If you ask most Nigerians what their biggest dream is, in terms of ownership of property, not a few of them would likely mention that of building a house before remembering to say anything about buying a car.

This is because not a few them believe that having a roof over one’s head is the biggest dream that everyone need to work hard towards, in order to achieve the dream of being called a landlord or landlady.

Unfortunately, when the issue of building a house comes up at any forum, what easily come to mind is the rising prices of building materials and the huge cost of buying a land upon which the house would be erected.

Whenever the discussion comes up, several things come to mind. Things like the somewhat unabated soaring prices of cement, sand, nails, roofing sheets, window and door frames, wood and many more.

They are such essential materials that a house cannot be said to have being completed without land and the foregoing essential building materials.

However, with the soaring prices of building materials in the recent time, such dream may not be realised.
In fact, in a fiercely competitive housing market where prices continue to skyrocket, not few Nigerian buyers increasingly believe that their dreams of homeownership are unattainable.

Not only that, those that have ongoing housing projects at hand may likely abandon the projects as prices of building materials keep soaring high.

According to analysts, these are not the best of times for potential homeowners and developers as the unprecedented rising increase in prices of building materials across the country may exacerbate the prevailing housing deficit in the low and medium income segments of the real estate market.

Given the escalating prices of building materials across markets, not few Nigerians, particularly salary earners, can still be said to have a glimmer of hope of building houses they can call their own.

To buttress the foregoing view, Price Survey embarked on by Daily Independent, reveals that the cost of building materials in Nigeria in the recent time has become a source of concern because it has a direct impact on the affordability and accessibility of housing for the typical Nigerian.

This is as the cost of building materials has risen dramatically in recent years, generating a rippling effect in the real estate business. For instance, the prices of wires in Nigeria have remained astronomical.

A bundle of flexible binding wire costs around N5,300-6,000, whereas a 10kg roll costs around N43,500-47,000.

In a similar vein, a bundle of firm binding wire, costs between N6,300 and N6,800, with a 10kg coil costing between N47,000 and N48,000.

Still in a similar vein, the cost of cement, which is a vital component in the construction of buildings, has remained unaffordable since the last few years.

As gathered from a market survey, 50kg-pack of Dangote cement cost N3,500 to N4,500, 50kg-pack of Elephant cement cost N4,200, 50kg-pack of Eagle cement costs N4,250, 50kg-pack of UNICEM cement costs N4,200, 50kg-pack of Cellular Concrete cement cost N3,900 and 50kg-pack of Ibeto cement costs N4,000. Also, 50kg-pack of Ashaka cement cost N4,000, 50kg-pack of Wapco cement cost N4,400 and 50kg-pack of Sokoto cement costsN4,050.

On the current price of tiles (Per Square Meter) in Nigeria, there is a large variety of floor and wall tiles available, each with its own texture, size, quality, and design.

Here are some examples of tiles typically available in the market, while vitrified tiles price of 300.300 pack cost N4000-5,000 and 450.450 pack cost N5,100-6500.

Regarding polished porcelain, the prices show that 40 x 40 cost N2,800 – N3,000, 60 X 120 High Gloss Porcelain Slab Tiles cost N4,000 – N5,500, and 300.600 Wall Porcelain Tiles cost N5,000 – N10,000.

As for granite tiles, the prices per square meter cut across 30 x 30 cost M6,300 – N7,500, 40 x 40 cost N6,400 – N6,800, 30 x 60 cost N5,700 – N6,000 and 60 x 60 cost N7,700 – N8,000.

Still on the rising costs of building materials, the current prices of steel rods have been unaffordable.

There is no denying the fact that steel rods are similar to the skeletons of structures or buildings. At this juncture, a peep in the consumer market of the building product reveals that the list of current steel rod prices in Nigeria cut across 1 piece of 8 mm steel rod costs N700 to N850, 1 piece of 16 mm steel rod cost N1,500 to N2,000, 120 pieces (1 ton) of 16 mm steel rod cost N170,000 to N174, 000, 1 piece of 12 mm steel rod cost N1,100 to N1,500, 176 pieces (1 ton) of 12 mm steel rod cost N165,000 to N170,000, 1 length of 10 mm steel rod cost N1,000 to N1,100 and 1 piece of 25 mm steel rod cost N4,500 to N4, 8000.

Others are 42 pieces (1 ton) of 25 mm steel rod cost N180,000 to N185,000, 1 piece of 20 mm steel rod cost N2,600 to N3,000, 74 pieces (1 ton) of 20 mm steel rod cost N180,000 to N185,000, 185 pieces (1 ton) of 10 mm steel rod costs N165,000 to N167,000, 282 pieces (1 ton) of 8 mm steel rod costs N165,000 to N170,000, BRC Mesh (20 m of 3.5 mm) costs N14,000 to N15,000, BRC Mesh (20 m of 4.0 mm) cost N17,000 to N18,000, BRC Mesh (25 m of 4.0 mm) cost N25,000 to N27,000, A roll of flexible Binding wire cost N5,000 to N5,500, 10 kg bundle of flexible binding wire cost N45,000 to N48,000, 1 roll of stiff binding wire costs N6,000 to N7,000 and 10 kg bundle of stiff binding wire costing N47,000 to N50, 000.

Without resort to further providing a comprehensive price list of virtually all the materials needed for the construction of a building, it is expedient to say that the forgoing is glimmer of how the extant building materials market looks like.

According to Mr. Ayodele Emmanuel, an Estate developer at Pakuro-Mowe, in Ogun State, “The rising price is so pervasive across markets that most developers that took loan from either rich individuals or banks to build have been struggling to pay back the loans and at the same time have continued to battle with the unprecedented rise in prices of building materials.

“When someone borrows money from the bank to buy land, of which you know that Land is expensive, then somewhere in the middle of construction, the cost of materials shoot up and he goes back to borrow more money to complete it. That is the way it has being. It means that those that are already constructing a building project move back and forth in search of funds because they need to complete what they have started to avoid being put to shame or rather become laughing stock. Even some appear to have abandon most of their building projects”.

On factors that might have been triggering the prices of building materials almost by each passing day, Mr. Mike Onwuegbuchulem said: “As a result of the persistent depreciation of the Naira, the cost of building materials has experienced a drastic hike, particularly since the foreign exchange rate became high.

“Not only that, there have been incidences of rising inflation, with businessmen across all sectors witnessing high interest rate, inefficient supply chain in the real estate sector, poor road infrastructure for haulage and importation of cement”.

With all these put together, there is no way there would be no sharp increase in the prices of building materials, like we are today experiencing”.

According Onwuegbuchulem, consumers are giving up on homeownership dream as prices of building materials keep soaring on daily basis.

He explained that someone that is struggling to feed himself and family members will not start talking about building of a house.

Be that as it may, Mr. Edmund Uweru, a building contractor said “Builders are groaning as prices of building materials soar.

AS the new Soun of Ogbomosho, Prince Afolabi Ghandhi Olaoye, emerged on Saturday, September 2, a major issue in the selection process caught my attention. The kingmakers extracted a pledge from the 23 claimants to the stool that whoever is crowned would embrace the three main religions in the ancient kingdom: the Traditional, Christianity and Islam. This pledge, a reflection of the time-tested tradition of the Yorubas who tolerate all religions, reminds me of my growing up in Lagos.

Lagos accommodated all religions and it was not uncommon to find adherents of the three main religions in a single  family. The Yoruba saying that whoever is alive during a festival should rejoice and participate in the festivities (Eniti odun ba ba laye, ko yo) was observed in spirit and practice. They also add that only God  knows who worships Him in truth. So the people, irrespective of their personal religious beliefs, participated in all festivals especially Sallah, Easter, Christmas, and the various traditional festivals, including Egungun, Eyo and Igunnu. If anybody  tried to be sanctimonious, they respond by saying such a person is mixing lunacy with religion (O gba were mesin). 

That was the Lagos I grew up in, and that shaped my attitude to religion. So, I was not prepared for the event in Ilorin when 15 clerics led by one Sala Ayodeji invaded the shop of a couple, the Tajudeens, selling television sets and accused the lady of being an adherent of traditional religion. They threatened to destroy the shop and the television sets unless the lady vacated the city within  seven days. The invaders ruled that the lady as a believer in traditional religion can only be allowed to trade and live outside the city. Ayodeji also instructed the shop’s landlord, the Alaran Family, to refund the couple’s rent and evict them within seven days otherwise their property will be invaded.

Ayodeji who appeared possessed or under the influence of substances, claimed the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Ebunoluwa Rotimi Adelesi, was aware of the group’s visit to the couple, reiterated: “The Commissioner of Police is aware of our visit…so leave our town.” The video went viral and an incensed the police commissioner in whose name the suspects invaded the shop. He declared Ayodeji wanted for terrorism. The prime suspect went on the run. On Monday, August 28, 2023,  the police commissioner visited the couple and the family of Ayodeji where she gave his family three days within which to produce him. She described  his behaviour as criminal and cable of causing a breakdown of law and order. The police boss also lashed out at the Alaran family for evicting the couple from the shop and refunding their rent.

The next day, the police smoked Ayodeji out of his hideout in Ilorin. The suspect confessed that he lied about the police commissioner endorsing his invasion of the shop. He also claimed not to have known that his actions were criminal. Well, what he may also not know is that ignorance of the law is no excuse. If the accusation of terrorism by the commissioner of police were to be sustained, Ayodeji and his fellow invaders might be eyeing life imprisonment. Terrorism under Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000 is defined as “the use or threat of actions where the action involves violence against the person, damage to property, endangers a person’s life, creates risk to public health or safety or interferes with an electronic system.”

 The law further states that: “Any person who engages in any conduct in preparation to commit acts of terrorism or assisting another person to commit an act of terrorism commits an offence and is liable on conviction to life imprisonment.” Ayodeji might simply have been trying to project himself as a defender of faith as a way of promoting the Islamic schools he runs in Ilorin and Ogbomosho. This raises the question whether such a man is a fit and proper person to run a school. He might also be an example of a person the Yoruba say, mixes religion and lunacy in which case, the police would need to send him for psychiatric evaluation.

Another person I am worried about is my old friend, Professor Ishaq Akintola, who runs the Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC. He is a person I had over the decades shared ideas with, especially on the emancipation of Nigeria. To find such a man begin to starve his thoughts and comments of any form of intellectualism is quite disturbing. Last Wednesday, there was a palace coup in Gabon. In his reaction to the coup, rather than a straight forward condemnation of any attempt to truncate our hard fought Civilian Rule in Nigeria, he wrote: “A military coup against the current Muslim-Muslim ticket will be interpreted as a direct attack on Muslims in the country in view of the deep religious sentiment which pervaded the controversy surrounding the Muslim-Muslim ticket.” What? Is it the religious belief of the President and Vice President that is the issue or that Nigerians should stoutly  resist any attempt to truncate the constitutional order in the country?

As a new monarch is crowned in Ogbomoso with a warning that he must be a father to all and be tolerant of all religions, one monarch that exhibits worse traits than the Ilorin fanatic, is Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo, who has pronounced traditional religion a criminal enterprise whose adherents should be punished, if necessary by jungle justice. Akanbi, known popularly as ‘Oba tin yin banga’ (The king that throws fire crackers) is a ruler that neither respects tradition nor is commonly associated with good conduct. For instance, traditionally, the crown is regarded as sacred and only the king wears it. But when he got to the throne, he duplicated his crown and gave one to his then wife, Chanel Chin, a Jamaican, to wear in public. He also pronounced himself an Emir, not an Oba as is the tradition in Yorubaland.

On February 14, 2020,  the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 11, Bashir Makama, called some traditional rulers in Osun State to a peace meeting following a dispute amongst them. During the meeting Oba Akanbi allegedly attacked the Agbowu of Ogbaagba, Oba Dhirulahi, physically, leading to the latter’s hospitalisation. Consequently, the Council of traditional kings, suspended Akanbi for misconduct. Last month, he illegally and unconstitutionally banned traditional worship, scrapped the annual Oro festival and ordered that whoever is found observing the festival should be seized and brought to him. He claimed traditional religion adherents worship gods and deities, not God. As in Ilorin, unless as a powerful elite, he is above the law, the police should charge Oba Akanbi with terrorism.

Senator Uba Sani, Governor of Kaduna State, has announced that his administration has decided to recruit 7,000 people for the state’s vigilante service to eradicate banditry throughout the state.

Speaking at the flag-off ceremony for the start of training for the 7,000 recruits on Saturday evening at the Police College Kaduna, the Governor said the recruits, who were drawn from all the local government areas of the state, would be a major step towards fulfilling his promise to the good people of the state.

The newly recruited vigilantes were trained hours after bandits attacked a mosque in Ikara, killing worshippers.

He said his administration’s blueprint commits to strengthening the Kaduna Vigilance Service’s (KADVS) manpower and overall operational capacity.

Since its inception, KADVS has been collaborating with security agencies to degrade criminal elements.”

But we face the challenge of inadequate personnel to successfully wage the battle against bandits and other criminal elements.

It is for this reason that our administration decided to recruit 7,000 personnel into the Kaduna Vigilance Service (KADVS), he said.

He stated that the trainees were recruited and screened through the efforts of their Local Government chairmen, traditional and religious leaders as key stakeholders at the grassroots level, and security agencies.

Governor Uba stated that the KADVS is a complementary security outfit that provides actionable intelligence to security agencies, adding that bandits would have no hiding place with their knowledge of the local environment.

He was confident they would all be worthy of enlistment in the Service.

However, the governor warned them not to violate citizens’ rights when they began operations.

He reminded them that KADVS was established to protect the people, not to violate their rights and that he would not hesitate to discipline anyone who violated the Service’s operational guidelines or code of conduct.

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has said that it is going ahead with its two-day warning strike beginning tomorrow, saying it was not aware of any meeting with the Federal Government today.

A top official of the NLC, told Vanguard yesterday, that as of press time, there was no invitation from the Government for any meeting, adding that the industrial action was instigated by state councils and industrial unions.

However, the Minister of Information and Orientation, Mohammed Idris Magaji. said the Federal Government is in discussion with Labour over the planned strike.

He said that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, met with the leadership of the NLC on Saturday, adding “We are very hopeful that the strike may be averted.”
The minister said the government will continue to appeal to Organized Labour to see the reason and the efforts of the government in providing palliatives through state governors and the Conditional Cash Transfer programme.

He said the government’s position was to pass the palliatives through state governors, irrespective of party affiliations, because the effect of the subsidy removal is felt more in states.

While appealing to Organized Labour to collaborate with the government to ensure that all efforts put in place to reposition the economy and turn things around for good yield the desired results, the minister said the government will continue to engage with labour to avoid the planned strike.

But NLC said its decision to embark on the two-day warning strike as a precursor to indefinite industrial action, was informed by pressure from unions and state chapters over the excruciating sufferings their members are facing as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy.

Vanguard gathered that other factors that compelled Labour to declare the strike included the Federal Government’s ‘deliberate’ refusal to adhere to understandings reached with Organised Labour at the inception of subsidy removal.

The National Executive Council, NEC, meeting of NLC, made up of all elected national officials and senior secretariat staff, presidents, secretaries and treasurers of affiliate industrial unions as well as chairmen, secretaries and treasurers of state councils, were said to have almost become uncontrollable after members learned that none of the committees including the main committee set up to find measures to cushion the effects of subsidy removal had met since they were set up.

Critical committees failed to meet

“The main committee (the Steering Committee) and the three sub-committees on Mass Transit, Energy and Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, were said to have not met for once while the federal and state governments are busy dishing out unsustainable, unrealisable and un-coordinated palliative measures that cannot assuage the hardships being inflicted on the majority of Nigerians especially workers and the poor masses by fuel subsidy removal and other perceived anti-poor policies,” a member at the meeting lamented.

Vanguard’s sources at the Friday NEC’s meeting informed that reports of hardship, suffering and frustration, increasingly rising prices and unaffordable essential goods and services especially food items from state councils and industrial unions affiliated to NLC broke the camel’s back.

The state councils and industrial unions were also said to have complained about increasing job losses, short payment of salaries, delayed wages, and pensions of workers and retirees, which have them frustrated and helpless.

Upsurge in stealing, untimely deaths

They were also said to have lamented the upsurge in burglaries, petty thievery, untimely deaths among others in states, communities and villages since subsidy removal.

A general secretary of one of the private sector unions, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Vanguard that it was the state councils and industrial unions that forced the NEC into taking the strike option.

How state councils forced NEC to call strike

According to him, “You know the state councils are closer to workers and masses especially at the grassroots or local levels. Their reports from their states were about mass and increasing poverty, unbearable hardships, suffering, frustration, despair and hopelessness across the nooks and crannies of the nation.

“Some of the state councils especially from the Northern part of the country said labour leaders are becoming vulnerable to attacks by angry citizens, who question the rationale behind NLC’s inaction in the midst of the mass sufferings pervading the land. One of the chairmen of the state councils said the state NLC’s bus was attacked by angry, residents, who asked if NLC was waiting for Nigerians to start dying in droves before the leaders would take action.”

Similarly, a president of one the affiliate unions, told Vanguard that the voices of the state councils and industrial unions overwhelmingly silenced others canvassing for the government to be given more ropes to climb.

He said: “You needed to be at the meeting. It was tense, charged and almost uncontrollable as most state councils and union leaders said they had nothing to take back to their members than the strike option.

“In fact, leaders of affiliate unions’ in the private sector lamented increasing job losses, unpaid salaries, short payments of salaries, delayed wages, and employers’ resort to all forms of unfair labour practices including casualisation and de-unionisation of workers to remain afloat.

“They complained about harsh and other unfavourable government policies such as inaccessible foreign exchange, unstable electricity supply, multiple taxation, unsold goods, insecurity and dearth of infrastructure, especially roads, which the employers are directly and indirectly making workers and the poor masses to bear the brunt.

“These and others, including insecurity have stifled manufacturing and other economic activities. Labour leaders are being accused of compromise for not taking action to force government to listen and address the plights of workers and the masses. These and other issues targeted at unions and workers made the strike option inevitable. No other resolutions than the strike option would have been acceptable.”

Recall that while briefing on Friday after its NEC’s meeting, NLC President, Joe Ajaero among others, said “NEC in session of NLC resolved to embark on a total and indefinite shutdown of the nation within 14 working days or 21 days from today until steps are taken by the government to address the excruciating mass suffering and the impoverishment experienced around the country.

He said the NLC will “commence a two-day warning strike on Tuesday and Wednesday, 5th and 6th September 2023 to demonstrate our readiness for the indefinite strike later in the month and to also demand that the state vacates the illegally occupied national headquarters of the National Union of Road Transport Workers.”

The NLC also resolved to embark on a mass protest and rally in Imo State within September.

The NLC raised the alarm over what it described as renewed onslaught by government and its agents against labour unions.

Ajaero explained that the proposed strike action was necessitated as a result of government’s deliberate neglect and disregard to engage the relevant stakeholders through the channel of social dialogue.

He said the Federal Government had refused to engage and reach an agreement with organized labour on critical issues on the consequences of the unfortunate hike in price of petrol which has unleashed massive suffering on Nigerian workers and masses.

Ajaero said: “There is a renewed onslaught against trade unions and its leadership by the state and its agents across Nigeria.

The Police under the instruction of certain forces peddling the name of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have invaded and occupied illegally the national headquarters of the National Union of Road Transport Workers headquarters seeking to install its own executive.”

[Vanguard]

The Federal Government has identified Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Ni­ger, Benue, Kwara, and Oyo as states that may likely witness heavy rainfall that may lead to flooding between September 3 and 7.

This is contained in the Flood Early Warning Sys­tems (FEWS) central hub, released on Sunday by the Federal Ministry of Envi­ronment in Abuja.

The central hub also stated that due to the rise in the water level of Riv­er Benue and River Niger, communities along River Benue and River Niger up to Bayelsa State should also take precautionary measures to avert serious impact.

“The following locations and environs are likely to witness heavy rainfall that may lead to flooding with­in the period of prediction: 3rd – 7th September, 2023.

“Kaduna State: Birnin- Gwari, Kaduna, Saminaka; Kano State: Kunchi, Sumai­la;

Kebbi State: Bagudo Kamba, Kangiwa, Ribah, Shanga; Katsina State: Makira; Niger State: Sar­kin-Pawa, Rijau; Benue State: Katsina-Ala; Kwara State: Kaiama, Bode-Sadu, Kosubosu, and Oyo State: Kisi.

“Also, due to the rise in the water level of River Benue and River Niger, communities along River Benue and River Niger up to Bayelsa State should kindly take precautionary measures”, read the state­ment.

Recall also that the gov­ernment of Cameroon re­cently informed the Fed­eral Government that the Lagdo Dam is being opened in phases into River Benue.

The notification was sent to the National Emer­gency Management Agen­cy (NEMA) through a let­ter signed by Umar Salisu, the Ministry’s Director of African Affairs in Camer­oon.

According to Salisu, the Cameroonian authorities will be releasing “only modulated variable small amount of water at a time.

“According to the note, it is pertinent to note that when the release of water becomes necessary, the authorities of the Lagdo Dam will be releasing only modulated variable small amount of water at a time in order to mitigate and avoid damages that the released water may cause along the River Benue ba­sin in both Cameroon and in Nigeria.

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“In view of the above, it would be appreciated if the esteemed agency takes all the necessary proactive steps and actions that will mitigate the damage as well as sensitise the popu­lace living in such areas for vigilance and all necessary precautions”.

Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals, has given illegal miners a 30-day deadline to join artisanal cooperatives.

Speaking at the unveiling of the ‘Agenda for the Transformation of Solid Minerals for International Competitiveness and Domestic Prosperity’ in Abuja on Sunday, Alake vowed that defaulters would face the full force of the law.

The minister also stated that the ministry is establishing a security tax force and mines police to assist the country in combating illegal mining and smuggling, as well as a comprehensive review of all mining licenses and the establishment of six (6) Mineral Processing Centres to focus on value-added products.

He stated that the ministry will focus on a seven-point agenda, which will include the establishment of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation, joint ventures with mining multinationals, and the collection of big data on specific seven priority minerals and their deposits.

For the last time, let me declare that the Ministry is giving such persons 30 days grace to join a miners’ co-operative or find another vocation to do. On the expiration of the period, the full weight of the law will fall on anyone seen on a mining site without a determinable status. This message will be interpreted into Nigerian languages and broadcast on the radio to ensure no one is ignorant of this directive.

From October, a rejuvenated security regime will become active in the solid minerals sector. This will include the Mine Police, sourced from the Nigeria Police and specially trained to detect illegal mining and apprehend offenders. The new Mines Surveillance Security Task Force will coordinate the Mines Police and proactively address high risk incidences of breach of Mining Laws. The Federal and State governments will also be encouraged to allocate the prosecution of cases against illegal miners to competent courts, the minister said.

He said the ministry will add at least 50% to the Nigerian economy, just as he said the Ministry is poised to attract Foreign Direct Investment.

President Bola Tinubu has taken firm, courageous decisions that have reset the logic of the Nigerian economy. The removal of subsidy and the adoption of a single exchange rate are among the fundamental transformational policies of this administration. This radical approach to making the economy resilient in the long term is the guiding principle of the management of the Ministry.

The Ministry has to take the bull by the horns if the country must reap the harvest of the trillion dollars worth of minerals under the ground across the country. To achieve this laudable objective, there has to be a paradigm shift in the strategy by re-positioning the sector in terms of the human and capital factors that can drive its transformation, the minister said.

On creating the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation, the minister said;

Mining is big business. Nigeria must assert its presence in this environment by replicating its strategic positioning in the petroleum sector by setting up a corporate body in this field. Consequently, the Ministry shall work towards incorporating the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation.

Barely a week after the immediate past governor of Rivers State and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, criticised AIT for misrepresentation, the Rivers State Government has demolished the TV station alongside the Raypower FM owned by Daar Communication.

Wike had criticised AIT in the past week for what he said was misrepresentation on the date he announced he would fix Abuja.

Wike, who was speaking few days after he assumed office as FCT Minister had said, “I watched AIT yesterday and I was surprised. That AIT could report that I said that I will fix Abuja in six days’ time.

“All I said to the directors who are responsible! you have six days to let me have what it would take to implement or execute the short term deliveries. That’s what I said.

“I never said Abuja would be fixed in six days’ time.”

But on Sunday when it was raining heavily in Port Harcourt where the stations are located, bulldozers were ordered into the premises to bring down the facility housing the media outfit.

Wike had failed to demolish the stations when he was governor following uproar from the public and media groups which saw his move as “executive recklessness” and an attempt to extend the disagreement between him and the Chairman of the media house.

THE WHISTLER had reported the Rivers State government during Wike’s time as governor had served a 48-hour quit notice to the management of DAAR Communications, owners of Raypower and AIT to vacate the premises.

The letter dated March 20, 2023 and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Rivers State Ministry of Works, Ebere Emenike, explained that the government would demolish the structure and commence construction of proposed Government Residential Area (GRA) phase 5 in Ozuoba.

There was also no love lost between Wike and the late Raymond Dokpesi, now late, who was the chairman and founder of the stations concerning their differences in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

The current Rivers Governor, Simi Fubara was Wike’s anointed for the PDP ticket in the 2023 governorship election despite having a running battle with the Economic and Financial Crime Commission when he was an accountant in Wike’s government.

Fubura, to show his loyalty to Wike, has hailed his emergence as a minister in the All Progressives Congress administration despite being a PDP member.

This paper could not get confirmation from the state government that a new letter was sent to the station informing it of the demolition, sources in the media house said no new letter was received.

But the operations of the TV and FM Stations were shut down with reports on the media organisation’s website, explaining that the demolition was carried out by telecommunications engineers contracted by the State Government.

The station said the engineers were accompanied by armed security operatives as they stood by watching the engineers disconnecting the wave guard from the antenna on the mast while riggers were seen dismantling the mast.

The TV station ran a live broadcast of the demolition. A statement issued by the station said, ‘Bulldozers were also deployed by the Rivers State Government to demolish the Transmitter Complex at the DAAR Communications PLC Broadcast Centre in Port Harcourt.

“Management of the Company has been taken by surprise following the sudden turn of events as efforts were in top gear to resolve issues with the State Government amicably but the no notice incident is a heavy source of concern.

“Some officials of the telecommunications contractor told AIT that they were working on a directive from above to start demolition on Sunday despite the heavy rains as against a later date.”

The United Kingdom issued some 132,000 visas to Nigerians in the first half of the year, Jonny Baxter, British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He revealed the number in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Thursday.

Baxter, however, could not readily give the total number of applications received from Nigerians during the period.

“In the first half of the year, we granted approximately 132,000 visas, and those are all sorts of visas which include visit, work and study visas.

“In the previous full year before that, we issued about 324,000. The UK, in that year, issued about three million visas, and of those three million visas, 324,000 were issued to Nigerians, which is about 10 percent.

“ If you think about Nigeria’s population, relative to the world, that’s actually a higher proportion of Nigerians taking up those visas and coming to the UK which I view is a good thing.

“The UK has a huge number of Nigerian students in the country, and in terms of foreign students in the UK, Nigeria is second only to India.

“We welcome and value the many Nigerians that we have coming to the UK to study or settle, as long as they are coming through legal routes, and it is important that the country’s rules are followed and respected,” he said.

Baxter reiterated that change in the rules of students bringing dependents was a necessity, based on an international challenge.

“ In 2019, Nigerian students going to the UK brought in 1,500 dependents. By 2022/2023, that number had risen to 52,000 dependents, that’s a massive increase.

“ Nigeria is not unique, as it has happened for many other countries and indeed, this change on the dependents is an international challenge.

“It is not surprising that a country, Britain in this case, that is facing that kind of change to the numbers of people coming in the country, wants to look at the policy and would want to change and amend their policy.

“This is definitely not a case of saying that we don’t want students to come, we definitely want students still to come, and the new policy would come in in January 2024.”

He explained that UK government reviews its visa fees on a regular basis, noting that increments are taken when it becomes a necessity.

“What the British government has decided to do is they review fees all the time, and they’ve decided that because of the cost of processing visas, those costs that people applying for visas need to pay should go up as well.

“The other thing that I think is probably not often recognized is that, for some of those people who are going to the UK and are in some limited circumstances, those people will access services when they are in the UK and those services cost money.

“So, part of the money out of the fees in the visa process will be to pay for those services that in certain circumstances, some people may need to access when they’re there. So for me, that’s an entirely justifiable thing.

“But I completely understand it is important for us to explain it so people understand reasons for increment,” he said.

He advised the public to always apply for visa well ahead of their scheduled travels, noting that there are processes and time frames in granting visas. (NAN)

...as ex-President responds to allegations over P&ID contract

Former President Muhammadu Buhari has praised his administration for, according to him, coming on a rescue mission and effectively saving Nigeria from corrupt undertones that were planted to expose its economy to imminent collapse.

He said that the success of the administration in the fight against corruption was unprecedented.

This is contained in a statement issued on Sunday by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, in response to the allegations raised against him by former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, over Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), Paris Club, and the Ajaokuta steel company.

The statement noted that the cases cited by Adoke as a reference point for the Buhari administration’s corruption were cases that originated in a government in which he was the man responsible for the administration of justice.

While noting that the contract and incidental judgement in the P&ID were inherited by his administration, Buhari maintained that, to his credit, he succeeded in stopping its execution even when the previous administration that was responsible for the creation of the liability watched helplessly and exposed Nigeria to over $10 billion in liability.

The statement added: The Paris club saga that Adokie cited as an example of corrupt practises of the Buhari administration is not in any way different in origin and circumstances from the case of P&ID. It was rooted in administrations that predated that of President Muhammadu Buhari. Adoke was a product of the administration that planted the evil foundation and the judgements that resulted therefrom.

“The logical conclusion any reasonable person can draw on P&ID, Paris Club, and Ajaokuta is that President Buhari came on a rescue mission and effectively saved Nigeria from corrupt undertones that were planted to expose its economy to imminent collapse. The success of the Buhari administration in the fight against corruption is unprecedented.

“New legislation was introduced, major recoveries were made at home, stolen monies were repatriated from abroad, and they were judiciously deployed in infrastructure development. High-profile convictions were recorded in unprecedented numbers, with enhanced percentages over and above the records in existence.

“It is in international recognition of these efforts that the African Union chose the former President as its African Continental Anti-Corruption Champion. Additional recognitions by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Corruption (UNODC), among others, were also lauded by the former president and his administration.

“Adokie also made some wild allegations in the aviation sector. The efforts of the Buhari administration in aviation are known: They were visible in terms of capital infrastructure development, safety, and policy; they changed the face of the aviation sector into an attractive one for investment, resulting in new airlines coming on board. No major commercial airline incident was recorded throughout this period.”

“All Nigerians, by right, can say whatever they want about the Buhari administration. No one is offended by their actions, right or wrong. But when you come out with innuendos of corruption written all over your face and say that you want to moralise and pontificate, Nigerians in different walks of life will have problems with that,” the statement declared.

Citizens of Gabon, the small Central African country and former bastion of French colonialism in the Congo Basin, broke out in spontaneous celebration at the news of the ouster of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, on 30 August 2023. This is the 22^nd coup attempt in Africa since 2013, and the 11th successful coup across eight countries since Zimbabwe’s soldiers sacked President Robert Mugabe in 2017.

This is also the third coup attempt in Gabon’s history and the first to succeed. The coup began on the fourth day of a nation-wide curfew accompanied by a shutdown of the airspace, borders, and the internet and  shortly after Gabon’s electoral Commission announced under cover of darkness that President Bongo had won another seven year term in elections in which he allowed no observers.

Rather than celebrate Bongo’s supposed election victory or resist his overthrow, the citizens broke out in revelry over his ouster. The only explanation was that Bongo lost the election by a significant margin but, rather than respect the will of the people, he chose to toy with it and manipulate the results. After 56 years of running the country like a private estate, he was not short of willing enablers.

Nearly 59 years before this latest coup, on 17 August 1964, a group of Gabonese and French soldiers led a coup which momentarily toppled Gabon’s founding President, Léon M’ba, replacing him with his former foreign minister and supreme court president, Jean-Hillaire Aubame. The new regime lasted a mere three days before France assisted in restoring President M’ba to office.

Shortly after surviving the coup, it became evident that President M’ba was quite unwell with what was later diagnosed to be terminal cancer. While hospitalized in Paris in November 1966, the president issued a decree designating 30-year old, Albert-Bernard Bongo as his Vice-President, replacing Paul-Marie Yembit in that role. The month after President M’ba died at the end of November 1967, Bongo – who took the name Omar, after his conversion to Islam – was installed as president, ruling until his death in June 2009.

Omar Bongo’s son, Ali Bongo, took over from his father in 2009 for a full term of seven years but Gabon had always struggled to fall in love with him. Claims that he was a displaced child of the Nigerian civil war adopted by Omar Bongo had significant following among many segments of Gabon when people treasured their relationship with metropolitan France. Upon taking power in 2009, his court marginalized his elder sister, Pascaline, who had mastered the networks of power in the country as her father’s long-standing Chief of Staff during a period when Ali was busy enjoying the life of a playboy.

Pascaline was married to Jean Ping, son of Chinese entrepreneur and a Gabonese mother who had wormed his way into Omar Bongo’s court. The day after Gabon’s presidential election of 27 August 2016, Mr. Ping who had become the opposition candidate, claimed victory, calling on his opponent, Ali Bongo, to congratulate him. Bongo’s response was an African proverb: “You must not sell the skin of the bear before you’ve killed him.”

Ping had served Bongo’s father, Omar, in various ministerial capacities before becoming Gabon’s longest-serving foreign minister in 1999. In 2008, Africa’s leaders installed him as the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union in Addis Ababa. In that capacity, Ping had responsibility for implementing the continent’s standards concerning elections and governance. At the end of his tenure in Addis Ababa, Mr. Ping returned home to Gabon, emerging ultimately in 2016 at the head of a united opposition front to wrest power from the Bongos.

On 31 August 2016, Gabon’s electoral Commission awarded the election to Ali Bongo, giving him a margin of 5,594 votes over Jean Ping, who won in six of the country’s nine provinces as well as the overseas votes. Bongo’s winning margin came from his native Haut-Ogooué region which recorded an impossible 99.93% turnout, 95.46% of which was allocated to him. While the European Union questioned the deep flaws in the election, the African Union ignored those, directing its attention instead to the violence that followed the declaration of results in which some persons were killed and Gabon’s national assembly burnt.

Mr. Ping reluctantly heeded the appeal of the African Union to take the matter to the constitutional court, which curiously issued its decision around mid-night on 23 September, 2016, affirming Bongo’s victory. Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, who headed the court, owed her appointment to her role as a “long-time mistress of Omar Bongo”, Ali’s late dad and predecessor in the presidency. Everything was in the family. The Bongo system was not a democracy.

Ali Bongo used the crisis of post-election violence in 2016 to consolidate power with generous assistance from Gabon’s neighbours, but while visiting Saudi Arabia in October 2018, he was hospitalized for a prolonged period. It later emerged that he had suffered a stroke, surviving with significantly diminished cognitive and motor capabilities. The Ali Bongo who survived the stroke would have been unfit for work in any other sphere of life. But what politics cannot do does not exist. So, despite much diminished capabilities, Bongo clung on to the presidency.

While he was recuperating in Morocco, soldiers back in Gabon unsuccessfully attempted to unseat him at the beginning of January, 2019. In surviving the 2019 coup attempt, however, the Bongo dynasty also arguably used up its spare political lives.

News of the ouster of the Bongo clan sent Gabon’s citizens into wild celebrations but a disoriented Ali Bongo, supposedly under arrest, managed to cut a video clip, asking his supporters to “make noise.” Brice Oligui Nguema, the recently promoted Brigadier-General, who has been named at the head of Gabon’s military-led transition, is a former aide-de-camp to Omar Bongo, who returned in 2019 as head of the presidential guards. He is also a cousin to Ali Bongo.

The focus on what appears to be a contagion theory of coups in Africa misses the clear dimensions in which Gabon differs from other recent coups on the continent. First, there was no democracy left in Gabon to overthrow. What was overthrown – if any – was the head of a family business. The family’s business model is not endangered. Thus, despite the appearance of a coup in Gabon, political power remains in the Bongo Clan.

Second, General Oligui Nguema is not some anti-colonial or anti-French ideologue. On the contrary, he is a regime insider who has been named in credible investigations of corruption and can be trusted to protect the family.

Third, this coup clearly prevents the opposition from taking political power, which they won in the election. Gabon’s long-term stability may depend on persuading the Bongo clan to retire itself voluntarily.

By the end of the week, an extraordinary summit of heads of state of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) rising from a meeting in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, had dutifully issued a customary condemnation of the Gabon coup accompanied by a call on the transitional rulers to respect the physical safety of Ali Bongo and ensure a rapid return to constitutional order, although it is unclear what that means in Gabon. Shamefully, these same rulers had all been eloquently silent in the worst excesses of over half a century of the Bongo system.

In 2016, Ali Bongo warned that you must not sell the skin of the bear before you have killed it but stopped short of offering any advice as to how to verify that the bear has been truly killed. In Gabon, it may be a few more weeks before we fully find out.