The mobile police officer abducted around Kampani community in Bashar District of Wase local government are of Plateau State has reportedly been found dead.

Naija News reported that the incident happened on last Wednesday evening while the police officer and a soldier were on their way from the Zurak community to Kamapani.

The bandits ambushed the security officers, and the policeman was abducted while the soldier escaped.

The policeman and a soldier who were part of a security team fighting bandits terrorising a community which shares border with Taraba State.

Sources from Wase town confirmed to Daily Trust on Monday that the lifeless body of the policeman was found in a bush at Bangalala, on Sunday.

However, the spokesperson of the state police command, DSP Alabo Alfred, has yet to issue any statement regarding the latest development.

Economist, Pat Utomi has lashed out at Ibikunle Amosun over the allegation that he was blacklisted by the Ogun State House of Assembly before he took over office as the governor of the state.

Utomi while featuring as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, denied having any business transactions with the Ogun State government that could have warranted him to be blacklisted.

He said, “Why would I have been blacklisted? I have never had any business with Ogun that would have led them to whitelist not to talk of blacklisting me.

“As a matter of policy, I don’t do business at all with state governments. The only time it would become necessary is when it comes to land matters because the government is the sole authority over land matters in Nigeria.

“Why would the House of Assembly blacklist me? For what? I have never had any business transactions with Ogun State until that time. That is what frightens me why public officials can make such preposterous accusations against me I heard that statement for the first time in my life. If I was blacklisted, for what?”

While responding to Utomi over his statement that he had violated the contract agreement regarding the cancelled deal with Chinese firm Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, Amosun had described the professor as “entitled”.

Amosun was responding to Utomi’s allegation on a cancelled agriculture-related project in Ogun before he assumed office.

However, responding on Monday, Utomi said he never transacted any business with the Ogun State government.

Utomi then spoke on the seizure of the presidential jets, saying Nigeria should not have acquired such a jet fleet, as it was “Unnecessary”.

“To be quite frank, when I first heard of the seizure, I had no clue of what led to it.

“I just felt “we have done it again”. I was not happy and I thought of the idea of a presidential fleet, and why Nigeria maintains such a huge fleet, which I consider unnecessary.

“Many countries much better off than Nigeria do not have presidential fleets. The British who we learnt the art of statecraft from in the modern era, typically don’t have a prime ministerial jet. The prime minister leases jets to go for assignments.

“So that was my first reaction to why we would bring ourselves to this state of embarrassment.

I have been warning about this for a long time. There are many sub-nationals in which the governors act so much irresponsibly in the way they get in and out of contracts with foreign organisations bringing great embarrassment to Nigeria.

“A lot of businesses will not come to Nigeria because they think Nigeria’s institutions are not reliable. They think because Nigeria can’t give them justice, and boundaries are not clear.

“Many state governments- a governor leaves, a new one comes, and they riff off everything the governor before him has done without thoughts for the consequences for his state and the country in terms of how seriously the world takes them.

“So when I realised that was what is prevalent, I decided to highlight my personal experience that happened as exactly as the one that led to the seizure of the presidential jets.

“This has happened to a lot of businessmen but because they don’t have the resources to approach the international court for arbitration, they just lick their wounds and let it go.

“It is not just Ogun State. I pointed out that I have a book that was published a few months ago. I published several case studies in the book. One of the cases was exactly what was done in another state in Nigeria that led to a foreign company in South Africa, leaving the country which led to so much loss because the governor decided to play games after he left office.

After I made the remarks, I was told that the former Ogun State governor came out with thoughts against me.

“And I then thought that this is another big problem with Nigeria, where people who have held public office do not have the discipline to speak basic simple truths in conversations.

“The only time I have ever been in business with Ogun State was when we were trying to develop an agricultural value chain project.

Organizers of the just concluded EndBadGovernance protests that recently crippled economic activities nationwide are currently planning to stage more demonstrations across the nation in October.

A former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, Omoyele Sowore confirmed the plan to DAILY POST on Saturday.

DAILY POST recalls that Nigerian youths had staged nationwide protests from August 1 to 10 over the prevailing economic situation in the country.

The supposed 10 days peaceful demonstration was, however, hijacked by non-state actors, leading to the unfortunate death of some protesters.

According to reports, 17 persons were reportedly killed in Abuja, Kano, Niger, Borno, Kaduna and Jigawa, while several others were seriously injured after the Nigerian security forces clamped down on the protesters.

No fewer than 1,135 persons were arrested across the country following the violence that erupted during the protest.

In Kano State, hoodlums disguised as protesters reportedly vandalized government assets, including essential documents and looted properties belonging to individuals.

Some of them were also caught flying Russian flags while clamoring for military rule in Nigeria.

In Kano alone, about 873 suspects were arrested by the police and other security agencies.

No fewer than 76 of them, including a foreigner, arrested for flying the Russian flags, were on Monday last week, transferred to the Force Headquarters, Abuja for discreet investigation on charges of sedition.

When contacted by DAILY POST on Saturday, an activist lawyer, Deji Adeyanju said they were currently working towards securing the release of some of the protesters.

Asked to disclose the fate of the detained protesters, the popular activist simply said, “we are currently on their matter”.

However, Sowore confirmed to DAILY POST that some of the protesters have been released, while efforts were ongoing to secure the freedom of others.

He said, “We are working to get all detained persons released and have, in fact, succeeded in getting some released.

“To this, we owe some gratitude to several human rights attorneys who have dedicated their time and resources to ensure these latest victims of rights abuses are released from unjust detention.

“The federal govt would soon face an ultimatum to release all arrested protesters if they continue to be reckless and intransigent.”

Planned October protest

The protest scheduled for October may not be unconnected to what they described as President Bola Tinubu’s alleged failure to address the demands of the protesters.

DAILY POST reports that the EndBadGovernance protesters, who were majorly asking the FG to reverse some policies that led to the high cost of living, including the controversial fuel subsidy, made at least 15 demands.

Among other things, the protesters asked the government to “Toss the Senate arm, keep the House of Representatives and make lawmaking a part-time endeavour.

“Pay Nigerian workers a minimum wage of nothing less than N250,000 monthly.

“Release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally and demilitarize the South East. All ENDSARS and political detainees must also be released and compensated.

“End banditry, terrorism and violent crimes. Reform security agencies to stop continuous human rights violations.

“Massive shake-ups in the Nigerian judiciary to remove cabals of corrupt generations of judges and judicial officers that continue denying citizens access to real justice.

“Diaspora voting”.

But according to the organizers, President Tinubu, who addressed the nation on the 6th day of the protest, failed to address the demands.

This has compelled the Nigerian youths to stage more protests.

Sowore told DAILY POST that unlike the August protest, the planned October demonstration tagged #FearlessInOctober would be prolonged.

On the rumoured ongoing dialogue with the FG, Sowore said, “I am not part of any negotiations. We are all working on our next set of prolonged protests tagged #fearlessinOctober”.

President Bola Tinubu has approved a request by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd to utilise the 2023 final dividends due to the federation to pay for petrol subsidy, TheCable can report.

The president also approved the suspension of the payment of 2024 interim dividends to the federation in order to augment NNPC’s cash flow.

In addition, the national oil company told the president it will be unable to remit taxes and royalties to the federation account for now because of the subsidy payments, which it termed “subsidy shortfall/FX differential”.

An NNPC forecast seen by the newspaper showed that the cumulative petrol subsidy bill from August 2023 will hit N6.884 trillion by December 2024 — leaving the national oil company unable to remit N3.987 trillion in taxes and royalties to the federation account.

TheCable could not confirm the total amount of dividends to be withheld or suspended.

NNPC is expected to pause the payment of interim dividends for eight months this year — from May to December.

Interim dividends — based on inflow projections — are usually remitted monthly into the federation account and shared by the three tiers of government while the final dividends are paid at the end of the year after reconciliation.

Under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the NNPC is obligated to pay taxes and royalties as well as dividends to the federation, its sole shareholder.

‘SAVE OUR SOUL’

In June 2024, NNPC had cried out to Tinubu that the subsidy payments were negatively impacting its cash flow and it was struggling to remain a “going concern”.

The company said it might not be able to sustain petrol imports because of the ballooning subsidy bill, which it blamed on “forex pressure”.

TheCable understands that Mele Kyari, the group CEO of NNPC, informed the president that when subsidy was removed in June 2023, it led to monthly savings of N400 billion to the federation.

This, he said, enabled the company to remit its taxes and royalties totalling N2.032 trillion into a sequestered account at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as at January 2024.

Kyari said the development was short-lived with the devaluation of the naira which led to month-on-month escalation in the NAFEX exchange rate.

In August 2023, NNPC moved from surplus to negative in fuel importation costs, incurring a subsidy bill of N52.73 billion.

This increased to N57.59 billion in September and N212.28 billion in October before ballooning to N665.60 billion in November, when exchange rate had more than doubled from the time subsidy was removed.

The bill fell slightly to N537.66 billion in December before hitting a new high of N693.67 billion in January 2024.

The bill dropped to N592.09 billion the following month and N497.39 billion in March before rising again to N833.68 billion in April, forcing Kyari to send an SOS to the president.

He said the situation had continued to exert “undue pressure” on the NNPC, leading to its inability to remit royalties and taxes into the federation account.

Kyari further said national energy security was being threatened as the NNPC might not be able to sustain petrol imports “beyond July 2024”.

ALL EFFORTS NOT WORKING

In making his case to the president, Kyari said NNPC had implemented a number of strategies between August 2023 and April 2024 but the situation was getting out of hand.

The strategies included improving oil production by fighting theft and vandalism, debt rescheduling/forward sales, payment deferrals to suppliers and contractors, deferrals of non-critical projects, and debt recovery.

However, the situation was still not looking good as projections showed a consistent increase in cash flow deficit mainly because of the exchange rate.

Whereas an estimated N3.987 trillion in taxes and royalties will be due the federation account by December 2024, NNPC said it will still be owed N2.897 trillion after reconciliation of its obligations and subsidy shortfall.

Kyari requested that Tinubu should approve the utilisation of the final dividends due the federation for 2023 and deferment of the remaining interim dividends for 2024 to defray the subsidy costs.

The president approved Kyari’s request on June 6, 2024, TheCable understands.

FINALLY, AN ADMISSION OF ‘SUBSIDY’

When TheCable reported in August 2023 that Tinubu was mulling the return of subsidy, Ajuri Ngelale, his spokesman, immediately issued statement to deny the story, saying there was no going back on the new policy.

However, in official communication between NNPC and the president, the word “subsidy” is now liberally used.

It is thought that the government of the All Progressives Congress (APC) seeks to distance itself from the use of the term because “subsidy scam” was one of the campaign weapons it used to dislodge the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from power in 2015.

The Muhammadu Buhari administration used “under recovery” in place of “subsidy”, although it started using “subsidy” liberally years later.

The official position of the Tinubu administration remains that “subsidy is gone” — although NNPC projects that it will gulp at least over N5 trillion this year alone.

Petrol subsidy was removed in June 2023 when the exchange rate was N463/$ but it is now about N1,500/$, while crude oil prices have also been high, thereby making it a “doubly whammy” for NNPC.

To keep petrol price within the N600-N700 per litre range, NNPC uses a “derived FX rate” .

The gap between that rate and the official rate is the subsidy/FX differential.

The Federal Government has threatened to sanction higher institutions that fail to submit lists of students admitted immediately after matriculation.

This was revealed in a memo ‘CLARIFICATION ON DISCLOSURE OF ADMITTED CANDIDATES OUTSIDE CAPS( 2017-DATE)’ by the Jamb Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) obtained by Channels Television.

The initiative, according to JAMB’s Public Communications Advisor, Fabian Benjamin, is one of the recommendations made by a committee set up by the Federal Government to combat fake degree racketeering in the country.

According to the memo, institutions are to “regularly submit their matriculation lists to the Federal Ministry of Education not later than three months after matriculation ceremonies.”

The list is expected to be submitted through the dedicated channel of JAMB.

“The Board has observed a large number of candidates thronging its offices to resolve issues related to the disclosure of candidates admitted outside the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) from 2017 to date. While we appreciate the enthusiasm, we must correct the misconception that the focus is on candidates’ actions. The true emphasis lies with the institutions, which must disclose all candidates admitted outside CAPS before the August 31st, 2024 deadline.

“This directive requires immediate attention and compliance. We urge institutions to carefully review our initial letter and ensure full compliance, as failure to disclose will result in severe consequences. Candidates are also reminded not to accept admissions outside CAPS.

“The Board reiterate that candidates not disclosed by institutions would not be entertained. The Board will not tolerate any condonement of undisclosed admissions moving forward.”

The development comes after the Federal Government set up an Inter-Ministerial Investigative Committee on Degree Certificate Milling, to probe the activities of certificate racketeers following an investigative report published by Daily Nigerian which exposed the activities of fake degree mills in the Benin Republic.

In a similar development, a memo addressed to the JAMB on July 15, 2024, the education ministry said, “You may recall that following the publication of allegations of certificate racketeering involving some foreign institutions, especially in Cotonou, Benin Republic, and other countries, the ministry constituted an inter-ministerial committee to investigate the allegations to find lasting solutions.

“The committee has submitted its report and the Honourable Minister of Education has approved its recommendations for implementation.

“In that regard, I hereby convey the request of the honourable minister for the implementation of the following recommendations of the committee:

“Enforce the mandatory requirement for all tertiary institutions in Nigeria to exclusively conduct their admissions processes through the Central Admissions Processing System under the auspices of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board; mandate all tertiary institutions in Nigeria to regularly submit their matriculation lists to the Federal Ministry of Education not later than three months after matriculation ceremonies through the dedicated channel of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

“You are kindly requested to implement the above recommendations and furnish the ministry with implementation updates.”

Channels had on Thursday, reported how the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), said a total of 54 corps members who were illegally mobilised by the University of Calabar, had been demobilised.

This is in addition to the earlier 101 certificates that were recently voided by the scheme, making a total of 178.

An investigation by a Daily Nigerian reporter Umar Audu revealed how he obtained a degree within six weeks, after which returned to Nigeria and embarked on the mandatory one-year NYSC service.

The investigation led to FG placing a ban on the accreditation and evaluation of degrees from Benin Republic and Togo.

The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman then vowed to flush out holders of fake degrees from the Nigerian educational system.

The Economic Community of West African States Parliament is stepping up diplomatic efforts to prevent Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso from leaving the regional bloc.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, confirmed that parliamentary diplomacy mechanisms are being deployed to engage the three nations, emphasising the importance of unity within ECOWAS.

He spoke in an interview on Saturday, August 17, 2024, with newsmen in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on the sidelines of a meeting of the parliament’s Joint Committee on Administration, Finance, Budget, Public Accounts, Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research, of which he is Chairman.

Kalu assured that letters had been sent to the governments of the concerned nations, and visits by parliamentary representatives would soon follow.

He expressed confidence that dialogue would lead to their reintegration into the regional body.

“There are already mechanisms in place, through what is called parliamentary diplomacy, to reach out to them.

“Letters have been sent to them, and very soon, some of us will start visiting those countries to engage the heads of government.

“We will tell them, for instance, that, granted, maybe they were offended by one or two things, but let us sit down again and discuss,” the deputy speaker stressed.

Kalu also noted that even in a worst-case scenario where the three countries proceed with their exit, ECOWAS’s financial stability would not be at risk.

He highlighted the organisation’s multiple revenue streams, including the Community Levy and contributions from development agencies.

“There are many other sources. So, we want to make sure that we streamline it and know where monies are coming from.

“If these are not enough, we will increase because there are so many development agencies, there are so many people who are interested in the sub-region.

“There are multiple ways of raising funds for the parliament, as well as the community,” he said.

In addition to addressing the potential exits, the ECOWAS Parliament is pushing for reforms to strengthen legislative independence.

Kalu, who also chairs the country’s House of Representatives Constitutional Review Committee, said that the laws governing ECOWAS need updating to reflect the changing political landscape.

The proposed amendments would bolster the separation of powers and enhance the credibility of the institution on the international stage.

“Rightly put, we need to amend the Supplementary Act.

“The protocols that brought the ECOWAS Commission and ECOWAS Parliament into existence need to be overhauled.

“This is because these laws are not cast in stones; Indeed, no law is cast in stone”, the two-term lawmaker (APC-Abia, Bende Constituency) added.

Since January 28, 2024, when the military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger announced their decision to withdraw from ECOWAS, the regional body has attempted to negotiate their return through sanctions relief and invitations to technical meetings.

However, these attempts have been met with silence.

Victor Osimhen is set to snub Chelsea and wait for long-time Paris Saint-Germain, who are now ready to make a final decision on his transfer, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The Blues have been seeking the signature of the Nigeria international all summer but were initially rebuffed by Napoli, with the 2022/23 Serie A champions insisting that his £113m release clause must be paid in full.

The 25-year-old is said to be ranking prominently on their wish list to lead their line during the 2024/25 season.

The Lagos-born is one of the most sought-after strikers in Europe, having been linked with moves to Chelsea, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, and Liverpool, among others, following impressive seasons with Napoli.

Despite the departure of Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid, PSG remained silent on their pursuit of Osimhen, being also reluctant to meet the hefty £113m asking price for the striker and were happy with the duo Goncalo Ramos and Randal Kolo Muani.

Osimhen was believed to be keen to test himself in the Premier League after making a name for himself in Serie A with Napoli and in Ligue 1 with Lille, whose rivals Paris Saint-Germain were formerly thought to be Chelsea’s main contenders.

However, according to journalist Florian Plettenberg—via The Sun—Osimhen instead has his heart set on joining the French champions, who could now reignite their interest due to a serious injury to one of their strikers.

PSG are expected to rekindle their search for a new striker before the transfer window closes after Goncalo Ramos sustained a severe ankle sprain 20 minutes into Les Parisiens’ opening Ligue 1 game against Le Havre on Friday.

The Portuguese will be out for around three months following surgery, and Osimhen is prepared to wait until the ‘eleventh hour’ to seal his dream move to Paris.

With the latest development, Chelsea’s proposed triple swap deal for the Nigerian has supposedly been plunged into fresh doubt.

Osimhen has amassed 76 goals and 18 assists in 133 matches for Napoli in all competitions since 2022, but he has been frozen out of the squad after it was reported that he requested to leave this summer.

Antonio Conte’s side began their 2024-25 Serie A campaign with a 0-0 draw at the Stadio Bentegodi on Sunday against Hellas Verona.