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The Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Rivers State Chapter, Joseph Obele, has urged the Federal Government to ensure that the nation’s refineries are fixed as planned.

Obele said that the cost of Petroleum Motor Spirit,l would crash below N200 per litre if the refineries become functional.

This is coming against the backdrop of the removal of petrol subsidy, which has led to a corresponding hike in fuel prices and a hike in the cost of living.

He noted that ro revive the nation’s economy, President Bola Tinubu promised to ensure that the Port Harcourt Refinery begins production by December 2023.

Obele raised concern that the scarcity of dollars had continued to affect importers, adding that the product would continue to increase if the government failed to offer a short-term solution.

“Until our nation-owned refineries are functional, fuel prices will keep increasing due to international variables. But when our refineries are functional, Nigerians will buy fuel less than N200 per litre.

“The scarcity of dollars has made it difficult for importers of petroleum products to continue further importation. For about two weeks now, the petroleum distribution chain has experienced turbulence. This is evident on the NNPC buying portal of marketers.

The federal government has said that it had released N2 billion of the N5 billion loan offered to each state as a palliative to mitigate the effects of the petrol subsidy removal.

Speaking on Friday, September 1, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Wale Edun, said the government is aware of the potential negative consequences of releasing all of the palliative funds at once, “so it decided to release them gradually”.

The Minister said, “On the issue of the 5 billion, it is a combination of grants from the federal government and borrowing by the states.”

“And of course, although the sum of 5 billion is earmarked, you will agree with me that to release such funds across all the states all at once will be self-defeating because it will lead to an inflationary spiral. It will lead to the cost of goods being sold going up and it will affect the exchange rate.

“And so, it is N2 billion that has been released as an initial intervention and FCT will be included is the information that I have.”

Edun also stressed that the government would effectively manage debt, assuring that borrowings will be “linked to return on investment”, under the current administration.

Noting that the current administration intends to increase revenue.In achieving this, he said tax revenues will improve, leakages will be avoided as well as the effective management of debt so that borrowings can be properly serviced.

“The key is to increase revenues so that the government has enough funding to carry out its obligations and to stabilise the economy as a whole,” the minister said.

“On one hand, it is by increasing tax revenue, not by increasing taxes necessarily, but by bringing greater efficiency.

“We have with us the chairman of the tax reform committee, and it aims to bring greater efficiency to cut leakages and maximise the legitimate revenue that should come to the government.

“Likewise, in order to gain and build public trust, there will be an emphasis on efficiency in government expenditure, and similarly, effective debt management, so that borrowing is linked to it, the return on investment. You borrow and you will see the cash flow that will repay that borrowing.

In August, the federal government announced a N5 billion palliative package for each state of the federation, including the federal capital territory (FCT), to cushion the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy.

Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno, had said the palliative would enable state governments to procure 100,000 bags of rice, 40,000 bags of maize and fertilizers, to cushion the effect of food shortage across the country.

A Texas-based pro-good governance group, League of Patriots has appealed to the President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency purge Nigeria Security, Printing and Minting, popularly called MINT and The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending NIRSAL of all Emiefele-Boys who thronged out with him from Zenith Bank.

The group said Emiefele perennially ran those strategic institutions controlled by the Central Bank of Nigeria with utmost and untamed impunity with his Zenith-Bank clique.

League of Patriots is a Nigerian pro-good governance and investment-promoting group, based in Austin Texas. The group in their Zoom meeting with membership participation from USA, Europe and Nigeria frowned that if its previous outcry about the activities of Godwin Emiefele were heeded, Nigerians would have been saved from a lot of difficulties Emiefele’s currency redesign policy caused them.

The League, as it is fondly called, noted that Godwin Emiefele ran a cult-like policy with his clique from Zenith Bank to fill strategic institutions for the purpose of self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment. MINT and NIRSAL were two strategic institutions The League identified as hubs of corruption and inefficiency.

“You recall that Mr. Masanawa was quite reckless like his principal in running MINT. Aside from violating the Code of Conduct Act by sitting on a board of private companies with which he siphoned money to acquire property, buy shares in other private businesses and fund his political ambition, he took corruption to another height with his team members. Funny enough, one of his types replaced him when he resigned. Mr. Ahmed Haliru. It was just a game of hitmen. Something close to what we say in Nigeria – chop, I chop”

“Our message is simple. As a
strategic partner in progress, and as Nigerians who desire a change not only in words but in actions, we appeal to President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to, as a matter of national urgency purge these strategic institutions where Emiefele riling impunity festered across.

“We hold the view that Mr President should be more interested in serving Nigerian people who elected him than serving the interest of those who have a history of corruption. He should ensure that the likes of Masanawa, Haliru and their likes in NIRSAL do not get away with the crime they have committed against Nigeria people.

President Bola Tinubu has approved the provision of more than five million pairs of eyeglasses for Nigerians with sight impairments.

Tinubu made the announcement in Abuja on Friday, September 1 during a courtesy visit by Andrew Bastawrous, CEO of the foundation and co-founder of the Vision Catalyst Fund.

The products will be delivered in partnership between the federal ministry of health’s national eye health programme and the Peek Vision Foundation.

Noting that he was motivated to support the initiative because of his personal experience with eye health, Tinubu narrated how his mother was able to see clearly again after receiving a pair of glasses but had asked him how others in her condition would manage without any support.

“My first experience was with my mother of blessed memory. She was ill and she could not recognise me. When I intervened, she was treated and given a pair of glasses,” the president was quoted as saying in a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, his spokesperson.

“The next question she asked me was: I have you, and you are able to do this for me. What about those other women and their children who may not have somebody like you to intervene for them?

“So I made a promise to her that I will pursue the mass provision of eye care vigorously and that I would provide free eye screenings and surgeries to people because of that question my mother asked me and because of her passion to see others healed.

“We eventually impacted the eye health of millions of people in Lagos, and you could see their joy over the immediate sight enhancements when they were given a pair of glasses.

“I am in support of this initiative, and I will encourage the mobilisation of further commitment to see this through and to reach vulnerable people all across our country. Some parents may not pay attention to this, but I will, because I am touched.”

Reacting to the development, Bastawrous shared his personal story of how he was able to achieve his academic and professional goals because of vision care.

He said eye care is still “chronically under-resourced” in many countries, adding that the estimates in Nigeria show that 0.0002 percent of the health budget is spent on eye health.

A 20-year-old boy, simply identified as Ridwan, has confessed that he killed his biological father for money ritual in Ogun State.

He was arrested on Thursday by men of the Ogun State So-Safe Corps at Oshoku village, Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State.

The So-Safe Corps Commander, Soji Ganzallo, in a statement by the corps spokesman, Moruf Yusuf, said at about 12am on Thursday, August 31, officers of the corps on routine patrol heard a strange noise in a building at Oshoku.

The officers were said to have made their way into the building to confirm what was happening, “but to the officers’ dismay, they found a man’s body lying lifeless in a pool of his own blood and the alleged killer fled the scene,” Ganzallo said.

The statement quoted Ganzallo as having instructed the Zonal Commander, Ijebu Zonal Command, Marcus Ayankoya, to get the suspected killer arrested within 24 hours.

“The suspected killer was nabbed where he was hiding in a bush.

“He confessed to have killed his father, Ishau with a rope tied to his neck and a knife used to remove the needed parts of his body for ritual purpose,” he said.

The corps commander noted that the alleged killer told the officers of the corps during interrogation that “he only removed the private part, larynx, and just four teeth of his father as requested by a ritualist he identified as Baba Kekere.”

Ganzallo further revealed that when he was asked about the whereabouts of the ritualist, he refused to give details.

He stated that the alleged killer had been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force, Ogbere Divisional Headquarters, for further investigation and likely prosecution.

The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has fixed September 5, 2023, to proceed on a warning strike over the unbearable suffering faced by Nigerians after the subsidy removal policy.

President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, issued the threat on Friday after the union’s National Executive Council.

Labour also berated the Federal Government for interfering in the affairs of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), saying it would do everything to resist such undue interference.

The apex workers union also accused the Imo State Government of meddling in their affairs.

Details later…

The Akwa Ibom State Government has approved a sum of N2 billion in financial support for government workers and pensioners to mitigate the economic hardship caused by the federal government’s removal of fuel subsidy.

At the state’s Executive Council meeting, chaired by Governor Umo Eno, on Thursday, August 31 in Uyo, the governor approved the sum to cushion the economic difficulty approved by citizens of the state

According to a statement from the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ini Ememobong, the financial support is to last for three months.

The Akwa Ibom State Government said it received N2 billion and 7,200 bags of rice from the federal government.

Ememobong noted that “A total of 100,000 bags of rice will be distributed statewide. Forty bags per village to the 2,272 gazetted villages and other strategic groups.”

Apart from the proposed financial support to workers and pensioners, the Akwa Ibom government said it had already paid N2 billion as a gratuity to both state and local government retirees.

The government, in addition, said, “Fridays will become a ticket-free day for transport operators and traders in markets in all the local government areas up till December, 2023.”

It also approved the payment of N10,000 bursary to undergraduate students of Akwa Ibom origin in all public tertiary institutions in Nigeria as well as the distribution of free exercise books to primary and secondary schools in the state.

“Discussions on transportation means like CNG buses and electric taxis are ongoing, to ensure an effective, efficient and sustainable rollout,” the commissioner said.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared a 2-day warning strike over the impact of petrol subsidy removal on the masses.

The strike is set to commence on Tuesday, September 5.

Speaking during a press conference at the Labour House in Abuja, the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, made the declaration on Friday, September 1 while revealing the resolutions by the NLC National Executive Committee (NEC).

Accusing the Federal Government of abandoning negotiations and failure to implement some of the resolutions from previous meetings with the government, he said that the labour association would go a two day mobilisation action.

On August 2, organised labour protested what it described as the anti-people policies of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and their affiliate unions demonstrated in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and several states, including Lagos, Abia, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Rivers, Zamfara, Katsina, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kwara, Ogun, Imo, Ondo, and Edo.

Mr. Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development has ordered the immediate demolition of Dominion and EAN hangars to pave way for expansion of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Two (MMIA 2), Lagos.

Keyamo stated this on Thursday at the Lagos Airport during the tour of the facilities.

Keyamo further expressed dismay about the unkempt environment at the airport, giving various orders for the ares to be kept clean.