The Faculty of Engineering and Informatics (FoEI) at the University of Bradford has unveiled a substantial scholarship to the tune of £11,645. equivalent to N24,000,000 to support Nigerian, and other international students.

The scholarship for the Applied Artificial Intelligence B.Sc programme represents a significant opportunity for prospective students worldwide.

According to the University of Bradford, international students will be granted a scholarship at 50% of the advertised tuition fee, equivalent to £11,645, meaning that as of the 2024/25 academic year, students will only need to pay £11,645 per year in tuition fees.

The institution announced that the reduced fee of £11,645 represents a significant decrease from the regular tuition cost.

It aims to reassure prospective students of its dedication to improving the accessibility of higher education.

The scholarship is open to students from a wide range of countries, including Nigeria, Afghanistan, Canada, Germany, India, and the United States, among others, and the scholarship automatically applies upon enrolment, so students do not need to submit a separate application.

However, the university expects scholarship recipients to remain engaged with their coursework, including regular attendance and timely submission of assignments.

Failure to meet these expectations could result in the withdrawal of the scholarship and a potential requirement to repay the awarded amount.

Information supplies that the scholarship is available to all new, full-time international students who begin their studies in the Applied Artificial Intelligence BSc program during the 2024/25 academic year.

Furthermore, the opportunity is not restricted by country, as it encompasses a broad list of nations from the Solomon Islands to Zimbabwe, ensuring that a diverse cohort of students can benefit from this initiative.

The Dean of FoEI, Professor Alex Johnson, in the statement, expressed enthusiasm about the new scholarship, stating, “We are thrilled to offer this significant scholarship to our international students.

“It reflects our commitment to attracting global talent and supporting students who are passionate about advancing their knowledge in artificial intelligence. We look forward to welcoming a diverse group of scholars to our programme,” he said.

Additionally, prospective students should note that while the scholarship is automatically applied, they must still complete the necessary enrolment procedures by October 25, 2024.

Interested students need to ensure they meet all academic and administrative requirements to benefit from this opportunity.

For more information on the scholarship and the Applied Artificial Intelligence BSc programme, prospective students are encouraged to visit the University of Bradford’s official website or contact the admissions office directly.

[Leadership]

Oil marketers may begin the importation of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, following the recent declaration by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited that it would only fully offtake the product from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery if the market prices of the commodity were higher than the pump prices in Nigeria.

NNPC also declared that Dangote and other domestic refineries were free to sell directly to any marketer on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, adding that it had no desire or intention to become the distributor for any entity in a free market environment.

This is, however, contrary to what the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, stated last week. The owner of the $20bn refinery had stated that the refinery was waiting for NNPC, adding that the national oil company would be the only off-taker of its petrol domestically.

Reacting to the slowdown in discussions between Dangote and NNPC, oil marketers stated that they would only source the product from wherever they found it cheaper, as this could be through importation.

Commenting on the price of Dangote petrol, the National Operations Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mustapha Zarma, said, “We have not contacted Dangote for now, but we may contact the refinery’s sales department this week to find out the price.

“If the price is competitive enough for one to buy and get his return on investment and the required margin, then we wouldn’t mind purchasing directly from him to complement what NNPC is bringing in or what NNPC would buy from Dangote.”

Zarma confirmed that since the Federal Government and NNPC had said the Dangote refinery would sell its product at the market price, this implied that the government would not intervene in the pricing of the commodity from the plant through subsidy.

Based on this, he noted that other dealers now had the opportunity to source the product from any producer at a cheaper price, whether locally or internationally.

He noted that some oil marketers currently imported diesel, while others bought the product from Dangote, adding that a similar situation would play out in the purchase of petrol, going by NNPC’s recent position on Dangote petrol.

“I believe that we are going to analyse the price of Dangote petrol and see the advantages of buying from Dangote viz-a-viz importation. Whichever we feel is cheaper will automatically attract everybody, especially if importation is cheaper.

“That will bring about competition and I don’t think the government will allow price monopoly. They would want a competitive market where the laws of demand and supply would determine the local price of refined petroleum products, just like diesel is right now.

“And with that, there is going to be some kind of equilibrium in the pricing and there is going to be guaranteed sustainability of supply,” the IPMAN official stated.

Industry observers say the Federal Government seems not ready to stop fuel importation following the refusal of NNPC to be the off-taker of Dangote’s petrol.

They, however, noted that with the recent hike in the pump prices of petrol, the government was systematically stopping subsidies on the commodity, following the recent revelation by NNPC that it spent over N7.8tn subsidising petrol.

At the presentation of the audited report and accounts of NNPC for the 2023 business year in Abuja last month, NNPC’s Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya, admitted that the oil firm was shouldering a heavy subsidy burden on petrol imports.

He said the government directed NNPC to sell the petrol it imported at a price that is half the landing price.  According to him, at times the Federal Government paid the money and it could as well net off for it.

While the official pump price of petrol is about N600/litre, the average landing cost is about N1,200/litre. Ajiya said the company covered about N7.8tn in “shortfall” in the first seven months of this year.

“What has been happening is that we have been importing PMS, landing at a certain price, and the government is telling us to sell it at half price. So, that gap between that landed price and the half price is what we call shortfall or we call it a subsidy,” the CFO had stated.

Foreign producers

Also speaking on the development, the National Publicity Secretary of IPMAN, Ukadike Chinedu, said though marketers were ready to buy from Dangote, the revelation from NNPC showed that dealers were free to source their products from any cheaper source.

“From what is happening now, it means that the Petroleum Industry Act is being implemented, the removal of subsidies has come to stay and the price of petrol is to be determined by the economics of demand and supply.

“Now that NNPC has said they are not the sole off-taker of Dangote petrol, it then means that the price of the product would determine where we are going to buy it. If NNPC imports the product and its price is cheaper than that of Dangote, we will buy from NNPC. If Dangote’s price is cheaper than that of NNPC, then we will buy from Dangote. So, right now, competition will set in. Remember that diesel price rose as high as N1,600/litre and Dangote came in with his own at N1,200/litre, and the importers reduced their price to N1,100/litre.

“It further dropped to about N950 and now revolves between N950 and N1,100 for both the imported ones and the ones produced locally. By the time competition sets in, the product will sell cheaper,” Ukadike stated.

On whether marketers had started making plans to import if the imported product would be cheaper, he replied, “Our National President, Alhaji Abubakar Maigandi, has commenced discussions with some investors who are now in the process of securing funds going by the current trend in the business.

“So, we are talking with some foreign partners because you need to understand that independent marketers are the highest buyers of diesel from Dangote refinery because we control about 80 per cent of the filling stations nationwide. So, if Dangote PMS is cheaper we will buy it, but if importation is cheaper, we will go for it.”

President Bola Tinubu recently directed that NNPC should sell crude to Dangote and other domestic refineries in naira.

The President’s Special Adviser on Revenue, Zacch Adedeji, who also serves as Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, explained that the move would mitigate Nigeria’s heavy reliance on foreign exchange for crude oil imports, accounting for roughly 30 to 40 per cent of its forex expenditure.

The revenue chief said that by denominating crude oil transactions in naira, the government expected to significantly lighten its forex burden, with estimated annual savings of $7.3bn. It is also expected to reduce monthly forex expenditure on petroleum products to $50m from approximately $660m.

“Monthly, we spend roughly $660m in these exercises, and if you analyse that, that will give us $7.92bn savings annually,” he stated.

Earlier, the President stated that Nigeria spent N2tn monthly on fuel importation.

The PUNCH reports that while licensed individuals have been importing diesel into Nigeria, NNPC remains the sole importer of petrol under the current administration.

Despite being the largest oil producer in Africa, Nigeria depends on imported petroleum products due to low refining capacity.

In May, Dangote said Nigeria would no longer import fuel the moment his refinery commenced production of petrol.

But unless there is an intervention from the President, Dangote’s plan to end fuel importation may not be achieved anytime soon, even as the $20bn refinery unveiled its PMS last week.

The NNPC, in a statement by its spokesman, Olufemi Soneye, said on Saturday that it would not buy Dangote PMS unless it was cheaper than that of the international market.

This is contrary to claims by Dangote that the refinery was waiting for the NNPC to roll out its product.

On Saturday, NNPC stated that it would only fully offtake petrol from the Dangote refinery if the market prices of PMS were higher than the pump prices in Nigeria.

The NNPC also declared that Dangote and any other domestic refineries are free to sell directly to any marketer on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, saying it had no desire or intention to become the distributor for any entity in a free market environment.

“The recent changes in PMS prices have no impact on the DRL or any other domestic refinery’s access to the Nigerian market. In fact, if current prices are perceived as high, it presents an ideal opportunity for the refinery to sell its products at lower prices in the Nigerian market,” Soneye stated.

Soneye added that Dangote refinery could lower its price if it felt the new prices were too high.

“We emphasise that there is no guarantee of lower prices associated with domestic refining compared to any global parity pricing framework, as confirmed by the DRL. The NNPC Ltd will only fully off-take PMS from the DRL if the market prices of PMS are higher than the pump prices in Nigeria,” the NNPC said.

This statement from the NNPC could be an indication that the NNPC was not ready to stop importation, especially as its refineries ere yet to become operational.

Since the unveiling of its PMS, the NNPC appeared to have turned its back against the Dangote refinery.

While unveiling the 650,000-capacity refinery, Dangote stated that the facility would roll out petrol whenever NNPC was ready.

Dangote disclosed that the petrol would get to the filling stations in the next 48 hours (from Tuesday) after all arrangements with NNPC were concluded, saying the queues would be over soon.

He emphasised that the NNPC would sell and distribute the product, under the current naira crude sale arrangement.

“Once the NNPC is ready, we roll,” Dangote said.

But it seems that talks between the two companies have collapsed and this means fuel importation might continue.

In the past few days, the NNPC has in different statements denied that it would fix the price for Dangote or be its sole distributor.

This was after the state-owned energy firm said it was given a September 15 timeline by the refinery to lift its petrol

‘NNPC evading responsibilities’

A reliable source close to Dangote refinery expressed concerns over the turn of events.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to speak on the matter, said NNPC had been the one fixing petrol prices over the years, wondering why it was trying to relinquish that duty now.

The source also denied that Dangote refinery gave NNPC a September 15 deadline to lift its fuel.

She added that those making money from fuel importation were the forces trying to stop the sale of Dangote PMS locally.

“Dangote is not a regulator, those in NNPC are just trying to be clever, they want to shift the blame to somebody else. This is something they have been doing for many years.

“Some people are embittered, this is what they have been doing over the years, embezzling money,” our source said.

On pricing, she added, “I don’t know if there is any price for now. We all know what is going on. These is propaganda from these NNPC people. They know what they have done and they want to cover up. Very soon, everybody will know the actual quantity of fuel we consume in this country.”

IPMAN awaits loading

IPMAN president Abubakar Maigandi told one of our correspondents that the independent marketers were waiting for PMS from NNPC Retail.

“We are still collaborating with NNPC. I’ve called their officials and my marketers are supposed to have started loading. They said they would start loading them. So, we are still waiting.

“According to the information from the NNPC, we learnt that there is enough supply. So, we are waiting for them if they truly have enough supply because we already paid,” Maigandi stated.

The Federal Government, through the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, will today (Monday) arraign 10 suspects for terrorism over their alleged connection with the N4bn illegal firearms and ammunition imported into the country in June.

The PUNCH learnt on Sunday that the arms centre had concluded its investigation into the large cache of arms and ammunition intercepted by the Nigerian Customs Service in Port Harcourt in June.

The Nigerian Customs had, during one of its operations in June, intercepted a 40-foot container loaded with 844 rifles and 112,500 live ammunition at the Onne Port in Port Harcourt.

The arms and ammunition were said to have been skillfully concealed within items such as doors, furniture, plumbing fittings and leather bags.

The intercepted container was also reported to have originated from Turkey and its duty-paid value was put at N4bn.

A top source at the centre told our correspondent that 10 suspects arrested in Abuja in connection with the importation of arms and ammunition would be charged in court today (Monday).

The source added that the matter had been assigned to  Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The source said, “Investigation has been concluded on the matter. Ten suspects were arrested while others are at large. The suspects will be taken to court on Monday. The case is before Justice Emeka Nwite in Abuja.’’

In the copy of the charge sheet sighted by a correspondent on Sunday, the defendants are Ali Ofoma; Okechukwu Charles; Kingsley Chinasa; Oroghodo Maxwell; Akinkuade Segun; Augustine Elechi; Osumini Kennedy; Ajala Ojo; Faboro Oluwatimilehin and Tolulope Ogundepo.

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR /463/ 2024, four charges, bordering on acts of terrorism, illegal importation of prohibited firearms, and forgery, among others, were preferred against the defendants.

The defendants were accused of intentionally conspiring with others at large to illegally import prohibited 844 firearms and 112,500 rounds of cartridges concealed in plumbing materials and other items loaded inside a 1 x 40ft container with Registration Number MAEU- 9165396.

The offence is said to be contrary to Section 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

The FG also accused the defendants of altering a bill of lading of the consignment from Ola Gold Maratine Services to read Dan Autos Limited and diverted the movement of the container from the West African Container Terminal to WAX Logistics Limited to cover up their illegal intention to import prohibited arms and ammunitions.

By doing this, the FG said the defendants committed “an act of uttering of the forged document with the intent that it may anyway be used or acted upon as genuine contrary to Section 1(2)(c) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.”

“That you  Ofoma, Charles and others at large on or about June 20, 2024, at Onne Port Terminal and your subsequent arrest in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did, knowingly and intentionally with others now at large, commit an act of terrorism to wit: you transported prohibited weapons and other dangerous substance on board a Maersk Vigo Ship with a bill of lading number 238921355 conveying a container number MAEU-9165396 into the country thereby committing an act prejudicial to national security and in violation of ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons and you thereby committed-an offence punishable under Section 39(1) (a) (i) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022,” the charge sheet added.

Ofoma, Charles and others at large were accused of importing the arms and ammunition into the country without the required license or authority, contrary to Section 18 of the Firearms Act Cap F28 Laws of Federation of Nigeria 2004 and punishable under section 27 (a) (iii) of the same Act.

Nigerians in the Federal Capital Territory are struggling to locate the sales points for the N40,000 subsidised rice that was officially launched by the Federal Government last week.

The launch, which took place on September 5, 2024, saw the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, flagging off the sale of 30,000 metric tonnes of milled rice at a subsidised rate of N40,000 per 50kg bag.

Speaking at the launch in Abuja, Kyari revealed that the initiative was driven by the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to ensuring that “Nigerians do not go to bed hungry.”

He acknowledged the various challenges that contributed to the current high cost of food in the country, including the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, climate change, and local economic factors.

“We are all aware that in the recent past, especially after the mass of COVID-19, and due to the Russian-Ukraine war, climate change and other localised factors, challenges food prices, have made it difficult for Nigerians,” Kyari said.

He assured the public that the government has put in place mechanisms to ensure transparency and the smooth sale of the subsidised rice.

He urged citizens to cooperate with government agencies to make the initiative successful, stating, “I, therefore, urge our dear citizens to cooperate with the relevant agencies of government who will try to serve you to achieve this great initiative of the government.

“Let us work together to ensure that the dream of the present administration to uphold the fundamental right to food for all Nigerians is achieved.”

Kyari also stated that to ensure fair distribution, the rice sales would follow a “one person, one bag” policy.

But despite the fanfare around the launch, FCT residents have expressed frustration over their inability to locate designated collection or payment points for the rice. Many say they have not seen any distribution points set up in their local areas.

A resident of Kuje Area Council, Mrs Yunusa Eleojo, shared her disappointment. She recounted buying a bag of rice from a wholesale vendor for N84,000, more than double the price promised by the government.

“I only heard the government is selling rice at N40,000 per bag, I don’t know where the stores are located, not to talk of how to buy,” she said.

“I had to buy a bag of rice for N84,000 on Friday from a wholesaler who even claimed it was a wholesale price,” she added.

Another resident from Bwari Area Council, identified as Mama Twins voiced similar concerns.

“We saw them showing rice on the television saying the government is selling rice for N40,000 but up till now, we are not aware of anywhere to buy the rice here,” she said.

She also raised concerns that middlemen might take advantage of the distribution chain, further complicating access to the subsidised rice.

Another FCT resident, Salami Taiwo expressed skepticism about the entire initiative.

“The day I heard about the N40,000 per bag of rice I knew it would not be realistic because of the way the government has been treating us,” he said.

Efforts to get a response from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security regarding the matter were not successful as of press time.

Officials at the Public Affairs Department of the ministry did not respond to enquiries on the matter.

As the public awaits further clarification from the government on where and how to access the subsidised rice, the frustration among residents continues to grow.

Many hope the distribution issues will be resolved soon so that the subsidised rice can reach those who need it most.