Timi Frank Urges Buhari To Sack NDDC Board, Management

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May 22, 2023

Ahead of today’s commissioning of the Dangote Refinery, Sergius Ogun, a member of the House of Representatives says the multi-purpose refinery will not solve Nigeria’s fuel crisis.

Not a few Nigerians are expecting the over $19 billion oil refinery to solve the yearly fuel problems experienced due to the importation of petrol and diesel, and other petrochemicals.

Ogun who spoke on Channels Television on Monday, just a few hours before the commissioning of the Refinery by President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed that it will be wrong for Nigerians to place their entire hope of regular and cheap fuel on the refinery.

According to information made available to the media by Dangote Refinery, other West African leaders such as President Nana Akufo Ado of Ghana among others are expected to attend the epoch-making commissioning by President Buhari on Monday.

In spite of the enthusiasm among Nigerians, Ogun a former member of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources said Nigerians should be cautious in putting their hope of fuel sufficiency on Dangote.

For instance, the lawmaker said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd has not informed Nigerians whether it has started supplying crude oil to the refinery, and at what price.

Apart from this, Ogun said the refinery should have been test-run months before now to show Nigerians that it’s ready for production, adding that the rush to commission has political undertone.

The 650,000-barrel-a-day crude oil processing refinery is expected to provide fuel sufficiency and reduce the forex for fuel importation for the country by the time it commences work fully, but not a few experts say this may not be entirely so at the end of the day.

The federal government spent over $10 billion importing fuel into the country last year, this is expected to reduce as the Dangote Refinery commences production.

The refinery will also eliminate the yearly scarcity of petrol and diesel as a result of the importation of the products, while the pricing is also expected to be stable because of local production of the product which clearly will eliminate costs such as importation cost, landing costs, shipping costs, and so on, according to energy experts.

But many experts are very cautious of this optimism, saying the only guarantee the Dangote Refinery represents for Nigerians, is the provision of jobs for Nigerians who will work at the multi-purpose plant.

Figures obtained from the company owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote indicate that at least 100,000 indirect and direct job opportunities will be provided by the refinery.

In its reaction to the potential of the Dangote Refinery, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN said, the Refinery could be the industrial renaissance the nation country needed at the moment.

According to the Director-general of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir said: “The refinery which is situated on land spanning approximately 2,635 hectares is the World’s Largest Single Train 650,000 barrels per day Petroleum Refinery with a 9000 KTPA Polypropylene Plant ever built.

“It is gratifying to note that the Refinery can meet 100 per cent of Nigeria’s requirement for all refined products (Gasoline, 57 million litres per day; Diesel, 27 million litres per day; Kerosene, 11 million litres per day and Aviation Jet, nine million litres per day) and also have a surplus of each of these products for export.

“Therefore, the coming onboard of the Dangote Refinery promises to bring to a pleasant end, the nightmare of long queues at petrol filling stations and the disruption of social and economic activities that come with it.”

He added that the refinery, when fully operational, is expected to generate $10 billion from the export of refined petroleum products and save Nigeria an estimated $10 billion in foreign exchange.

According to him, with State-of-the-art technology, the refinery is designed to produce with 100 per cent Nigerian Crude and the flexibility to process other crudes from Africa, Middle East, and US Light Oil.

“It has a Self-sufficient Marine facility with the ability for freight optimization. With the Largest Single order of 5 SPMs anywhere in the world, Diesel & Gasoline Products from the refinery will conform to Euro V Specifications. The refinery design complies with the World Bank, US EPA, European emission standards, and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) emission/effluent standards.

“To cushion the potential impact of increase in mean sea level due to global warming, the company took appropriate measures using the world’s largest, seventh and 10th largest dredgers to elevate the sea height by 1.5 metres.

“Dangote Group is one of the few companies in the world executing a Petroleum Refinery and a Petrochemical complex directly as an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) Contractor. Globally, apart from three companies, no individual owner has done the complete EPC Contract for a Petroleum Refinery,” he said.

ASUU: Falana Calls Out Ngige Over Plan To Pay UNIZIK Lecturers

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May 22, 2023

Femi Falana has branded Chris Ngige the Minister of Labour and Productivity discriminatory following reports that the minister has singled out some lecturers of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, UNIZIK, to be paid for the period Nigerian university lecturers, embarked on strike last year.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, was responding to a letter written to the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed to approve payment for the lecturers’ salaries for the eight-month strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, last year.

Falana is counsel to ASUU.

The federal government has refused to pay ASUU for the eight-month strike period in compliance with its no-work-no-pay policy even though the lecturers have since gone back to work after a truce brokered by Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

But in the letter written to the Minister of Finance, Ngige claimed that the UNIZIK lecturers worked during the period of the strike, as such must be paid their salaries.

According to TheCable, in the letter dated March 30, 2023, Ngige had asked Ahmed to approve the payment of withheld salaries of 204 lecturers, after available records proved that they worked throughout the period of the strike.

Ngige said this was further corroborated by the vice-chancellor of the institution as well as independent findings of the labour ministry’s state controller in Anambra.

“In view of the above, please direct the accountant-general of the federation to exempt the two hundred and four (204) lecturers of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, College of Health Sciences whose names are attached herewith from the application of Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act and be paid the outstanding arrears of their full salaries during the strike period from February 14, 2022 to date,” the letter read.

In his reaction, Falana said the action of Ngige contradicts the law, adding that the lecturers as members of ASUU took part in the 2022 strike.

He accused the minister of trying to favour the lecturers because they are from his state, adding that Ngige has been known for such discriminatory act.

Falana said, “Dr. Ngige has convinced the federal government not to pay ASUU members for embarking on strike in 2022. But he has decided to isolate his colleagues in his home state for special favour by causing their salaries to be paid for the period of the same strike.

“Dr. Ngige took a similar action when members of the National Association of Resident Doctors embarked on strike in 2021. The federal government paid the salaries of the resident doctors for the period of their strike.

“The actions of the minister run contrary to the provision of Section 42(1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap A9, laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 which have prohibited any form of discrimination in the application of the law or policy of the government.”

The Natives Warn NLC On Alleged Plot To Truncate Tinubu’s Inauguration

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May 22, 2023

The Natives, a group made up of some tribal leaders across the country has warned the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC not to join those planning to truncate the inauguration of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Tinubu who won the February 25 presidential election is billed to be sworn in on May 29 to succeed the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Natives, however, said it has uncovered plot by the organized labour in cahoot with the opposition parties to truncate Tinubu’s inauguration in a few days.

It said the group spoke out after a Northern group, the Arewa Youth Assembly AYA said plans are in the offing by some persons to ensure that the inauguration does not hold as planned.

The group, for instance, referred to a comment made by the NLC President Joe Ajaero recently, to the effect that the outcome of the presidential election did not represent the true feelings of many Nigerians.

“Unfortunately, the majority of Nigerians, especially the youths, who fought with patriotism to reset their country through the ballot box, are now wondering if elections have not become the tool for legitimising the corrupt takeover of Nigeria,” Ajaero was quoted as saying during the Workers Day celebration on May 1.

But in a statement issued Sunday in Abuja, Smart Edwards, the Supreme Leader of the group said the NLC President has lost the capacity to speak for Nigerians, having allegedly pitched his tent with the opposition.

Edwards said, “Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be inaugurated in grand style as the 16th President of Nigeria.

“The Natives are already rolling out the drums as Nigeria prepares to witness the first opposition leader turned National Leader and elected as the 16th President of Nigeria. A Comrade, a June 12 advocate, a Senator, a Governor, a negotiator of political power with all past and incumbent Presidents in Nigeria, a builder of men, mentor and supporter of the Labour movement.

“We are The Natives of all tribes and languages. We are the real voters and we cannot wait for Tinubu to be inaugurated as the next President of this country.

“So, we advise all and sundry to perish the thought of protests or scuttling the inauguration but galvanize their members and supporters to join in the progress ahead of us all.

“Asiwaju will be different and all he needs is our collaboration and Labour has a major role to play in this.

“Nigerians have moved on from the deceptive and self centered negotiations of NLC. We all believed in the Labour union in the past, their tactics and even their combative actions but today it has led itself into a quagmire.

“2023 election chronicles their decline from speaking for all, the helpless, poor and disenfranchised citizens, to becoming representatives of politicians and saboteurs themselves.

“In the last general election, NLC’s foray into politics and its mode of choice of candidates threw the gates open to all manner of unknown and unpredictable people, it left the shores of tested comrades to uncharted depths.

“NLC’s inability to mitigate influx of mixed multitudes into their midst means it is likely to imbibe the culture of politicians with the same outcome from political actors by their choices, which they easily condemned in the past. This is even evident in the current squabbles it is awashed with, given the accusations and counter accusations that lead to the despicable act of its political actors at the Presidential Tribunal,” Edward said.

NLC he further stated “must take some courage to reset, rethink and restore the hopes of the common man which was historically vested in the Labuor movement to which we all participated as students, youth activists and civil society etc”.

“The NLC must know the difference and relationship between its party, the workers and non-workers. You cannot threaten the inauguration of a tested democrat, a symbol and face of doggedness, resistance and consistency in the liberation struggle for this democracy we now enjoy.

“ As a known promoter of the Labour movement, scuttling Tinubu’s inauguration is impossible, because there are far many Nigerians that are excited and attracted to the Renewed Hope mandate than are in the Labour movement or its party.”

The Natives said it is made up of different ethnic groups, cultures, Languages and tribes across Nigeria with over twenty million members nationwide.

Nigeria’s Food Export Rejected In Europe, US- NAFDAC

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May 21, 2023

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, says the agency will not fail in its mandate to ensure that food and drinks consumed in the country are safe for consumption.

The agency said this is necessary considering that Nigeria imports a larger part of its food needs from abroad.

Prof. M0jisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC DG made this known in a statement on Sunday calling on other agencies working in the seaports to collaborate with the agency to ensure that foods consumed by Nigerians are safe for consumption.

‘’The mandate to safeguard the health of the populace through ensuring that food, medicines, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, and packaged water are safe, efficacious and of the right quality in an economy that is overwhelmingly dependent on importation of the bulk of its finished products and raw materials could never have been actualized without effective presence of NAFDAC at the ports and land borders,’’ Adeyeye said.

Adeyeye also called on the sister agencies to work with NAFDAC to ensure that food export from Nigeria is not rejected abroad.

She explained that over 70 per cent of food exports from Nigeria were rejected abroad, particularly in Europe and United States, noting that this has resulted in huge financial losses to the exporters and the country at large.

She said the deplorable state of export trade facilitation for regulated products leaving the country has continued to be a serious cause for concern for NAFDAC, adding that a trip to NAFDAC export warehouses within the international airport will explain unequivocally the major reason for the continuous rejection of Nigerian exports abroad.

Adeyeye, however, noted that the agency was responding to this great challenge by initiating a collaborative measures with the government agencies at the Ports towards ensuring that goods are of requisite quality and meet the regulatory requirements of the importing countries and destinations before such are even packaged and hauled to the ports for shipment.

Adeyeye called on all stakeholders in the export trade to see this as a call to duty and collaborate with NAFDAC for the sake of the country.

ABUAD Founder, Afe Babalola Advises Incoming Govt On Debt Burden

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May 21, 2023

By Ayodele Oni

Legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola has advised that one of the survival strategies for incoming administration of Bola Tinubu is to seek debt forgiveness from Nigeria’s creditors.

The founder of Afe Babala University, Ado Ekiti, (ABUAD) said the new administration should prioritize debt forgiveness from Nigeria’s creditor countries and from multilateral financial institutions.

He spoke on Sunday on the side-line of a lecture delivered at ABUAD by Professor of Intelligent Infrastructure System, Prof. Bamidele Adebisi.

The lecture was entitled: “Smart infrastructure: Catalyst for sustainable development.’’

Babalola pointed out that debt forgiveness or cancellation would help to relieve Nigeria of its foreign debt overhang, noting that the country currently uses sizeable percentage of its revenue on debt servicing.

He also enjoined the in-coming administration to cut expenditures and undertake reforms that would scale down governance costs as well as ease the country’s fiscal burden.

Delivering the lecture, Prof. Adebisi said technology has become a game- changer to address challenges in the areas of food production and transportation.

He emphasized the importance of technology in all sectors of development, noting that technology has become the catalyst for societal development.

NASS Leadership: Wike Backs Tinubu

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May 21, 2023

Nyesom Wike, Rivers state governor has urged All Progressives Congress, APC members in the National Assembly to accept the choice of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu for Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Wike had dumped his party’s candidate Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to support Tinubu for the presidential election in the February 25 election.

The governor is said to have been penned down for appointment as a minister in the next dispensation, as a reward for supporting Tinubu in the last election.

His support for the president-elect on the leadership of the 10^th NASS may not be unconnected with his quest to remain in his good books, analysts say.

Some APC senators and members of the House of Representatives have kicked against Tinubu’s choice of Godswill Akpabio and Tajudeen Abass, as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, saying they were not consulted.

While Akpabio seems to be enjoying cross-party support for his ambition to become the next Senate President, the same cannot be said of Abass who has been rejected by many lawmakers.

No fewer than five APC lawmakers have vowed to contest against him when the time comes to elect the next Speaker later in June.

But speaking at the weekend in Abuja, Governor Wike said the APC must not repeat the 2015 mistake when the division in the party led to the opposition hijacking the leadership of NASS.

Wike stated that Tinubu has promised to unite the party during the campaign, urging the members of the party to support him to chart a new course for APC, adding that Tinubu is not likely to succeed if the next NASS work at cross purpose with his government.

According to the governor, “During his campaign, he, Tinubu, promised to unite every Nigerian and bring competence.

“It’s not going to be because you are members of APC or not, we want Nigerians with the capacity to help people deliver what will make Nigeria to be great.

“No President can do very well if he does not have that leadership that is not ready to cooperate with him. If you remember what happened in 2015, that affected the performance of the present administration.

“In the interest of Nigerians, let them respect the leadership of their party and the President-elect to move forward.”

Meanwhile, the magazine learned that the reason why Tinubu rushed home from France may not be unconnected with the efforts of the ruling party to get his intervention in the NASS leadership crisis it’s too late.

Interior Ministry, NIPOST Collaborate, Plan Delivery Of Passports To Nigerians At Home

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May 21, 2023

By Ayodele Oni

The Federal Government has promised that Nigerians itching for international passports will now sit back at home and get their document delivered to them.

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who disclosed this at the opening of the Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS) Passport Front Desk Office in Auchi, Edo State, at the weekend, said that it is the intention of government to provide the passport for anyone desirous of it within reasonable time, at affordable price and without any stress.

The Minister promised to conclude negotiations with NIPOST on the usage of its speedy mail service to start delivering passport to Nigerians who opt for such service.

“We are in the final stage of concluding negotiations with NIPOST to begin using its speed mail service to deliver passports to Nigerians wherever they are in the world after production.”

According to him, the launch of another Passport Front Desk Office is significant as the Nigerian Passport is a proof of existence especially for those outside the country as Inability to produce it on demand may bring untoward consequences.

“What we are doing here is significant for two main reasons. The first is the right and even the necessity of Nigerians, especially those in the diaspora to hold the Nigerian passport.

“Except for those travelling outside the country or intend to, most of those who hold the passport do so for identification purposes.

“For some, it is also a thing of pride to be able to brandish the green back of the passport. But for those outside the country, the passport is the proof of their existence.

“Inability to produce it on demand may bring untoward consequences. The government therefore wants to provide the passport for anyone desirous of it within reasonable time, at affordable price and without any stress whatsoever.

“The second is the need, flowing from the first, to break out of the regular.”

The Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Isah Jere Idris, explained that the choice of Auchi is apt, as Edo State ranks fifth amongst states with the highest volume of passport applications locally.

According to him, “Within 365 days, Edo state has processed 56,291 applications out of the 1.5 million passports produced in Nigeria.

“The commissioning of this front office will no doubt go a long way in reducing the traffic in Edo State and other neighbouring States.”

The NIS boss restated the necessity for prospective applicants to synchronize the data in their passport application with the information in their National Identification Number.

“May I quickly add that for the enhanced e-passport, it is essential to ensure that prospective passport applicants synchronize the data in their passport application with the information in their NIN (National Identification Number).”

He maintained that the unveiling of front office and others like it, are crucial to achieving the NIS mandate of ensuring that the e-passport issuance process is brought closer to the people.

Jere seized the opportunity to affirm the commitment of the Nigeria Immigration Service to meeting the rising demands for Passport services globally, thereby repositioning the Service towards attaining a truly world-class status to compete with its counterparts worldwide.

Ngige Meets With Striking Doctors, Strike To Be Suspended

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May 21, 2023

By Ayodele Oni

Resident doctors, who are on warning strike and the Federal Government have reached an agreement over planned total strike billed to commence after the five-day warning strike embarked upon by the Association.

This was made known in a statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, who said a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed at the end of a conciliation meeting convened by the minister, Dr Chris Ngige in his office.

The statement reads “The Federal Government has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), geared towards halting the five-day nationwide warning strike of resident doctors.

“In conclusion, the meeting agreed that NARD officers are to present the outcome of the MOU to their members in an emergency meeting within 48 hours with a view to suspending the strike they embarked on last Wednesday, May 17, 2023.

On the issue of doctors omitted in the payment of Minimum Wage Consequential Adjustment, the meeting resolved that NARD should re-present the list on Monday, May 22 to the Ministry of Health, with annexes of the old submission and same copied to the office of the Minister of Labour and Employment.

The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) had embarked on a five-day warning strike to press home its demands after a 14-day ultimatum to the government lapsed on May 17.

The doctors are demanding an immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 percent of their current gross salaries.

Worried by the situation, the doctors met with the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Health and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, on Friday to deliberate on their demands.

NDLEA Nabs Suspected International Drug Baron, Seizes Consignment Of Substance

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May 21, 2023