Vice-President Kashim Shettima says over $25 billion is used to import petroleum products into the country every year.

Shettima spoke on Thursday at the Vanguard Economic Discourse themed ‘Reforms in the Era of Global Economic Uncertainties: Whither Nigeria’.

The vice-president, who was represented by Tope Fasua, special adviser on economic affairs, assured that this would change in the future.

The development comes five days after Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, said Nigeria will no longer need to import petrol by June.

Speaking at the event, Shettima said the country will stop importing the product due to the backing of the government and the revamping of state-owned refineries.

“With the support our government is lending to our private sector-led oil refineries and rejuvenation of some of the state-owned facilities. The $25 billion we spend yearly importing petroleum and other refined products will soon be a thing of the past allowing the naira a much-deserved breath,” he said.

Shettima said the country will not hesitate to backtrack and review policies if it would impose undue hardship on Nigerians as it “has been seen over time”.

“So this administration is not out to make the life of Nigerians tougher, but to make the Nigerian economy sustainable, and the lives of our people more enjoyable,” Shettima said.

“Rest assured, ladies and gentlemen, that the next few years will be full of positive achievements. They include improvements in the standards of living, higher productivity, food security, bumper harvests and remarkable achievement with the guidance and grace of Almighty God.”

Speaking further, he said President Bola Tinubu has been able to secure more than $20 billion in potential investments into the country, “including $14 billion from India, $250 million from the Netherlands, and commitments of $500 million for lithium development in Nasarawa state”.

Shettima said the country has secured another $500 million from Germany into renewables, adding that the Siemens power sector projects will positively impact energy sufficiency in due course.

The Attorney-General of the Federation ( AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, SAN says the offence of the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu is a difficult one and can only the court is competent to determine the charge.

Fagbemi said this while responding to questions at the Sectoral Ministerial Briefing on the first anniversary of the President Bola Tinubu administration on Friday in Abuja.

He said that since the matter was already in court, it should be left to the law to have its way.

The AGF pointed out that there was a remarkable difference between Kanu’s case and that of the convener of #RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore.

He said, “Sowore and Kanu are not the same, when it comes to the first one I didn’t have difficulty to say go, but I have difficulty with the second one”.

While pointing out that Kanu is being held in accordance with the Constitution, he observed that, “the matter is still in court, let’s wait for the court”.

It will be recalled that Sowore was arrested in 2019 and prosecuted for allegedly calling for the forceful take over of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

However, the federal government through the office of the AGF in February this year filed a notice of discontinuation of the case.

[THE WHISTLER]

A Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, has ordered the interim forfeiture of N830,875,611 $4,719,054, and several properties linked to the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

The court granted the order on Friday after Justice Yellim Bogoro considered an ex-parte motion filed by Bilkisu Buhari and C.C. Chineye on half of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The EFCC in its motion said the funds are held in various banks linked to Omoile Anita Joy, Deep Blue Energy Service Limited, Exactquote Bureau De Change Ltd, Lipam Investment Services Limited, Tatler Services Limited, Rosajul Global Resources Ltd, and TIL Communication Nigeria Ltd.

According to the court filing, Emefiele’s properties forfeited to the federal government include; 94 Units of 11 Storey building under Construction at 2, Otunba Elegushi 2nd Avenue (Formerly Club) Road, iKoyi, Lagos; and AM Plaza, 11 Story Office Space, Situate on 1E, Otunba Adedoyin Crescent, Lekki Peninsula Scheme 1, Lagos.

Others are Imore Industrial Park 1, Esa Street, Imoore Land purchased with (Deep Bive Industrial Town, Oriade LCDA, Amuwo Odofin LGA, Lagos; Mitrewood and Tatler Warehouse (Furniture Plant at Bogije) near Elemoro Lagos, Owolomi Village, Ibeju-Lekki LGA, Lagos.

Also, 2 properties purchased from Chevron Nigeria, Closed PFA Fund, Block B.Lot.Twin Completed Property Lakes Estate. Lekki, Lagos has been seized.

The court also ordered the EFCC to seize One plot measuring 1,038.069 sqm, at Lekki Foreshore Estate Scheme, Block A, Plot 4, Foreshore Estate, Eti-Osa, LGA; Estate located at 100, Cottonwood Coppel Texas Drive, Coppel, Texas, US, owned by Lipam investment Services; a Land at 1, Bunmi Owulude Street, (Maruwa), Lekki Phase 1, Lagos and a Property Situate on 8, Bayo Kuku Road, lkoyi Lagos.

The EFCC relied on Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006, Section 44(2)(b) of the Constitution while seeking for an interim forfeiture.

In the motion before the court, the anti-graft agency specifically requested “an interim order forfeiting to the Federal Government of Nigeria the funds held in the accounts listed in Schedule ‘A,’ which are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.”

“An Interim order forfeiting to the Federal Government of Nigeria Properties provided in 2nd Schedule ‘B’ which are proceeds of unlawful activities.

“An Order directing the publication In any National Newspaper, the interim order under reliefs 1-2 above, for anyone who Is interested in the properties and funds sought to be forfeited to appear before this Honourable Court to show cause within 14 days why the final order of forfeiture of the said properties and funds should not be made in favour of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

After listening to the submission from the EFCC’s counsel, Justice Bogoro held, “I have listened to the submission of the applicant’s counsel and also perused the motion just moved, together with the affidavit in support.”

The case was, however, adjourned to July 2, 2024, for the motion for final forfeiture.

Emefiele is standing trial in multiple courts over abuse of office, alleged $4.5b and N2.8 billion alleged fraud which the EFCC said he allegedly perpetrated while in office.

[THE WHISTLER]

The Minister of Solid Minerals Dele Alake, on Thursday said that previous administrations have failed to effectively utilize the revenues from the oil sector.

Alake said this at the ministerial briefing in Abuja while unveiling his performance in the last ten months.

He said, “Nigeria practiced a monocultural economy, which means Nigeria has solely depended on oil. In my own estimation, Nigeria, over the decades, failed woefully to efficiently utilize the revenue that accrued to us from the oil sector.

“And how did we fail to utilize that? We failed to utilize the humongous amount of petrodollars that came into the coffers of this country. We did not utilize this money to sufficiently create a very solid structural economy in other sectors.

“And one of the most critical sectors that we’ve failed to address over the decades is the solid mineral and agricultural sector”.

Alake said he was mandated by the president to restructure the ministry which had been redundant to investment, revenue and growth. This he said, prompted the total revocation of over 2,500 licenses.

Explaining further the minister said, “On the resumption of the president into office, there has been a major plank of the renewed hope agenda which is contingent on the diversification of the economy, away from oil.

“And towards this end, we discovered on assumption of office that we had several people, Nigerians or non-Nigerians, holding titles and failed to remit the normal civic obligations to the government, like paying their taxes, paying their fees, even renewal annual fees, that are as little as N200,000. Whereas, these people were making away with billions from the Nigerian economy.

“We are sanitizing the operating environment of the solid mineral sector, to enable it, to assume its pride of place, in contributing significantly to the GDP of this country.”

The Imo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal on Friday upheld the election of Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as Imo State governor.

The tribunal, which gave its ruling in Abuja, also dismissed the petition of the Labour Party, LP, and its governorship candidate, Athan Achonu.

In a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Oluyemi Akintan-Osadebay, the three-man panel of the tribunal held that Uzodimma’s election as Imo State governor complied substantially with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

The tribunal further held that the Labour Party in its petition failed to prove the allegation of over-voting and non-compliance to the Electoral Act.

Details later.

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by 2.98 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 due to economic hardships under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, disclosed this in its Q1 2024 GDP report released on Friday.

The report said the nation’s current growth rate is 2.98 per cent, higher than the 2.31 per cent recorded in the same quarter in 2023 but lower than the 3.46 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023.

“Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.98 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2024. This growth rate is higher than the 2.31% recorded in the first quarter of 2023 and lower than the fourth quarter of 2023 growth of 3.46 per cent,” the report read.

“The performance of the GDP in the first quarter of 2024 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 4.32 per cent and contributed 58.04 per cent to the aggregate GDP.

“The agriculture sector grew by 0.18%, from the growth of -0.90% recorded in the first quarter of 2023. The industry sector’s growth was 2.19%, an improvement from 0.31% recorded in the first quarter of 2023.

“In terms of share of the GDP, the services sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the first quarter of 2024 than the corresponding quarter of 2023.”

In the period under review, Nigeria recorded a surge in the inflation rate, which rose to 33.69 per cent in April.

A political activist and one of the spokesmen for the defunct 2023 Obi/Datti Presidential campaign, South-West, Dele Farotimi has said the fight between the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and his immediate predecessor Nyesom Wike was about “how to share loot”.

In a video clip that went viral on Friday, the activists declared that the two political warriors were only fighting for their selfish interests.

He urged Nigerians not to take sides with either Fubara or Wike, stating that when the duo “are done fighting, they are coming for you”.

He said, “My enemy’s enemy is my enemy, not my friend. That Sim is Wike’s enemy doesn’t make him my friend. Fubara is not different from Wike.

“When they are done fighting, they are coming for you. The fight was just to determine how to share the loot. They are not fighting over anything but rather than to control your commonwealth.

“The entirety of the fight is about how to mortgage your future and how to sell your children and children’s children into slavery. It is about the control of the common purse.

“They have the same people, they were doing it together. You can’t be picking sides with armed robbers who are quarrelling on how to divide the spoils of your home”.

DAILY POST reports that the political space in Rivers State recently plunged into a seemingly unresolvable crisis following the battle of supremacy between Fubara and Wike, the current Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

Watch video:

The Nigerian government has said convicted certificate forgers, drug offenders, and cultists, amongst others, are not eligible for the federal government’s student loan scheme. Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

This was disclosed in a post by the administrator of the student loan scheme on its official X handle on Friday.

The post addresses some of the “frequently asked” questions by the prospective applicants.

NELFUND said applications by citizens “convicted of fraud and forgery, drug offences, cultism, felony, or any offences involving dishonesty” would be rejected.

Others whose application would be rejected include anyone “proven to have defaulted in respect of any previous loan granted” by any licensed financial institution and anyone “found guilty of submitting fake/fraudulent documents and dismissed for exam malpractices by any school authority.”

DAILY POST reports that NELFUND opened the application portal on Friday for the first phase of the student loan scheme, which is open to students from federal institutions across the country.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Nsukka Zone, has stated that it is not sharing in the joy of one year in office of President Bola Tinubu due to the administration’s unfulfilled promises

Addressing journalists on Friday at the Benue State University, Makurdi, the Zonal Coordinator, Raphael Amokaha who decried the insensitivity of successive administrations in meeting the renegotiation of the 2009 Federal Government/ASUU agreement said their expectations were much higher than the present reality.

Some of the unfulfilled agreements, according to Amokaha include; poor funding of the nation’s universities, breach of university autonomy, particularly in the Integrated Personnel Payment Information System, nonpayment of earned academic allowances, and the four months salaries withheld.

While recognizing the submission of the president to review the appointment of university governing councils recently released, the union advised the president not to see it as patronage for political loyalty.

Amokaha noted that contrary to the promise of President Tinubu that  the era of the strike in Nigerian universities was over, the ASUU zonal boss said, ‘Unfortunately, we are on the verge of a strike.’

He added, “The government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is about to celebrate one year in office. Unfortunately, members of our union do not share in the elation of the one-year celebration.

“Our expectations were much higher than the present reality. Again, we cry out to the President, let the lecturers breathe! Do not suffocate us!! 

“The draft renegotiated 2009 agreement must be signed immediately and implemented even though it may need to be looked at before signing now so that what will be agreed upon now will be commensurate to the hyperinflation ravaging our country.

“The balance of the eight months withheld salaries owed our colleagues should be paid immediately. They have now done the work in full and to make it worse, the value of the eight months’ salary is now barely up to the value of two months’ salary at that time.

Speaking further, Amokaha said, “Membership of governing councils requires notable and upright personalities with experience in university administration.

“It’s therefore not proper that personalities like Professors Attahiru Jega, Olu Obafemi, and Munzali Jibril be tossed about in the name of dissolution or reconstitution of councils without recourse to propriety.

“Appointments to university governing councils must not be viewed as patronage for political loyalty.”

Nigerian singer, Seun Kuti has given his opinion on monogamy, stating that it is not feasible.

When asked about his stand on monogamy, he stated that powerful men should have the support of many goddesses given to them by their ancestors.

The musician made his opinion public in an episode of the Bad and Boujee podcast with Tolani Baj and Moet Abebe.

He then divulged shocking news about his grandfather, the legendary Fela Kuti.

Seun shared that apart from Fela’s 27 wives, he also had over a 100 girlfriends, many of whom lived with the family in their home.

The singer’s opinion on monogamy has sparked outrage among netizens, especially considering his marital status.