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No fewer than 13 lives, 130 vehicles and an unspecified number of houses have been destroyed in separate gas tanker explosions that occurred in Rivers, Osun and Delta States in the last seven days.
DAILY POST reports that tanker explosions have been consistent in the country, leading to loss of several lives and properties.
The recent occurrences have raised concerns amongst stakeholders who are calling for a better method of transporting all petroleum products across the country.
Recall that on Friday last week, April 27, a tanker conveying Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol, burnt motorists and commuters beyond recognition and destroyed at least 120 vehicles in Rivers State.
Five unlucky persons, including a pregnant woman, were killed in the unfortunate incident.
The incident occurred between the Indorama Petro-Chemical Company Gate and the Aleto Bridge on the popular and ever busy Eleme section of the East-West Road now undergoing major reconstruction by the Federal Government.
Barely 12 hours after the Rivers incident, a gas tanker exploded in Ita-Osin, Abeokuta, Ogun State on Saturday, April 29, killing one person, while about five others were seriously injured.
The incident which also left five vehicles burnt, occurred following a suspected brake failure, after which the tanker rammed into the road culvert and went up in flames.
According to the spokesperson of the Ogun State Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Florence Okpe, the deceased was suspected to be the motorboy of the gas-laden tanker.
On Friday, May 4, about eight persons were killed in a petroleum tanker explosion at Ometan-Okpe community along the Effurun-Sapele Road in Okpe local government area of Delta State.
DAILY POST gathered that a breastfeeding mother and her three-month-old baby were among the casualties.
It was learnt that the breastfeeding mother was burnt to death while trying to rescue her baby who was trapped in the inferno.
Sources at the incident also disclosed that a 16-year-old secondary school girl and her mother who were trapped in their apartment also died in the fire incident.
DAILY POST gathered that the incident occurred on Friday when the ill-fated tanker coming from Effurun reportedly lost control while overtaking another truck a few metres away from the boundary bridge between Uvwie and Okpe Local Government Area.
According to eyewitnesses, the front part of the oil tanker suddenly detached from the rear compartment while on motion, leading to an explosion.
All buildings within the accident scene were razed. Some residents who were trapped in the building were also burnt to death.
Speaking with DAILY POST on Saturday, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Edafe Bright confirmed that about eight bodies were recovered from the incident scene.
He said, “The head of the tanker pulled off from the body of the truck, the vehicle fell and went up in flames, leading to the major accident that claimed those lives.
“About seven houses, five shops, including POS shops, were burnt down.
“Four vehicles, including car, truck were all destroyed by the inferno.”
Governors, FG move to end incessant gas explosions
The 36 governors under the aegis of Nigerian Governors Forum on April 28 said discussions were advancing among them and strategic federal agencies in the oil and gas industry in a bid to adopt safer methods of transportation of petroleum products across the country.
The forum’s Chairman, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq gave the hint at the Rivers State Government House, Port Harcourt, when he visited to commiserate with Governor Siminalayi Fubara, over the incident.
AbdulRazaq said, “We also spoke with the Head of the Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency, and there will be a review of some laws.
“There will also be engagement between the Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency and state agencies in terms of ensuring health and safety on these issues.
“As you know, Nigeria relies a lot, virtually, on pipelines for the movement of petroleum products, and we need to strengthen regulations in that sector, and also emphasise on improving and expanding pipelines for the transportation of products as well.”
Similarly, the Federal Government vowed to stop granting licences to gas companies with no capacity to build pipelines for gas distribution.
This was communicated by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Gas, Ekperikpe Ekpo, when he visited Abeokuta for an on-the-spot assessment of the explosion at Ita Oshin.
According to the Minister, the development became imperative to discourage the transportation of compressed natural gas through the roads.
“I have directed the authority chief executive that for any further issuance of licence, the company should be competent enough to pipe it to their end users so that we are not exposed to this kind of danger any longer.
“As a ministry, we are looking at how we can reduce a lot of virtual conveyance of gas.
“That is why we are putting much in developing the gas pipeline infrastructure so that the transportation would not be virtual, but rather through the pipelines. This will reduce this kind of incident and take off the pressure on our roads”, he said.
Meanwhile a retired officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Danjuma Alkali told DAILY POST on Saturday that the best way to stop the ugly occurrence was to ban night travels.
According to him, most of the incidents occurred due to “inability of drivers to have enough rest at night”, stressing “the incidents either happened in the night or when the drivers were totally exhausted”.
According to him, if there was a piece of legislation declaring an outright ban on night travels, the FRSC would be in a position to curb vehicles, whether big or small, travelling at night.
“Even before the recent incidents, statistics had shown that most of the crashes happen at night.
“For instance, a driver will want to go to Lagos and he takes off from Ilorin or Lokoja by 5pm; does a person get to Lagos before it becomes very late?
“If the federal lawmakers can come up with a piece of legislation to ban night travel, that will assist both the law enforcement agencies and other citizens.
“Banning night travels will put an end to some of these issues we face as a country, including insecurity.
“The federal government, in its wisdom, created tanker parks all over the country so that when it is night, the drivers can pack and rest until the following day, yet, most of them still prefer travelling at night.
“Nigeria should discourage night journeys because when articulated vehicles, especially fuel tankers, break down at night, drivers of such vehicles tend to abandon them on the road without any sign of caution and this has caused several incidents,” he stated.
The Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has promised a review of the law punishing suicide attempts.
He gave the promise when he received a delegation from the Asido Foundation, a non-governmental organisation promoting mental health advocacy and reforms to improve awareness, reduce stigma and discrimination and empower persons with mental disorders and their families.
The AGF said health is one of the priority areas of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“The law is something we have to take a second look at, especially where it is established that the offenders are not in the right state of mind. What the offenders need is pity, treatment and love to rid society of this kind of situation. But whatever we do is not binding on the states. So, I will take the case to the Body of Attorneys General,” Fagbemi said.
He promised to take up the issues around the Mental Health Act with his colleagues in the Federal Ministry of Health.
Earlier, the founder of Asido, Dr Jibril Abdulmalik, sought the help of the AGF in reviewing the law sentencing people for attempted suicide and the implementation of the Mental Health Act signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2023.
Abdulmalik said medical evidence had shown that all over the world, 80-90 per cent of those who attempted suicide had a background of mental illness, especially depression.
“It is their sense of hopelessness that makes them get to the edge, where they think they are better off dying. In that situation, what they need is help and treatment, not punishment and incarceration. We know the workload is heavy for our judicial officers. We don’t want them overburdened with cases that should ordinarily go to hospitals,” he added.
The 2023 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Sunday said the Nigerian Government was “solely expediting action on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway due to the business ties between President Bola Tinubu and Gilbert Chagoury, the owner of Hitech.”
Chagoury is the contractor responsible for the highway project.
Atiku said the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway contract was granted in violation of procurement regulations.
In a statement signed by his Media Aide, Paul Ibe, Atiku disclosed that the involvement of Tinubu’s son and his associates on the boards of companies belonging to Chagoury presents a clear conflict of interest.
Atiku also claimed that Tinubu’s son, Seyi, is a director on the board of CDK Integrated Industries.
The former Vice President said instead of “enhancing the ease of doing business, the Tinubu government had allegedly demonstrated to the global community that his business endeavours and those of his family would consistently take precedence over national interests.”
Atiku claimed that the project being done with more than $13 billion was awarded without competitive bidding.
Atiku also claimed that the “so-called’ Badagry-Sokoto highway would be awarded similarly at an enormous cost to taxpayers purely because Tinubu had put his interest ahead of the Nigerian people.
Atiku said the demolition of tourist and recreational facilities and other properties within the Oniru corridor, including parts of Landmark, without ample notice, “is one of the reasons foreign direct investments continue to elude the country.”
He added that in more orderly environments, “establishments like Landmark would have been provided with a minimum of two years’ notice to facilitate proper planning.”
In an attempt to put an end to the fuel scarcity that has lingered for about two weeks across the country, petroleum marketers on Sunday advised the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to continue its emergency fuel supply for another two weeks.
This came as the NMDPRA disclosed that about 4,000 trucks laden with Premium Motor Spirit departed Lagos depots for filling stations in various states over the weekend to supply the product.
The Federal Government had, through the NMDPRA, on Wednesday said it began a 15-day emergency fuel supply last week Monday to ensure the commodity circulates across the length and breadth of the country.
The government also disclosed that vessels importing PMS would continue to berth at the shore to discharge fuel to different depots, from where the product would be distributed to different filling stations.
In an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the South-West Regional Coordinator of the NMDPRA, Ayo Cardoso, said no fewer than 300 million litres of petrol were loaded at various depots in Lagos between Friday and Sunday to reduce the queues in filling stations.
However, it appears the queues have yet to ease off to an appreciable level as many filling stations remain shut in Lagos, Ogun, Abuja, Oyo and others due to lack of fuel supply.
Our correspondents report that in some areas where the product was available, marketers sold for as high as N1,000 per litre, thereby causing long queues in stations selling for prices around N600.
Though marketers confirmed that the government was making efforts to reduce the queues in filling stations by ramping up fuel supply, they held that the emergency supply must continue for the next two weeks until the product is available in all the nooks and crannies of the country.
In an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the Executive Secretary of the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria, Clement Isong, said the depots and filling stations in the country were currently operating from the bottom of their reservoirs, saying more has to be done to ensure the tanks were filled up.
According to data obtained from the NMDPRA, it was gathered that as of Saturday, a total of 118 million litres of PMS was discharged from different vessels to marketers; being over 2,600 trucks if conveyed by 45,000-litre capacity tankers.
According to the data, Fatgbems Petroleum received 13,688,420 litres from the SL Aremu vessel. From Binta Saleh, A.A. Rano Oil and Gas got 27,485,750 litres, while STI Yorkville discharged 49,069,623 litres of PMS to NIPCO, Total, 11 Plc and NRL, through the ASPM jetty.
Also, MT Watson discharged a total of 27,295,511 litres to Bono Energy and Asharami.
According to the promise of the NMDPRA that vessels would continue to berth for 15 days, Cardoso told our correspondent that the vessels were discharging the product for onward delivery to retail outlets across the nation.
At Cluster 1 in Apapa on Saturday, it was said that AITEO was allocated 23 trucks; MRS, 49 trucks; OVH/NRL, 45 trucks; NIPCO, 61 trucks of PMS, and 11 Plc, 77 trucks. Others include Ardova and Total JV.
Our correspondent gathered that the Total terminal in Apapa was programmed to receive the product from Golden Dahlia, from where HOGL Energy also received PMS on Saturday.
At Cluster 2 in Ibafon, T-Time Petroleum reportedly got 25 trucks, containing 1,196,000 litres of PMS, while Fatgbems received 20 trucks containing 780,000 litres of the product.
Eighteen trucks of 598,000 litres were allocated to Techno Oil and Bono received 32 trucks of 1,535,000 litres. MRS Limited also got 170 trucks of 8 million litres from Ibafon.
Similarly, at Cluster 3 in Ijegun, the Pinnacle Oil and Gas was allocated 312 trucks and A.A. Rano got 129 trucks of PMS, 111 trucks of which were loaded on Friday.
The PUNCH reliably gathered that 128,236 metric tonnes of PMS, about 170 million litres, was awaiting haulage as of Saturday. The haulage was meant to be carried out by MT Keonamex, 20,172MT; MT Stena Immaculata, 18,955MT and MT STI Stability 89,109MT.
On Sunday, Cardoso informed our correspondent that T-Time Petroleum loaded 20 trucks of 1,000,000 litres; Fatgbems got 42 trucks of 1,850,000 litres; Techno Oil received nine trucks of 347,001 litres; Bono Energy, 22 trucks of 1,004,000 litres, while MRS Ltd loaded 180 trucks, being 8,500,000 litres of petrol.
In all, it was gathered that about 4,000 trucks of PMS flooded filling stations between Friday and Sunday.
Cardoso disclosed that six PMS vessels berthed across six jetties on Sunday, four out of which discharged a total of 187 million litres of PMS.
“The remaining two vessels that will hopefully commence after completion of the protocol prescribed in the SOP for Jetty Operations are laden with approximately 150 million litres,” he said.
The NMDPRA regional coordinator said he and his team have been on the field to ensure even distribution of the products, assuring Nigerians that PMS would soon get to all filling stations.
While warning against panic buying, Cardoso said the agency would continue to monitor the situation to ensure strict compliance.
Ex-depot prices
Cardoso also released the ex-depot prices of the product, which ranged from N556 per litre to N645.
The ex-depot price is the price of a product, in this case, petrol, at the depot or storage facility where it is held before being transported to filling stations.
In other words, the ex-depot price is the price at which the product is sold to marketers or distributors at the depot, excluding the cost of transportation, taxes, and other charges. It is the wholesale price of the product before it reaches the consumer.
Other additional costs, such as transportation, taxes, and profit margins, are added to the ex-depot price to determine the final retail price paid by consumers at the pump.
According to the data supplied by Cardoso, the NNPC Retail has the lowest ex-depot price of N556/litre, followed by OVH/NRL at N556.5/litre.
Others are 11 Plc, N599; NIPCO, N623; AITEO, N589.50; MRS Plc, N598; Ardova, N585; T-Time Petroleum, N610; Fatgbems, N597; Techno Oil, N600 and Bono Energy, N645/litre.
Marketers seek supply
Speaking with our correspondent, the MEMAN Executive Secretary, Isong, expressed the belief that there was an increase in supply, adding that the queues will disappear if the government keeps the tempo.
He explained, “I think the tanks were really down. So, when you restore supply, the queues will disappear. There are five reservoirs of petrol; the last reservoir is the one in the tank of a car. You can operate from the top or bottom of your tank. In the recent past, petrol stations have been operating from the bottom of their tanks. If a petrol station has two 45,000-litre tanks and it has only five or 10,000 litres, it is operating from the bottom of its tank. That is the second reservoir.
“The third reservoir is what they call ‘goods-in-transit’. If the supply chain is working correctly, then at any point in time, we should have a thousand trucks on the road delivering products. That is another reservoir, the same thing for the pipelines. If the pipeline is full, that is another reservoir. That is the transportation.”
He added, “After that, we have the depots. If the depots are full, that is the biggest reservoir you have. We then have the vessels, whether it is the mother vessel or daughter vessel. That is another couple of million litres. Sometimes, if the cut in your supply chain is such that one of those reservoirs is empty, it will not be too difficult to come back. But in a world in which all your reservoirs are already operating from the bottom of the tanks; people don’t have enough in their tanks, you don’t have enough goods in transit, you don’t have enough in the tanks of the filling stations, you don’t have enough in the depots over some time; when you have this kind of challenge of scarcity, you really need to flood the market with 150 to 200 per cent of the normal supply for two to three weeks so that everything fills up.”
Isong emphasised that the filling stations needed to be full, saying there were times in filling stations when trucks would be waiting to discharge because the underground tanks were still full.
“When you have that, it means you have filled up your complete supply chain. But where everything is just at the bottom of the tank, if one thing goes wrong, the entire supply chain dries up again. I think that is the stage that we’ve got to. We need to ramp up supply significantly in the country to about 200 per cent for about two weeks so that the entire supply chain becomes robust again. That way, we can avoid this sort of challenge,” the MEMAN leader stated.
Fillings stations shut
Meanwhile, some filling stations in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, closed their shops due to the non-availability of PMS.
It was also observed that taxi drivers refused to buy from stations willing to sell the products at a rate they considered to be too exorbitant.
This hike in price had however, caused motorists to queue for long hours at a few filling stations such as the NNPC at MKO Abiola Junction as well as its Fowobi outlet, where the product was sold for N600/litre.
Our correspondents report that black marketers were still taking advantage of the situation to make brisk business as they sold for between N1,000 and N1,500/litre.
Commercial drivers in the state capital told our correspondent that some of them slept at the few filling stations selling below N700.
When one of our correspondents visited some fuel stations along the Ikotun-Idimu-Egbeda axis, it was observed that two fuel station outlets belonging to the NNPC Retail along the College Bus Stop were selling.
Our correspondents report that one of the NNPCL outlets on the same axis that witnessed a very long queue was selling the product for N680/litre, while the other one with no queues was selling for N840/litre.
An attendant at the outlet that was selling for N840, who gave her name simply as Mary, said, “We are independent marketers, so everyone is selling according to how they bought. The other outlet is a major marketer that is why it is selling for N680/litre”.
Our correspondents report that queues persist in petrol Stations owned by major marketers in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Sunday.
It was observed that long queues of vehicles were common in stations such as NNPC, Total, MRS and Conoil. However, the supply of fuel in the town has improved as stations owned by the major marketers sold PMS between N580 and N650/litre.
Some independent marketers including Amorry, MKJ, Neemam and Tigress were selling fuel for an average of N1,000/litre as vehicles moved in and out of the stations freely without experiencing any delay.
In Sokoto State, the scarcity of petroleum continued as of Sunday, with one litre selling at the rate of N1,150 naira in most of the filling stations.
One of our correspondents who monitored the situation in the state on Sunday gathered that none of the major marketers in the metropolis dispensed the product.
It was observed that almost all the independent oil marketers in the state opened for business, selling a litre of PMS above N1,000. Also, black marketers sold the product for N1,400/litre on Sunday.
Nigerians have continued to appeal to the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to take urgent actions to put an end to the fuel scarcity, which they said is already inflicting more hardships on them.
SERAP sues Sani, Wike, others ‘over failure to account for N5.9trn, $4.6bn loans, publish agreements’
AFOLABISocio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against Nigeria’s governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Mr Nyesom Wike “over their failure to account for N5.9 trillion and $4.6 billion loans obtained by their states and the FCT, and to publish copies of the loan agreements, including details and locations of projects executed with the loans.”
The suit followed the disclosure last month by Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State that the immediate past administration of Nasir El-Rufai left $587m, N85bn debt and 115 contractual liabilities, making it impossible for the state to pay salaries.
In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/592/2024 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to “direct and compel the governors and Mr Wike to account for N5.9trn and $4.6bn loans obtained by their states and the FCT and to publish copies of the loan agreements, location of projects executed with the loans.”
SERAP is also asking the court to “direct and compel the governors and Mr Wike to invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission [ICPC] to investigate the spending of all the loans obtained to date by their states and the FCT.”
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that, “It is in the public interest to grant the reliefs sought. Nigerians have the right to see and scrutinise the loan agreements and know the details of how the domestic and external loans obtained by the governors and FCT minister are spent.”
According to SERAP, “Opacity in the spending of the loans obtained by the governors and Mr Wike would continue to have negative impacts on the fundamental interests of the citizens.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “Many states and the FCT are reportedly spending public funds which may include the loans obtained by them to fund unnecessary travels, buy exotic and bulletproof cars and generally fund the lavish lifestyles of politicians.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “Many states and the FCT are also allegedly mismanaging public funds which may include domestic and external loans obtained from bilateral and multilateral institutions and agencies.”
According to SERAP, “Many states and the FCT reportedly owe civil servants’ salaries and pensions. Several states are borrowing to pay salaries. Millions of Nigerians resident in the state and FCT continue to be denied access to basic public goods and services such as quality education and healthcare.”
According to SERAP, “Transparency in the spending of the loans obtained by the states and FCT is fundamental to increase accountability, prevent corruption, and build trust in democratic institutions with the ultimate aim of strengthening the rule of law.”
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi and Ms Valentina Adegoke, read in part: “States and the FCT should be guided by transparency and accountability principles and proactively account for the loans obtained and publish copies of the loan agreements.”
“Widely publishing copies of the loan agreements and spending details of the loans obtained would ensure that persons with public responsibilities are answerable to the people for the performance of their duties in the management of public funds.”
“State governors and Mr Wike cannot hide under the excuse that the Freedom of Information Act is not applicable to their states and the FCT. The legal obligations to publish the information sought are also imposed by the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
“According to Nigeria’s Debt Management Office, the total public domestic debt portfolio for the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory is N5.9 trillion. The total public external debt portfolio is $4.6 billion.”
“The domestic and external loans obtained by the states and the FCT are vulnerable to corruption and mismanagement. The states and FCT have a responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability in how any loans obtained by the states and FCT are spent, to reduce vulnerability to corruption and mismanagement.”
“Directing and compelling the states and FCT to publish copies of the loan agreements would allow Nigerians to scrutinise them, and promote transparency and accountability on the spending of public funds including the loans obtained.”
“Providing and widely publishing the details of the spending of the domestic and external loans obtained by the states and FCT would enable Nigerians to effectively and meaningfully engage in the management of the loans.”
“The constitutional principle of democracy also provides a foundation for Nigerians’ right to know the details of loan agreements and how the loans obtained are spent. Citizens’ right to know promotes openness, transparency, and accountability that is in turn crucial for the country’s democratic order.”
“The effective operation of representative democracy depends on the people being able to scrutinize, discuss and contribute to government decision making, including on the spending of loans obtained by the states and FCT.”
“To do this, they need information to enable them to participate more effectively in the management of public funds by their state governments and the FCT.”
“The public interest in obtaining information about expenditures relating to the loans obtained by the states and FCT outweighs any privacy or other interest.”
“The oversight afforded by public access to such details would serve as an important check on the activities of the states and FCT and help to prevent abuses of the public trust.”
“There is a significant risk of mismanagement or diversion of funds linked to loans obtained by state governments and the FCT. The accounts of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT are generally not open to public scrutiny.”
“The Nigerian Constitution, human rights and anticorruption treaties to which Nigeria is a state party also impose obligations on the states and FCT to prevent mismanagement or diversion of public funds including the loans obtained.”
“Many years of allegations of corruption and mismanagement of public funds including the loans obtained by the states and FCT have contributed to widespread poverty, underdevelopment and lack of access to public goods and services.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
British actor Bernard Hill, best known for his supporting roles in “Titanic” and “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, died on Sunday aged 79, his agent announced.
He played Captain Edward Smith in the Oscar-winning 1997 epic romance “Titanic”, and earned worldwide recognition playing Theoden, King of Rohan, in two of the three “The Lord Of The Rings” films directed by Peter Jackson.
His agent Lou Coulson confirmed his death in the early hours of Sunday to British media outlets.
Early in his career, Bernard Hill featured in the BBC’s 1982 acclaimed drama “Boys from the Blackstuff”, which won numerous awards and is still lauded as one of the finest examples of its genre from the era.
He is set to return to television screens in series two of a contemporary BBC drama, “The Responder”, starring Martin Freeman, which begins airing in the UK later on Sunday.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disassociated itself from a circulating report in the media alleging the release of a list of 58 ex-governors, under investigation for corruption, to the tune of N2.18 trillion.
In a press statement on Sunday, the EFCC clarified that it has not issued any such list nor discussed the investigation of the former governors with any media outlet.
According to the statement signed by EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, the report titled ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex-Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ was “a phantom report,” deemed “false and mischievous.”
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, feels obliged to dissociate itself from a phantom report circulating in sections of the media, claiming it has released a full list of ex-governors being investigated for alleged corruption.
“The report headlined ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex- Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ in one of the news outlets, is false and mischievous as the commission neither issued the said list nor entertained discussions on the investigation of ex-governors with any news medium.
“This invariably means that the so-called list is a disingenuous fabrication designed to achieve motives known only to the authors,” the statement read.
Oyewale urged the public to disregard the report and advised the media to verify information regarding ongoing investigations directly with the commission, to prevent the spread of false and inaccurate information.
The EFCC had said it would consider the fresh petition it recently received over the alleged N70 billion corruption case of Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.
The EFCC’s acting Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwajuren, stated this while addressing protesters under the aegis of the APC Akida Forum who were at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday to demand the reopening of the pending case.
On May 18, 2023, the EFCC, through its Director, Media and Publicity Affairs, Osita Nwajah, had said it was probing corruption activities, award of phantom contracts, and diversion of over N70bn allegedly carried out by the minister during his tenure as Zamfara State governor between 2019 and 2023.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disassociated itself from a circulating report in the media alleging the release of a list of 58 ex-governors, under investigation for corruption, to the tune of N2.18 trillion.
In a press statement on Sunday, the EFCC clarified that it has not issued any such list nor discussed the investigation of the former governors with any media outlet.
According to the statement signed by EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, the report titled ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex-Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ was “a phantom report,” deemed “false and mischievous.”
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, feels obliged to dissociate itself from a phantom report circulating in sections of the media, claiming it has released a full list of ex-governors being investigated for alleged corruption.
“The report headlined ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex- Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ in one of the news outlets, is false and mischievous as the commission neither issued the said list nor entertained discussions on the investigation of ex-governors with any news medium.
“This invariably means that the so-called list is a disingenuous fabrication designed to achieve motives known only to the authors,” the statement read.
Oyewale urged the public to disregard the report and advised the media to verify information regarding ongoing investigations directly with the commission, to prevent the spread of false and inaccurate information.
The EFCC had said it would consider the fresh petition it recently received over the alleged N70 billion corruption case of Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.
The EFCC’s acting Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwajuren, stated this while addressing protesters under the aegis of the APC Akida Forum who were at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday to demand the reopening of the pending case.
On May 18, 2023, the EFCC, through its Director, Media and Publicity Affairs, Osita Nwajah, had said it was probing corruption activities, award of phantom contracts, and diversion of over N70bn allegedly carried out by the minister during his tenure as Zamfara State governor between 2019 and 2023.
he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed banks reduced loans to the private sector to N71.21 trillion in March.
Credit to the private sector describes monetary resources given to the private sector, such as advances and loans, purchases of non-equity securities, trade credits, and other accounts receivable, which create a claim for repayment.
According to the CBN’s money and credit data, the current figure represents a month-on-month decline of 11.93 percent or N9.65 trillion drop, compared to N80.86 trillion recorded in February.
However, on a year-on-year basis, credit to the private sector rose by 65.57 percent compared to N43.01 trillion recorded in the corresponding period in March 2023.
In January, credit to investors was N76.29 trillion.
Also, data obtained from the CBN showed credit to the government decreased to N19.59 trillion in March from N33.93 trillion in February — representing a month-on-month decline of 42 percent.
On a year-on-year basis, CBN reported that credit to the government rose by 28.8 percent against N27.52 trillion in March last year.
Credit to the government stood at N36.18 trillion in January.
The decline in credit to the private sector and government follows CBN’s monetary tightening.
CBN has raised interest rates 10 consecutive times since May 2022 — a move that has increased the cost of borrowing — to tame inflation.
Also, in line with its monetary tightening, CBN announced a downward review of the loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) from 65 percent to 50 percent on April 17.
LDR is used to assess a bank’s liquidity by comparing its total loans to its total deposits.
An increase in the loan-to-deposit ratio allows banks to expand their credits to businesses and individuals, however, a decline in LDR reduces their ability to loan customers from depositors’ funds.
The federal government has disclosed that following the report of investigation done by some committees set up by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), it will not hesitate to withdraw funds from any non-performing Centre of Excellence out of the 23 established years back.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, in Abuja while receiving two reports of TETFund’s ad hoc committees on Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence and Operationalisation of Skills Development Special Intervention.
Mamman, who noted that the report analysed is a major policy shift in education, said government will not continue to reward indolence by giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.
He said, “The government is encouraging our scholars to simply rise to the occasion and deliver on their scholarship, what world class scholars do; and we are not going to reward indolence. We can’t be giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.”
Speaking, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono, agreed that the Fund will not continue to throw money away to centres that are not living up to expectations.
On the non-performing institutions, he said: “If you were established five years ago and you are still at your infancy, you have not been able to provide modern laboratories, facilities for scholars to come and learn, we want to know why. But we don’t want to be arbitrary.
He however admitted that some of the centres have done fantastically well since inception, stating that a lot of them are doing innovations.
Earlier, the Committee on the Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence, led by Prof. Oyewale Tomori, in its report, declined to recommend any centre for upgrade.
[DailyTrust]
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Veteran journalist, Dele Momodu has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of “misfiring” in the ongoing case against former Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello.
Momodu said the EFCC failed to do due diligence during their investigation against Bello.
Speaking during an Instagram Live, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain faulted EFCC’s claims of Bello using government funds to pay his children school fees upfront before the expiration of his tenure.
He faulted EFCC’s conduct in its attempt to prosecute Bello, stressing that the commission’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede should have learnt from the cases of his predecessors, who he said were “booted out ignominiously”.
According to Momodu: “When they brought in the new chairman, I thought oh, you will have the benefit of learning from your predecessors.
“All of them were booted out ignominiously and if I were in the shoes of the current chairman, what I will simply do is make sure I do my job as meticulously, as professionally, as efficiently as possible. And, you will never go wrong if you obey the rule of law.
“I watched the EFCC chairman, I think either last week or the week before the last, I was almost crying because the way he went on and on..if I don’t do this… spitting fire and all.. you don’t have to do media trial.”
Asked if the EFCC was lying about Bello, Momodu said: “I have no idea, I don’t work for EFCC but from all the things that I have read, a lot of them, they misfired. That is the honest truth. They misfired. They didn’t do their due diligence.
“When you said a man took out money and paid for his children’s school fees, just as he was about to leave power, and you go and check the documents and you see that these things started happening from 2021, 2022 (laughs); I am not an illiterate.”
The EFCC had accused Bello and three others of alleged money laundering to the tune of N80.2 billion while he was governor.
Olukoyede also accused Bello of withdrawing $720,000 to pay for his children’s school fees before leaving office.
This, the former governor denied.
The impeached deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has expressed plans to reunite with the former Governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole.
Naija News reports that Shaibu made this known in an interview with PUNCH, stating that he is not ready to support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate, Asue Ighodalo.
The former deputy governor said he would not support Ighodalo because, despite several attempts to know his plans, the latter failed to open up to him about his governorship ambition.
Shaibu noted that he has consistently apologised to Oshiomhole. However, he does not regret his past actions because the former Governor led them to fight against godfathers.
He said, “First, I am not ready to support the governorship candidate of the party, Asue Ighodalo, and until the PDP does the needful, I may not be able to answer the question. I cannot support him because he didn’t open up to me about his ambition despite asking him several times, including at my house. The last time I asked was in November. So, I was taken aback when he spoke on TV that he was being pushed to run.
“I called him and asked who was pushing him to run, but he told me to ignore the report and that it was a social media thing. But his younger brother, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, said that the move to make his elder brother the governor of Edo State started two years ago. Edo State needs a “homeboy” to govern them, not people who will rent houses during their tenure and leave as soon as it ends. We need people who we can relate to and understand the challenges of the people. The PDP governorship candidate is more of an Ibadan man than an Edo man.
“I am ready. I have also consistently apologised to Comrade, and I am using this avenue to do so again over what happened in 2020, especially the language I used during that period. I look at some of the videos and the only thing I can do is apologise. However, I don’t regret the action I took because Oshiomhole is the one who led us to fight against godfathers. I felt what he was trying to do at that time was wrong. Reuniting with him will be interesting. Even amid the fight, I have maintained that he is my father. I will reunite with him sooner or later. He is also my mentor. So, a lot of things that I do, I learnt from him.”
Warns them to work with FG tripartite c’ttee
‘We are generous with N615, 000 demand’
Organised Labour, at the weekend, fires back at state governors, warning them against inflammatory utterances that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire over the new national minimum wage, NNMW.
It faulted the statement credited to the governors through the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, that they were working on what individual states could sustainably pay.
Labour contended that the governors must work within the 37-member committee saddled with the responsibility of fashioning out a new national minimum wage for the country.
According to the Organised Labour, it is being magnanimous with N615,000 new minimum wage’ demand because, based on the socioeconomic indices on the ground, it would have demanded much higher which the governors “are more than able to pay”.
Recall that in a statement, last Thursday, by the NGF Chairman and Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, at the end of NGF’s virtual meeting held Wednesday night, the governors said, among others, “As members of the committee, we are reviewing our individual fiscal space as State Governments and the consequential impact of various recommendations, to arrive at an improved minimum wage we can pay sustainably.
“We remain committed to the process and promise that better wages will be the invariable outcome of ongoing negotiations.”
Misquoted
Reacting to the statement, Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, and President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, Dr Tommy Okon, told Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, that Organised Labour believed the governors were misquoted.
“They can’t say that they are working on what individual states can pay. I think the governors may be talking about what they can add to the minimum wage at the end of the day because what will be agreed upon is the baseline which nobody should pay less than”, Okon said.
“But they can pay higher than that. I think that is what they are saying.
“They cannot be telling us that they are reviewing or setting up a committee to work on what they can pay individually. Two committees cannot be working on the same issue.
“The governors are members of the tripartite committee on the New National Minimum Wage, so they cannot set up another committee or work independently from the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government.
“Maybe the governors are talking about implementation. It is right for the governors to set up an implementation committee. They need to know their staff’s strengths and sources of funds to implement the new wage
“But to say that they are working on what individual states can pay outside the committee that the Federal Government has set up cannot be correct.
“Do not forget that the governors are members of the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government. So, they cannot do anything outside the committee.
“If what is reported is correct or if the governors own up to the statement as reported, it is a recipe for serious industrial unrest.
“And no nation can accept that because any nation that works like will face unprecedented industrial unrest and can never grow. No nation grows amid industrial chaos.
“We think the governors will tread with caution and avoid inflammatory utterances. We still believe the statement was not from them.”
Negotiation table
On its part, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, declined a response, saying it has made a demand before the tripartite committee on the minimum wage and whatever the governors want to say should be brought to the negotiation table since they are members of the committee on the new minimum wage.
However, an official of NLC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday Vanguard that the governors are treading on dangerous ground that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire.
“You cannot be talking about reviewing what individual state can pay sustainably outside the committee set up to look out will be the baseline or minimum”, he said. “Whatever opinion you have is what you should bring to the negotiation table. You come to the negotiation table and argue your opinion.
“We do not want to trade words with the governors because they are members.
“(But) they are treading on a dangerous ground that can set the nation’s industrial space on fire.
“We have made our demand which is a very generous one from the breakdown we released on Thursday on the N615,000 demand.
“You can see that we have been very magnanimous. Several expenses, including basic things like recharge cards, entertainment, extended family and others, are missing.
“Don’t forget that this demand was a product of questionnaires we sent out to states and local governments. We did not manufacture it.
“Again, take the issue of electricity which we allocated N20,000 a month. At the time we did it, the electricity tariff had not been adjusted by about 300 per cent. With the adjustment, it has affected nearly every other thing in terms of inflation.
“We know the governors can do much more than what we are demanding. We have passed through this road before.
“The problem with the governors is that they place their aggrandizement far above public good and workers’ welfare.
“That many former governors are facing prosecution by the nation’s anti-graft agencies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is a pointer to the fact that governors have the resources to pay much higher than our demand.”
‘How we arrived at N615, 000’
NLC had, on Thursday, given the breakdown on how Organised Labour arrived at its demand of N615,000 as the new minimum wage, and also countered the government on the commencement date for the proposed new minimum wage.
The Minister for State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, had, on Wednesday, while addressing workers at the May Day celebration in Abuja, said the new minimum wage would take effect from May 1, 2024.
But the NLC is arguing that it will take effect from April 19, 2024.
In a statement, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said: “It has become imperative at this point that we inform Nigerians who may not have known already the foundations upon which our initial demand for a N615, 000 new National Minimum Wage is based.
“The figure was a product of a painstaking effort through which we captured the cost of living of Nigerian workers and masses in all parts of the country.
“It was essentially an outcome of independent research conducted by the NLC and TUC on the cost of meeting the primary needs of an average family around the country.
“Our research was based on a family with both parents alive and four children without the burden of having other dependents with them.
“A questionnaire was designed and sent to all the State Councils of NLC and TUC from where these questionnaires were sent to our members in all the local government areas in the country to gather the monthly cost of living for the average family as described above.
“Below is a summary of our findings and we hope that this will enable Nigerians understand what propels our demand so that better clarity is made to create better engagement around the ongoing National Minimum Wage Negotiation process.
“A cursory look at the table above shows that we have deliberately removed certain elements from the basket used in calculations of this nature.
“However, it should also be noted that we have not included things like expenditure on calls and data, offerings in churches and Mosques, community dues, entertainment, savings and security etc.
“These are therefore just for the bare necessities.
”It should be noted that we arrived at this figure before the increase in electricity tariff and the recent scarcity of petrol across the nation leading to the appearance of long queues with attendant increased transport fares.
“Any figure below this amount becomes a starvation wage and condemns Nigerian workers and their families to perpetual poverty.
Commencement date
”We have to remember that the old one has expired on the 18th day of April 2024, and a new one is expected to have come into effect on the 19th day of April 2024. “However, because of the government’s inability to comply with the law that demanded negotiations for a new national minimum wage to have begun six months before the expiration of the existing one, concluding the new one has become unfortunately delayed.
”We are sure that our social partners would see our demonstration of understanding, sacrifice and reasonableness in our demands and thus accept this figure without much delay.
“We also enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to implore the government and employers to meet our demands for the sake of justice, equity and national development.”
Veteran journalist, Dele Momodu has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of “misfiring” in the ongoing case against former Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello.
Momodu said the EFCC failed to do due diligence during their investigation against Bello.
Speaking during an Instagram Live, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain faulted EFCC’s claims of Bello using government funds to pay his children school fees upfront before the expiration of his tenure.
He faulted EFCC’s conduct in its attempt to prosecute Bello, stressing that the commission’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede should have learnt from the cases of his predecessors, who he said were “booted out ignominiously”.
According to Momodu: “When they brought in the new chairman, I thought oh, you will have the benefit of learning from your predecessors.
“All of them were booted out ignominiously and if I were in the shoes of the current chairman, what I will simply do is make sure I do my job as meticulously, as professionally, as efficiently as possible. And, you will never go wrong if you obey the rule of law.
“I watched the EFCC chairman, I think either last week or the week before the last, I was almost crying because the way he went on and on..if I don’t do this… spitting fire and all.. you don’t have to do media trial.”
Asked if the EFCC was lying about Bello, Momodu said: “I have no idea, I don’t work for EFCC but from all the things that I have read, a lot of them, they misfired. That is the honest truth. They misfired. They didn’t do their due diligence.
“When you said a man took out money and paid for his children’s school fees, just as he was about to leave power, and you go and check the documents and you see that these things started happening from 2021, 2022 (laughs); I am not an illiterate.”
The EFCC had accused Bello and three others of alleged money laundering to the tune of N80.2 billion while he was governor.
Olukoyede also accused Bello of withdrawing $720,000 to pay for his children’s school fees before leaving office.
This, the former governor denied.
[DailyPost]