With his supporters turning the Kirikiri (Lagos) Maximum Security Prison into a pilgrimage site, authorities of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) were forced to move the condemned Founder/General Overseer, Christian Praying Assembly (CPA) Church Worldwide, ‘Daddy G.O., His Holiness, The Most Honourable Dr Rev King’, to Kuje Prison in Abuja. Not long after, according to sources, the same problem surfaced and King was transferred to Kaduna Prison. Today, ‘God in black skin, the man of the moment, every moment and the final moment, the last preacher of the truthful gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ’ is in Maiduguri Maximum Security Prison in Borno State where, from what I have gathered in recent days, he continues to live large as devotees troop to pay him obeisance. And on Monday, as has been the tradition every year for almost two decades, there were several pages of colour adverts to celebrate his birthday. 

The story of King says a lot about criminal justice administration in Nigeria – both positive and negative. While the judiciary has discharged its responsibility creditably, the executive has become a clog, with a growing number of Nigerian death row inmates. Last December, the NCoS spokesman, Abubakar Umar, lamented that there are 3,413 condemned inmates across the country. Part of the constitutional responsibilities of Governors is to sign the death warrants of convicted murderers or commute their sentence to imprisonment. Unfortunately, our governors would rather do nothing. The result is that death row inmates end up spending decades on a roller coaster existence. In his own case, King has spent nine years as a condemned man.

King was arraigned at the Lagos High Court, Ikeja on 26 September 2006 for the murder of one Ann Uzor, a member of his church, and the attempted murder of five others. He allegedly doused the six with petrol before setting them ablaze on grounds that they committed fornication. While Uzoh died from injuries sustained from the burns, others survived, though they may also have died by now since nobody followed up on them. In a judgement delivered on 11 January 2007, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole convicted and sentenced King to death for the murder of Ann Uzor. King appealed the judgement but lost. Not satisfied, he approached the Supreme Court which on 26 February 2015 affirmed the judgements of both the Lagos High Court and Court of Appeal.

The five-man apex court bench that tried the case was led by then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen. Facts of the case, according to the late Justice Sylvester Ngwuta who read the lead judgement, “could have been lifted from a horror film.” Ngwuta said: “The prosecution’s case was that the appellant accused six of his people of immoral behaviour. He called them together, beat each of them with many hard objects and after the beating, he assembled them downstairs, made them kneel and he caused petrol to be poured on them and a struck match thrown on them. They all sustained various degrees of burns. While five of them escaped, the sixth of them who later died sustained 65 per cent degree burns. You can imagine her last day in the hospital.” King, according to Justice Ngwuta, “denied this incident, saying though he punished them for immoral behaviour, the punishment was different from the incident that gave birth to this charge. He said they sustained injuries when a generator exploded. But throughout the proceedings, this mysterious generator was never produced.”

There are two issues here. The first has to do with what I once described as ‘faith and fanaticism’ in Nigeria and how that is being exploited by charlatans. But that is not my business for today. The second is on the issue of the death penalty itself. During the 2023 World Day Against the Death Penalty last October, Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), stated that many countries, including Nigeria, are being encouraged to consider reforms on capital punishment. “The World Day against the Death Penalty is not merely a day of solemn remembrance, but a call to action,” Fagbemi said. “It is a day when we, as global citizens, come together to emphasise that every life is sacred, and no mistake or crime should ever push us toward actions that we cannot reverse.” Many Western diplomats also used the occasion to campaign for Nigeria to drop the death penalty even when, in some of their countries, they still carry out executions.

I followed the execution drama of Kenneth Smith who was subjected to inhaling pure nitrogen through a mask until he suffocated last month in Alabama, United States. The United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights (UNCHR), Volker Türk, and several others, had urged Alabama State authorities to cancel the execution on 25 January but were ignored. And despite claims that the execution (the first through such method anywhere in the world) would be “swift, painless and humane”, Smith reportedly shook, convulsed, writhed, and gasped for breath until he was pronounced dead after more than 20 minutes.

The story began on 18 March 1988, when Elizabeth Sennett, wife of a Pastor, was stabbed to death in a contract killing orchestrated by her husband, Charles Sennett, who later committed suicide when he realised his cover had been blown. The Pastor, said to be heavily indebted, was having an affair with another woman, and had taken out a life insurance policy on his wife before hiring Billy Gray Williams who in turn recruited Smith and John Forrest Parker to assist in her murder. Each was paid $1,000. At trial, Williams (the middleman) was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and died in prison in November 2020. Smith and Parker who carried out the killing were both sentenced to death. Parker was executed via lethal injection in June 2010. Not surprisingly, it took a long time to execute the judgement on Smith because of several lawsuits filed on his behalf.

However, the real drama started on 17 November 2022 after Smith had eaten what was supposed to be his last meal and said the traditional goodbyes to his mother and grandson. With his death warrant already signed, Smith was placed on a gurney inside the execution chamber, his arms and legs strapped down. But for almost four hours prison officials could not find the intravenous line on Smith’s body to administer the lethal injection. By the time the execution was suspended close to midnight, shortly before expiration of the death warrant, Smith’s body was already riddled with puncture holes, according to reports. What followed was predictable. Lawsuits were again filed to stop his execution but they all failed. “After more than 30 years and attempt after attempt to game the system, Mr Smith has answered for his horrendous crimes,” Alabama Governor Kay Ivey who signed the death warrant said in a statement shortly after the execution on 25 January. “I pray that Elizabeth Sennett’s family can receive closure after all these years dealing with that great loss.”

This then brings me back home to Rev. King who has been on death row for the past nine years. Interestingly, birthday congratulatory adverts in his honour this year offer a practical solution to the problems of Nigeria. “Daddy, you are God’s divine solution to the problem of mankind. The problem you cannot solve does not exist. All the prophecies that you gave about Nigeria have come to fulfilment exactly as you prophesied,” wrote Eng. Somitobechukwu King. “If the power brokers of Nigeria would be humble enough to consult you, I know for a fact that you are the only man endowed with the ability to transform Nigeria from the capital of poverty and clandestine activities which it currently is, to one of the wealthiest and adorable nations of planet earth.”

At a period in history when Nigerians are going through harrowing times, this may indeed be the solution we need. But before ‘His Holiness’ can rescue our country; he must first rescue himself from the death sentence for which there is no longer any appeal.

Now to the issue of capital punishment. As much as I understand the argument against the death penalty (‘an eye for an eye makes the world go blind’), I have also wrestled with the question of how to ensure closure for families of those gruesomely murdered, including by killers who show no remorse for their crimes. Don’t such families also deserve justice? That precisely was the question resolved in Alabama with the execution of Smith last month. At some point in Nigeria, the matter of ‘His Holiness, Dr Rev King’ will also have to be resolved. One way or another!

Much Ado about Oronsaye Report

On Monday, the federal government announced its preparedness to implement theSteve Oronsaye Report of 2012 and the subsequent 2014 White Paper by the Mohammed Bello Adoke inter-ministerial committee. President Bola Tinubu, we have been told, has given the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) a 12-week implementation timeline. “Many agencies will be scrapped, and many others will be merged, to pave the way to a leaner government,” according topresidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), following Monday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. The specific agencies to be merged or scrapped have also been highlighted so the weeks ahead are bound to be interesting in that regard.

Considering that I have written several columns on the Oronsaye Report, I crave the indulgence of readers to share a few excerpts from the first one, ‘Public Service in Private interest’, published on 7th February 2013, before I conclude with my take on the current issue.

==================================================================== 

.. anybody who has read the report of the Presidential Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalisation of the Federal Government Paratastals, Commissions and Agencies cannot but understand the waste we call government in Nigeria. Chaired by former Head of Service, Mr Steve Oronsaye, the committee, established in August 2011, submitted its report in April 2012. And it has come out with damning revelations. The executive summary highlights some of the salient rot in the identified 541 federal government agencies, 50 of which have no enabling laws! There are also 55 agencies that are in the statutes book yet not under the supervision of any ministry and some of them include: National Agency for Population Programmes and Development; Population Activities Fund; Population Fund Activities Agency and Population Research Fund!

According to the report, one common feature of virtually all the parastatals is the prevalence of high personnel cost as “many of them receive more budgetary allocations for personnel than they require because that component of their budget is usually inflated”. Several of them are also “obvious duplications of existing bodies” which then underscores the fact of “overlaps and enormous wastage of scarce resources”. To compound the situation, “successive administrations have over the years created parastatals which were not necessarily based on requisite need assessment that would drive development agenda”.

Debts owed local contractors, the report stated, had long been verified and paid off by a previous administration, which instructed all MDAs to ensure that any new debt be treated as First Line charge entities in Annual Budgets. However, “several years on, it is worrisome that payment to local contractors continue to feature in our National Budget, thereby giving the impression that the authorities are condoning the bad behaviour”. Further revelations include the fact that there are 106 core research and quasi-research institutes spread across the nation with little or no end product and this may be why: “In the 2011 Fiscal year, the sum of N97,108,917,918 was allocated to all the Institutes with personnel and Overhead Costs accounting for N42,581,362,128 and N10,157,863,826 respectively. Of the N44,369,691,964 allocated to Capital, only N10,408,574,488 was for core research activities.” We can see from the more than N97 billion earmarked for Research Institutes that only about 10 percent of the money is expended on core research work with the rest going into salaries and sundry procurements!

Most of the revelations in the Oronsaye Report depict very clearly that public office in our country has become avenues for the pursuit of private interests by many. But that is just a small part of the story of waste if one considers the unwieldy nature of the governing boards of these agencies and their number, as well as their overlapping and duplicating functions. For instance, some of the agencies in the ministry of Culture and Tourism are: National Institute for Culture Orientation; National Theatre; National Troupe of Nigeria; National Council for Arts and Culture; Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization; National Gallery of Arts; National Commission for Museums and Monuments and then you have the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) and National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism Development Corporation! Yet each of these nine stand-alone agencies has a Director General or Managing Director, full board membership and a retinue of mostly redundant staff. And it is from the Oronsaye report that I learnt that we actually have a full-fledged Research Institute for the study of Trypanosomiasis!…

ENDNOTE: For those who are excited about the decision of the current administration to implement the Oronsaye Report, let me remind them that we have been down this road before. In April 2020, then Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, announced that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved implementation of the report on which a White Paper was also approved. “This is a report that has been in place for a long time and there hasn’t been implementation, but the President has approved that it should be implemented,” she declared. Not only was nothing done in that direction, but the administration ended up adding hundreds of new federal agencies such that the number of agencies in the federal government budget for this year is 929! So, rather than a reduction, we have almost doubled the number of federal government cost centres that we had 12 years ago before the Oronsaye Panel.

Mindful of this motion without movement that has been the bane of public engagement over the years, Oronsaye prefaced the submission of his report in 2012 with a recall. More than a decade after the White Paper on the Ahmed Joda Panel Report on the Review, Harmonization and Rationalization of Federal Government Parastatals, Institutions and Agencies (2000) by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Oronsaye told President Jonathan twelve years ago, “some parastatals and agencies, which government had decided should either be scrapped, commercialized, privatized or self-funding, are still receiving full government funding, which runs into billions of Naira.” 

Reducing the cost of governance is good. But the jury is still out as to what the Tinubu administration intends to do with the Oronsaye Report. I will wait to see what happens in the coming weeks!

• You can follow me on my X (formerly Twitter) handle, @Olusegunverdict and on www.olusegunadeniyi.com   

In an unprecedented move, the Harvard Business School, the graduate business school of Harvard University, is set to cast the spotlight on the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), recognising the Foundation’s extraordinary philanthropic achievement in a ground-breaking case study.

The case study, first of its kind on any philanthropic organisation in Africa, is to be launched on Thursday, February 29, 2024, before a class of graduate students in Boston, Massachusetts and will explore the Foundation's unique approaches and transformative initiatives, showcasing how strategic philanthropy offered by TEF is driving positive change and elevating countries and communities.

This move by Harvard underscores the Foundation’s pivotal role in empowering young African entrepreneurs across all 54      African countries and places the Foundation at the forefront of global discussions on transformative and catalytic philanthropy, acknowledging its significant contributions towards fostering entrepreneurship in Africa.

In addition to delving into the foundation's innovative approaches and the resultant impact it has garnered over the years, the event will also feature an exclusive acknowledgment of the Founder of TEF, Tony Elumelu’s economic philosophy of Africapitalism, which positions the private sector, and most importantly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the African continent. 

The Tony Elumelu Foundation is the leading philanthropy, empowering a new generation of African entrepreneurs, driving poverty eradication, catalysing job creation across all 54 African countries, and increasing inclusive economic empowerment. 

Since the launch of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in 2015, the Foundation has trained over 1.5 million young Africans on its digital hub, TEFConnect, and disbursed over USD$100 million in direct funding to 20,000 young African women and men, who have collectively created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Tony Elumelu who spoke on the impact of TEF on the African youth said, “TEF is creating economic hope and opportunity for African Entrepreneurs. We know that entrepreneurship is the antidote to poverty, youth unemployment and insecurity. Through the intervention of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, we are encouraging our young people, giving them hope through the seed capital we provide, capacitising them through the training and mentoring we provide and setting them up to create businesses that will succeed and create even more jobs. Collectively we are fixing the challenges that we have on the continent.

Continuing, he said, “the Tony Elumelu Foundation was set up to create more successful African business leaders. We want to replicate our own success and create entrepreneurs who will build more prosperity on the continent and for the continent. It’s all about transforming our society and making sure that we leave the society better than we met it. It is not about the money that we have in our bank accounts, it is about the legacy that we make and the impact we create. Prosperity for all is what will create the security, harmony and peace that we need.”

The Harvard Business School session will provide a platform for thought leaders, scholars, and business enthusiasts to engage in a meaningful discussion on the role of philanthropy in shaping sustainable and inclusive economies. As the world grapples with complex challenges, the Tony Elumelu Foundation stands as a beacon of hope, showcasing how strategic philanthropy can be a driving force for positive change.

The foremost governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress and the State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, are engaged in a war of words over the visit of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Ondo State on Wednesday.

The aspirants accused Aiyedatiwa of preventing the aspirants and party leadership from receiving the president during his visit to the state.

Speaking on behalf of others, the former finance commissioner and governorship aspirant, Wale Akinterinwa, said the governor deliberately sidelined other leaders and aspirants of the party to receive Tinubu.

Akinterinwa, in a statement issued by the spokesperson of the Wale Akinterinwa Campaign Structure, Segun Ajiboye, in Akure, said the aspirants were aware of plans by certain elements acting for and on behalf of the Governor of Ondo State, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

“This is to prevent members of our party and leaders who are not in his camp from receiving Mr President, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Akure.”

Ajiboye, who said that all the aspirants rejected the dictatorial order by the governor, said, “This to us is the most undemocratic, disrespectful, unreasonable, and disdainful attempt by any chief executive in the history of democracy in Nigeria.

“Ordinarily, we would not have responded, but based on the intelligent report at our disposal that he and his supporters have perfected plans to unleash mayhem on our people both at Owo and Akure, it is necessary for us to bring this to the attention of peace-loving Nigerians. 

“The directive that no supporter or aspirant should come to the airport to welcome Mr President, who is on a private visit and not on a state visit, is a directive from ignorant minds in Alagbaka. 

“It is a tradition that whenever the President visits any state, members of his party offer him their love and support by welcoming him in their droves. It does not matter whether it is election year or not. 

“We reject affirmatively the directive that neither our leader, Wale Akinterinwa, nor his supporters should come near the airport to welcome Mr President. 

“We further reject the assertion that the governor is in charge of the president’s safety in Ondo State during this visit. 

“It must also be put on record that the airport is under federal law supretended by FAAN. So, Mr Governor cannot give any order or lay claim to any powers he does not possess. 

“The attempt by Ayedatiwa and his henchmen to prevent, intimidate, harass, or threaten our supporters and party men will not work and will not be tolerated. 

“For us in WA, we are already mobilised and ready to show solidarity, love, and support to our leader, mentor, and Commander in Chief both at Owo and Akure. 

“We state without any ambiguity that the WA phenomenon will be focused and consistent in our pursuit of our goals towards Alagbaka in 2024. The momentum of our campaign will remain steady, peaceful, and consistent. 

“Let it be known that the WA team is already on the ground to show the affinity we have for Mr President.” 

However, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, said that the President’s visit is a state affair and not a political or campaign one. 

Adeniyan added that only government officials and those accredited by the government will have the opportunity to receive the president at the airport, not a campaign crowd.

The Ghana Parliament has approved the bill regarding human sexual rights and family values, commonly referred to as the anti-LGBTQ bill.

The bill, called the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, was introduced by Sam Nartey George, the MP for Ningo-Prampram.

GhanaWeb reports that the bill, known as the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, was a Private Members Bill led by Sam Nartey George, the MP for Ningo-Prampram.

The bill prohibits LGBT activities and makes it illegal to promote, advocate, or fund them, as reported by Citinewsroom.

Local media also reports that individuals caught engaging in the activity could face a jail sentence ranging from six months to three years, while those who support or promote the activity may be sentenced to three to five years in prison.

More details later…

Despite recording 22.4 percent or N547.1 billion sales increase, Nestlé Nigeria PLC, has declared N79.5bn Profit After Tax Loss for the 2023 financial year, a situation the company attributed to the devaluation of the naira.

The company’s Managing Director, Mr Wassim Elhusseini, made the disclosure in the Nestlé Nigeria PLC Full Year 2023 financial results on Wednesday in Lagos.

Elhusseini revealed that while the company’s operating profit jumped by 41.2 per cent, reaching 122.7 billion; its Profit After Tax (PAT) was negatively impacted by the devaluation of the Naira.

He added that while its gross profit totalled N217.2 billion, representing a 39.4 per cent increase from N155.8 billion in 2022, the devaluation of the Naira had an adverse impact on its PAT resulting in a loss of N79.5 billion for 2023.

“I thank every member of our team for the unwavering commitment and dedication which resulted in the strong revenue growth and operating profit vs 2022 in spite of the challenging economic environment.

“The devaluation of the Nigerian Naira in 2023 which led to a revaluation of our foreign currency obligations undoubtedly impacted our financing cost and consequently the profit after tax.

“However, we remain optimistic of our capacity to overcome the current economic difficulties and emerge stronger,” he said.

The Nestlé Nigeria Managing Director expressed the company’s dedication to its purpose of unlocking the power of food through responsible local sourcing and confection of high-quality nutritious food and beverages for families across Nigeria.

“We also remain steadfast in optimising our operations to ensure the availability and accessibility of affordable and nutritious products to our consumers in anticipation of a timely turnaround in the business environment,” he said.

Nestlé Nigeria is a leading food and beverage company in Africa, known for its quality, excellence, and commitment to creating shared value.

The company in 2023 received recognition for its contributions to society through its CSV initiatives.

Some of them include Sustainability, Enterprise and Responsibility (SERAS) CSR 2023 Awards for Best Company in Rural Population Integration, Best Company in Food Security, and 2nd Runner-up for Most Responsible Organization in Africa among others.

(NAN)

Seventeen individuals have been apprehended and two vessels loaded with unlawfully refined automotive gas oil (diesel) have been seized by the Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) in Rivers State.

Rear Admiral John Okeke, the Commander of OPDS, revealed this information during a press briefing held at Onne, Rivers State, on Wednesday.

The detained individuals were crew members of the seized vessels.

One of the vessels, named MV King James, was found carrying 400,000 litres of diesel, while the other, MV Messiah 1, was transporting 100,000 litres of diesel.

Both vessels were intercepted by OPDS at the Federal Ocean Terminal in Onne, and the crew members were apprehended on the Onne River.

MV King James was seized along with its seven crew members, while MV Messiah 1 had ten crew members onboard at the time of arrest.

The confiscated petroleum products have been transferred to the Nigerian Navy Ship Pathfinder, and assurances have been given by Okeke that the detained individuals will be handed over to the appropriate authorities for potential prosecution.

Furthermore, it was highlighted that the vessels lacked the necessary approvals and legitimate documentation for transporting the oil products.

“The OPDS which I represent for the navy is the statutory agency for oil approvals. It means that when a vessel is found without requisite documents, it has defaulted,” stated Okeke.

Okeke also urged those involved in oil theft, illegal oil refining, and other illicit activities to cease their actions and pursue legitimate ventures, warning that they will face legal consequences if they continue to operate outside the law.

The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Finance to carry out a comprehensive investigation into the non-remittance of tax revenues amounting to N1.8 trillion ($342 million) to the federal government by Multichoice.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by Sa’idu Abdullahi at the plenary on Wednesday.

Presenting the motion, he said the investigation was necessitated due to suppression of information discovered from the submissions in the company’s home country, South Africa.

He said, Multichoice, a prominent multinational corporation operating in Nigeria, has been accused of non-remittance of tax revenues due to the federal government, as evidenced by the suppression of information.

Abdullahi said that the Nigerian economy was facing significant challenges, with dwindling revenue posing a threat to the overall fiscal stability and development of the country.

He added, “The Federal Inland Revenue Service had engaged a consultant in 2021 under a whistle blowing contract to carry out an audit of the tax obligations of Multichoice Nigeria and MultiChoice Africa with a view to ascertaining the company’s tax indebtedness to the country. Their findings led to a back audit and investigation carried out by the FIRS from 2011 to 2020.

“The previous attempts by FIRS to recover the unpaid taxes through legal means, including court proceedings and the subsequent resolution to settle out of the court by both parties, have not yielded the desired result.

“The systems audit and investigation revealed enormous indebtedness to the tune of over N1.8 trillion in back total taxes for MultiChoice Nigeria, and $342 million in Value-added tax, for MultiChoice Africa that had never paid any taxes since they started business operations in Nigeria. Both amounts were levied upon the Multichoice Group by the FIRS”.

He further stated that, there were arrangements to sell Multichoice Nigeria and other Multichoice Group subsidiaries in Nigeria to a foreign Interest, while the tax indebtedness remained outstanding.

He added, “If urgent actions are not taken to recover these tax revenues from the Multichoice Group, Nigeria may lose such huge revenue that can inject life into the economy.”

The House adopted the motion and cautioned potential buyers of Multichoice Nigeria, Multichoice Africa or other subsidiaries of the Multichoice Group operating in Nigeria to be aware of the alleged outstanding indebtedness which may have been covered in their papers.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has revealed that its members and leadership were threatened and intimidated against carrying out their planned two-day nationwide protest.

The Labour Union, however, revealed that despite the threats, it went ahead with the protest on Tuesday.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, who made this known in a press conference on Wednesday, also disclosed that the union got information that several agents were mobilized to cause violence along protest routes, and that is part of the reasons they had to suspend the second day of protests.

It would be recalled that the NLC had declared a two-day nationwide mass protest for February 27 and 28, 2024, over the economic hardship and rising cost being faced by Nigerians since the removal of subsidy on petrol in May 2023.

However, after Tuesday’s successful protest across various state capitals and major cities, the NLC announced the suspension of its planned second-day protest, saying the objectives of the protest have been achieved on the first day.

Shedding more light on the development, Ajaero on Wednesday revealed that the cancellation of the second day protest was a strategic move on the part of the NLC.

He however added that if the federal government fails to comply with the demands of the union withing the new ultimatum given, the National Executive Council of the NLC would reveal the next line of action.

“We were threatened with all manners of consequences that would be meted on us if we went ahead,” Ajaero said during Wednesday’s press briefing.

“We were, however, not perturbed as lifting the heavy yoke of suffering upon Nigerian workers and masses left us with no option than to press on.”

The NLC president said the congress has evidence from Tuesday’s protest of the “importation of agents who were mobilised to the protest routes and grounds to cause violence against the peaceful protest”.

“God is, however, always a step ahead of the enemies of the workers and the Nigerian people. That was also one of the reasons we had to restructure on the second day of the nationwide protest,” he added.

“You may have noticed that almost all the routes to our office have been militarised this morning. It took a lot of time to access our office. These are not things you expect from a democratic society.

“We want to reiterate that if the government fails to comply within the specified time frame, the NEC will convene again to decide on the next line of action.

“The NLC remains steadfast in its commitment to defending and promoting the interests of Nigerian workers and the downtrodden masses, who will not succumb to intimidation,” he added.

[NaijaNews]

The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has started shutting down some unregistered sachet water production factories in Anambra State.

The companies were said to be producing water in unhealthy environment and operating without subjecting their processes to regulatory standards.

Louis Mmadubuatta, Coordinator of NAFDAC in Anambra, told newsmen in Awka that the exercise was part of the routine surveillance of the agency with the aim of protecting the health of members of the public.

“We have over time visited a number of water factories that do not comply to good manufacturing standards and normally such places are shut until they comply and those we earlier closed have done so.

“Those places are sealed and we are not opening them until they respond to the regulatory action taken against them,” he said.

Mmadubuatta, who did not reveal the locations of the sealed companies for strategic reasons, warned companies engaging in illegal manufacturing of table water and other regulated products to desist from such activities

He said the companies should go to NAFDAC and register their products and those whose licenses had expired should endeavour to renew them.

“We are still embarking on massive sanction activities against erring companies,” he said.

The Coordinator urged members of the public to assist NAFDAC with information on illegal table water production activities going on in their neighbourhood for swift reaction while assuring them of anonymity.

He further advised that consumers should look out for product name, production and expiry dates, NAFDAC number and batch number and if they had doubts they should reach the agency.

(NAN)

The digital lending space in Nigeria is attracting more players by the day, leading to a steady increase in the number of loan app companies approved by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

From 211 at the end of 2023, the number of companies approved to operate loan apps in the country has risen to 263, according to the FCCPC’s database. This total includes those given full approval, conditional approval, and those licensed by the CBN.

According to the list published by the FCCPC, 215 companies have been granted full approval to operate as digital lenders in the country, while 38 companies have received conditional approval.

In addition to these, the FCCPC listed 10 other companies licensed by the CBN to operate loan apps, bringing the total to 263.

It is important to note that each of these companies operates through multiple apps, providing different types of loans.

This expansion comes amid the issue of rising non-performing loans in the digital lending space and a growing list of illegal apps leveraging technology to lure people into taking collateral-free loans with exorbitant interest rates.

Why more companies are moving into digital lending

According to some industry stakeholders, the allure of high interest rates charged by the loan apps is encouraging more companies to see business opportunities in digital lending.

However, the President of the Money Lenders Association, the umbrella body of registered digital money lenders in Nigeria, Mr. Gbemi Adelekan, said high-interest rates are only peculiar to lenders offering small and short-term loans, known as Nano loans.

For him, the main reason more players are coming into the digital lending space is because fintech is one of the major booming sectors in the economy and there is ease of entry.

• “I think more people are also coming into digital lending without proper risk assessment due to the minimal entry requirements and regulations,” he said in a telephone interview with Nairametrics.

Bandwagon effect

While noting that commercial banks are now also getting digital banking licenses separately from the CBN to be able to go into digital lending, Adelekan said:

• “You know how Nigerians are, once they see that one business is booming, they all move into it. If it’s stock, they move into it; if it’s hairdressing that is doing well today, everybody will rush it.
• “Meanwhile, as some people are rushing in, a lot of people are rushing out because of the risks involved and the rising non-performing loans. Recovering debt from the people is now becoming more difficult.”

Nairametrics recently reported that more Nigerians are now resorting to credit from loan apps to survive as the harsh economic conditions bite harder.

In some cases, there are no plans to repay the loans by the borrowers, while those willing to repay find themselves borrowing from one app to pay another. The lenders had also complained that this has also led to a dramatic jump in their non-performing loans (NPLs) as most borrowers are not paying back.

Loan apps’ interest rates

Meanwhile, amid complaints by borrowers that digital lenders in Nigeria are charging very high interest rates, the lenders said only the loans with high risks come with high rates. According to the President of the lenders, loan apps have not been able to increase their rates over the last two years.

• “We are not able to increase our interest rates because the customers will complain. The rate for our installment loan has been less than 5% per month over the last two years. But for those who do Nano loans, they are charging up to 15% because of the risks involved.
• These are small loans that are short-tenured for like 30 days. The risk is very high because you don’t do all the necessary checks that you are supposed to do, like checking bank statements, location verification, and all that, unlike installment loans where you do all that including confirming their salary.
• “That is where the new players are playing but the old players are running away from it because of the rising NPLs. The new players are coming in because they think everything is rosy,” he said.

Menace of unregistered loan apps continue

Despite the rise in the number of digital leaders that have registered with the FCCPC and secured approval to operate, hundreds of other unregistered lenders are still playing in the market and getting patronage from desperate borrowers.

As a result of their continuous atrocities which include defaming and harassing their customers through their contacts, the FCCPC said it has now placed 88 loan apps under its watchlist as it continues to work out modalities to sanitize the digital lending space.

According to the Acting Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the FCCPC, Dr Adamu Abdullahi, the Commission is coming up with a new regulation that would address the challenges around debt recovery by the loan apps.

• “Yes, they give loans here and there and they must collect their loans back, but they do not have to go ahead and destroy families and lives in the process of collecting back their loans. So that is what this regulation that we’re coming up with will address. We are trying to balance everything,” he said.

[Nairametrics]