There have been several conversations about President Tinubu’s ministerial nominees – the people nominated or not nominated, the size of the yet to be formed cabinet and so on and so forth. It has also been widely acknowledged that a President’s list of ministerial nominees embodies several coded messages designed to achieve particular objectives. So how do we deconstruct the possible innuendoes from the list of ministerial nominees submitted to the National Assembly by the President?

The time it took the President to submit the list raises a number of uncomfortable questions. The first list of 28 nominees was submitted on July 27 2023 – a day or two to the close of the 60-day window constitutionally allowed the President to present a list of ministerial nominees to the Senate for screening. The second batch of 19, submitted on August 4 2023, came after the close of that constitutional window, which fortunately or unfortunately did not recommend any punishment for violation. Be that as it may, for a man who repeatedly claimed that being the President of the country had been his life-long ambition, people wonder what he did with all the time between his declaration as President elect on 1 March 2023 and his inauguration on 29 May 2023? It even took a while for him to announce a spokesman for his government.

One possible explanation for the delay in assembling his cabinet could be that President Tinubu prefers to govern with a handful of advisers (official and unofficial) around him than a full cabinet where his personal policy and political preferences will be subjected to more robust interrogation. If this inference is correct, then one can conclude that the President will be better served if such advisers are avoided because virtually all the major decisions he has taken so far do not seem to have benefitted from proper reflection or good knowledge of the issues at stake – from the removal of fuel subsidy on a whim, to the hastily signed Education Loan Act, to the ill-fated N8000 palliative from an $800m World Bank loan and to the one week ultimatum given to the military junta in Niger under his watch. Though aides have sought to save face by arguing that some policy reversals by the President is an indication that he listens, on the contrary, it is more an indications that most of those decisions were taken on impulse. Though it is not unusual for a new government to start on a wobbly note or make initial mistakes, it is important that the government avoids creating an impression of taking decisions on its feet.

Related to the time it took the President to constitute his cabinet, is also its size – 47 ministerial nominees, the largest since 1999. This is especially so at a time of extreme hardship in the country and when  there are legitimate concerns about the skyrocketing cost of governance.  As a very wealthy man, one of the reservations about Tinubu’s candidacy during the election was whether he would be capable of engineering radical changes in the country, including reducing the cost of governance, given his imperial proclivity and reputation for spending whatever it takes to get what he wants. His supporters countered that Tinubu could surprise everyone because at this stage in his life there is nothing more he needs except to serve the country. The unwieldy size of the yet to be constituted cabinet, and even the quality of most of the members, has once again raised the question of whether Tinubu  could commit class suicide and get radicalized by power.

What is also loudly visible from the list was Tinubu’s desire to cement and extend what was generally seen as an alliance between his South West political base and the North-West and North East under Buhari (or more appropriately  between the Yoruba and the Hausa/Fulani and Kanuri).  Related to this  is that Tinubu seems to be keeping his word on cementing Buhari’s legacy – not just with the deterioration in the value of the Naira under his watch but also in the way he treated some ethnic groups. Though Buhari did a lot to speed up the construction of the Second Niger Bridge for which he should really be commended, most Igbos feel that he deliberately set out to inconsequentialize the race and reverse some of the political gains they have made since the end of the Civil War. Quite early in the life of his government, Buhari made it clear that he should not be expected to treat those who gave him 97% votes and those who gave him 5% the same. He consequently described an ethnic group as a ‘dot in a circle’. From Tinubu’s initial appointment of advisers to the number of ministerial nominees for each geopolitical zone to his apparent chumminess with the likes of Asari Dokubo and recently Reno Omokri who openly promote Igbophobia, an impression was rightly or  wrongly created that he wants to continue Buhari’s policy of deliberately making the Igbo progressively irrelevant in the country’s political calculus. While some will justify the extra slots given to other geopolitical zones (beyond the constitutional requirement of at least one minister for each state of the federation),   as rightful rewards for political support, good statesmanship is antithetical to such a practice.

Let me mention that while the issue of political appointment is purely an elite game that adds little or nothing to the material circumstance of the generality of Nigerians, it is nonetheless good for optics, sense of belonging and nation-building. The fact is that every ethnic or regional group is imbued with cultural traits that simultaneously propel and thwart the progress of its members individually and as a collective. For this, rewarding or discriminating against any group cannot materially affect the individual or collective progress of that group. On the contrary, the collective consciousness engendered by such discrimination or homophobia can only imbue or actuate the ‘can do it’ mind-set of its members. For instance did Abacha’s onslaught against the Yoruba in the wake of NADECO’s fight to reclaim Abiola’s mandate stop the progress of the race in those areas they have always excelled? And did Buhari’s barely hidden efforts to belittle the Igbo, especially in the initial stage of his government, stop the race from excelling and failing individually and collectively as they and other groups have always done?

The truth is that the cost of maintaining animosity or discrimination against any group is too high and usually proves unsustainable for several reasons: firstly, is that a leader embarking on a vengeance mission must be prepared for a pushback by those targeted because they will employ whatever tool at their disposal to fight back. Under Buhari, a media aide labelled those critical of his policies  as ‘wailing wailers’ but they were unrelenting in their fight back. In what seemed to be a victory for the ‘wailing wailers’,  even before he concluded his tenure, Buhari openly said he was tired and would like to be as far away from Abuja as possible after handing over power to a successor. Secondly, there is a spark of the Divine in all of us which makes many people oppose injustice even when the group they belong to stands to be the prime beneficiary of such injustice.  For instance some of the most vociferous critics of Buhari’s clannishness and nepotism were Northern Muslims. Some Yoruba are already in the vanguard of the emerging criticisms of Tinubu’s putative Yoruba-centric appointments and exclusion – warning him that such does not represent the values the Yoruba cherish. Thirdly, is that there is always a tendency for leaders to be remembered more by their acts of injustice – long after the aides and hangers-on that goaded them onto such a road had faded back into the anonymity from whence they came . For instance today many Nigerians remember Babangida for annulling the June 1993 election and not for his other noble acts like building the Third Mainland Bridge or Abuja.  Following from this, we can surmise that when Mandela chose to forgive those who jailed him for 27 years and opted to build a rainbow South Africa rather than seek revenge against the Whites for the sins of Apartheid, he was literally doing himself and his government in South Africa a favour, not

The Kenyan government has reintroduced fuel subsidy to curb soaring prices of petrol, kerosene and diesel in the country.

The development comes after months of violent anti-government protests over the burden of high living costs.

On Monday, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA), Kenya’s energy regulator, said oil marketing companies will be compensated from the Petroleum Development Fund.

The regulator said the maximum retail price of a litre of petrol would remain constant at 194.68 shillings ($1.35) for the next month, shielding consumers from an increase of 7.33 shillings ($0.05).

EPRA also said small subsidies will be implemented for kerosene and diesel.

“In order to cushion consumers from the spike in pump prices as a consequence of the increased landed costs, the Government has opted to stabilise pump prices for the August-September 2023 pricing cycle,” the statement reads in part.

“Oil Marketing Companies will be compensated from the Petroleum Development Fund.”

In Kenya, retail fuel prices are set in the middle of each month.

The development means the price of petrol, diesel and kerosene will remain unchanged until September 14.

After taking office in September last year, Kenyan President William Ruto removed fuel and maize flour subsidies put in place by his predecessor, citing the need to subsidise production rather than consumption.

He said his administration would reduce food production costs and increase output by subsidising inputs such as fertiliser and quality seeds. 

“In addition to being very costly, consumption subsidy interventions are prone to abuse, they distort markets and create uncertainty, including artificial shortages of the very products being subsidised,” Ruto had said.

In Kenya, inflation reduced to 7.3 percent in July from 7.9% a month earlier, largely due to falling food prices.

[TheCable] 

As Operations Resume In Forcados Terminal 

Opens Utorogo Pump Station,

Resumes Delivery Of Gas To Lagos customers

Nigeria’s crude oil production is expected to rise by at least 350,000 barrels per day following the decision of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to resume operations at the Forcados Terminal, THE WHISTLER can report.

With this, it means that the NNPC is getting very close to the August target of 1.8 million barrel per day oil projection target.

This is coming after a month of outage of the Trans Niger Pipelines System due to repairs at the Aleto section and loading systems leak at the Forcados export terminal.

Both terminals are operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

Exports from Forcados which was scheduled to ship about 225,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July, were halted on the evening of July 12 due to observed leaks on a single buoy mooring where oil was being loaded onto a vessel.

A single buoy mooring is essentially a floating loading facility, allowing huge tankers to dock offshore and discharge cargoes.

A source at the NNPCL informed THE WHISTLER that injections into the terminal were reduced following the report, but no force majeure was announced.

THE WHISTLER source said that the cause of the suspension was identified by a collaborative investigation involving the NNPCL Upstream Unit, SPDC, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and representatives of relevant stakeholders as well as government agencies.

The disruption of Forcados loadings, according to THE WHISTLER findings, led to the deferment of about 250 000 barrels day production thus responsible for Nigeria’s reduction in OPEC crude oil output in July.

Recall that the Trans Niger Pipeline system was shut down due spill at Aleto, near Eleme, Rivers State.

Checks by THE WHISTLER further revealed that the 180,000 barrel per day pipeline is one of two conduits to export Bonny Light crude.

The outage of the TNP, it was gathered led to deferment of over 120,000 barrel per day production from from Nigeria.

THE WHISTLER further gathered that the total crude oil production deferments from both Bonny and Forcados terminal is over 350 000 barrels per day

These outages, it was further learnt largely contributed to Nigeria’s low crude oil production levels of 1.29 million bpd in July, as reported by the latest report by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

The Federal Government has dissolved the Secretariat of the Advertising Standard Panel (ASP).

The decision is linked to its approval of the billboard titled, ‘All Eyes on The Judiciary’ which allegedly blackmails the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, the Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), made the announcement on Tuesday.

Based on the announcement, the director and deputy director of the council have been suspended until the conclusion of an investigation into the matter.

Fadolapo said the advert was approved in error.

He said, “The attention of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeriə [ARCON) has been drawn to the “All Eyes on the Judiciary” advertisements exposed on some billboards across the country. The concepts exposed were not approved by the Advertising Standərds Panel, hence, the Council has directed that all the materials being exposed be brought down immediately and the violators sanctioned.

“The Advertising Standards Panel of the Council also erred in the approval of one of the concepts as the advertisement failed to vet guidelines on the following grounds: The cause forming the central theme of the campaign in the advertisement is a matter pending before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. Hence, it’s jus pendis.

“A matter being jus pendis and awaiting judicial pronouncement is, by virtue of the Nigerian legal system, precluded from being a subject of public statement, debate, discussion, advertisement, etc.
“The advertisement is controversial and capable of instigating public unrest and breach of public peace.

“The advertisement is considered blackmail against the Nigerian Judiciary, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, and particularly the Honourable Justices of the Tribunal who are expected to discharge their judicial functions without fear or favour over a matter that is currently jus pendis.”

According to him, the Council would set up a committee to investigate the approval of the billboard.

“Consequently, the Director and Deputy Director, Regulations have also been suspended. The suspension is to enable an unprejudiced investigation of the issue. The Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) Secretariat failing to diligently exercise its function as the gatekeeper of advertising, advertisement, and marketing communications is hereby dissolved,” he added.

The University of Ibadan on Monday directed that work days be reduced from five to three for every worker in the school.

This, according to the university management, is following the astronomical increase in fuel pump prices.

This was revealed in a statement issued by the institution dated August 14, 2023, and signed by G.O. Saliu, Registrar and Secretary to Council.

The statement said, “The astronomical increase in the fuel pump price occasioned by the removal of subsidy by the Federal Government has imposed huge economic difficulties on the generality of Nigerians.

“Salary earners who have to commute to work every working day are faced with an aggravation of the condition, given the attendant hike in the transport fare and cost of living.

“After careful consideration of the situation, the University Management recommended a temporary work schedule adjustment for members of staff, which Senate at its meeting of Thursday, 03 August 2023 considered and approved.

“Accordingly, members of staff are now expected to work on-site for three (3) days in rotation per week, with effect from Monday, 14 August 2073. “It should, however, be noted that those on essential duties are exempted from this adjustment.

“It should be further noted that Management will review the arrangement as the situation improves. Meanwhile, members of staff are to maintain commitment, open communication, and cooperation towards ensuring free workflow, including working from home where and when necessary.

“In light of the foregoing, management seeks the understanding of all Deans, Directors, Heads of Departments and Units towards a smooth implementation of the intervention.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is poised to reverse the slide of the naira as it has lined up intervention measures that will be unveiled in the next few days.

The acting governor of the apex bank, Folashodun Shonubi, gave the hint to correspondents on Monday after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the presidential villa, Abuja.

He warned that the government will come down hard on those involved in underhand undertaking in the foreign exchange market, including the parallel market.

Shonubi affirmed that the president is concerned about the development in the market and its effect on the people, saying that he discussed what could be done to stabilize the naira with the president.

The acting CBN boss noted that the changes going on in the parallel market are not dictated by demands but by speculative attitude.

He warned that the speculators will suffer huge losses soon after the government activates its strategies.

He said: “Mr President is very concerned about some of the goings on in the foreign exchange market.

“One of the things we discussed is what could be done to stabilize and what could be done to improve the liquidity in the market and also the goings on in the various other markets, including the parallel market.

“He’s concerned about its impact on the average person, since, unfortunately, a lot of activities that we do, which are purely local, are still referenced to exchange rates in the parallel market.

“We’ve discussed and I’ve shared with him what we’re doing to improve supply.

“If you look at the official market, you’ll find that that market has been fairly stable and the spreads of the difference have not fluctuated as much.

“We do not believe that the changes going on in the parallel market are driven by pure economic demand and supply, but are touched by speculative demand from people.

“Some of the plans and strategies, which I’m not at liberty to share with you, means sooner rather than later, the speculators should be careful because we believe the things we’re doing, when they come to fruition, may result in significant losses to them.

“But my presence here is more about the concerns the President has and his needs to know that we are doing something about it, assurances of which I have given him totally.

“So I hope this helps. We are looking at it and we’re doing things which will significantly impact the market in a few days time and we will all see it.

“The intention is to ensure the environment operates at a level that’s more efficient, but also that is also very reasonable and does not have a negative impact to the best that we can on the lives of the average person. Thank you very much.”

Nigeria’s former External Affairs Minister and Professor of political science, Bolaji Akinyemi, has said that Coups are motivated by bad governance.

Prof Bolaji Akinyemi stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on the backdrop of the ongoing military takeover in Niger Republic.

He said, “Coups have been motivated by bad governance. Not only bad governance, there is something that has crept into the language of political scientists, which is called civilian coups.

“This is when you have the sitting president who manipulates the constitution for term elongation. Some even scrapped the concept of term limitation.

“The Central African Republic has done so, having completed the regulation two terms he now introduced a new constitutional amendment having seven years starting with him.

“He removed members of the supreme court and assembled new judges and called on his people to have a referendum. His people adopted the referendum. This is a civilian coup, which deserves to be condemned.

“President of Senegal toyed with the idea of term elongation until when people poured into streets and got killed, property destroyed. He then backed. Even when they keep within the term, the corruption is so endemic that politicians get pats, while the people lose weight. The devastating state of our economies in Africa, we don’t deserve that because of our resources.”

The People’s Democratic Party in Ondo state, has said that Nigerians who voted for President Bola Tinubu, are now regretting wasting their votes.

It’s chairman, Fatai Adams, said in a statement issued and signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Kennedy Peretei, Akure, that the few months of the president has brought untold hardship to Nigerians.

Adams who was reacting to the Ondo state chairman of the ruling All Progressive Congress in the state, Ade Adetimehin, who said that the PDP has gone into extinction.

He said that rather it was the APC and its inhuman government that is responsible for Nigerians suffering and agony of the last eight years.

According to him ” Adetimehin is probably the only person who is oblivious of the fact that, Ondo State people hold his party, APC and its inhuman government responsible for their suffering and agony of the last eight years.

Adams, added that “especially the withdrawal of fuel subsidy and its biting effect on everybody.

“He does not realise that, even those who were tricked to vote APC in the 2023 general elections are already regretting and lamenting their miscalculation that has brought about untold hardship on them and their families.

“Such a man, if he has any sense of shame and responsibility should have been on his knees begging the people for the huge misfortune masterminded by his party.

” To now open his mouth in a most careless manner to say “PDP is now extinct” is not only laughable but mischief of the highest order.

Reacting to the defection of its members to the ruling party in the state, Adams said that “Majority of the 203 Councilors Adetimehin is celebrating for joining his party have not been active in the last two cycles of elections in Ondo State.

“A few of them have been in the APC since 2016. How the defection of such characters translates to PDP being extinct can only be understood by someone like Adetimehin who is presiding over a dangerously fragmented APC in the State but deludes himself with fun-seeking decampees who tell him tales by moonlight.

“The PDP in Ondo State is unruffled by a few persons who are in a self-destruct misadventure in Adetimehin’s sinking APC ship.

“While we sympathise with such persons, it is pathetic that those who should be weeping are dancing and rejoicing.

” But in no distant time, reality will dawn on them that, indeed, they lived a lie all along.

The party chairman declared that ” PDP cannot be extinct, there are no such signs. And it will never be.

Files fresh charges against Emefiele

The Federal Government on Tuesday applied to withdraw the “illegal possession of firearms” case it filed against the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Abubakar, in an oral application, told Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State that the application followed the result of further investigations.

But, Emefiele’s counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joseph Daudu, opposed the application, insisting that the government must first purge itself of the disobedience of the court’s order granting Emefiele bail before its application could be taken.

Justice Oweibo has adjourned till Thursday, August 17, 2023, to rule on the application.

Speaking to newsmen, the DPP said a fresh 20 counts have been filed at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court.

One of the counts, he said, accused Emefiele of “conferring unlawful advantages”.