Folarin Kehinde

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, has recounted how officials of the Federal Capital Territory Authority, FCTA, issued him fake Certificate of Occupancy, C of O when he was governor of Rivers State.

Wike said some FCTA officials issued three fake C of Os on his plot of land after paying N57 million.

He disclosed this during a meeting with estate developers in Abuja on Tuesday

The minister decried the rate at which fake C of Os were issued, adding that henceforth, N5 million would be paid to acquire a C of O.

According to Wike: “When I was governor of Rivers State, we had three C of Os from FCT. It turned out that all were fake.

“The C of O was coming from FCTA as a government, not as an individual. The plots allocated or said to be allocated, we paid money

“When I now sent the Liaison Officer, the people from FCTA took him to the land and later, we discovered that it was fake land. Look at the money we had paid.

“The people disappeared. We could not find them again. Over N57 million that we paid. Why? Because that was how it was being done in the FCT. I have said that it will not work again.

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reversed the October 2 judgment of the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sacking Governor Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

A three-member panel of the court held that the tribunal was wrong to have declined to determine the legal issues identified in the objection raised by the APC and Sule, challenging its jurisdiction to hear the petition by the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, David Ombugadu and the competence of the petition.

The court held that the petitioners at the tribunal – PDP and Ombugadu – failed to prove their allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

The court, having delivered judgment on the main appeal, is giving its decisions on the remaining three cross-appeals.

Details shortly…

The Senate has vowed to sack and jail the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari and other top executive officers of petroleum subsidiaries.

The upper legislative chamber specifically threatened to sack the executive officers whose agencies were involved in the Turn Around Maitenance (TAM) projects of refineries in the country.

The senate, on Wednesday, noted that from 2010 till date, over N12 trillion has been spent on TAM.

The Senate also said that it has records of over $592 million, €4.8 million and £3.4 million spent between 2010 till date on TAM, yet none of the refineries is working.

Chairman of the Senate ad-hoc committee investigating the various TAM projects of refineries, Senator Isah Jibrin, made the threats following the failure of Kyari and other chief executive officers of its subsidiaries to attend an interactive session by the panel.

Some of the agencies invited whose chief executive officers failed to turn up at the session but sent representatives include the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL); Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA); Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and others.

Senator Jibrin noted that so much has been heard on the TAM of refineries and so much have been spent on operational materials on the refineries that are not working.

He said that the Senate wanted to find solutions to all the leakages, as there are a lot of them.

“We will ask for refund and dismissal of all the chief executives involved in the Turn Around Maintenance,” he declared.

Jibrin said that for weeks, they have been asking for documents, which have not been given by the oil companies, a development that created suspicion.

“We sent them invitation more than two weeks ago requesting for documents and the documents have not been released after two weeks. So, we want the chief executives to be present,” he continued.

“More worrisome is between 2010 and 2020, the sum of N4.8 trillion was said to have been spent as operational expenses.

“How do you incur operational expenses that have to do with purchase of raw materials and similar expenses on factories that are moribund? How do we come about operational expenses? We need to know.

“These are issues that Nigerians want to know; they want solutions to all these leakages. We know they are leakages. Whether you accept it or not they are leakages and they are all forms of compromise within your various establishments.

“We know and we will not hesitate to escalate it to the highest possible level, including possibility of refund and outright dismissal of some of the heads of some of these agencies and possibly go to jail,” the senator added.

Senator Yahaya Abdullahi said that NNPCL and management of other agencies, who came to represent their bosses, should be sent back to tell their chief executives that they should appear in person rather than send representatives.

Senator Sumaila Kawu said that they know the modus operandi of the civil service, adding, “We are not in the Senate for personal functions. We are representing the entire legislators. You in the civil service, we know how you are operating.

“We are in a very serious business. At the end, you will be at the receiving end. Nigerians are not satisfied with what you are doing and you will be at the receiving end.

“We are independent. We can go to any length to defend our people. It is the constitution that established you. So, we must agree how to operate.

“We will suspend this interaction until when you are ready. We have 100 ways through which we can achieve our legislative work. We just wanted to give you fair hearing and you must respect the constitution,” he added.

Reports of scarcity have emerged across the country despite recent assurances by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that there is enough naira in circulation.

A survey on Wednesday confirmed scarcity in some parts of Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Kwara, Gombe, Edo, Sokoto, and Ekiti states.

Many bank customers and Point of Sales (POS) operators lamented that it is becoming a challenge to access cash for their economic activities.

This is coming weeks after the CBN affirmed that it has enough currency notes in the market and hence no need for panic withdrawals by members of the public.

In a circular titled ‘All Banknotes Issued by the CBN Remain Legal Tender,’ signed by Director, Corporate Communications, Isa AbdulMumin, the bank stated that it was aware of reported scarcity of cash across some major cities. It noted that there have also been concerns among some members of the public over the legality of old naira notes.

The bank said, “For the avoidance of doubt, while reiterating that there are sufficient banknotes across the country for all normal economic activity, we wish to state unambiguously that every banknote issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) remains legal tender and should not be rejected by anyone, as stipulated in Section 20(5) of the CBN Act, 2007.”

It cautioned members of the public to avoid panic withdrawals and stressed that it has enough currency notes to facilitate normal economic activities.

The concern from members of the public over the legality of old naira notes is connected to issues surrounding the naira redesign policy of the apex bank.

However, cash scarcity, a major downside of the CBN’s naira redesign policy, has begun to resurface. Visits to some banks on Wednesday revealed scanty banking halls and ATM galleries.

A customer, who gave his name as Ganiyu Tunde, at the Union Bank branch along Oshodi Expressway in Lagos claimed that banks were only dispensing N5,000 via ATMs to non-customers.

Bank customers of Union Bank were, however, able to get up to N20,000 at the ATM and inside the bank.

The rows of ATMs at an Access Bank branch nearby were empty because there was no cash in them as of the time of filing this report.

A banker who spoke on the condition of anonymity blamed the cash scarcity on weak supply from the CBN.

“It is the CBN that is responsible for this cash scarcity. We are not getting enough from them. They are just causing unnecessary suffering for the masses,” the source told Punch.

A respondent in the Federal Capital Territory, Festus Okoromadu, was concerned that he could not withdraw at the First Bank branches in his area.

“What I was told was that the bank’s network was temporarily unavailable, which made the transaction impossible. This has been the case at some of the banks in the FCT in recent times, withdrawing money is becoming more challenging,” he said.

In Kano, some commercial banks were not honouring withdrawal requests from customers, and ATM galleries.

It was further gathered that the few banks that were paying customers did not give beyond certain amounts.

A customer who simply gave his name as Hayatudeen said, “Many banks lack money to give to customers and when you inquire, they will not give you any satisfactory explanation as to why.”

He noted that the story is the same with POS operators because they are also complaining of scarcity.

He added, “Even though most of the POS operators are getting their money from traders and other business operators, they still complain of the scarcity.”

He further alleged that many POS operators have increased their charges by about 50 per cent.

In Kwara, banks are rationing cash to their customers as some commercial banks are not allowing customers to withdraw more than N20,000 daily from their accounts.

Some of the bankers noted that customers are no longer bringing in a lot of cash to save in their accounts leading to the shortage of cash.

One banker said, “Banks do not have enough cash to pay out to customers because people are not bringing money to the bank.

“We only ration the available money among the customers. Anyone that comes to withdraw is paid N20,000 but few highly placed customers are given N50,000 when they come to withdraw.”

In Ekiti State, an official at the Union Bank branch, Okesa Ado Ekiti, revealed that the branch was unable to meet the specific withdrawal demand of its customers because “there is no sufficient cash for now. We give what we can afford to ensure it goes around.”

A bank customer of one of the First Bank branches in the capital city, who only identified herself as Tope, lamented, “I do not know exactly what the problem is, but no customer was able to get more than N10,000 – N20,000 in the bank hall. I learnt it was the same story at their ATMs in the bank.”

At the ATM points of Wema Bank, Okesa area, bank customers with Wema Bank ATM cards could withdraw N20,000. Customers with ATM cards from other banks could only withdraw N10,000.

In Sokoto State, a resident, Kabiru Nura, said: “Even though the issue is becoming more relaxed the scarcity is still very much with us. The funniest part is at ATMs, you hardly get cash at ATMs these days. The last time this happened was during the naira redesign policy, and this should really be a thing of the past now.”

PoS operators in Gombe State are worried about the resurging naira scarcity in the state.

Adamu Salisu, who operates a stand in the Bagadaza area of the state, said, “All of a sudden, we cannot get free access to lump sum of cash. I and some of my colleagues now rely on traders in the market who get some cash from transactions to remain in business.”

Also speaking, Sandra James, a resident in the state, continued, “Many people prefer to do transfer through phone as just a few have access to funds. It is sad.”

Another PoS operator, Mohammed Rafi, added, “We are going through so much stress to get money to give customers, but customers are complaining because we have increased our charges as we had previously done during the early part of the year.”

In Edo, POS operators, store owners, and bank customers lamented their inability to get cash.

A POS operator, who only gave her name as Faith, declared that cash is scarce in Benin as banks now ration the amount that can be withdrawn at the ATMs.

She said, “I noticed that the scarcity of cash began late last week. You can only get N20,000 from your bank’s ATM and those who come with other banks’ ATM cards may get N10,000. They also refuse to pay across the counter while you can get N10,000 if you are lucky.

According to the President of the Bank Customers Association of Nigeria, Dr Uju Ogunbunka, members have reported any such issues with cash withdrawals.

He said, “This news surfaced a few weeks ago, and some of the banks I visited gave out cash to their customers. If there is a limitation at all, then it means something is driving it. But I see no reason because there is no issue regarding whether it’s new notes or old notes; that problem has already been resolved. But if anything is driving this report, I think we need to find out.

President Bola Tinubu’s government has assured Nigerians of stable electricity supply by the first quarter of the year 2024.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Maitama Tuggar, gave this assurance in an interview on ChannelsTV.

“In the coming year, by the first half of next year (2024), there will be a remarkable improvement in the electricity supply in Nigeria,” Tuggar said.

“In the coming year, by the first half of next year (2024), there will be a remarkable improvement in the electricity supply in Nigeria,” he said.

“The fact that we are exporting gas to Germany or we intend to do that does not mean that we are depriving Nigeria’s domestic gas needs that will be fulfilled as well, but you also need the revenue that would accrue from such exports to invest further in taking electricity and gas to other parts of Nigeria. So, it’s all interconnected, and one does not stop the other from happening,” he added.

Leading reporter had earlier reported that the country has, in recent times, recorded numerous cases of nationwide blackouts due to collapse of the national grid, vandalism and others.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has appointed the newly sworn-in Kogi lawmaker, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the chairman of Senate Committee on Local Content, as well as vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Steel.

The Senate president also named 14 other Senators as chairmen and vice chairmen of various Standing Committees of the Senate.

They include Steel – Patrick Ndubueze (Chairman), Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Vice-chairman); Tourism – Shuaibu Isa Lau, Ireti Kingigbe (Vice-Chairman),

Others are Inter-Parliamentary Affairs – Jimoh Ibrahim (Chairman).

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has appointed the newly sworn-in Kogi lawmaker, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the chairman of Senate Committee on Local Content, as well as vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Steel.

The Senate president also named 14 other Senators as chairmen and vice chairmen of various Standing Committees of the Senate.

They include Steel – Patrick Ndubueze (Chairman), Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Vice-chairman); Tourism – Shuaibu Isa Lau, Ireti Kingigbe (Vice-Chairman),

Others are Inter-Parliamentary Affairs – Jimoh Ibrahim (Chairman).

The Committee on Art, Culture and Creative Economy has Onawo Ogoshi as Chairman and Okechukwu Ezea as Vice Chairman.

Senator Joel Onowakpo is now the Vice Chairman of the Defence Committee.

In the Petroleum Downstream Committee, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah is the Chairman while Babajide Ipinsagba is the Vice Chairman.

The Solid Minerals Development Committee is under the chairmanship of Sampson Ekong just as Osita Ngwu is the Vice Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Senator Sunday Katung is the Vice Chairman of the Establishment and Public Service Committee while Victor Umeh is the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Housing.