Folarin Kehinde

Despite long queues at filling stations in Lagos, Abuja and other parts of the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has said it has two billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in stock.

The company disclosed this on Thursday, December 1, in a statement issued by the Executive Vice President, Downstream, Adeyemi Adetunji.

Adetunji said the two billion litres will be sufficient for more than 30 days.

He further disclosed that the NNPCL has programmed vessels and trucks to unconstrained depots, adding that the company is closely monitoring massive load-outs from depots to states.

The statement stressed that the queues has nothing to do with scarcity of PMS.

“The recent queues in Lagos are largely due to ongoing road infrastructure projects around Apapa and access road challenges in Lagos.

“The gridlock is easing out and NNPC Ltd has programmed vessels and trucks to unconstrained depots and massive load-outs from depots to states are closely monitored,” he said.

Adetunji added that NNPCL retail and key marketers will restore normalcy in Abuja by loading more fuel into the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He explained that fuel scarcity in the FCT and environs was impacted by the challenges recorded in Lagos.

“We want to reassure Nigerians that NNPCL has sufficient products and we significantly increased product loading in selected depots and extended hours at strategic stations to ensure sufficiency nationwide.

“We are also working with industry stakeholders to ensure normalcy is returned as soon as possible,” the statement added for more than 30 days.

He further disclosed that the NNPCL has programmed vessels and trucks to unconstrained depots, adding that the company is closely monitoring massive load-outs from depots to states.

The statement stressed that the queues has nothing to do with scarcity of PMS.

“The recent queues in Lagos are largely due to ongoing road infrastructure projects around Apapa and access road challenges in Lagos.

“The gridlock is easing out and NNPC Ltd has programmed vessels and trucks to unconstrained depots and massive load-outs from depots to states are closely monitored,” he said.

Adetunji added that NNPCL retail and key marketers will restore normalcy in Abuja by loading more fuel into the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He explained that fuel scarcity in the FCT and environs was impacted by the challenges recorded in Lagos.

“We want to reassure Nigerians that NNPCL has sufficient products and we significantly increased product loading in selected depots and extended hours at strategic stations to ensure sufficiency nationwide.

“We are also working with industry stakeholders to ensure normalcy is returned as soon as possible,” the statement added.

A high court sitting in Minna, Niger state, has ordered the arrest and imprisonment of Farouk Yahaya, chief of army staff (COAS), for contempt.

A warrant of arrest was also issued against Olugbenga Olabanji, commandant of the training and doctrine command, Minna, over the same offence.

The order was issued in respect of a suit marked NSHC/225/2019.

The suit is between Adamu Makama and 42 others versus the executive governor of Niger state and seven others.

The motion for the issuance of the warrants was moved by Mohammed Liman, counsel to the plaintiffs/applicants.

Liman had prayed to the court to send the army chief and commandant to the correctional centre for disobeying an order made on October 12, 2022.

Ruling on the application, Halima Abdulmalik, the presiding judge, said: “An order is made committing the Nigerian army chief of staff general Farouk Yahaya and the commander training and doctrine command (TRADOC) Minna i.e 6th &7th respondents into the custody of the correctional centre for contempt of the order of this honourable court made on the 12/10/2022.”

The judge added that “they shall remain in the custody of the correctional centre until they purge themselves of the contempt”.

The case has been adjourned to December 8 for continuation.

On Tuesday, a federal high court in Abuja sentenced Usman Baba, the inspector-general of police, to three months in prison for disobeying a court order.

Mobolaji Olajuwon, the presiding judge, issued the ruling on Tuesday, following a suit filed by Patrick Okoli, a former police officer who claims he was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the Nigerian police force.

Similarly, an FCT high court ordered the remand of Abdulrasheed Bawa, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for contempt.

The Country Director, World Bank Shubham Chaudhuri has disclosed that 87% of Nigeria Rural roads are currently in bad conditions.

Chaudhuri while speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the Presidential Launch of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project in Nigeria (RAAM) stated that even with current scale up, Nigeria is not near to what it need to achieve a functional rural road.

“Even with the current scale up, we are not going to near what Nigeria needs to achieve, we have about 200,000 kilometers rural roads all over Nigeria of which 87% are in bad condition that means 40,000kilometers are usable, so if you think about tackling that problem at scale that brings it to the issue of physical affordability”.

Meanwhile, Chaudhuri also stated that there should be institutional sustainable structure to ensure that roads are maintained to avert repetition, hence, government should pay attention to maintainance of these roads.

“We have said that before we disburse the funds for RAAMP we have asked states to institutional structures to have maintenance agencies to clarify how this will be sustained”.

He added that the Nigerian government should be visionary national program in the scale surrounding rural roads connectivity which is physically affordable when government at all levels contribute to development of rural roads.

“Our financing is a little bit of the contribution, when federal government comes in with there federal budget and States through IGR this is a priority to so that the scale of financing will be achieved that’s what Nigeria needs moving forward”.

“For this to be physically affordable some choices has to be made, for this to be affordable the federal, and State should contribute to rural roads.

Arguing on the need for subsidies on PMS, Chaudhuri said, “One of the biggest choices Nigeria need to make Nigeria is weather Nigeria can continue to put #5 trillion to its PMS subsidies every year , #6 trillion probably next year think about what could be done with #6trillion both at the federal, state and local government level”.

Country Director, AFD, Xavier Muron on his part stated that RAAM project of £200 million will address access road and electrification issues, help post harvest management through refrigeration and processing.

Muron added that the project would mitigate post harvest loss which is an issue in rural communities making Nigeria to import more food products to support food security issues and that’s why we have to see the implementation of the RAAMP project to ensure that we have a means to address post harvest losses and ensure food security.

Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo CFR and former governor Peter Obi met at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Awka during the Thanksgiving mass for Most Rev. Paulinus C. Ezeokafor in celebration of his 70th birthday.

Just before the mass started, Governor Soludo stepped out from his pew and walked over to where the former governor was seated to greet him, welcoming him to the Capital city.

This is according to the chief press secretary to the Governor of Anambra State.

Public interest lawyer, Chief Malcolm Emokiniovo Omirhobo, on Thursday, decried the Arabic inscription on the redesigned 200, 500, and 1000 naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, alleging that it is inimical to the unity of Nigeria.

Expressing his views in a statement, he argued that Arabic is not one of Nigeria’s four official languages, namely English, Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo, and therefore not indigenous to the country.

“It is about time we realize as Nigerians that no religion is superior to the other, no ethnic nationality is superior to the other and no language is superior to the other and that we are all equal before the constitution and our creator,” he maintained in the statement.

Recall that the lawyer has been at the forefront of calling for the removal of the Arabic inscription since 2020.

In his suit reportedly filed before the Federal High Court in Lagos at the time, the CBN through its lawyer, Abiola Lawal countered his application saying, “The inscriptions on the country’s currencies do not and at no time have they threatened the secular statehood of the nation or have they violated the constitution of Nigeria, as every design and inscription was finalized with the approval of the relevant government bodies.

“The naira notes retained the inscriptions with Ajami since 1973 when the name of the Nigerian currency was changed to naira from pounds.

“Ajami was inscribed on the country’s currency by the colonialists to aid those without Western education in certain parts of the country, who, back then, constituted a larger part of the populace.

“Ajami is not a symbol or mark of Islam but an inscription to aid the populace uneducated in Western education in ease of trade.”

Our correspondent gathered that as of the time of this report, the suit filed by Omirhobo against the Arab inscription is still ongoing and has not been disposed of yet.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) in a press release on November 1 urged the CBN to retain the Arabic inscription on the redesigned naira notes.

“Unknown to many, Arabic is not a foreign language in Nigeria because it is actually spoken as the local language by a significant proportion of the population in North Eastern Nigeria called Shuwa Arabs. The removal of Arabic from the naira has cut off this section of our population from economic activities. This action constitutes a gross violation of Allah-given fundamental human rights of the Shuwa people as well as that of millions of Nigerian Muslims.

“MURIC is not unaware of the assurance given yesterday, Monday, 31st October 2022 by the former governor of the CBN, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to the effect that the current CBN governor had assured him that Arabic would not be removed from the new naira notes which are being expected next month,” MURIC wrote.

On Wednesday, President, Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the redesigned N200, N500, and N1,000 naira notes retaining the features on the previous notes while changing the color of the new notes.

The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the old currency has been in use for 19 years, and there was the need to control circulation following “spiraling challenges on the economy, especially on security and counterfeiting.”