Petroleum marketers have said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has opened its reserves across the federation to end the lingering fuel scarcity.

The National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola and Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Hilly-Harry, disclosed this in a separate statement after meeting with NNPCL on Saturday.

Fashola said his members will meet on Monday to join NNPLC to end the fuel scarcity.

He further urged Nigerians not to engage in panic buying of fuel as the product will be available nationwide.

“We are officially meeting with other marketers on Monday. We are working closely with NNPC.

“The Monday meeting is for our National Executive Council. After the meeting, we will reach out to the NNPC. We talk with them every day.

“The meetings we have been having with the NNPC are in collaboration, which we have been doing.

“If you notice, yesterday (Friday), NNPC opened up their reserves in all the depots throughout the federation. We are working with them to ensure that everywhere is wet so this thing (scarcity) can disappear,” he said.

On his part, Hilly-Harry said the meeting between NNPLC and marketers had helped present a solution to the fuel scarcity.

According to him, queues have started easing off in Abuja during the weekend.

“The good news is that this is a new reality. It will bring better solutions because the result will be fantastic when you have NNPCL doing what they must do, and we also do what we must do.

“If you go to Abuja today (Saturday), you will see that the queues have eased off”, he stated.

DAILY POST recalls that for weeks, Nigerians had continued to battle fuel scarcity despite NNPCL’s assurance of the product availability.

Katsina State Governor, Dikko Radda, has alleged that some security personnel and government officials have exploited the insecurity situation in Nigeria for personal gain, turning it into a lucrative business venture.

He made this revelation during an appearance on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Friday, citing this as a major obstacle to ending the scourge of banditry and insecurity in the country.”

He said, “Now it has turned out to be a business venture. A business venture for the criminals, some people who are in government; and some people who are in security outfits, and some people who are responsible for the day-to-day activities of their people.

“These are so many reasons why we are unable to bring banditry to an end.”

Many people relate the insecurity to politics. But Governor Radda claims that poverty and injustice are important motivators.

The governor continued: ”The issue of the hypothesis behind political motive as responsible for banditry is not true.”

According to him, many youths in the north are recruited into banditry with mere N500.

As part of moves to tackle the region’s insecurity, some northern governors were on a trip to the US. Though they came under heavy criticism for the meeting with many wondering why it was not held in Nigeria, Radda has said they were only invited to the parley.

“The meeting was not at the instance of the selected governors of northern states but it was at the instance of the United States Institute of Peace. They were the people who invited us; they hosted us for the meeting. We were invited to sit with them so that we could bring about lasting solutions to the problems that are affecting our people,” he said.

Governor Radda said the trip gave the governors fresh insights into insecurity in the region.

The appointment of Finidi George as the new head coach of the Super Eagles was a huge surprise in some quarters.

Of course, it was apparent that the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, was leaning towards an indigenous coach for the national team.

It is almost a pendulum with these appointments. When a local coach is not performing well with the Eagles, there will be calls for a foreigner. A yearning for a more tactically savvy handler.

When the foreigner fails – like Jose Peseiro did – the argument flips. You begin to hear talk of us encouraging Nigerian coaches, how they know these players more than anyone else and of course, the chance of harvesting talents from the Nigerian Premier Football League, NPFL.

The two names that were expected to be picked from this time around were Finidi and Emmanuel Amuneke.

A lot of observers expected the NFF to appoint Amuneke.

He won the hearts of the nation as coach of Nigeria’s U17 team, leading them to glory at the FIFA U17 World Cup.

On the continent, he qualified Tanzania for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations – their first in nearly 40 years.

However, Amuneke’s record with Egypt’s Misr Lel Makkasa and Zambia’s Zanaco left much to be desired.

The 53-year-old also failed to help the Nigeria U20 team qualify for the AFCON in 2017.

But Ayodeji Adegbenro, a Sports Administrator, insists the NFF has made the right choice.

“Finidi is miles ahead of Amuneke. He has won the league with Enyimba, has two seasons CAF Champions League experience. He also assisted Peseiro for 20 months,” Adegbenro tells DAILY POST.

“Amuneke has failed at every coaching position since he won the U17 in 2015. He’s one of the major reasons we didn’t qualify for Qatar. He shouldn’t be anywhere near the Super Eagles job,” he added.

Many have argued that Finidi represents the debris of Peseiro’s time in charge.

Adegbenro explained, “If we wanted Peseiro’s shadow looming over us in the shape of Finidi, why didn’t we just keep the Portuguese?

“He wanted more money to stay. We couldn’t afford it.

“However, my point is that, given a choice between Finidi and Amuneke, Finidi is way better.”

It could also be that Amuneke did not have enough backers in the room where the decision was made.

An insider tells DAILY POST the story of how Amuneke seemingly bungled the Eagles’ chances of playing at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The source said: “He was drafted in by the Minister. On the morning of the second leg (against Ghana) in Abuja, he convinced Eguavoen to switch formation and play Osimhen as lone striker.

“Even though they trained with two strikers, Osimhen and Ighalo all week.”

All that is in the past. Looking to the future, Finidi has been saddled with the task of ensuring Nigeria qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

Already, the three-time African champions find themselves in third place in Group C of the qualifying series, behind Rwanda and South Africa.

Their next fixture will be at home against Bafana Bafana.

“I think the expectation is for him to navigate the World Cup qualifying group. That is his immediate assignment.

“Having said that, I expect the NFF to give him the same support they would have given a foreigner. Allow him to pick the assistants he will work with.

“You might not pay him as much as you’re paying the expatriates. But pay him well. And pay him when due.

“And do not undermine his position before the players he is supposed to manage. Very important,” Adegbenro added.

A Federal High Court in Kano has issued an order restraining the National Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Kano Electricity Distribution Company from implementing the new electricity tariff for Band A consumers.

The suit marked FHC/KN/CS/144/2024 was filed by Super Sack Company Limited and BBY Sacks Limited.

Others are Mama Sannu Industries Limited, Dala Foods Nigeria Limited, Tofa Textile Limited, and Manufacturers Association Of Nigeria Limited.

However, ruling on an ex-parte motion by Abubakar Mahmoud, counsel to the plaintiffs, the presiding judge, Abdullahi Liman, ordered NERC and KEDCO from going ahead with the impending tariff pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed before it.

The order also restrained the defendant from intimidating and threatening to disconnect the applicants’ electricity supply for non-acceptance of the new increased tariff.

In April, NERC approved an increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A classification.

With the new tariff, customers under the category, who receive 20 hours of electricity supply daily, would begin to pay N225 per kilowatt, starting from April 3 — up from N66.

The sudden hike has since been criticized by the House of Representatives and other stakeholders who have asked NERC to suspend the implementation of the new tariff.

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, provided insights into the NLC’s rationale behind proposing a monthly minimum wage of N615,000.

This was posted on the Nigeria Labour Congress X handle on Friday, 3rd May, 2024.

It wrote, ”It has become imperative at this point that we inform Nigerians who may not have known already the foundations upon which our initial demand for a N615,000 (Six Hundred and Fifteen Thousand Naira) new National Minimum Wage is based upon.

The figure was a product of a painstaking effort through which we captured the cost of living of Nigerian workers and masses in all parts of the country.

It was essentially an outcome of an independent research conducted by the NLC and TUC on the cost of meeting the primary needs of an average family around the country.

Our research was based on a family with both parents alive and four children without the burden of having other dependents with them.

A questionnaire was designed and sent to all the State Councils of NLC and TUC from where these questionnaires were sent to our members in all the Local government areas in the country to gather the monthly cost of living for the average family as described above.

Below is a summary of our findings and we hope that this will enable Nigerians understand what propels our demand so that better clarity is made to create better engagement around the ongoing National Minimum Wage negotiation process.

A cursory look at the table above shows that we have deliberately removed certain elements from the Basket used in calculations of this nature.

However, it should also be noted that we have not included things like expenditure on calls and data, offerings in churches and Mosques, community dues, entertainment, savings and Security etc.

These are therefore just for the bare necessities. It should be noted that we arrived at this figure before the increase in electricity tariff and the recent scarcity of Petrol across the nation leading to the appearance of long queues with attendant increased transport fares.

Any figure below this amount becomes a starvation wage and condemns Nigerian workers and their families to perpetual poverty.

We have to remember that the old one having expired on the 18th day of April, 2024, a new one is expected to have come into effect on the 19th day of April, 2024.

However, because of government’s inability to comply with the Law that demanded for negotiations for a new national minimum wage to have begun 6 (six) months before the expiration of the existing one, concluding the new one has become unfortunately delayed.

We are sure that our social partners would see our demonstration of understanding, sacrifice and reasonableness in our demands thus accepts this figure without much delay.

We also enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to implore the Government and Employers to meet our demands for the sake of justice, equity and national development.”

Elder statesman and leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Edwin Clark said former President Muhammadu Buhari imposed Abdullahi Adamu, a former Governor of Nasarawa State, as national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC despite his alleged corruption charges by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Clark stated this while speaking during an interview on Arise Television.

The elder statesman decried the freedom enjoyed by alleged corrupt politicians in the country.

He noted that nothing has so far been heard about 15 former governors and ministers who were dragged to court during the period when Nuhu Ribadu was the chairman of the EFCC.

Clark said, “In 2007, more than 15 former governors and ministers were charged to court during Ribadu’s time as the EFCC chairman.

“Some of them were charged to courts in Lagos, Abuja and so on. But after some time, some of these cases were not heard again.

“All we heard was that these same governors had been cleared to contest senatorial seats. Let me take a case of Abdullahi Adamu, who was the governor of Nasarawa State in 1999.

“He was charged to court for embezzling money from his state to the tune of N15 billion with other commissioners who were to be charged to court in Nasarawa State.

“Then after being charged to court he contested election to the Senate and he won and he has been there and nobody cared about him. Thereafter, former President Muhammadu Buhari imposed him as the National Chairman of the APC.

“We have many such people in the APC. Nobody heard about his trial again. He became an honest man and talked about corruption more than any other person,” he said.

THE streets of the world exploded on Wednesday as workers and students, marchers and protesters, sent May Day calls and, in several cities, clashes erupted over local needs and international concerns.

The streets of France, Greece, United States, Chile, Cuba and several cities around the globe, quaked over the Gaza War.

In Nigeria where abysmally low wages, fuel scarcity, a drowning currency and a run-away inflation ruled the waves, the primary international concern for the world-wide protests, was expressly stated. The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, and the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, made a joint declaration about the on-going genocide in the Palestine: “The UN mechanisms have unfortunately become undertakers and not life savers or peace-making.”

Echoing the universal calls on Workers day, the twin labour centres stated unequivocally: “ War does not benefit workers and the masses. It is mainly workers and the people that die in wars! These wars are therefore not for the protection of the people of the world and neither in our interests. It is purely driven by those who profit from wars- the bourgeoisies either in the West or in the East. We call for global peace and cessation of hostilities so that the killing of men and women and the massive suffering will end.”

This message of Nigerian trade unions was re-echoed in German cities with a youth in Berlin carrying the message: “The rich want war — the youth want a future.” Christening the 2024 May Day as “Revolutionary”, German workers displayed solidarity symbols with Palestinians and protested against Israeli violation of Palestinians right to life.

In Greece, thousands of workers marched through Athens bearing twin demands: pay rises that would bring wages to average European standards, and against the war in Palestine. They massed on the Greek parliament waving Palestinian flags, singing solidarity songs and letting balloons fly.

In the United Kingdom, workers marched on the Trade Department in London and blockaded arms factories in Lancashire, Wales and Scotland, demanding that arms export licences to Israel should be revoked. There were pickets at Barclays and BNY Mellon banks in Manchester for investing in Ebit System. The company produces 85 per cent of the land and air munitions used by the Israeli military. Members of the Palestine Action group which initiated the picketing said: “We will not tolerate genocide profiteers on our streets.”

In Cuba, the people practically emptied into the streets of Havana, at the foot of the giant statue of Jose Marti, the prophet of the South American independence movement. The Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, ICAP, stated at the rally: “We demand an end to genocide in Gaza, and Cuba’s removal from the false list of countries that sponsor terrorism.”

These twin demands resonated in some countries. In Nigeria, for instance, where Cuban Ambassador Miriam Morales Palmero on behalf of the international community addressed the May Day rally in Abuja, the Nigerian unions declared: “The economic embargo placed on the nation by the US is an unacceptable punishment for the citizens of Cuba as it seeks to restrict their ability to access the basic necessities of life. The US as the bastion of democratic expressions ought to show leadership in this direction so that the people of Cuba can breathe.”

Clashes broke out in some French cities. In Paris, the clashes led to a number of injuries. The victims included a dozen policemen. The workers led by the labour confederation, CGT, protested for better cost of living, reform of unemployment benefits and, against the genocide in Palestine.

Early morning May Day, pro-Israeli protesters launched attacks on the pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA, campus in an effort to overrun it.

On the eve of May Day, protesters set up barricades in Santiago, Chile and three persons were wounded by gunfire. On this, progressive President Gabriel Boric regretted: “We are normalising violence, we cannot allow criminal gangs to take over the streets of our country.” His words appeared to have sunk in as there were no untoward incidents during the May Day activities organised by the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, CUT.

In Istanbul, where thousands took on security forces with 210 persons detained, the protests were over inflation, demands for higher wages, labour rights and for a free Palestine.

The pro-worker Bolivian President, Luis Arce, who joined the workers march, announced a 5.8 per cent wage increase in the country.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former leader of the labour centre, CUT, announced tax cuts for the poor. He told Brazilians: “In our country, there will be no tax breaks to favour the richest, but to those who work and live off their wages.”

In Lebanon, the workers marched against the economic crises which had also involved banks insolvency, and against the genocide in the Palestine. The crowds poured into the streets of Sri Lanka, a country that declared bankruptcy two years ago. The protests mainly focused on rising prices, especially of electricity and higher taxes.

Some of the largest pro-Palestinians rallies on May Day took place in South Africa. Supporters of the ruling African National Congress, ANC, organised solidarity marches in the streets before heading to the Athlone Stadium where they joined the May Day rally hosted by party ally and, the largest labour centre, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, COSATU. President Cyril Ramaphosa , the country’s President and former scribe of the Mine Workers union, told the rally: “You as workers, need to join this fight to fight for those who are oppressed around the world. And today as South Africa, we have stood up for the rights of those in other parts of the world (who) are currently being subjected to torture, to violence and genocide.” He added: “And that is why as a country and yes, as an alliance, we have stood firm in our support for the people of Palestine. And that is why we say ‘we want Palestine to be free’.”

COSATU President, Zingiswa Losi, declared: “We are here standing in support of our government, of our movement, in support of the Palestinian cause. Our freedom, comrades, is not complete until the people of Palestine are free and they are liberated.”

Alongside Palestine, was the support for the people of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic better known as Western Sahara. Large portions of the country are occupied by Morocco in an attempt to recolonise the former Spanish colony. The Nigeria trade unions declared: “Humanity remains in bondage as long as the United Nations continues to allow the aberration by Morocco to continue.”

The strident 2024 May Day calls will continue, so long as portions of the human race face extinction.

Paid $500M To End Ajaokuta Steel Contract

The Minister of Steel Development, Alhaji Shuaib Abubakar on Thursday disclosed that the Federal Government paid the sum of $500 in order to terminate the concession agreement on Ajaokuta Steel Company.

The minister, who disclosed this during an interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on Steel Development in Abuja said the government was working assiduously to find a solution to the Ajaokuta Steel imbroglio.

He said, “It is a problem that has persisted for 45 years. We have gone to China to come and invest in the steel company including setting up a new plant and we have gone to seek financing”.

According to him, the challenges had changed as new technology had come up and there had been innovations and there had been discussions around it but it had not been finalised.

“Funding is a big challenge to the Ministry of Steel Development. Steel industry will be the bed rock of industrialization if we have proper funding.

“I am still at a stage where to find a solution to the Ajaokuta Steel Company.

On the $2 billion being requested to revive the moribund steel company, the minister said it was just a preliminary calculation, adding that the figure might not be up to that.

According to him, this is an estimate that may not be accurate at the last decimal point. It is just a process that will allow us to arrive at the right destination.

“The president has asked me to find a solution to Ajaokuta, so the figure will change pending the outcome of the technical audit.

“It’s clear to Nigeria that for this to happen we need funding and all the help we can get from the two chambers, this is why we need. I need all your support to make this a reality.”

Abubakar also disclosed that the nation spends $8 billion annually to import steel into the country, saying that it is in the best interest of Nigeria for the Ajaokuta Steel Company to work.

He noted that the revival of Ajaokuta Steel will cost money, and we have written a 10 year document for the revival. We will present the document to Mr President.

He said that it was in his own interest for Ajaokuta Steel to work, adding that he is from Kogi State and must push for such interest

Chairman, House Committee on Steel Development, Hon. Zainab Gimba, the urged the ministry to provide it with all the procurement process and other responses demanded by the committee

The committee said that Ajaokuta had remained a nightmare to many, adding that now that the minister had accepted to superintend over it, Nigeria expected more from him.

The Naira has resumed depreciation against the Dollar in the foreign exchange market.

FMDQ data showed that the Naira depreciated to N1402.67 per Dollar on Thursday from N1,390.96 on Tuesday.

This represents an N11.71 loss compared to the N1,390.96 recorded on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, at the parallel market, the Naira appreciated to N1340 per Dollar on Thursday from N1360 per Dollar on Tuesday.

DAILY POST reports that the National President of the Association of Bureaux De Change of Nigeria, Aminu Gwadabe, said its plans to harmonize the retail end of foreign exchange will stabilize the Naira in the forex market.