with 38; Lagos Mainland with 30; Ojo with 17; Ikorodu with 16; Shomolu with 11; Surulere with nine; Apapa with eight; Mushin with eight; Ifako Ijaiye with eight; Alimosho with four; Ajeromi-Ifelodun with four; Oshodi-Isolo with three; Ikeja with three; Ibeju Lekki with two; Badagry with two; and Amuwo-Odofin with one.

“We are receiving support from the NCDC and International partners, including the WHO Nigeria and UNICEF Nigeria.

“Local Non-Governmental organizations are actively involved in raising awareness and conducting community-based surveillance efforts.” 

Ondo govt activates surveillance for immediate response

Meanwhile, the Ondo State government said it has activated its surveillance for immediate response to any case of cholera in the state.

The Health Commissioner, Dr Banji Ajaka, noted that there were two cases in the Okitipupa council area early in the year, adding that it was curtailed by the Rapid Response team of the state
Ajaka said: “The surveillance team was also strengthened by the COPREP programme with community informants/contact tracers trained and placed on stipends for eight months; they however would be deployed for active case search in preparation for cholera outbreak.”

People in Africa’s most populous nation are suffering as the price of food, fuel and medicine has skyrocketed out of reach for many. 

Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in free-fall and millions of people struggling to buy food. Only two years ago Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria is projected to drop to fourth place this year.

The pain is widespread. Unions strike to protest salaries of around $20 a month. People die in stampedes, desperate for free sacks of rice. Hospitals are overrun with women wracked by spasms from calcium deficiencies.

The crisis is largely believed to be rooted in two major changes implemented by a president elected 15 months ago: the partial removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the currency, which together have caused major price rises.

A nation of entrepreneurs, Nigeria’s more than 200 million citizens are skilled at managing in tough circumstances, without the services states usually provide. They generate their own electricity and source their own water. They take up arms and defend their communities when the armed forces cannot. They negotiate with kidnappers when family members are abducted.
But right now, their resourcefulness is being stretched to the limit.

No Money for Milk

On a recent morning in a corner of the biggest emergency room in northern Nigeria, three women were convulsing in painful spasms, unable to speak. Each year, the E.R. at Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital in Kano, Nigeria’s second-largest city, received one or two cases of hypocalcemia caused by malnutrition, said Salisu Garba, a kindly health worker who hurried from bed to bed, ward to ward.

Now, with many unable to afford food, the hospital sees multiple cases everyday.

Mr. Garba was sizing up the women’s husbands. Which source of nutrition he recommended depended on what he thought they could afford. Baobab leaves or tiger nuts for the poor; boiled-up bones for the slightly better off. He laughed at the suggestion that anyone could afford milk.

More than 87 million people in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, live below the poverty line — the world’s second-largest poor population after India, a country seven times its size. And punishing inflation means poverty rates are expected to rise still further this year and next, according to the World Bank.

Last week, unions shut down hospitals, courts, schools, airports and even the country’s Parliament, striking in an attempt to force the government to increase the monthly salary of $20 it pays its lowest workers.

But over 92 percent of working-age Nigerians are in the informal sector, where there are no wages, and no unions to fight for them.

For the Afolabi family in Ibadan, in southwestern Nigeria, the descent into poverty started in January with the loss of an electric tuk-tuk taxi.

Forced to sell the taxi to pay his wife’s hospital bills after the difficult birth of their second child, Babatunde Afolabi turned to occasional construction work. It paid badly, but the family managed.

“We had no thoughts about starvation,” he said.

But then, he said, cassava — the cheapest staple in many parts of Nigeria — tripled in price.
All they can afford now, he said, is a few biscuits, a little bread, and for their six-year-old, 20 peanuts a day.

A Country Built on Gas

Nigeria is a country heavily dependent on imported petroleum products, despite being a major oil producer. After years of underinvestment and mismanagement, its state refineries produce hardly any gasoline.

For decades, the national soundtrack has been the hum of small generators, fired up during daily power outages. Petroleum products move goods and people around the country.

Until recently, the government subsidized that petroleum, to the tune of billions of dollars a year.
Many Nigerians said the subsidy was the only useful contribution from a neglectful and predatory government. Successive presidents have pledged to remove the subsidy, which drains a hefty chunk of government revenue — and later backtracked fearing mass unrest.

Bola Tinubu, who was elected Nigeria’s president last year, initially followed through.

“It was a necessary action for my country not to go bankrupt,” Mr. Tinubu said in April, at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia.

Instead, many Nigerians are going bankrupt — or working multiple jobs to stay afloat.
Mr. Garba, the hospital worker, used to be solidly middle class, even though 17 family members, including 12 children, depended on him.

After shifts at the hospital, where he is setting up the first statewide ambulance service in addition to working in the emergency room, for which he is paid $150 a month, he heads to the Red Cross. There he occasionally receives a $3.30 volunteer stipend for helping tackle a severe diphtheria outbreak.

At night, he works at the pharmacy that he and a colleague set up. But few people have money for medicine anymore. He sells about $7 worth of medication per day.

Last year, Mr. Garba sold his car when the gas subsidies were removed, and now takes a tuk-tuk to work. Unable to power the generator, he reads medicine labels at the pharmacy by the light of a small solar lantern. He can only afford to buy rice and cassava in small quantities.

Life under the previous government was very expensive, he said, but nothing like today.
“It’s very, very bad,” he said.

It’s gotten so dire that there have been several deadly stampedes for free or discounted rice distributed by the government — including one in March at a university in the central state of Nasarawa where seven students were killed.

Mr. Tinubu promised to create a million jobs and quadruple the size of the economy within a decade, but has not said how. The International Monetary Fund said last month the state has started subsidizing fuel and electricity again — though the government has not acknowledged this.

“There’s still very little clarity — if any — on where the economy is headed, what the priorities are,” said Zainab Usman, a political economist and director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The Tapping Craze

A spate of new crypto-mining games that promise to generate income the more the user plays has people across Nigeria spending all day tapping on their smartphone screens, desperate to earn a few dollars.
People tap as they pray, in mosques and churches. Children tap under desks at school. Mourners tap at funerals.

There’s no guarantee any of them will ever benefit from the hours they put in mindlessly tapping.
Then again, they can’t count on the national currency, the naira.

The government has twice devalued the naira in the past year, trying to enable it to float more freely and attract foreign investment. The upshot: It’s lost nearly 70 percent of its value against the dollar.

Nigeria cannot produce enough food for its growing population; food imports rise 11 percent annually. The currency devaluation caused those imports — already expensive because of high tariffs — to explode in price.

Nigerians can become paupers almost overnight. So they’re searching for anything that might hold its value — or ideally, get them rich.

“People are looking for me everywhere,” said Rabiu Biyora, the undisputed king of tapping in Kano, opening one of his five foldable phones to add to his 2.7 billion taps on the TapSwap app. “Not to attack me, but to collect something from me.” 

A relaxed, businesslike 39-year-old followed everywhere by young tech-savvy acolytes, Mr. Biyora would only say that he made “over $10,000” from the previous tapping craze.

He profits from everyone else’s taps, so he encourages them in posts on social media, and by providing free internet to anyone willing to sit outside his house. Nigerians don’t need much encouragement — despite the risks and volatility, Nigeria has the second highest cryptocurrency adoption rate in the world.

So every evening, struggling young men gather by Mr. Biyora’s home and tap.

Pleas for Help

In much of Nigeria, it’s normal to share with your neighbors and give alms to the poor.
Every day, people come to the gate of Kano’s Freedom Radio station to drop off sheets of paper containing heartfelt appeals for help paying medical bills or school fees, or to recover from some disaster.

A radio presenter chooses three to read out daily, and often a sympathetic listener calls in to pay the supplicant’s bill.

But lately the appeals have multiplied, and offers of help have dried up.
Good Samaritans used to come to the E.R. and pay strangers’ bills for them, Mr. Garba said. That rarely happens now either.

Still, Mr. Garba said, the number of patients coming to his hospital has almost halved in recent months.
Many of the sick never even make it. They can’t afford the 20-cent bus ride.

•This article, which the Presidency reacted to, was first published in the New York Times on June 11, 2024.

There is no denying the fact that the living conditions in the several internally displaced persons camps across Benue State are full of agonies, pains, and discomfort, Arewa PUNCH’s investigations have revealed.

Regrettably, women and children make up the majority of inmates in the 14 official camps scattered across the state.

Worse still, most of the inmates have lived in the camps for almost eight years now, where they suffer from the lack of potable water, food, security, and healthcare.

Ironically, in spite of the despicable and harrowing lifestyle in these camps, many of the male and female inmates still manage to copulate and have children, this is according to very reliable sources and data available to Arewa PUNCH.

Our correspondent reliably further gathered that hardly does a month runs through without recording the birth of a new baby in the camp.

The cluster nature of living in these camps, marked by overcrowding couples, infected with varying types of diseases already at different degrees, according to checks does not discourage the inmates from making out time to mating in very unusual, dirty and unsightly secluded areas such as the makeshift toilets, dusty barefloor, and overgrown bushes within and around to the camp sites.

Checks at the State Emergency and Maintenance Agency office in Makurdi further revealed that no fewer than 25 new births were, for instance, recorded within two months in seven designated camps in the state.

Although, Arewa PUNCH was informed by the camp managers that there are 14 designated camps across the state, a quick look at them showed that, from May 2024 till date, the Agagbe Camp in Gwer West LGA has officially recorded nine births, while the Otese Camp in the Guma LGA recorded six births.

The Daudu II Camp also in Guma LGA recorded two newborn babies so far and the Naka Camp in Gwer West LGA has two recorded births whereas, inside the Ukpiam Camp, four newborn babies were recorded.

At the camp in NEPA, also, one birth was recorded just as the same birth record was noted a piece in both the ApIchwa and Anyiin camps located at Logo LGA.

A thirty-year-old female inmate who simply identified herself as Akpeku Nyemana of room 2 RCM Primary School IDP camp, Agagbe in Gwer West LGA, opened up to Arewa PUNCH that she had lived in the camp since 2020.

She narrated, “I became pregnant here at IDP camp and gave birth to a baby boy this month.”

However, she declined to speak further on how she got pregnant who is responsible for the baby boy and the circumstances that led to her pregnancy despite the overcrowded, undignifying, and dirty lifestyle in the camp.

However, Nyemana commended the state government and other partners for caring for the numerous pregnant and nursing mothers in the Agagbe camp.

Further investigations reveal that the living conditions of the internally displaced persons in all the camps are extremely challenging due to substandard shelters, insufficient sanitation facilities, and scarcity of food and other essential items needed for living a decent lifestyle but which are absent at all the camps visited.

Another inmate, 32-year-old Tondo who lives inside the Ichua camp located along the University of Agriculture road in Makurdi told Arewa PUNCH that all the able-bodied male inmates engage in farming and menial jobs to augment what the government and corporate bodies donate to the IDPs.

“Life in the typical IDP camp is horrible because there is no place like home. You can not get those necessities of life from these camps.

“What we do now is that we encourage the adult males in camp now to engage in farming within the nearby communities to augment whatever the government provides.”

Corroborating Tondo, a volunteer in the Agagbe camp, Terna Jacob disclosed to our correspondent on Wednesday that the Agagbe camp is faced with inadequate shelter, toilet facilities and food items.

He added that due to inadequate shelter, the inmates are camped in five locations which are: RCM Primary School, St Francis Xavier Secondary School, Police Station, Sisters Convent and St Patrick’s Primary School all in Agagbe.

Jacob stressed, “The major problems at the IDP camp Agagbe is shelter and hunger. Though the state government has taken it upon itself to be distributing food and non food items to displaced persons in all the camps across the state on a monthly basis.

Arewa PUNCH recalls that the last exercise on the distribution of food and non food items was held on May 30, 2024, by the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency, James Iorpuu and among other items he distributed were 2440 bags of 25kg rice, 729 bags of beans, 160 bags of garri, 1520 cartons of Indomie,175 gallons of groundnut oil, 157 gallons of red oil, 905 cartons of Maggi, 185 bags of salt and 60 bags of sugar.

Iorpuu who decried the alarming rate of IDPs in the state called on all stakeholders, including the government’s agencies, non-governmental organisations, and the international community to continue to collaborate with the state government to attend to the humanitarian needs of the state.

He noted, “the monthly distribution of food and non-food items to the internally displaced persons underscores Governor Hyacinth Alia’s unwavering commitment to alleviating the suffering of those who have been displaced from their homes and are currently residing in IDP camps across the state.

The SEMA boss lauded the United Nations agencies for their relentless support and invaluable contributions towards improving the living conditions of the IDPs.

He insisted, “We appreciate the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for deploying seven of their critical sectors in our state. Their efforts in camp coordination and camp management, shelter and non-food items, livelihood, water and sanitation, and transitional recovery have been instrumental in ensuring that our IDPs receive the necessary assistance and support.

“We also extend our gratitude to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Population Fund, and Plan International. Your continuous support and resources have made a significant impact in addressing the multifaceted challenges faced by our IDPs.

“Your contributions in providing essential services, enhancing protection, and promoting sustainable development are deeply appreciated.

“To our IDPs, I assure you that your plight is at the forefront of Benue-SEMA. We are committed to working tirelessly to secure the resources and support to improve your living conditions and to facilitate your eventual return to your ancestral homes,” Iorpuu assured.

Salihu Lukman, the former National Vice Chairman (North West) of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has said the party has done badly in meeting its campaign promises.

Lukman stated this in an interview with Arise TV on Monday.

This is coming after Lukman resigned from the party.

He said APC’s performance on key campaign promises like security, economic stability, and anti-corruption, has been poor.

The former APC chieftain said he hoped that the new leadership would depart from the practises of the previous administration of President Buhari.

He said: “I admit that in terms of meeting up with our campaign promises, we have done badly, no doubt about it.

“And what are those campaign promises? Issues of security, the economy, fighting corruption. We have done badly and people are free to reach the conclusion whether or not APC is worse than PDP.

“But as of 2023, before the election, I had the hope that because our leaders were not in denial of the challenges facing us, they would be humble enough to admit that we have not done what we needed to do between 2015 and 2023.

“That’s why I was practically very very confident that he would not really do business as usual the way President Buhari did.

“Unfortunately, here we are. He’s doing business as usual. And as it is, we are going to end up in a worse situation.

“So to that extent, you might be right in criticising some of us who were in APC and who supported President Asiwaju.”

Faults subsidy policy

The former national vice chairman of the APC noted that one of the most contentious decisions made by President Tinubu was the immediate declaration of the end of the petroleum subsidy with its lack of planning and preparation.

Lukman said the abrupt decision has led to a significant deterioration in the country’s living conditions.

He said, “One of the biggest mistakes that President Asiwaju made was making that declaration on his inauguration day, declaring petroleum subsidy is gone without even sitting down to put up a plan and today. No plan to respond to that challenge.

“And that is why the living condition in the country is crashing and the government is just grandstanding.

“All of us in the party have become onlookers. We are not able to even access President Asiwaju and influence decisions in terms of what needs to be done.

“From the way things are going, my prediction — which is why I had to act the way I acted — is that by the end of this year, if we don’t take time, the campaign for 2027 will start and people will be forced to just queue behind any leader.

“And out of anger, out of frustration, with the reality before us, we’ll end up even electing a worse successor to President Asiwaju and all the challenges of the country will even get worse.”

Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway…

Lukman also cristisised the government’s major spending on infrastructure projects like the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, while neglecting urgent needs in education and health.

He highlighted that the allocation for education is insufficient to address such a critical issue.

“APC was founded on the vision of being a social democratic party. A social democratic party prioritises the wellbeing and condition of living of the citizens.

“So, issues of education, issues of health, issues of social welfare should have been the priority and that should be reflected in public investment driven by government.

“Unfortunately, what are the first steps President Asiwaju took? Apart from the fact that on account of corruption, social investment has been suspended, which is why the question of responding to hardship is so weak, also look at the major decisions of President Asiwaju.

“Spending 15 trillion naira on Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. Imagine if a fraction of that amount is invested in education and in terms of education, we talk about 10 million out-of-school children in the North.

“You cannot solve that problem by business as usual, allocating a pittance in education and expect classrooms to work, teachers to be recruited, teaching material to be procured with the pittance that is going on now.

“So you need extra-budgetary activities to be able to respond to that and mop up the out-of-school children out of the street. 

“In terms of mopping up, the advantage of it is that it will also reduce the vulnerability of the nation in terms of insecurity.

“Imagine a fraction of 15 trillion naira invested in our armed forces by way of procurement of military hardware, and training.

“And talking about even responding to security challenges, we’ve been deviating as a nation for God knows how long about (whether or not to have) state police.”

Ramaphosa was re-elected as South Africa’s president after a historic coalition deal between the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and opposition parties.

After losing its controlling majority in last month’s election for the first time in 30 years since the end of apartheid, the ANC struck a merger with the Democratic Alliance (DA), the main opposition, and smaller parties.

Following two weeks of intensive talks with opposition parties, the decision to re-elect Ramaphosa was reached on Friday.

A statement issued Monday by Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, said Tinubu will depart Lagos, where he is observing the Eid-el-Kabir festival, for Ramaphosa’s inauguration.

Tinubu and Ramaphosa last met in New York at the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2023.

The Nigerian president asked Ramaphosa to deepen the economic relations between the two countries.

Tinubu stressed that Nigeria and South Africa are the countries with the most potential to improve Africa’s economic outlook when they partner effectively.

Ngelale said Tinubu will return to Nigeria after the inauguration ceremony.

Sevilla FC have completed the signing of Nigerian forward Chidera Ejuke.

The 26-year-old joins the Spanish club as a free agent, having successfully completed his medical examination and agreed to a three-year contract.

The announcement was made on the same day the Spanish side revealed Sergio Ramos would depart the club after a year following a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2023.

Ejuke is Sevilla’s first acquisition of the summer under head coach García Pimienta.

The club, which struggled in La Liga last season, is aiming to bolster its squad with quality players to improve its performance in the upcoming season.

Primarily a left winger, Ejuke is versatile and can play on both flanks.

He will face competition for a spot in the starting lineup and is expected to make an immediate impact.

Before joining Sevilla, Ejuke made 65 appearances and recorded 18 goal involvements for his previous Russian club, CSKA Moscow.

He spent the last two seasons on loan at Hertha Berlin and Royal Antwerp.

Chidera Ejuke was part of the Nigerian national team squad for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, where he featured in two matches.

Ejuke’s last appearance for the Super Eagles was in 2022 during an international friendly against Algeria.

Israel Adesanya has confirmed his highly anticipated UFC comeback, with the former champion scheduled to face his arch-rival in Perth.

The 34-year-old announced a hiatus from mixed martial arts following his surprising defeat by Sean Strickland in Sydney last September.

His return to the Octagon has been widely anticipated, with Adesanya strongly considered for the headline slot at UFC 300, but his fierce rival Dricus du Plessis was unable to confirm his availability for the date.

The two fighters had exchanged taunts before, with the South African asserting that he would embody a true African champion, living, training, and breathing in Africa, unlike Adesanya, who was born in Nigeria before relocating to New Zealand.

Posting a mocked-up image of himself donning the UFC’s brand new golden glove, Adesnaya, in a post on X, on Monday,  appears to announce he will return to the ring later on August 17. 

He wrote: “The SUN of Africa is the same sun that lights up our planet.

“The SUN will set and will rise again until you walk into it. The SUN, enjoy while it shines. Darkness falls when it’s gone.”

The federal government has denied renaming the Murtala Mohammed expressway in the federal capital territory (FCT) after Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Laureate.

On June 4, President Bola Tinubu named the just inaugurated arterial road N20 from the northern parkway to the outer northern expressway (ONEX) in the FCT, the Wole Soyinka highway.

In a statement on Monday, Rabiu Ibrahim, special assistant on media to Mohammed Idris, minister of information and national orientation, said “rumours are being circulated” that the Murtala Mohammed expressway has been renamed as Wole Soyinka Way.

Ibrahim said the renaming of the Murtala Mohammed expressway “has never been contemplated by this administration”.

“For the record, on June 4, 2024, President Bola Tinubu inaugurated a new road in the FCT codenamed Arterial Road N20 (from Katampe to Jahi), which links the existing Outer Northern Expressway (also known as Murtala Mohammed Expressway) to the Northern Parkway (also called Ahmadu Bello Way),” the statement reads.

“During the inauguration of the N20 (which is a new road), FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, proposed to the President that the road be named after Prof Wole Soyinka, and the President agreed.

“Therefore, it is the Arterial Road N20 that is named after Prof Soyinka. The Murtala Mohammed Expressway remains unchanged and continues to bear the name of our esteemed former Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed.”

Ibrahim asked Nigerians to disregard “any misinformation regarding the renaming” of the Murtala Mohammed expressway.

“The report is entirely false and only exists in the imagination of its purveyors,” he said.

Romelu Lukaku endured a frustrating night as Slovakia stunned favourites, Belgium 1-0 on Monday night in the second game of Group E.

Romania opened the group with a 3-0 win over Ukraine to go top of the table.

The first upset of the competition was recorded at the Deutsche Bank Park when the less-fancied Slovakia earned a shock win over Belgium.

It was an unforgettable evening for Chelsea striker, Romelu Lukaku who missed three big chances in the first half before his goal was ruled out for Luis Openda’s handball in the second half.

Ivan Schranz took advantage of a terrible Jeremy Doku’s pass to stab home the opener in the seventh minute.

Belgium dominated the game with over 70 per cent possession and seven shots in the first half but they failed to find the back of the net coupled with Lukaku’s wasteful showing.

Just after the restart, Lukaku thought he had scored the equaliser but his effort was ruled out for offside.

48th placed ranked Slovakia held on for a record-breaking win over the third best team in the world according to the latest FIFA rankings.

It was the first defeat for Belgium against a team outside the top 45 of the Fifa world rankings for the first time since 2010.

The Red Devils will hope to bounce back in their second game when they take on Romania on Saturday, while Slovakia will be seeking a place in the next round with a win over Ukraine.