The Federal Government said yesterday it was working on establishing an electricity offences tribunal to combat power theft in the country.

Speaking at a briefing in Abuja, the Managing Director, Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency, NEMSA, Aliyu Tahir, who disclosed this, said:  “We are working on the establishment of an electricity offences tribunal with an in-built appeal system for faster dispensation of electricity-related offences. It is to vest NEMSA in-house counsel with powers to prosecute electricity offences.” 

Providing further explanation about the tribunal, Tahir said the initiative would adequately check electricity theft when implemented, adding that the National Assembly had been informed.

“We are looking at the establishment of this electricity tribunal to be able to enforce our mandates more. When you look at the enforcement, with respect to sanctioning of violators in the Act, it is a very long process.

“So to fast-track the prosecution of offenders, the establishment of this tribunal solely for the power sector will go a long way in ensuring that we fast-track the process, carry out enforcements and sanction violators,” he said.

The NEMSA boss said based on the powers conferred on the agency in the Electricity Act, NEMSA had been working hard to establish a tribunal that would speedily try electricity-related offences.

He noted that with the tribunal, issues of electricity theft would be addressed speedily and violators prosecuted as quickly as possible.

While noting that the agency was interfacing with the National Assembly on this, Tahir said further:  “The establishment of this tribunal has been brought to the knowledge of the legislature and we’ve made submissions to them. Our hope is that they will amend the Electricity Act to include a provision for this.”

He also said his agency was perfecting the process for the establishment of an electricity offences tribunal with an inbuilt appeal system to speedily tackle power-related offences.

He said a total of 2,655,488 meters in the power sector had been tested and calibrated, as most of the equipment had been deployed for use by consumers across the country.

Tahir stated that in line with the mandate of the agency, NEMSA has tested and calibrated over 2.6 million meters.

He said NEMSA, which is an agency of the federal government established in 2015, was still testing and calibrating more meters to ensure their functionality, durability and safety when in use

“A total of 21,681 electricity installation projects have been inspected and tested, out of which 13,154 have been certified. Also, a total of 16,624 electricity networks have been monitored by NEMSA.

“About 4,921 factories, hazardous installations and public places have been inspected, tested and certified fit, while 2,655,488 electricity meters have been tested and calibrated, as 487 incidences were investigated by the agency,” the NEMSA boss added.

Tahir, who said the figures were based on data compiled by NEMSA as of the first quarter of 2024, added that the Electricity Act 2023 had strengthened the enforcement powers and responsibilities of the agency.

The Federal Government has requested an 18-month extension on the closing date of the World Bank’s $800m palliative loan to boost its social safety net programmes.

The request is coming in the wake of the country’s battle against rising inflation and economic challenges. 

According to a restructuring paper document on the project from the World Bank, the government requested an extension of the closing date of the project from June 30, 2024, to December 31, 2025.

The report said about three million poor and vulnerable households have benefitted from the $800m palliative loan.

The apex bank had disbursed the loan to cushion the effect of recent government’s policies, such as fuel subsidy removal.

Of these beneficiaries, 700 thousand households were from rural areas and about 2.5 million households from urban areas.

The extension seeks to realign project timelines and enhance the efficacy of the National Social Safety Net Programme-Scale Up, adding that 1,652 urban wards had been covered through the targeting system developed under the project.

The document read:  “Since its start, about 30 million beneficiaries have been covered by social safety net programs, and about three million poor and vulnerable households have received shock responsive cash transfers as of May 2024.

”Of these beneficiaries, 700 thousand households were from rural areas and about 2.5 million households were from urban areas. 1,652 urban wards have been covered through the targeting system developed under the project.”

It added that a planned digital payment delivery mechanism had been put in place, using straight-through processing to deliver transfers directly to beneficiaries’ accounts or wallets while the national social register is being integrated with the National Identification Number, NIN, to further strengthen the targeting system.

The NASSP-SU project, initiated to provide shock-responsive safety net support to Nigeria’s poor and vulnerable, was approved on December 16, 2021, and became effective on January 30, 2023.

With this loan, the Federal Government plans to run a monthly cash transfer programme for poor and vulnerable Nigerians, who have been hit hard by recent policies, such as the fuel subsidy removal.

But it was abruptly stopped following a probe of alleged malfeasance in the management of the scheme by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

As part of restructuring to restart the cash transfer, the government has sought approval to change the chairmanship of the project’s national steering committee from the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to the Minister of Finance.

It also stressed that the extension request stems from Nigeria’s ongoing battle with high inflation, which peaked at 33.2 per cent in early 2024, exacerbated by the removal of fuel subsidies and exchange rate depreciation.

The document partly read, “This paper seeks approval from the Country Director for a Level II restructuring of the National Social Safety Net Program Scale-Up project, an $800m investment project financing.

”The restructuring will extend the project closing date by 18 months from June 30, 2024, to December 31, 2025. The benefit size and duration of the cash transfers under component 1 will also be changed.

“Despite earlier delays, the project remains central to the government’s ambitious plan to provide temporary cash transfer support to the population affected adversely by high inflation, particularly in the wake of the fuel subsidy removal and other macroeconomic reforms the government is undertaking.

”No financial or audit reports are pending, and there are no changes in the audit requirements. There have been some delays in procuring key service providers, and contract management practices are being improved by building the capacity of the PIU’s procurement team.”

The UN World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced a spike in cholera in several regions of the world, with almost 195,000 cases and over 1,900 deaths reported in 24 countries since the start of this year.

The agency’s Eastern Mediterranean Region reported the highest number of cases, followed by the African Region, the Region of the Americas, the Southeast Asia Region, and the European Region.

WHO, in a statement on Thursday, stated that there are no reported cases in the Western Region, according to its bulletin released on Wednesday.

The UN health agency said it exhausted its global stockpile of Oral Cholera Vaccines (OCV) by March but was able to exceed “the emergency target of five million doses in early June for the first time in 2024.”

Yet, the supply of the vaccine does not equate to its demand.

WHO reported that since January last year, 16 countries requested 92 million doses of OCV – almost double the 49 million produced during that time.

WHO, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other partners are working together to use resources to find long-term solutions for cholera.

On the positive side of health news, WHO announced on Thursday that Chad successfully eradicated “sleeping sickness” as a public health problem.

The agency applauded the Government and people of Chad for eradicating the gambiense form of human African trypanosomiasis, (also known as sleeping sickness).

“I congratulate the government and the people of Chad for this achievement.

“It is great to see Chad join the growing group of countries that have eliminated at least one neglected tropical disease (NTD),” Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said.

In eliminating the disease, Chad joining some 50 others globally that have succeeded in this endeavour.

“The 100-country target is nearer and within reach,” Ghebreyesus, added, referring to the target set out in the road map for address neglected tropical diseases by 2030.

Sleeping sickness can cause flu-like symptoms initially but eventually causing behaviour change, confusion, sleep cycle disturbances or even coma, often leading to death.

Improved access to early diagnosis and treatment, as well as surveillance and response has proven that countries can control and eventually eliminate transmission.

Femi Otedola, billionaire businessman and chairman of FBN Holdings, has regained his position as the majority shareholder of First Bank.

According to corporate filings on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) on Thursday, Otedola now owns 9.41 percent shares in the bank.

This became possible after he purchased the group’s shares valued at N18.9 billion.

According to the corporate filings, the billionaire paid N21.91 per share or N6.935 billion for 316,506,776 shares.

He then bought an additional 546,674,034 shares through Calvados Global Services Limited, his holding company, for N21.97 per share — totalling N12.01 billion.

With this, the number of shares recently acquired totalled 863,180,810.

The fresh acquisition has increased Otedola’s shares (direct and indirect) in FBN Holdings to 3,380,462,950 — from 2,517,282,140 shares.

This means the businessman is now the highest shareholder in the company, overtaking Barbican Capital Limited, owned by Oba Otudeko, which has 3,110,400,619 direct shares.

In January, FBN Holdings appointed Otedola as the chairman of its board of directors.

The appointment came two years after the investor became the firm’s single largest shareholder in December 2021, when he increased his stake to 7.57 percent.

A month after the appointment, FBN Holdings named Barbican Capital Limited as its majority shareholder — making Otedola the second major shareholder at the time.

The World Bank says its $750 million loan to Nigeria will support the federal government’s policy reforms.

World Bank made this known in the programme appraisal document — dated May 17, 2024 — on the proposed loan disbursement to Nigeria.

On June 13, Wale Edun, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, announced the approval of two financial support packages by the World Bank valued at $2.25 billion.

The loan consists of $1.5 billion for Nigeria’s reforms for economic stabilisation to enable transformation (RESET) development policy financing program (DPF) and $750 million for Nigeria’s accelerating resource mobilisation reforms (ARMOR) program-for-results (PforR).

In the programme appraisal document, the World Bank said the ARMOR programme contains revenue policy measures such as raising pro-health taxes on tobacco, and alcohol.

The Bretton Woods institution also said the programme contains the introduction of taxes on online betting and gambling, as well as new excise on telecommunication services.

Also, green taxes in the form of excises on vehicles and single-use plastics, as well as the implementation of an electronic money transfer levy were included in the programme.

The World Bank also said the presidential committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms has recommended more structural reform of the value-added tax (VAT) regime.

According to the World Bank, the disbursements under the proposed ARMOR programme will be through nine disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs) structured around the programme’s three result areas.

DLI, also referred to as performance-based financing, is a modality under which funds are disbursed by an investor or donor to a recipient upon the achievement of a predetermined set of conditions.

The World Bank said the DLIs support increased revenues from value-added tax and reduced forgone revenue — which will support phasing out the exemption of interest income from corporate bonds and pioneer status tax incentive scheme.

The Bretton Woods institution also supports increased revenue from pro-health and green taxes — which supports increasing the excise rates on tobacco, and alcoholic products, as well as online betting and gambling services — increased on-time online e-filing and e-payments, enhanced VAT voluntary compliance, improved tax audits, increased compliant trade flows, increased customs revenues through better risk management and enhanced post-clearance audits (PCAs), and enhanced transparency and increased oil revenue flows.

A high court in Akure, the Ondo state capital, has nullified the creation of additional 33 local council development areas (LCDAs) in the state.

Adegboyega Adebusoye, a judge, delivered the ruling on Thursday.

The Ondo state house of assembly passed the bill for the creation of the 33 additional councils on August 15, 2023, after it scaled a third reading.

In September 2023, Rotimi Akeredolu, former Ondo state governor, signed the bill a day after his return from a three-month medical leave.

The 33 LCDAs were to co-exist with the 18 LGAs, bringing the total number of local councils in the state to 51.

Akeredolu died on December 27, 2023, following a protracted battle with prostate cancer. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, his deputy, was immediately sworn in to succeed him.

‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL, NULL AND VOID’

The judge held that it is illegal for a governor to sign a law outside the state he or she governs.

Addressing journalists after the court session, Tolu Babaleye, counsel to the 22 plaintiffs, said the court held that the creation of the 33 LCDAs was “unconstitutional, null and void”.

“We approached this court being the last hope of the common man. And today, the court gave a well-considered judgment which I call a judicial Tsunami, sweeping off all those illegally created local governments in Ondo state,” Babaleye said.

“Apart from that, there was a landmark pronouncement by the court to the effect that no governor is empowered to sign the law of a state outside the shores or jurisdiction of that state because the government has provided for a massive government house for a governor.

“So the governor has no right under the law to go to Ibadan to sign the law. Because of that, the law was nullified, declared unconstitutional and of no effect.

“So as I talk to you now, Ondo state has reverted to 18 local governments.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) says Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers, is the “supreme architect” of the crisis in the state.

The ruling party is reacting to a comment by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alleging plots to take over the government of Rivers forcefully.

In a statement on Thursday, Felix Morka, APC national spokesperson, said the opposition party made the “fake” claim without addressing the issues bedevilling the state.

Morka said since assuming office, Fubara has allegedly shown a disdain for the rule of law.

“Quite contrary to the PDP’s misplaced quibbles against Chief Okocha’s comments, Governor Siminalayi Fubara is the supreme architect of the horrific crisis rocking Rivers state,” the statement reads.

“Since assuming office over a year ago, Governor Fubara has displayed reckless disdain for the rule of law and democratic institutions and conducted his government in flagrant violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“In an unprecedented display of autocratic arrogance, Governor Fubara declared the democratically elected Rivers state House of Assembly to be non-existent and, without lawful authority, constituted a bogus and an illegal 3-man sham Assembly in brazen violation of express provisions of the Constitution on the threshold composition of the House of Assembly and in disregard of the separation of powers doctrine.

“The Governor has continued to expend public funds without lawful appropriations by a duly constituted legislature, thereby undermining the will of the good people of Rivers State and their right to effective and accountable democratic governance.”

The APC spokesperson said a “serious and focused” governor would have set a clear programme to conduct local government elections in the state.

Apart from the rift without Nyesom Wike, minister of federal capital territory (FCT), which has torn apart the Rivers house of assembly, the state is witnessing a crisis at the local government level.

BACKGROUND

On Tuesday, Fubara asked the heads of local government administration to assume control of the 23 council areas of the state following the tenure expiration of the chairmen.

Despite the governor’s directive, some former LGA chairmen reportedly attempted to resume duty at the council secretariats but were chased away by youths.

The development sparked political tension in Rivers as residents protested at the LGA secretariats while police officers fired multiple shots into the air to disperse protesters.

Although the governor has sworn in caretaker committee chairs for the LGAs, they have not been allowed to assume their offices.

The Kano government has ordered the demolition of a section of the palace of Ado Bayero, the deposed 15th Emir of Kano.

Haruna Dederi, Kano state attorney-general and commissioner for justice, said the government has directed the police to take over the Emir’s palace in Nassarawa LGA.

Dederi said the state government has concluded arrangements for the general reconstruction and renovation of the palace, including demolishing “dilapidated walls”.

Earlier on Thursday, a federal high court in Kano nullified all actions by the Kano state government repealing the Kano Emirates Council Law of 2019.

Muhammad Liman, the presiding judge, ordered parties to maintain the status quo.

Liman held that the defendants were aware of an interim order previously granted by the court but ignored it and implemented the law.

The judge said he would assume his coercive powers to enforce compliance with the court order.

However, the judge transferred the case to another federal high court judge, Simon Amobeda, for continuation given his elevation to the court of appeal.

Speaking on the court ruling, the commissioner said the state government acknowledged the verdict.

”The Kano State Government acknowledges the ruling by the Federal High Court regarding the Kano Emirates Council (Repeal) Law, 2024 and views same as upholding the rule of law,” he said.

“By the ruling of the court, it has unequivocally reaffirmed the validity of the law passed by  Kano State House of Assembly and assented to by His Excellency the Executive Governor of Kano State on Thursday 23rd May 2024 by 5:10 pm.

“This part of the judgement is very fundamental to the entire matter. A further implication of the ruling is that all actions done by the Government before the emergence of the interim order of the honourable court, are equally validated.

“This means that the abolishing of the five emirates created in 2019 is validated and the deposition of the five emirs is also sustained by the federal high court.

“By implication, this means that Muhammadu Sanusi II remains the Emir of  Kano. The judge also granted our application for the stay of proceedings until the court of appeal deals with the appeal before it on jurisdiction.

“Happily, the signing of the law and the reinstatement of His Highness, Emir Muhammad Sanusi II, were done on 23rd May 2024 before the emergence of the interim order, which was served on us on Monday 27th May 2024,” the commissioner told journalists on Thursday.

“Following this Court’s ruling, the Kano State Government has directed the State Commissioner of Police to remove the deposed emir of the 8 metropolitan local governments from the government property where he is trespassing, as the government has already concluded arrangements for the general reconstruction and renovation of the property, including the demolishing and reconstruction of the dilapidated wall fence, with immediate effect.”

A federal high court in Abuja has dismissed a suit seeking the sack of Ola Olukoyede as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Obiora Egwuatu, presiding judge, dismissed the suit on the grounds that the applicant lacked the locus standi to institute the case.

Victor Opatola, the plaintiff who is an Abuja-based legal practitioner, instituted the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1403/2023 against President Bola Tinubu for appointing Olukoyede as EFCC chairman.

Besides the president, the national assembly, attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and Olukoyede were joined as 2nd to 4th respondents respectively.

Opatola submitted that Olukoyede did not meet the years of service required by law for the office of chairman of the anti-graft agency.

He prayed the court to determine “whether by the true construction and interpretation of Section 2 (1) (a) of the EFCC Act 2004, Olukoyede, who has not fulfilled the conditions of the Act, can be validly appointed as EFCC chairman”.

“Whether by the true construction and interpretation of Section 2(1)(a) (iii) of the EFCC Act 2004, the interpretation of subsection (iii) should be read disjunctively of subsection (ii) of the act in a manner that Olukoyede, who was appointed to the office of the chairman of EFCC, can be said to have 15 years of cognate experience in any field outside the government security or law enforcement agency,” the suit reads.

However, the respondents prayed the court to dismiss the suit for lacking in merit.

Olukoyede through Olumide Fusika, his counsel, challenged the plaintiff’s authority to institute the suit.

He also claimed that he met all the requirements for the position of EFCC chairman.

…Decries Poor Salary For Lecturers, Threatens Strike

A Nigerian Professor earns a ‘miserly’ $400 monthly compared to the $6000 received by his counterpart in the United Kingdom, the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU), says.

The coordinator, Benin Zone of ASUU, Prof. Monday Igbafen, who disclosed this during a press conference in Benin, decried the unjust treatment of the lecturers by the Federal Government, stating that they have been on the same salary regime since 2009.

Igbafen said the government at all levels have been reviewing other workers’ salaries except that of the university lecturers.

“University teachers in Nigeria have been on the same salary regime since 2009 when the value of naira to a dollar was N120, and salaries in other sectors have been reviewed twice or more.

“It is better imagined that what a Professor earns in today’s Nigeria is about $400 per month which is a scandalous undervaluation of scholars.

“To continue to remain on the same salary regime for 15 years without review is not only wicked and inhuman but also an invitation to resistance/industrial disharmony,” Igbafen said.

Igbafen stated that the Federal Government has refused to meet their demands, adding that they have been pushed to the wall, and may likely embark on industrial action if the government did not respond.

“Having been irked by the obvious lack of sincerity on the part of federal and state governments to address the issues which have worsened the living and working conditions of academic staff in the public universities, it is sad to note that barely a month after we engage with the press in DELSU, there is refusal and/or total neglect of our union’s demands and ultimatum by the government.

“This disposition of government is certainly not a good recipe for the impending paralysis in Nigeria’s public universities.

“It is imperative to point out that the nagging issues between the government and our union in reference revolve around the abysmal failure by the government to satisfactorily implement the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement,” he said.

The Union lamented that the government was not moved by the several clarion calls and efforts by the university lecturers to get it to attend to their demands.

“By its action to ignore the union on these contending issues, the government is begging our union to proceed on strike,” he said.