Operatives of the 6 Division, Nigerian Army Port Harcourt has, again, uncovered over 40 illegal local wells containing crude oil in Rumuekpe community, Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The troops uncovered the illegal dugout wells during a sweep and clear operation on the Trans Niger Delta Pipeline (TNP) led by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 6 Division, Major General Jamal Abdussalam.

Our correspondent observed during the operation that the wells, which mostly were 12 by 12 in both width and length sizes, about 40 feet in depth.

Addressing journalists at the illegal site, Major General Abdussalam revealed that oil thieves in the area had invented a technique of digging deep into the ground until they reached the crude oil, adding that it is another scope to the fight against oil theft.

He explained that the discovery is a new dimension and an eye-opener in the war against oil theft and illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region.

“If you are not here, you may not believe what we are seeing. In this area, our troops have discovered more than 40 dugouts and these dugouts are not meant to access pipelines, they are dug out directly into the ground like well and surprisingly have access to crude oil. This is the first time I’ve seen this type of thing.

“We have been conducting in the past two days and the aim of the operation was to clear the Trans-Niger Delta Pipeline because we have been receiving complaints from SPDC of breaches on the TNP and based on that we decided to conduct an operation to sweep and clear the pipeline, it was on the cause of that operation, we came to this particular location and you journalists have seen what we have seen.

“You can see all around us are pits and very deep, you will need ladders to have access into it and at the bottom is crude oil, so they are just fetching crude just like water from a well.”

The GOC, who expressed sadness on the illicit act, said: “This is very sad and with this, we have discovered a new dimension to oil theft. It is entirely a new dimension. This is not an issue of pipeline vandalism, this one is digging directly into the ground and having access to these resources.”

He noted that he would call the attention of the authorities to the development, adding that troops would be permanently stationed at the site to halt the activities of the criminals.

“I will bring the attention of the relevant authorities to this site so that they can come and see what can be done. But in the meantime, our men would be deployed so that we can stop people from accessing the area because it is even dangerous to the people involved in this because a little fire will kill everyone conducting this dastardly act.

“It is also not good for the system. See how the whole place has been dug out. It is also very dangerous for people who are not even aware of this because they can come blindly at night and fall inside this pit and that is the end. We would do the needful. We would not get tired until we rid this area of these criminals.

He also stated that those arrested at the site are in custody as the investigation continues.

“Few people have been arrested, they are in our custody. We hope they will give us useful information that would lead to the arrest of others that are involved in this act.”

One of the arrested suspects revealed that the site is owned by some sections of the community and they are paid N40,000 for each well dug.

According to the suspect, “We have part of the Community here. It is owned by the community and not by one person. Some kindred and not all of them.

“How we dig to get oil is that sometimes, a place like here, we dig here like from 10 to 15 feet before we see gas. When we dig it and notice that the gas is rising, if we do not run out on time people might suffocate and die. So we bring them out half dead. But the unlucky ones die. When we bring them out, we pour them water and give them coke. So, after the gas comes out, the oil will come out. And another set will come to fetch it after we have finished digging it.

“It’s not only me, sometimes we could be about three to four and we are being paid N40,000 for one well,” the suspect revealed.

One of the oft-repeated myths in this country is that when the poor are hungry enough, their final resort will be to eat the rich. But when one considers the Nigerian situation, one wonders just how much more hungry people need to get before they finally combust. Several revolutions in human history have been triggered by people who could no longer manage their hunger pangs. From Russia in the 16th century to South Africa in 2020, hunger has launched the public protests that changed the course of history. Only time will tell if the physiological experience of hunger will drive the urgency of political action in Nigeria.

No thanks to the current economic situation, “ebi ń pa wá o!” has become the defining anthem of the Bola Tinubu era. The gustatorial politics of jęun sókè that made our man popular has been overtaken by the insatiability of the gut. Last Friday, a stampede that occurred during the sale of rice “seized” by the Nigeria Customs Service Yaba office reportedly killed seven persons. There is so much one can begin to say about the organisers who failed to factor in crowd control properly. What technical and organising capacity did they have that they trusted themselves to efficiently handle the starving multitude that would surge to their offices to buy food a little more affordably?

Given the rate at which the politics of ethnicity and religion are being weaponised as a taming mechanism to curtail agitation, maybe we are seeing all there is to the shouts of ebi ń pa wá o! The Yoruba elders in the socio-cultural group Afenifere, for instance, begged fellow Yorubas not to join the public protests breaking out over the current economic hardship. Reuben Fasoranti, chairman of Afenifere’s elders caucus, said that though people face hardship, they must also be understanding. After restating the same trite excuse that our situation is comatose because of the failures of past administrations, he added, “The government’s commitment to implementing these measures is a testament to its dedication to addressing the root causes of our economic challenges, inherited from the ills of the previous years.”

I do not know if Baba Fasoranti is an economic analyst to trust that the ongoing reforms are truly as restorative as government officials insist, but I can bet that the elderly man has witnessed enough of Nigeria’s history to know that what he describes as “the ills of the previous years” does not exclude key actors in this present administration. Nigeria did not become the way it is presently because a bunch of aliens dropped from Mars to inflict pain on us. We are stuck in history because we are repeatedly being served by the same old executioners garbed in the robes of statesmen.

Even Sunday Igboho, the so-called revolutionary who stepped up for the “Yoruba nation” during the Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)’s administration too has joined the company of Yoruba attenuators. He also exonerates Tinubu from the ongoing hardships and blames Buhari instead. I think he forgets that the insecurity situation that prompted him to become a “freedom fighter” in the Buhari era also predated the Buhari presidency. I do not recall him offering Buhari the same alibi he is now tossing around for his kinsman. The fact that every Nigerian problem is a carryover from a previous era does not mean we should merely shut up and suffer. What is the point of electing a president when the best he can do is to merely contextualise the problem we—not them—live through every day?

By now, if there is one consistent quality one has come to expect from our people, it is that the politics of identity will always trump the affinity of class. Even amidst the hunger that killed seven while they struggled to buy cheap rice, our people still manage to maintain some clarity on the ethnic import of their reaction to the hunger. Even the NLC protests planned for Tuesday and Wednesday could barely be held after several unions backed out.

Former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Prof. Usman Yusuf, who has been making provocative public statements in the media regarding the worsening economic hardship recently wondered “why the South-East is uncharacteristically quiet.” Several self-appointed representatives of the South-East handed him some self-justificatory answers, but who can blame any southeasterner for not joining or staging protests after all the traumas they went through under the Buhari administration? The man’s politics, especially his imprudent response to the rise of IPOB, did not bode well for the South-East. Why go through another phase of unrest again and so soon too?

Then, of course, there was the 2023 elections where an Igbo man was a leading presidential candidate. While he managed to upend the structuration of Nigeria’s political calculations, the election outcome was another story. Not only did the results feature many instances of electoral manipulation, but the triumphalism of the supposed winners fuelled toxicity. The silence of the South-East can therefore be a manifestation of a well-earned schadenfreude. Really, why should they not gloat now that “èmilókàn” has become “ebi ń pa wá o”? Let those who opened their eyes wide to retain the APC after suffering eight years of affliction under Buhari stand up and fix what they broke.

Whatever one might think of Yusuf’s singling out a region in his expectations of political agitations, he had a point about how public protests work in Nigeria. If Nigerians who have been serially hit by Tinubu’s harsh policies are now pacifying themselves with stories of how everything got spoiled by previous administration(s), it is not because they have a better perspective on their history. If, by now, the South-West has not brought out its famous rage machine to antagonise the government of the day over the excruciating economic conditions that their people—crying ebi ń pa wá o! in the streets—are enduring, how else do we account for their complacence other than the “àwalókàn” sentiment?

Under a different set of circumstances, certain characters—you know them—would have been jumping from one media house to another to register their aggrievement over the unfortunate incident of the deaths at the Customs Office. They would have been alleging a systematic plot to diminish the “Yoruba race” and be threatening fire and brimstone. But now, they ask us to sit still. Not even the affliction of hunger can put paid to our people’s marshalling of tribal troops.

If Atiku Abubakar or Peter Obi had won the 2023 presidential election, would Fasoranti have issued a statement cautioning the Yoruba people against public protests? I know it is a hypothetical question, but it is one that can be answered by considering precedents. Under Dr Goodluck Jonathan and Buhari, did they also enjoin Yorubas not to protest because the hardship was for the eventual good?

If we will advance as a people, we need to reach a point where the region (and the religion) that succeeded in putting a candidate into power should be the one to lead the agitation if that leader starts faltering. If you voted out of a conviction that the person can level mountains, then you owe the rest of us the legwork to see that the better world you envisioned while casting your vote is realised. People who go all out for a candidate should take the pains to also hold them accountable. It should not be enough to want to see your tribe (or religion) in power, but you should also go all out to ensure that their administration represents the best your tribe has to offer the country.

Seriously, Tinubu’s supporters owe us public protests and accountability for opening the door to an affliction everyone knew would happen.

Two senior executives at Binance have been detained in Nigeria.

According to Financial Times (FT), a UK-based business news outlet, the passports of the unnamed Binance executives were seized.

FT gathered that the executives flew to Nigeria following the country’s decision to ban several cryptocurrency trading websites last week but were detained with their passports seized.

Officials did not provide details on why the Binance employees are being detained and it remains unclear on whether they have been charged with any violations of Nigerian law.

Recall last week Federal Government blocked the online platforms of Binance and other crypto firms to avert what it considers continuous manipulation of the forex market and illicit movement of funds.

Apart from Binance, other platforms such as Forextime, OctaFX, Crypto, FXTM, Coinbase, and Kraken, among others were also blocked.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday raised concerns over $26 billion that flowed through Binance Nigeria over the past year from “unidentified sources”.

CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, expressed worries over the significant volume of transactions passing through Binance Nigeria, emphasizing that the origins and beneficiaries of these funds are yet to be adequately identified.

“We are concerned that certain practices go on that indicate illicit flows going through a number of these entities and suspicious flows at best.

“In the case of Binance, in the last one year alone, $26 billion has passed through Binance Nigeria from sources and users who we cannot adequately identify,” he stated.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, on Wednesday, said the importation of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, into Nigeria has reduced by 50 per cent since the withdrawal of subsidy on the commodity.

During his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, President Bola Tinubu declared that fuel subsidy was gone. Within 24 hours after that declaration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Nigeria’s sole importer of PMS, withdrew subsidy on petrol.

This led to a jump in the price of the commodity from about N198/litre to over N500/litre, as it later moved up to over N600/litre and currently sells for between N620/litre and N700/litre depending on the area of purchase.

Speaking at the third edition of the ministerial press briefing series in Abuja on Wednesday, where the Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare addressed journalists, Idris stated that subsidy removal had led to the reduction of fuel imports by 50 per cent.

“Petrol importation has been reduced by 50 per cent since the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy,” the information minister stated.

He explained the continent lacked extensive traditional energy infrastructure, but stressed that this had presented an opportunity for leapfrogging in a more efficient way to renewable technology.

“Our aspiration in the area of energy security and energy transition will remain aspiration unless we have access to adequate funding resources that we control. With a lot of international banks withdrawing funding out of the oil and gas sector, the investment in the industry has become severely limited with the corresponding impact on exploration and production.

“Afreximbank has intervened in a big way, quickly becoming the largest financier of oil and gas deals in the continent. The support provided to the sector by the bank is in excess of $30bn. Nigeria has been one of the largest beneficiaries accounting for almost 60 per cent of the total funding of the sector.

“And it’s important to the point that afreximbank has been able to make those modest contributions in the oil and gas sector because the bank is predominantly African in ownership and control,” he stated.

Oramah disclosed that Afreximbank would be managing the proposed Africa Energy Bank to ensure its best chance of success.

“The strategic goal of the Africa Energy Bank is to play a leadership role in shaping the energy landscape in Africa through strategic partnership with proven African and international financial institutions and investors and also to provide sustainable financing in this area of the oil and gas sector.

“The Africa energy bank will need considerable support to get off the ground. We will need support from member states to achieve the level of capitalization that is adequate to support the energy sector,” he stated.

NNPCL partners OPEC

Also on Wednesday, NNPCL and the Organisation of the Oil Exporting Countries pledged to work together to achieve the Nigeria’s aspirations to attract investments and grow production.

The two organisations came to this accord when the Secretary-General of OPEC, Haitham al-Ghais, paid a courtesy visit to the Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, at the NNPC Towers in Abuja.

Speaking at the event, al-Ghais stated that OPEC was completely aligned with NNPCL’s vision as captured in its payoff line: “Energy for Today, Energy for Tomorrow”.

This, he said, was because of the oil firm’s inclusive view of energy as opposed to the view being pushed in some quarters that some sources of energy were bad.

He disclosed that in spite of the pushback on oil and gas, the world would require about $14tn investments from now till 2035 to be able to meet global demand, and urged NNPCL to do everything to tap into that opportunity to raise its production.

“We will continue to ensure that the market is stable. The global market has to be stable in order for Nigeria to be able to attract investors. If there’s volatility, if there’s no stability in the market, it will only create havoc for everybody, whether it’s a producer or consumer country.

“So, we will continue to do that in OPEC. We count on Nigeria’s support,” the OPEC helmsman stated.

In his remarks, Kyari said NNPCL was working very hard to recover lost production and provide the right fiscal environment to attract investments.

He expressed appreciation to OPEC for its support to Nigeria, adding that NNPCL would continue to support the organisation in whatever way it could.

Nigeria reaping

Meanwhile, at the briefing series by the information minister, which was initiated to provide a platform for public officials to reel out their achievements and apprise Nigerians of the challenges of governance, Idris said Nigeria had begun to reap the benefits of the reforms being spearheaded by President Tinubu.

He said  that the Nigeria’s gross domestic product grew by 3.46 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023, as against 2.54 per cent recorded in the third quarter of 2023.

 He also said capital importation rose to 66 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023, reversing a 36 per cent decline in the third quarter.

“The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index crossed the 100,000 mark – its highest ever, mainly due to the pragmatic reforms initiated by the President, which inspired investor confidence in the Nigerian economy.

“It is also encouraging to state that oil production has risen from 1.22 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2023 to 1.55 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2023.”

President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, saying, “Subsidy is gone.”

Idris notes that President Tinubu has also given a directive for the design of a Social Security Unemployment Programme to cater for the unemployed graduates.

“This is in addition to setting up of a Social Consumer Credit Scheme to boost the purchasing power of Nigerians, as they make adjustments in view of the temporary economic hardship.

“As the government rejigs the National Social Investment Programme, the direct payments of N25,000 to 15 million households will resume immediately.

“The government is equally tackling insecurity headlong and more success stories are coming in on daily basis. Without any doubt, we are winning the war against insecurity,” he said.

[Punch]

On Monday, January 8, 2024, Nigerians woke up to the news of the suspension of Betta Edu, who was formerly the minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. On the same day, Babatunde Ayokunle Irukera who was, for six years, Executive Vice Chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, (FCCPC), was relieved of his appointment.

Both developments compelled an essay which I titled “On Betta Edu and Tunde Irukera.” The media generously ventilated the article even as I attempted to draw comparisons between two public officers with different pedigrees and “misdemeanours”. Evidence in the public domain attested to blatant disregard for public service rules and mammoth thievery by one of the two people I wrote about. The other public servant was uncharacteristically innovative, transparent and altruistic in his approach to work. He literally excavated a government agency in the throes of asphyxiation and obliteration, to a world-class organisation, to local and international aplomb.

Much unlike me, I had, just weeks before, written about Irukera following the recognition of the agency he superintended over as “Government Agency of the Year”. This was evidence of how very closely I followed the good works of Irukera. The honour in question came from Leadership Newspapers, one of Nigeria’s most reputable tabloids. FCCPC was selected for the acclamation for “promoting fairness, regulatory stability and consumer protection within the marketplace.” My piece alluded to the uncommon-ness of Irukera’s attitude to public service which many officeholders construe as a licence for the wholesale looting and holistic decimation of departments assigned to them. Haven’t we just been told that nine officers in the Nigerian Customs Services, (NCS) were recently fingered in a N12 billion scam?

In pronouncing the FCCPC under Irukera as an authentic public service exemplar, Leadership noted that since his appointment in 2017, the organisation had pursued “a transformative journey reshaping and rebranding the erstwhile Consumer Protection Council, (CPC)”. Further, the newspaper noted that the organisation had been refocused as a “proactive and consumer-centric FCCPC.” Irukera’s oversight of the commission’s transformation and operationalisation beginning from January 30, 2019, Leadership noted had been a game-changer. Further still, the awarding newspaper said: “Following the enactment of the FCCPC Act, Irukera has demonstrated “unwavering dedication to fostering a dynamic and responsive regulatory environment”. The FCCPC under Irukera it was observed “has recorded numerous milestones across diverse sectors including healthcare, digital finance and electricity”.

According to Leadership, “one of the standout accomplishments of Irukera’s FCCPC is the strategic development and implementation of the Patient’s Bill of Rights”. That initiative establishes a comprehensive framework empowering patients with essential rights such as informed consent, confidentiality and unrestricted access to their medical records”. The Patient Bill of Rights, Leadership observed, “serves as a charter of principles delineating the rights and responsibilities of patients, healthcare providers and the regulatory body”. This is “an approach which fosters a culture of transparency, accountability and patient-centric care”.

Irukera’s leadership at the FCCPC witnessed other strategic initiatives and impactful interventions in other sectors, notably in digital finance, the power sector and the nation’s bureaucracy. FCCPC was also catalytic in shaping Nigeria’s business environment which became more cognisant of the emplacement of fairness, consumer protection and regulatory stability. Local and foreign investors have continued to experience the transformative impact of standardised practices instituted by the FCCPC. This congruence between national and international standards, in combination with rigorous process auditing and the development of guidelines and standard operating procedures, serves as an imprimatur of quality assurance in the Nigerian marketplace. These are identified perspectives about Irukera’s exertions in public service as dispassionately enunciated by one of Nigeria’s more serious newspapers.

Confident of his transparent governance approach, Irukera was never shy of media engagement. On the eve of the last yuletide, therefore, Irukera hosted the media where he noted that the FCCPC under him, had become a wholly self-sustaining department. According to him, the FCCPC made history in 2023 by generating N56 billion. The feat was achieved by the simple enforcement of compliance with existing laws vis-a-vis the payment of penalties by defaulting companies. This was a novelty by any standards in a milieu where many government-funded establishments overdraw their allocations, expend their internally generated revenues (IGR) and still prospect for supplementation. Irukera noted at that media interface that the organisation hired new staff in strict adherence to service procedures. This assisted the federal government in taking young, qualified, unemployed people off the streets.

Perhaps if every ministry, department or agency under the thoroughly dysfunctional Muhammadu Buhari regime had transparently recruited qualified youths across board, the national despondency levels would have been mitigated albeit marginally. Much of what we picked up in the media space was hush-hush recruitments into “A-grade” MDAs like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and so on. After addressing staff emoluments, overhead costs and capital requirements, the FCCPC, Irukera noted, gifted the federal government N22 billion by way of remittances! This was a most un-envisaged precedence by a government agency which was picked up from the backwoods and transformed into a national model, even bride.

On Wednesday, February 28, 2024, the Senate of the Federal Republic under the leadership of Godswill Akpabio, rubber-stamped the request of President Tinubu to sack Irukera. He was deemed inefficient! For those who have followed the quiet yet impactful revolution which Tunde Irukera has pursued in the past six years, nothing can be more preposterous. There wouldn’t be a joke more cruel, more malevolent, more unfeeling than such a testimonial to a man who has invested so much in service to the nation at testy times such as we have been in the past decade. Irukera demonstrated that government concerns can be effectively and productively run. What do we make of an organisation like the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies, (NBAIS), which was in September 2022 reprimanded by the legislature for unjustified spending? The Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriation queried NBAIS for spending N8.5 billion annually, on 6,000 employees to administer examinations to 500 students. No heads have rolled ever since in the Professor Muhammad Abdullahi-led organisation.

The spiteful removal of Babatunde Ayokunle Irukera from office the way it has been done is a gross injustice and a colossal disservice to patriotism and sacrifice. There have been unfounded suggestions to the effect that Irukera was blackmailed as one of those who “substantially” supported former Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo’s bid to contest the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) in 2022. This is most farfetched for a technocrat like Irukera whose gaze is almost permanently fixed on his desk treating official correspondences, receiving briefs, and holding meetings. In other climes, Irukera should by now have in the bag recognitions like the “National Productivity Order of Merit,” (NPOM) as well as a minimum investiture with a national honour in the category of “Officer of the Order of the Niger,” (OON). He chose, however, not to hunt for titular aggrandisement preferring to immerse himself wholly and completely in service to fatherland.

Irukera’s mistreatment echoes the manner Damilola Ogunbiyi who was managing director of the Rural Electrification Agency under the Buhari government, was unjustly treated in 2019. She has since moved on to the global heights of the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All. She is also Co-Chair of UN Energy.

Irukera always had a flourishing law practice in the United States before heeding the call to avail the country of his multiplex competencies and experiences. He is not a jobber like many whose only CV is “being abroad”. For as long as he remained in his job in Nigeria, he ran his family by telephone, virtually. The manner he has been treated will be a major disincentive to Nigerians out there who would otherwise be glad to come contribute their quotas to national development. In Irukera, Nigeria has a brand ambassador who should be engaged to hoist the nation’s banner across the world. He deserves to be genuinely apologised to, pacified and given his flowers.

Olusunle, PhD, poet, journalist, scholar and author is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (ANA).

Federal government investigation has revealed that some parody non-governmental organisations (NGOs), within West Africa are being used to fund terror organisations.

The commandant of the National Defence College, Abuja, Rear Admiral Olumuyiwa Olotu, disclosed this at the opening session of a five-day workshop organised by the Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

GIABA is a specialised institution of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, responsible for facilitating the adoption and implementation of Anti-Money Laundering, AML, and Counter Financing of Terrorism, CFT, strategies in West Africa.

Nigeria was represented at the event by the National Counter Terrorism Centre, NCTC, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, National Defence College and the Department of State Services, DSS.

In his remarks at the workshop which provided a platform for ECOWAS member states to brainstorm and create curriculum and training modules to counter terror financing within the region, which was read by Dr. Adam Abdullahi, said efforts were on to block all the sources of funds open to terrorist organisations in the country.

He, however, decried that some of the terror groups had resorted to seeking funds through various less suspectable means.

“The moment we are able to interrupt the financing of terrorist groups, about 50 per cent of our problem is solved. Majority of the sources of funds for these criminal elements are unconventional means, such as kidnapping for ransom and illegal declaration of taxation in the Lake Chad Basin.

“The moment we are able to seal off these unofficial sources of income and identify ways of blocking them, as well as some official sources as religious organisations and other parody NGOs who are supporting terrorism, the better for us,” he added.

Also at the event, the director-general of the DSS, Mr Yusuf Bichi, described terrorism as one of the most significant threats to global peace.

Bichi, who was represented by Mr. A.S. Adeleke, said there was need to dismantle “the subversive funding mechanism” that sustain terrorist networks within West Africa.

He said the effort would require a comprehensive and coordinated response aimed at undermining the capacity of terror groups to cause harm in the society.

“At the heart of our effort to counter terrorism lies, is the need to disrupt and dismantle the financial network that enable its operation.

“Terrorist organisations rely on a steady flow of funds to recruit, train and equip their operatives to propagate their extremism ideology and carry out their heinous acts of violence.

“By targeting their financial lifelines, we can undermine their capacities to function. However, combating terrorism financing is not task that only one agency of government can undertake. It requires close cooperation and coordination among law enforcement agencies, financial institutions, civil society organisations and international regulatory community at large. It demands shared commitment on information sharing, capacity building and the implementation of our robust legal and regulatory frameworks,” he added.

On his part, the coordinator, NCTC, Real Admiral Y.E. Musa, lamented that activities of various terrorist groups had persistently increased, despite the sustained efforts and cooperation among national governments within the region.

The Association of Table Waters Producers (ATWAP) has said the price of pure water may be sold for N100 per sachet due to the high cost of production materials.

Naija News reports that the association made this known on Tuesday during a press conference held in Lagos on the rising production cost of packaging materials and its effect in Nigeria.

The association’s President, Clementina Ativie, said they have been facing many challenges, such as the high cost of diesel, lack of power, and the high cost of production.

He added that the current price of water sales reflects the country’s situation, and there is nothing they can do about it.

He said, “Pure water is sold for N50 now, and it is even going up to N100 per one. At our own end, there’s nothing we can do. The cost of production is high.

“As at last year December, we were buying materials (nylon) for N1,100 per KG. The 6 kg of nylon is now N3,600/N3,700. The cost of treatment is also high. The increment for these materials comes at 3 times in one week. It is also difficult for us to increase the price of water.

“If ordinary Nigerians can’t afford pure water, I don’t know where we are going. Every water producer is funding the pure water factory on personal pockets or borrowed money.

“Many banks don’t give pure water producers loans. We want Nigerians to bear with us. We don’t want Nigerians to buy water at more than N20 per sachet. The cost of production including the price of diesel has affected so many things.”

The federal government has reportedly detained two top executives of Binance, the cryptocurrency trading platform.

According to Financial Times on Wednesday, the executives flew to  Nigeria but had their passports seized by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

The report said the executives visited Nigeria in response to the country’s recent crackdown on various cryptocurrency trading platforms.  

Although the reasons for their detention are unknown, their arrest is coming amid allegation of manipulation in foreign exchange trading in Nigeria.

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on information and strategy, on February 21, 2024, said Binance and other cryptocurrency platforms should be banned from operating in the country

He said Binance is “blatantly setting exchange rate for Nigeria,” and hijacking the role of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The special adviser called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the CBN to move against the platforms, adding that the firms are trying to “manipulate our national currency to ground zero”.

Also on February 27, 2024, Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said $26 billion passed through Binance Nigeria from unidentified sources in one year.

Cardoso said the apex bank is collaborating with the SEC to ensure there is no manipulation in the FX market.

He said there was also collaboration between the different agencies which includes the EFCC,  the police, and of course, the office of the NSA.

On June 9, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had said the operation of Binance Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Binance, was illegal.

Meanwhile, despite the federal government and the CBN’s plan to clampdown on cryptocurrency trading, Binance is still operational.

The crypto firm, however, has discontinued the trading of the naira against bitcoin and tether cryptocurrencies on its exchange platform.

[TheCable]

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that the price of local rice rose by 98.47 percent in January 2024.

Announcing the development in its latest food price watch released for January 2024, the statistics bureau detailed that the kilogram price of local rise rose from N514.83 in January 2023 to N1,021.79 in January 2024.

Naija News reports that the NBS data further detailed that the average price of boneless beef rose by 37.08 per cent between January 2023 and January 2024.

Also, the price of brown beans reportedly rose by 64.42 per cent between January 2023 and January 2024.

The report read, “Selected Food Price Watch for January 2024 shows that the average price of 1kg Rice local sold loose stood at N1,021.79. This indicates a rise of 98.47% in price on a year-on-year basis from N514.83 recorded in January 2023 and 11.31% rise in price on a month-on-month basis from N917.93 in December 2023. The average price of 1kg of Beef boneless increased by 37.08% on a year-on-year basis from N2,418.91 in January of last year (2023) to N3,315.78 in January 2024. On a month-on-month basis, the average price of this item increased by 5.37% from N3,146.94 in December 2023. The average price of 1kg of Beans brown (sold loose) rose by 64.42% on a year-on-year basis from N593.96 in January 2023 to N976.58 in January 2024. On a month-on-month basis, it increased by 12.16% from N870.67 in December 2023.”