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Nigerians in Ibadan hit the streets in protests over the high cost of living under President Bola Tinubu on Monday, with chants of ‘Tinubu ole!’ and ‘renewed shege!’ rending the air.

Placards-carrying protesters at Mokola Roundabout remonstrated on the street with inscriptions like ‘End food price hike’ and ‘This is not Hope Renewed. This is shege renewed’.

“Tinubu is thief! Tinubu is thief!” the protesters hurled their opprobrium toward the president in a video posted on X.

This came as another episode of protests against food price hikes in the country.

Similar protests had rocked Niger, Kano, Osun and Lagos (Mr Tinubu’s home state), protesting hunger and other hardships.

In the past nine months, prices of staple foods have spiked almost 100 per cent as inflation ravages the Nigerian economy.

A market survey conducted at Mararaba Market, Nasarawa, by Peoples Gazette on February 7 showed that prices of most food items have increased by almost 100 per cent compared to what was obtainable last May.

A bag of rice, a common staple food among Nigerians, now sells for N65,000 against N35,000 for which it sold last May.

A bag of yellow garri, which sold for N25,000, has jumped to N40,000, while white garri now sells for N30,000 against N13,000 for which it sold last year.

A bag of corn that sold for N19,000 last year May now sells for N60,000, a bag of Millet sold for N18,000 now sells for N55,000, while flour for baking and pastries sells for N50,000 against N28,000 for which it sold last year May.

A ‘long slate’ of ‘Titus’ (mackerel) now sells for N105,000 against N78,000 for which it sold last year. A square cartoon of ‘Titus’ sold for N38,000 the previous year now sells for N78,000, while a 25 litre of palm oil formerly sold for N31,000 now sells for N41,000.

Urah Chidiebere, a trader at Mararaba Market, lamented the rising cost of food items, saying, “People are murmuring that things are too expensive. They don’t have money to buy. People who bought a bag before now buy half, and this has affected my sales.”

“You know, if things are cheap, we make more profit. But now, nothing like that,” Ms Chidiebere told The Gazette.

Amid economic hardship that has seen food prices spike astronomically in the country, Seyi Tinubu, son of the Nigerian president who flaunted unbridled opulence in recent months, has urged Nigerians to have faith in his father, President Bola Tinubu, while expressing support for his father’s government.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Mr Tinubu, who once flaunted a Richard Mille RM 055 luxury watch worth $550,000 or N825 million at N1,500 to a dollar, begged impoverished Nigerians to support his father’s government.

“There is no joy in seeing the people of this nation shoulder burdens that should have been shed years ago,” he quoted his father to have said. “I wish today’s difficulties did not exist. But we must endure if we are to reach the good side of our future.”

Then, he went on to rally Nigerians to support his father with hashtags #HaveFaithinHim, #NigeriaisinGreatHands, #OurGenerationwillYieldthefruitsofthishardship, #IStandwithOurPresident, #RenewedHope, #NigeriaismyHome.

But his entreaties failed to appeal to some of his followers on Instagram, who asked if faith in Mr Tinubu’s government would pay their bills or feed them.

“Na faith we go use buy foodstuffs and pay bills?” said @ololade.

Another follower, @empresstok, said, “How far are u enduring? You can say that to the masses cos you are not in their shoes.”

Last year, the president’s son was criticised for flying a presidential jet to watch a polo match in Kano in 2023 as Nigerians grapple with economic hardship.

His statement came as Nigerians in Ibadan hit the streets in protests over the high cost of living under Mr Tinubu on Monday, with chants of ‘Tinubu ole!‘ rending the air.

Placards-carrying protesters at Mokola Roundabout remonstrated on the street with inscriptions like ‘End food price hike’ and ‘This is not Hope Renewed. This is shege renewed’.

“Tinubu is thief! Tinubu is thief!” the protesters hurled their opprobrium toward the president in a video posted on X.

Similar protests had rocked Niger, Kano, Osun and Lagos (Mr Tinubu’s home state), protesting hunger and other hardships.

In the past nine months, prices of staple foods have spiked almost 100 per cent as inflation ravages the Nigerian economy.

A market survey conducted at Mararaba Market, Nasarawa, by Peoples Gazette on February 7 showed that prices of most food items have increased by almost 100 per cent compared to what was obtainable last May.

Inflation accelerated after President Bola Tinubu’s sudden announcement of the removal of the petrol subsidy in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, followed later by the CBN’s policy of floating the naira.

The Mandate Secretary of the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat, Mrs Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, says the Federal Capital Territory Administration has sealed off an orphanage in Karonmajigi, the Priesthood Orphanage, after 23 children, aged 1 – 14 years, trafficked from Plateau state, were rescued from the orphanage.

Benjamins-Laniyi stated this when she addressed pressmen on Monday, adding that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had authorised the Secretariat to profile and recertify orphanages operating within the nation’s capital.

“There is no question, yesterday, with immediate effect, that ‘home’ was sealed, shut down. We have the name of the proprietor of the orphanage home, but we are not naming names now for obvious reasons. When the entire material investigation is concluded, there will be an official gazetted presentation of the facts, the findings, and the delivery of this intervention we’ve started here today.

“NAPTIP, as we speak is already on it. Using this as an example, one of the first things I have done is to get approval for the recertification of orphanage homes in Abuja. The minister has approved that there will be a full thorough reprofiling of anything that has to do with orphanage and recertification status of all orphanages in Abuja,” she said.

She noted that the Women’s Secretariat was already working with the office of the Commissioner of Women Affairs of Plateau State, to reunite the children with their families, some of whom she said had been at the uncertified orphanage for five years, since 2019.

“We are working with the Plateau state government to reunite the children that I had earlier mentioned by name and by age, with their families in Plateau state. This is a transition arrangement,” she said.

The Plateau State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Caroline Dafur, narrated that the Proprietors of the orphanage home abandoned the children at the orphanage, under the care of one Pastor Abraham, in a terrible condition of hunger. Three of the children had then escaped and were discovered by officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who reported the case to the NAPTIP and took the children to the Human Rights Radio, who then notified the Plateau State government and the FCT Women’s Secretariat.

“We came in yesterday and on reaching here, we were told that they went to church. We kept going from one church to another, looking for them until we found them in a Deeper Life Church, where we were able to pick them up, and we went to the home. And we saw the place, it is not supposed to be called a home.

“The place is just so unkempt. I wonder how the children were sleeping in the small room. Nine girls were sleeping in a very small room with just two mattresses. And then for the boys, they were in a small room too, with two mattresses just on the floor. And I mean, it’s so pathetic the way human beings treat human beings in this country.”

She stated the displeasure of the Plateau state government while appreciating the Mandate Secretary for the assistance in evacuating the children, and relocating them to the Karu Children’s Home.

Long queues have been observed at several petrol stations in the Federal Capital Terrotory (FCT), Abuja, on Monday morning.

The development, Politics Nigeria understands, may not be unconnected with the decision of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) to stop tanker operations, citing unsustainable high costs.

NARTO President, Alhaji Yusuf Lawal Othman, also confirmed that the enforcement of the suspension of operation has just begun across major cities in the country.

He said the association had notified the federal government and Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria of its plan to suspend operations.

Few petrol stations that were opened for business in Abuja have also increased the price of petrol from N648 to N670 per litre.

The few Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) retail outlets that were opened sold the product for N617 per litre amid long queues.

Abuja Electricity Distribution Company on Monday said it will disconnect electricity in the Presidential Villa and 86 Federal Government’s Ministry Department and Agencies over N47,195 billion outstanding debts as of December 2023.

Some of the affected MDAs are Chief of Defence Staff – Barracks and Military Formations owing N12bn, FCT Ministry, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of State Petroleum, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture.

Others are the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Ministry of Education, CBN governor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Budget and Planning, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Interior, Head ECOWAS, and Ministry of Transport, among others.

While issuing a notice of disconnection to the affected MDAs, AEDC said, “The Management of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has given a 10 days’ notice to 86 Government to pay up the N47.1bn electricity debt they owe or risk disconnection.

“The Abuja Electricity Distribution PLC is constrained to do this publication with the details of Government, Ministries, Departments and Agencies with long outstanding unpaid bills for services rendered to them through the provision of electricity supply in that our previous attempts to make them honour their obligations have not achieved the desired results.”

The firm also urged the MDAs to pay up before the disconnection time slated for Wednesday, February 28, 2024.

“The relevant MDAs are hereby given notice that the AEDC shall, after the expiration of 10 days from the date of this publication, that is, after Wednesday, February 28, 2024, embark on the disconnection of our services to them until they discharge their obligations to us by paying their debts.

LeadingReporters gathered that in 2919, The Federal Executive Council approved the inclusion of the presidential villa in the eligible customer policy to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the villa.

This was made known by Hakeem Bello, special adviser on communications to the then minister of power, Babatunde Fashola, who said the approval aimed to improve the electricity supply and distribution in the country.

According to him, the approval was made at the FEC meeting in response to a memorandum submitted by the minister seeking approval to include the presidential villa in the distribution expansion programme earlier approved by the council.

The eligible customer regulation, which was issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in mid-2017, permits electricity customers to buy power directly from the electricity generation companies (GenCos), other than distribution companies (DisCos), in line with the provisions of section 27 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005.

The programme seeks to enable unutilised 2000 megawatts (MW) from the GenCos to be distributed to targeted metered customers.

“The Ministry had earlier obtained approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) following its letter to the Bureau intimating it of the Council’s approval of the Distribution Expansion Programme with the intention of the Ministry to procure civil works that would facilitate uninterrupted power supply to the Aso Rock Villa and curb the present erratic supply of power in spite of the availability of power by the Generation Companies (GenCos),” Bello said.

“The project to be executed by Messrs Dextron Engineering Limited, has a completion period of six months under the Distribution Expansion Programme. An arrangement has also been put in place such that a GenCo, North-South Power Company Limited, will procure the dedicated supply to the Villa from the National Grid while the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has indicated interest in ensuring the success of the project.”

Former Minister and one of the aspirants for the 2024 All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket for Edo State, Clem Agba, has rejected the outcome of the party primary election held on Saturday, 17th February.

Agba, in a statement on the outcome of the APC primary election for Edo governorship election, said there was no fair play in the polls. He added that the vote of the people did not count during the primary.

Speaking further, the governorship aspirant said the result so far announced is a ridicule of democracy and undermines the unity and strength of the APC.

According to him, “The result so far announced is a ridicule and undermines the principles of democracy and fair play. The votes of the people did not count, the processes of election were compromised and the strength and unity of our party greatly undermined.

What has taken place in Edo State negates all that even our political leaders have taught us over the years about democracy, the will of the people, one man, one vote and justice and fair play.

”The votes of the people did not count, the processes of election were compromised and the strength and unity of our party greatly undermined. What has taken place in Edo State negates all that even our political leaders have taught us over the years about democracy, the will of the people, one man, one vote and justice and fair play.”

Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, says the company has approved a 50 per cent salary increment for staff across board.

Rabiu made the disclosure in an internal memo signed on Sunday in Lagos by Mr Mohammed Wali, BUA’s Head of Human Resources.

The memo quoted BUA chairman as saying that the increment was to mitigate the impact of the economic hardship currently being faced in the country.

He said the salary increment would cover both permanent/regular and non-permanent staff with effect from Feb. 1, 2024.

“Sequel to the above development, the Human Resources and Finance departments are processing the increase to ensure that it is captured in the February 2024 payroll.

“It is hoped that with this magnanimous gesture, we will be more committed to our duties and put in our very best to justify the confidence reposed in us,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that due to the current economic conditions in the country, negotiations are ongoing between the organised labour and the government, for a new minimum wage.

Some unknown gunmen have killed Mr Sylvanus Namang, the publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State.

According to reports, the APC spokesperson was shot dead in Pankshin town, Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State, on Saturday, February 17, 2024.

It was gathered that Namang was gunned down outside his hotel room in the area by the hoodlums around 7:30 in the morning.

An official of the party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident to journalists.

The source told DailyTrust that the APC scribe died from injuries sustained in the attack.

He described the late Namang as a dependable ally, and deeply committed to the development of the APC at the grassroots and state levels.

He noted that the party would issue a statement regarding the circumstances surrounding his death.

There was confusion in Benin City, the Edo State capital, on Saturday, following the emergence of two candidates at the 2024 All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election.

This followed a disruption of the voting exercise and violent attack by suspected political thugs.

The APC Governorship Primary Election Committee, led by Governor Hope Uzodinma, announced Hon. Dennis Idahosa as the winner of the direct primary election, having polled 40,453 votes to defeat other aspirants.

“Of the 12 aspirants that contested for this primaries, Clem Agba scored 100 votes, Monday Okpebholo 100 votes, Hon. Dekeri Anamero 230 votes, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu two votes, Gideon Ikhine 700 votes, David Imuse 400 votes, Charles Airhiavbere 162 votes, Osariemen Osunbor 180, Blessing Agbomhere 50 votes, Dennis Idahosa 40,453 votes, Ernest Afolabi two votes and Lucky Imansuen two votes,” Uzodinma said.

Uzodinma said Idahosa, having polled the highest number of votes cast by party delegates, was the winner of the Edo State APC governorship primary election.

He noted that earlier in the day, there was misinformation as to the venue of the primary election exercise, adding that the Protea Hotel venue was the right secretariat for the announcement of the results.

However, officials of the National Working Committee (NWC) appointed as returning officers for the exercise from the party’s headquarters in Abuja relocated from the initial venue where the announcement of results by Uzodinma was ongoing before they were violently attacked.

The NWC committee led by Dr Stanley Ugboajah declared another aspirant, Senator Monday Okpebholo, as the winner of the primary election and thereby announced him as the governorship candidate of the party in the forthcoming September 21, 2024 governorship election.

“Dr Blessing Agbomhere scored 834, Charles Airhvbere scored 919, Osareime Osunbor 688, David Imuse 507, Monday Okpebolo 12,145 votes, Dennis Idahosa, 5,536, Ernest Afolabi 2,090, Gideon 902, Ize-Iyamu 383, Anamero Dekeri 1,625, Lucky Imansue 503,” the electoral officer said.

“This is to certify that Monday Okpebholo has scored the highest votes, has been declared the winner of the APC governorship primaries and thereby declared the candidate of the party.”

Meanwhile, the Edo State publicity secretary of the party, Peter Igbinigie, said the Dr Stanley Ugboajah-led committee sent to Edo State is the one recognised law as the returning officer for the exercise.

He maintained that Governor Hope Uzodinma does not have the power or authority to return any aspirant as winner of the primary election.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said that it is considering increasing the price of prepaid meters in the coming days.

The commission blamed the proposed increase on the high cost of production faced by meter manufacturers.

Sources say that the manufacturers have ceased issuing invoices to Distribution Companies (Discos) in anticipation of an upward price revision by the NERC.

According to them, the increase in prices is directly related to the foreign exchange crisis affecting the economy, leading to increased production costs and inflationary pressures on manufacturers.

Recall that in September 2023, NERC reviewed the price of prepaid meter in a circular marked NERC/2023/020, and jointly signed by Sanusi Garba, the commission’s chairman ’and Dafe Akpeneye, its commissioner, legal, licencing, and compliance.

The commission said a single-phase meter will now cost N81,975.16 instead of the previous price of N58,661.69.

Similarly, the price of a three-phase meter was increased to N143,836.10 from N109,684.36.

NERC, the sector regulator, approves the cost of prepaid meters, most of which are imported into the country as semi-knocked down units and assembled locally for use.

Prepaid meters have also evolved over the years with DisCos including features that mitigate against energy theft and offering more consumption data.