The Federal Government may consider the suspension of the $56.7bn peer-to-peer cryptocurrency market after a crucial meeting between the Securities and Exchange Commission, and digital asset operators scheduled for Monday.
Nigeria’s volume of crypto transactions grew by nine per cent year-over-year to $56.7bn between July 2022 and June 2023, according to the 2023 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report by Chainalysis, a United States of America-based international blockchain analysis firm.
The latest move by the SEC signals a broader effort by the Federal Government to tighten regulatory oversight within the cryptocurrency space amidst growing concerns over illicit activities and the manipulation of the naira exchange rate.
Earlier this week, the Central Bank of Nigeria had stopped major fintech firms from onboarding new customers in an ongoing audit of their Know-Your-Customer process. Following the regulatory action, major fintech firms, including Opay and PalmPay, sent emails to their customers on Friday, warning them against trading in cryptocurrency or any virtual currency on their apps, and threatened to block any accounts found engaging in such activities.
2M
455
So This Happened (216) Reviews Policeman Beaten By Mob In Lagos, Others | Punch
The threat to block accounts has faced heavy criticism, particularly from the 33.4 million individuals actively trading cryptocurrencies; many of whom rely on cryptocurrency trading as their primary source of income.
However, Sunday PUNCH learnt that during the proposed Monday meeting, the government may choose to announce a temporary halt in the P2P crypto trading to enable it come up with a comprehensive set of rules for effective regulation of the space.
Other sources privy to the meeting said the government might choose to engage the crypto stakeholders on a new set of rules that could be deployed to better regulate the space.
They ruled out the possibility of imposing a temporary halt on P2P crypto trading. As of Sunday, details of the exact decision the government might take during or after the meeting with the crypto operators remained sketchy.
However, operators in the crypto market confirmed the meeting, saying the meeting would bother on the current development in the space. The Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria, in a notice posted on its X handle on Saturday, noted that the meeting had been at the instance of the new Director General of the SEC, Dr Emotimi Agama.
BICCoN said, “The newly appointed Director General of the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed an industry-wide meeting with the Nigeria blockchain community. The meeting will be facilitated by the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria.”
Officially, the SEC has yet to confirm the Monday meeting, but sources close to the commission confirmed the meeting on Saturday. They, however, said that ‘nothing was cast in stone yet’.
In 2021, the CBN had restricted banks and other financial institutions from operating accounts for cryptocurrency service providers. However, in December 2023, the financial regulator lifted the ban and announced a reversal of the policy.
Fresh concerns emerged in February over the activities of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, on its peer-to-peer platform, such as implementing a price cap on USDT trading.
Authorities said those activities contributed to the devaluation of the naira and destabilised Nigeria’s economy.
Worried over the significant volume of transactions through Binance Nigeria, the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, stated that $26bn had passed through the platform over the past year from ‘unidentified sources’.
Amid the crackdown, the crypto exchange ceased all naira services, including deposits, withdrawals, and trading pairs, starting in early March 2024.
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, the Chairman of BICCoN, Lucky Uwakwe, said that the group would be seeking to reach a middle ground with the regulator, which had so far this year introduced stiffer guidelines for digital asset operators, as well as a proposed increase in the registration fees.
Ukakwe said the meeting “is for us to try and bring the industry to be compliant and remove bad actors who abuse technology, especially the concern raised by the government on those that use the technology for market manipulation of naira.
“We also hope that innovation in the industry is encouraged to enable the industry to gain more foreign inflow that will aid the current administration’s drive for foreign investment into the nation as seen in other countries such as China and the UAE, and not to stifle the industry.”
On his part, the President of Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria, Obinna Iwuno, told one of our correspondents that there was no official communication on the ban of cryptocurrency transactions from regulators. He said, “There is a whole lot going on. It is not just clear the direction as we speak, but hopefully, on Monday, we will get to have a position, “What we have done to solidify our position with the Nigerian government is that local exchanges stopped their naira services. The government raised an alarm that cryptocurrency was responsible for naira depreciation; operators stopped,” Iwuno explained.
The ‘Know Your Customer’ compliance level of fintechs has also been a source of worry for regulators. This involves verifying a customer’s identity and understanding their financial activity to prevent financial crimes, such as money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraud. According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System’s fraud watch report, fraud losses increased by 496.96 per cent over the past five years, and financial institution customers had lost N59.33bn between 2019 and 2023.
The report read in part, “The amount lost to fraud has increased over the past five years, along with the growth of financial transactions in the digital payments sector.”
A source from one of the major fintechs in the country, who preferred anonymity, disclosed to Sunday PUNCH that the CBN was not declaring cryptocurrency illegal, but was rather focusing on addressing regulatory and identity management issues.
“Some of the expectations from the meeting would be to have a more robust and safer ecosystem that will prevent fraud, and protect the funds of customers.
“The CBN is not saying that cryptocurrency is illegal, but there have been issues surrounding regulations and identity management. Those are the grey areas that the CBN is trying to address. They don’t want a situation where people are getting into Nigerian systems to defraud others, or engage in any negative activity that could harm innocent Nigerians.
“It is more or less about finding a way to make this thing work better. Sometimes, people can simply create a virtual account, and one won’t even know who is behind the account. So, it’s really about ensuring end-to-end verification, from the first line of payment to the very end, with the account holders’ identities attached to it. I think it is necessary at this time,” the source explained.
Nigeria’s volume of crypto transactions grew by nine per cent year-over-year to $56.7bn between July 2022 and June 2023, according to the 2023 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report by Chainalysis. Despite Nigeria now leading in peer-to-peer exchange volume, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for only 2.3 per cent of the global cryptocurrency transaction volume between July 2022 and June 2023, making it the smallest crypto economy in the world.
In an interview with Techpoint Africa, Youssef said most of the P2P transactions did not happen on Binance or any other platform, but on social platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and ‘everywhere on the streets’.
“Most peer-to-peer (transactions) don’t happen on Binance P2P, NoOnes, or any of those other platforms. They happen on WhatsApp, Telegram, coffee shops, and everywhere on the streets. That is where most peer-to-peer is happening. I think most of that is peer-to-peer volume. They are trying to cover up too, because Nigerians are very crafty and have ways of using things for reasons other than what they were created for,” he maintained.
In March, the SEC, under the former DG, Lamido Yuguda, revealed plans to issue updated guidelines for the operations of digital assets and virtual asset service providers in the country, saying the new guidelines would ensure criminals did not gain entry into the country’s capital market.
The SEC notice, dated March 4, 2024, partly read, “The SEC has also developed a new AML/CFT/CPF onboarding manual for licensing, registration, and ongoing screening of digital and VASP beneficial owners to ensure that criminals are not registered as operators in the capital market. The SEC is ready to interface with genuine VASPs based on these clear rules and regulations.”
The SEC also proposed that for virtual (crypto) asset service providers, ‘no person or entity shall provide any virtual asset service unless registered with the Commission; a company seeking to operate as a VASP shall be incorporated and have an office in Nigeria. Its Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director or its equivalent shall be resident in Nigeria.”
When questioned about the SEC’s proposed guidelines in the crypto sector at the last Capital Market Committee meeting that he chaired, the former SEC DG said investor protection was a driving motive.
“We want to ensure that investors who decide to get involved in digital asset products are well protected. We want a platform where certain capital market functions are duly segregated. If you are an exchange, we don’t want you to also be a custodian, and such.
“Also, we are very mindful that AML/CFT considerations are very important when one is dealing with crypto assets. We want to make sure it is not money laundering or funds used to promote terrorist financing,” the former SEC DG said.
The Chief Operating Officer of Fintech Association of Nigeria, Babatunde Obrimah, told Sunday PUNCH, “I am not privy to the circulars sent to the Fintechs, and I am not aware that crypto is illegal. The meeting will put things into perspective.”
“I think the issue is that to trade, one must be licensed by the SEC. So, if one is trading without a license, then one is technically illegal. But, we should talk after the Monday meeting, instead of speculating,” he added.
In March, the SEC proposed a 400 per cent increase in crypto firm registration fees. However, checks by Sunday PUNCH, on Saturday, showed that the proposed guidelines had been deleted from the SEC’s website. It is unclear when the PDF was removed from the regulator’s website.
The proposed amendments to the rules for crypto issuers, exchanges, and custody platforms include hikes to all supervision fees. Instead of a N100,000 application fee and a N30m registration fee, the SEC proposed N300,000 with every application, N1m as a processing fee, and N150m as registration fee, with the sponsored individual fees raised to N300,000 from N100,000.
An economist, Aliyu Ilias, emphasised the need for urgency in addressing the deficiencies within the fintech ecosystem, citing the ongoing struggle of the apex bank to effectively regulate them, as illustrated by the recent case involving Binance.
Ilias argued that in the dynamic tech industry, regulatory clampdowns often led companies to exploit loopholes, stating, “Even the Know Your Customer requirement proves insufficient.”
Another industry stakeholder, who is also the founder and coordinator of Blockchain Nigeria User Group, Chuta Chimezie, expressed hope that the Monday meeting would ‘help the industry significantly, and improve the relationship between regulators and policymakers’.
“The last few months have been nothing short of wars. as the CBN keeps clamping down on P2P platforms,” he lamented.
Nigerians are faced with what could be best described as a double whammy of fuel scarcity and poor electricity supply that left them frustrated and angry as they struggled to go about their daily lives.
From Lagos to Sokoto, Borno to Enugu and Abuja to Cross River, the story was the same – it was a harrowing experience for Nigerians across the length and breadth of the country as long queues resurfaced in filling stations, following scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol.
Commercial and vehicular activities were grounded as nationwide fuel scarcity took its toll on economic activities in the country. Travellers and commuters were left stranded at bus stops and motor parks because commercial motorists were unable to operate as long queues of vehicles formed at filling stations in different locations in a desperate bid to purchase fuel.
Many stations in Lagos did not open for business as petrol was being sold for as high as N900 per litre from the former price of N600 or thereabouts.
In Sokoto, some filling stations sold the product for as high as N1, 500 per litre while black marketers sell between N2, 000 and N3, 000 per litre.
Findings by Vanguard indicate that many motorists and other users were compelled by circumstances to patronise black market operators who were selling in jerry cans.
The development saw transporters increase fares by 100 per cent to cover the high cost of petrol.
For instance, in Lagos, commuters paid N2, 000 from Mile 12 to Mile 2, a distance that used to cost them N1, 000, while others paid N1, 000 from CMS to Mile 2, which previously cost about N500.
There were also indications that the scarcity may have led to a hike in the prices of foodstuff, especially pepper.
A Lagos resident, Adedeji Abiodun, put it this way: “It will also interest you to know that the scarcity of petrol not only affects transportation, foodstuff prices have also skyrocketed, especially pepper.
“In the last week, sellers have been complaining about the hike in the cost of transporting their goods.
“My experience in this weird week due to scarcity of petrol and power outage has been terrible.
“Transportation fares doubled because fuel scarcity made most drivers park their buses.
“And for the few drivers that were able to get PMS, they increased fares. However, I had no choice but to board their vehicles because I had to get to work. In just three days, I spent my two weeks transport fare.
“As regards electricity, we hardly have four hours of light in a day in my area. Most people now depend on fuel for domestic use and businesses.
“Yet, what amazes me is how we are paying bills as if we are in band A or B. This saddens my heart.”
A former Commissioner in Sokoto State, who was seen grappling to have a gallon of petrol for his car, blamed petroleum marketers in the state for the chaos.
“I am 74 years old but throughout my entire life, I have never witnessed this kind of fuel scarcity”, he said.
“Many people believe the situation was worsened because marketers were allegedly hoarding the product to create artificial scarcity and tension in the state.
“Government should wake up from slumber and deal with the situation even if it warrants revocating their C of Os to save the state from the shackles of the greed of few individuals.”
No succor
Meanwhile, succor may not come quickly going by a statement credited to the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN.
The association had, on Monday, said the petrol scarcity could take more than two weeks to normalise.
IPMAN, through its Public Relations Officer, Chinedu Ukadike, said the product was not available in the country.
He said it has become a bit of a challenge to source the product because most refineries in Europe are undergoing turnaround maintenance.
Subsidy
Recall that President Bola Tinubu, during his inauguration on May 29, 2023, stopped payment of subsidy on PMS which sent the price skyrocketing from N185 to N600 or thereabouts per litre.
Today, findings by Sunday Vanguard reveal that petrol is sold for between N900 and N1, 300 per litre in the country.
The removal of petrol subsidy has impacted negatively on the socio-economic development of the country.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 133 million Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor out of over 200 million citizens.
The high cost of living and other economic issues have combined to worsen the current situation, leading to an increase in the country’s poverty index.
The lack of job opportunities is at the core of the high poverty levels.
High inflation has also taken a toll on household’s welfare and price increases have pushed more Nigerians into poverty.
Electricity woes
Expectedly, the petrol situation has compounded the woes of poor electricity supply as most Nigerians could no longer fuel their generating sets to power their homes and businesses.
Despite the zero improvement in power supply, the Federal Government, last month, removed subsidies on electricity for those in the Band A category which hiked tariffs by 300%.
According to the Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Musiliu Oseni, the subsidy removal had become expedient because government could no longer sustain subsidy on electricity and had to devise ways to cut down the about N2.9tn that would be spent on power subsidy this year.
However, analysts said no country could build an economy by removing subsidies for the poor and raising taxes at the same time.
There is no gainsaying that one of the factors that have hindered economic development in the country is epileptic electricity and the country’s glaring incompetence in managing the sector for the collective welfare of citizens.
Nigeria has struggled with poor power supply for decades, a challenge that is estimated to cost businesses about $29 billion yearly, according to the World Bank.
The country has the lowest access to electricity globally, with about 92 million persons out of the country’s 200 million population lacking access to power, according to the Energy Progress Report 2022 released by Tracking SDG 7.
This year alone, the national grid had collapsed at three different times – February 4, March 28 and April 15.
This contributed significantly to electricity disruption across the country and saw electricity generation nosedived to 2,775 megawatts, MW, a 32.3 per cent decline from 4,099.87 MW.
The development has forced many Nigerians resort to a cheaper alternative source of electricity, in this case, solar power.
In most households and business places, and even government establishments, public power supply is being replaced with solar energy.
Already, the hike in tariff amid the epileptic power supply is inciting conflicts between the electricity distribution companies’ staff and aggrieved consumers across the country.
Ultimatum
To give Nigerians some reprieve, the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, on Wednesday, gave the FG a seven-day ultimatum to reverse the increase in electricity tariff.
President of the unions, Mr Joe Ajaero and Mr Fetus Osifo, in a joint speech to mark the 2024 Workers’ Day in Abuja, expressed dissatisfaction over the epileptic power situation in Nigeria.
According to them, “it is unethical to force Nigerians to pay higher tariffs for non-existent electricity.”
Frustrated
Our correspondents, who monitored the situation in different states, observed that many of the filling stations have been forced to close due to a lack of petrol.
While commuters are groaning over the spike in cost of transport fares, transporters expressed frustration in getting the product.
“I’ve been queuing for hours just to get a few litres of fuel. It’s ridiculous that in this day and age, we still have to deal with fuel scarcity. The government needs to do something about this”, said Emma Obi, a frustrated Abuja resident.
Another commuter, Usman Garba, expressed his grievances after waiting under the bridge in Karu for over two hours trying to get a cab or bus to the Wuse/Berger area of the FCT before trekking the nearly six kilometers distance.
Another commuter, who simply gave her name as Agnes, had no choice but to pay higher than what she used to pay on transport fares.
She said: “Already, the money I had with me cannot get me lunch at work. On getting to the road, the transportation fare is now doubled. This means the limited money I have will be affected again, which boils down to the fact that what we are going through is unbearable.”
On her part, Mrs Aisha Mohammed said she will have to trek the two kilometers distance from the junction where she will be dropped to her house because the money meant for motorbike had been spent on plying the main road.
She begged that the situation be put under control soon because it won’t be easy for people to get to where they earn their living.
Horrific
A driver, Sunday Adah, who had been waiting in one of the queues, described the situation as horrific and blamed government for being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.
“This government is wicked and always bent on making us suffer. I do not understand if they enjoy seeing us suffer. I have been in this queue for more than four hours and I have not been able to get fuel”, Adah said.
“I know how much I would have made already but for the time that I have spent here. I do not know what the problem is again.
“They said fuel subsidy, now they have removed fuel subsidy and made us buy the fuel at outrageous rates, yet we cannot even buy with ease”.
Bad to worse
Reacting, an Abuja-based football entrepreneur, Ese Onayomake, described the situation as tough.
“Seriously, I won’t tell you lies, this fuel scarcity has not been funny. To make matters worse, the light situation has been very terrible”, Onayomake told Vanguard.
“The electricity company has caused me a lot of trouble with their erratic power supply. All the perishable things in my fridge got damaged, including fresh tomatoes, fresh pepper, fish, meat and vegetables. The heat at night is simply unbearable.
“The hike in fuel price drove transport fares to the sky. For instance, Area 1, Garki Abuja to Maitama which used to cost me like N500 suddenly jumped to N1, 500.
“The cost of things in the market keeps going higher. In fact, the situation in the country is going from bad to worse by the day”.
No light
In addition to the fuel scarcity, residents also bemoaned prolonged power outages, with electricity supply being sporadic at best.
Many areas of Abuja, Lagos and other parts of the country have experienced blackouts for hours on end, making it difficult for residents to work, study, or even carry out basic household chores.
A site engineer, Joseph Edozie, who resides around Asokoro, said: “I was optimistic when I heard about the increase in electricity tariffs, thinking that we would finally have reliable power supply, but nothing has changed.”
Abdul Mubarak, a resident of Wuse in Abuja, said: “We still experience frequent power outages and sometimes go for days without electricity.
“It’s frustrating to pay more for a service that is not being adequately provided. We were promised 20 hours of power supply with the new tariff, but that has not been the case.”
A business owner at Kubwa, Elizabeth Cosmas, said: “These people started this tariff increment without honouring their words.
“We stay hours without electricity. In a day, we can stay for 10-15hours without light here in Kubwa. When our unit finishes and we pay for another one, the increased tariff is still reflected. I wish this government could be more sincere to its citizens.”
Horrible experience
For Madam Doris Ndukwe, a restaurant operator in Ipaja, Lagos, it has been a horrible experience.
“I lost a lot and almost shut down my shop at a point. Just a few days ago, the meat I bought for N40, 000 was damaged as a result of non-availability of power.
“For three days, I tried using a generator but stopped as N3, 000 fuel lasted for two hours only, each day. My daughter tried using ice blocks to chill our drinks but that was even worse as they melted almost instantly.
“As you may know, we have not had light for almost three weeks in this area. Our cable was damaged and efforts to fix it have so far failed.
“We have seen hell; I have observed that light is life. I bathe five times every night and my grandson cries all night every night due to too much heat.”
Unproductive
Also speaking, Mr Usman Yakubu decried the high transport fares.
“It’s weird. A place where the fare used to be 500 is now 700. This is a fare that used to be 300 pre-Tinubu era. To worsen the situation, there was a blackout almost throughout the week. In the last one week, there has been no fuel and light”, Yakubu said.
“I find it difficult to sleep at night because of the intense heat and mosquitoes feeding on my body. So far, the experience has been harrowing and as it goes, ‘there was a country.’”
Speaking in the same vein, Mr Abubakar Ibrahim described the week as unproductive.
He said: “For a week now, I have been on leave, meaning I have been spending more time at home and with my family. “Surprisingly, since last Monday, we only had electricity yesterday. At the same time, it’s been difficult to get petrol to power the house, making it hard to self-generate power. It’s been a hectic and unproductive week.”
A commercial motorcyclist, on his part, noted: “There are about 100 filling stations across Sokoto metropolis but as I am talking to you now, less than five are selling fuel to the public.
“Sokoto State government has to come to the aid of the residents before the situation deteriorates beyond what we are witnessing today.”
Businesses grounded
For Chief Johnson Okolo, the President, Osakwe Industrial Cluster, Awada, near Onitsha, Anambra State, scarcity of fuel and lack electricity supply are twin issues killing business and aggravating the suffering of the masses.
He said that the two issues make Nigeria look like a “cursed” nation with negative impact to all aspects of the lives of Nigerians.
“Once there is no electricity supply, activities of the people and industrial activities are affected. Once there is no fuel, business activities and cost of living of the people is aggravated”, Okolo said.
“So any responsible government should take these two issues that generally affect the masses seriously to avert aggravation of the sufferings of the people.
“You can see that here in my company, and everywhere, Osakwe Industrial Cluster everything is grounded. Production is grounded because there is no electricity supply.”
Mr. Ambassador Onoja, Executive Director, Next Generation Youth Initiative, said his experience was hellish.
“It is a hellish experience. This week, they literally killed all Nigerians. If I tell you what I have lost within this period, you will weep for me”, Onoja said.
“I have not been able to do my work. No light to work and I cannot afford to buy petrol. It has been hell.
“I have been reduced to nothing. I cannot get help from government, and even the nearest neighbor cannot give you help because he also needs help.
“Even getting money to feed my family is impossible because I cannot do what will fetch me money.”
Executive Director, Elohim Development Foundation, Dr. Victoria Daor, also speaking, said: “For me, the last one week has been very trying on my mental health, considering the fact that, before now, the pump price of fuel was quite high but we were managing to cope, but, right now, we cannot even get it.
“It has affected movement, it has affected even being able to be comfortable given the high weather temperature in Makurdi and you need to power you generator since there is no light.
“And there is no fuel to power the generator, no fuel to drive your car and it has been very tasking on my mind as a person and I am sure on very many other people.”
Solar to the rescue
Meanwhile, the inability of successive governments to fix the country’s power problem amid high electricity tariffs has triggered ‘mad’ rush for solar energy.
Findings from power consumers reveal that many of them have given up on stable power supply in the country, just as their meager salaries cannot accommodate high tariff and estimated power billing because DISCOs have failed to achieve mass metering to expunge estimated billing system.
A consumer in Shiyar Sarakuna, Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State, Malam Mustapha, who recently switched to solar energy, attributed his decision to poor supply and improper billing, saying “we are simply paying for darkness.”
Though Mustapha belongs to Band C category which is expected to have five hours of light a day, he was surprised to see sharp increase in the tariff when the recent increase should affect only Band A customers.
“I am still wondering why we are paying high when we don’t enjoy power supply,” he told Vanguard.
“We still have to power our generating sets at our cost and, at the same time, pay improper exorbitant bill. So switching to solar energy is a blessing to me.”
A resident of Aliero Housing Estate, Bashar Bako, a prepaid meter user, was shocked when he went to top up his meter units just a day after they announced tariff increase and was told by the receiving cashier that his area was affected by the increase even though he belongs to Band B category.
Saddened by the development, Bako engaged the services of a solar energy agent for installations so he could have steady power in his house and also minimise his meter units since his salary could not afford the high tariff.
More patronage
A solar energy installation agent with the Sun King in Birnin Kebbi, Malam Umar Yalli, told our correspondent that since the increase in tariff, he had witnessed high patronage and the demand for solar energy in the state has sharply increased.
He added that no fewer than 300 households have had installations due to high increase and epileptic power supply in the state.
According to him, the rich buys in full while the not-too-rich like civil servants pay in installment to maintain solar energy supplies in their houses.
Umar stated that, in no distance time, a target of a million users would be achieved as long as tariff increase and poor power supply remained.
“We will continue to witness enormous patronage from public power supply users in the state”, he added.
Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda has lamented that bandits are now recruiting Nigerian youths with as low as ₦500.
Making this revelation while speaking on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Friday, Governor Radda pointed to poverty as a significant factor contributing to the rise in banditry in Nigeria, particularly within the North-West region.
Naija News reports that during the interview, Governor Radda dismissed the notion that political motives are behind the banditry issues plaguing the region.
Instead, he highlighted the alarming ease with which young individuals are drawn into such criminal activities due to economic desperation.
“Surprisingly, with as little as ₦5,000, ₦2,000, or even ₦200, you can convince some of these youths to join this exercise, which brings about money,” Governor Radda emphasized, shedding light on the dire economic circumstances that lead to recruitment into banditry.
The governor expressed his concerns about banditry evolving into a lucrative business, involving not only criminal gangs known locally as bandits but also some government officials.
Governor Radda also expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of negotiations with bandits, given the complex dynamics among bandit groups.
Explaining the challenges of negotiating, he noted, “In Katsina, we have more than 100 different camps led by various individuals.
“Negotiating with a few does not guarantee peace as non-participating camps continue their criminal activities.”
Radda firmly stated his stance against negotiating from a position of weakness, highlighting the difficulty in ensuring compliance even among the followers of bandit leaders.
“What I said is that I would never go into negotiations with any criminal at the point of weakness,” he declared, emphasizing the need for a strong position in dealing with such security challenges.
How A Patient Slapped Me While Working As Caregiver In Canada - Nollywood Actress, Lola Alao Reveals
AFOLABILola Alao, the Nollywood actress, has recounted her ordeal as a caregiver in Canada.
Alao, who is popular in the Yoruba film industry, spoke about her relocation in an interview with Kunle Afod, her colleague.
She said she was once slapped by a dementia patient when she got close to an elderly person during her caregiving job.
The actress also said the incident made her quit her job and open a clothing business.
Alao further urged people to have a skill before relocating abroad.
“I always advise people looking to relocate to learn a skill like fashion designing, hairdressing or cooking. Because when I first came to Canada I had to learn a course to become a caretaker. So I went to the school for a year and once while caring for an elderly one, she slapped me,” she said.
“I had bathed and clothed her, she had dementia, and then she complained about her earring. So when I went to check on her to see what was wrong, she gave me a hard slap and I began to cry. The nurses around came to us after hearing the commotion and that was the day I decided that I wasn’t doing that anymore.
“Then I decided to open a boutique and my lounge, LA lounge, in two places but I later left the store and started selling from house but now I plan on getting a new store for my boutique.”
Alao was an air hostess before delving into acting with ‘Ripples’, the Nigerian television program. Since then she has starred in several movies including ‘Alaanu Mi’, ‘Dokita Alabere’, ‘Ewe Koko’ and ‘Gbokogboko’.
The Lagos State Police Command has apprehended a gang of suspected ritualists, accused of engaging in the gruesome act of killing individuals and trafficking their body parts for sale across different states.
Benjamin Hundeyin, the command Public Relations Officer while confirming the arrest on Friday, identified the suspects as a woman who is an Osun priestess, a community chief, an Ifa priest, an Islamic cleric, and a trado-medical practitioner.
Hundeyin explained that the suspects who operate in Lagos were arrested through intelligence reports from the public, adding that the leader of the gang, a 33-year-old man, Ademola Akinlosotu, confessed initially that he was exhuming corpses from cemeteries and selling their parts to ritualists but later graduated to killing and selling human parts to customers on demand.
However, Akinlosotu while speaking on his antecedents, noted that he moved from killing people to harvesting parts because his clients requested fresh parts rather than dead body parts.
”While I and some members of the gang would do the killings,” he would supply the parts to a 52-year-old man, Ahmed Wahab, aka Alfa Bororo, who operated from Badagry in Lagos State and Ogun State, to supply his clients.
"A fresh human head is sold at N45,000 or N50,000 while a dried human head sells between N30,000 and N35,000; heart for N70,000 and hands for N50,000."
Akinlosotu speaking further admitted to killing two persons, which included a friend he met through social media, before he was arrested.
"Before we killed anyone, the herbalist would be contacted to consult an oracle to determine whether the killing would be successful or would bring trouble."
The suspect alleged that a traditional ruler in Badagry requested him to kill his son because he was giving him problems.
He also said that the day they were to carry out the killing was when a friend he met online visited him, and he was killed, adding that "all he harvests, when he kills, is the person’s head, the heart, and the hands."
Meanwhile, Hundeyin said exhibits of different human parts were recovered from the suspects as the police continued on the trail of other suspects.
The command said that the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations are completed.
The Federal Government, via the Ministry of Education, has pledged to identify and take action against Nigerians who possess fake certificates.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, SAN, made this known while receiving the report of the inter-ministerial committee on degree mills on Friday at his office in Abuja.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that the government set up a committee to look into the activities of over 100 private universities and some foreign universities in Benin Republic, Togo and some other countries following an investigative report published in the Daily Nigerian newspaper.
The report exposed the activities of some degree mills.
Mamman, who expressed sadness over what had been uncovered during the investigations, said that the ministry would work with relevant agencies to sanitise the education sector and rid it of any fake tendencies.
“We can’t afford to have the integrity of our education swayed by a few people.
“It is possible that some are carrying fake certificates in public and private organisations and need to be flushed out. This report is the product of a thorough investigation.
“It is sad that someone who should come out of a Nigerian institution with a 2:1 or 2:2 is now parading an international certificate of first class.
“The ministry is determined to take steps to sanitise the system,” he said.
He pledged to take a decisive role to ensure standards were enshrined in the system, saying that ‘we can’t afford to let down our country when it comes to standards’.
Presenting the report, the Chairman of the Inter-ministerial Committee, Amin, decried the horrible standards of education in those schools, saying that many of those schools awarding degree certificates were an eyesaw.
Amin said the problems at hand required speedy intervention, recommending that all agencies in the sector digitise or automate their systems.
He said that automating the entire education system was a way to go in such a way that you could sit in your office and monitor what was happening in all tertiary institutions.
According to him, “In the course of our investigation, we realised that the present programme of accreditation and evaluation of results is inadequate.”
He called for more universities in the country, saying that more universities to train PhD holders would help a lot rather than Nigerians going outside in search of certificates while ending up getting fake certificates.
He, therefore, urged the National Universities Commission to pay more attention to institutions offering part-time or sandwich programmes so they don’t have a repeat of the 2017 saga of the centres offering unaccredited courses.
“People go and get fake degrees and we have been to those countries and we know what a proper degree looks like; we know what the fake one looks like.
“We have given it to the ministry to scrutinise anyone presenting a certificate from those institutions and anything else is fake.
“It is up to the ministry to find out people with fake certificates and deal with them in whatever way they deem fit,” he said
The federal government has said the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) will defund any non-performing centre of excellence it established eight years ago.
Professor Tahir Mamman, the Minister of Education, said the government will not continue to reward indolence by giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.
The minister spoke while receiving two reports of TETFund’s ad hoc committees on Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence and Operationalisation of Skills Development Special Intervention.
“The government is encouraging our scholars to simply rise to the occasion and deliver on their scholarship, what world class scholars do; and we are not going to reward indolence. We can’t be giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.
“In terms of the skill, we want to raise the equipment level of those institutions, polytechnic and others so that they can provide all the skill set that we need in Nigeria in the highest quality that can service the country and internationally,” he said.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono, said the fund will not continue to throw money away to centres that are not living up to expectations.
Echono disclosed that some centres have funds with TETFund that they have not accessed since inception.
“The funds are with us because we have not released until you reach a milestone, but while they have delayed in reaching those milestones, are causes of concerns.
The TETFund boss noted that the strategy for establishing centres of excellence was a very good one because TETFund realised that it didn’t have enough resources to improve all the facilities of all public institutions at the same time.
“The idea was to incubate, to have one centre, the right equipment, the right tools, the right faculty and experts, that would lead our efforts in research, in promoting scholarship at the highest level so that they can also inspire other centres.
“We are going to be pooling from other institutions within the area who want to do further research or who want to carry out any other exploratory study in those particular fields in those areas,” he said.
He said some of the centres have done fantastically well since inception, stating that a lot of them are doing innovations.
“Sokoto just came up with one major solution for us. For example, they were the ones that discovered this vaccine for Covid, in partnership with other institutions. Now we are also in the process of getting vaccines for Lassa fever and so many others.
“So, some are doing very well. And some have come up with prototypes that we now hoping to take to industries so that they begin to produce these goods and services,” he said.
On the non-performing institutions, he said, “If you were established five years ago and you are still at your infancy, you have not been able to provide modern laboratories, facilities for scholars to come and learn, we want to know why. But we don’t want to be arbitrary.
“So, it decided to look at some institutions to find out their relative positions in terms of the quality of their faculty, their reputation in certain courses and in certain areas and designated them as centres of excellence for those particular courses.
Earlier, the Committee on the Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence, led by Prof Oyewale Tomori, in its report, decline to recommend any centre for upgrade
The report noted that most centres did not utilise their first seed grant of N150 million for the initial infrastructures required in the centres, and advised TETFund to provide some bail out funds to the centres to enable the proper take off of the centres.
The committee also called on the fund to ensure that all funds for the Centre of Excellence are disbursed directly to the Centre of excellence account.
“If the Centres are to achieve set objectives, TETFund in collaboration with institutions hosting the centres should ensure that Centre Directors are on full time assignment at the Centre.
“All Centres that are not performing well should be given six months moratorium as a way to prevail on them to refocus and achieve their true mandate after which a revisit will be conducted to determine their status and continue funding,” the committee recommended.
Also presenting the Report of the Advisory Committee on Operationalisation of TETFund Skills Development Special Intervention, the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Nuru Yakubu, said the committee recommended polytechnics for TETFund Special Intervention according to zones.
“South-West: The five schools visited have shown preparedness except for the Polytechnic Ibadan because of the school leadership transition. It is therefore recommended that in 2024 the following two polytechnics should benefit; Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State and Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State for 2025 the committee recommends Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State and The Polytechnic Ibadan, if they can sort out their preparations.
“South-South: The committee recommends Port Harcourt Polytechnic, Rimuola, Rivers State, and Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic Ikot Osunaa for 2024 TETFund Special Intervention. For the year 2025, the committee recommends Delta State Polytechnic and another polytechnic to be identified
“South-East: The Institute of Management and Technology has been recommended for 2024 and for 2025, Abia State Polytechnic, Aba and Federal Polytechnic, Oko.
“North-East: The committee recommends Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi and Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri for 2024 Intervention and Adamawa State Polytechnic and Tatari Ali Polytechnic for 2025.
“North-West: 2024 Birnin Kebbi, Daura for 2025 Kano State Poly, Sokoto State Poly and North-Central: 2024 Nasarawa and for 2025 Lokoja and Ilorin.
The former manager, First City Monument Bank, FCMB, Onitsha branch, Nwachukwu Placidus, has been sentenced to a cumulative of 121 years in prison for diverting fixed deposit funds of a customer to the tune of N112,100,000 (One Hundred and Twelve Million, One Hundred Thousand Naira only) for his personal use.
Justice S. N. Odili of the Anambra State High Court sitting in Onitsha, handed the judgement on Friday following Placidus’ arraignment on Tuesday, March 27, 2018 by the Enugu Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The EFCC Spokesperson, Dele Oyewale who revealed this in a statement on Saturday explained that the Convict was arraigned on 16-count charges bordering on forgery, stealing, obtaining by false pretence and uttering.
The statement read, “One of the counts reads: ‘Nwachukwu Placidus between February 2009 and November 2014 in Onitsha, Anambra State within the jurisdiction of the Anambra State High Court of Nigeria with intent to defraud obtained the sum of (N112,100,000) One Hundred and Twelve Million, One Hundred Thousand Naira only, from Idemili Microfinance Bank under the false pretence that you have placed the said money in a fixed deposit account with First City Monument Bank PLC for it, which pretence you knew to be false and you thereby committed an offence.
“He pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him, thus setting the stage for his trial.
“In the course of trial, the EFCC, through its counsel, Mainforce Adaka Ekwu presented four witnesses and tendered several relevant documents which were admitted in evidence.
“In his judgment, Justice Odili held that “the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt” and sentenced the convict to nine years imprisonment on count 3, 4 years on count 4 and 9 years on counts 5 to 16 respectively. He was discharged on counts 1 and 2. The sentences shall run concurrently.
“The court further ordered the convict to restitute the said sum to his victim, Idemili Microfinance Bank.
“Placidus ’journey to the Correctional Centre began when a petitioner , Idemili Microfinance Bank LTD, alleged that the sum of N112, 100, 000 was handed over to him as the branch manager of FCMB in Onitsha, for fixed deposit. However, when the petitioner approached the bank to terminate and withdraw the deposit, the bank denied receiving the said funds.
“Upon receipt of the petition, the EFCC swung into action and investigations revealed that the convict diverted the money for his own use and issued a fake fixed Deposit Certificate to the petitioner.”
A mother and her infant child, including six others, have reportedly died after a tanker laden with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) fell and exploded along the Warri-Sapele road in Delta State.
The tragedy occurred Friday morning near Ometan junction, in Okpe Local Government Area along the ever-busy Warri-Sapele road.
The truck was said to have fallen and spilled its content on the road before exploding.
Residential buildings, makeshift caravans and vehicles as well as heavy duty trucks were lost to the fuel tanker explosion.
Eye witnesses said the tanker, which was headed from Effurun, lost control while trying to overtake another truck a few meters away from the boundary bridge between Uvwie and Okpe local government areas.
They said the victims gutted by the inferno were burnt beyond recognition, leaving several others injured and hospitalised.
Meanwhile, the state Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, has visited the scene of the incident.
Grade A Customary Court, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State has adjourned till June 3, further hearing in the divorce suit brought before it by a man, Ige, against his wife, Sikira, whom he accused of irresponsibility and infidelity.
Ige added that Sikira was a dupe.
According to Ige, Sikira lacked the ability to take proper care of him and their children and always carried out her duties towards them in a lackadaisical manner.
The plaintiff explained further that the defendant encouraged him to employ the service of a particular plumber when he was building his house, but unknowing to him, the man was her lover.
Ige stated that Sikira was having s3xual affair with the plumber on a regular basis while he was at work.
The plaintiff added that the defendant connived with the plumber to dupe him by adding extra amount to every item he bought when carrying out plumbing work at his site.
Ige said that Sikira eventually moved out of his house and went with all his property.
The plaintiff stated that he desired a fresh start and therefore wanted a clean cut from his wife, which was why he was in court.
The defendant denied all the allegations brought against her but gave in to divorce.
The defendant described the plaintiff as the pot calling the kettle black.
According to the defendant, the plaintiff was in the habit of drinking himself to stupour and beating her.
She told the court how she caught her husband having sex with a teenager in their apartment.
Sikiral further explained that he once came back home drunk and that he beat and tore her clothes to shreds.
She added that he took the nude pictures of her and sent it to his girlfriend.
The defendant also said that the plaintiff’s girlfriend urged him to seek a way of afflicting the defendant with madness.
According to his girlfriend, it would cost just N200 to perpetrate the evil.
Ige gave his testimony, saying, “My lord, I came to court today because I want a clean cut from my wife.
“Sikira has ridiculed me enough. My life is also not safe with her.
“I met and fell in love with her, and went to her parents with my family to ask for her hand in marriage.
“I paid her bride price and provided all that her family demanded as marital rite.
“Sikara, after all I have spent, got to my house and started misbehaving.
“I realised after we got married that she lacked the ability to run a proper home.
“My wife was lackadaisical concerning my welfare and that of our children.
“The attention and dedication of a loving mother and wife was obviously missing in our lives.
“Sikirat preferred to be out all day than stay back home to keep me and our children company.
“My lord, I stopped trusting my wife a long time ago.
“Sikira is wicked and was unfaithful to me.
“She introduced a plumber to me when I was building my house, and I employed him to do the plumbing work.
“I never had an inkling that the man was her lover.
“They were consistently having s3xual affair while I was away at work.
“Sikira went further to connive with this man to dupe me.
“She would ask him to add an amount to the items he purchased for the plumbing work and collect this from him.
“My wife made our home a hell to live in and also made my life miserable.
“She later left with all my property.
“My lord, I want to put my past behind me and start life afresh.
“I, therefore, pray that this court grant me a clean cut from my wife.
“My lord, I pray that you dissolve our marriage and grant me custody of our children, who she hardly showed affection towards.”
Sikira stated, “My lord, my husband is the pot calling the kettle black.
“All he said about me are lies.
“Ige is irresponsible. He was always drinking himself to stupour and punching me.
“I once caught him having sex with a teenager in our room.
“He once came back home drunk and, as usual, descended on me with punches.
“He went further to tear my clothes, took my nude pictures and sent them to his girlfriend.
“His girlfriend urged him to afflict me with madness.
“She told him it would only cost him N200 to do so.
“I did not pack out of his house. He threw my belongings out.
“I am also no longer willing to stay married to him.
“I pray that our marriage be dissolved.”
The court president, Mrs S.M Akintayo adjourned the case.
More...
According to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited(NNPCL), the lingering fuel scarcity troubling Nigeria has been attributed to panic buying and exploitative practices by some petroleum marketers.
Naija News reports that in a bid to reassure the public, the NNPC has vowed that the current fuel queues will dissipate next week, asserting that it possesses sufficient fuel stocks to resolve the scarcity.
During a press briefing on Friday, NNPC spokesperson, Femi Soneye, disclosed that the corporation is prepared with over 1.5 billion litres of petroleum, which he insists is adequate for at least 30 days.
Soneye stated that while the NNPC is committed to ensuring fuel availability, the responsibility of fair distribution lies with the marketers, whom he accused of seeking to capitalize on the situation.
“The queues are clearing. They won’t just clear like that, because people are trying to hoard, while others are buying what they don’t need. That is why we keep saying there is enough product; there is no need to buy what you don’t need,” Soneye explained.
However, petroleum marketers have countered the NNPC’s position, arguing that the main issue is an inadequate supply of fuel, not their business practices.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) expressed frustration over the accusations, stating that marketers could not be blamed for hoarding a product that is simply not available in sufficient quantities.
IPMAN’s National Vice President, Hammed Fashola, stated, “That is far from the truth. You can only divert the product that you have. You don’t divert what you don’t have. On the issue of hoarding, you cannot hoard what you don’t have. It is not even making sense when you have fuel at this critical period, then you say you want to hoard it.”
Adding to the complexity of the situation, the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria confirmed the receipt of 300 million litres of fuel from eight vessels this week, suggesting that while supplies are arriving, distribution remains a challenge.
The South-West Regional Coordinator of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Ayo Cardoso, assured that the government is making concerted efforts to ensure the massive distribution of petroleum motor spirit (PMS) across the country.
“We have received over 300 million liters as of Tuesday. More have arrived as we speak, but I can’t give you the figure. Vessels will keep arriving in Nigeria for 15 days, which started counting on Monday, and we will keep distributing the product across the nation,” Cardoso stated.
As the NNPC and petroleum marketers navigate these turbulent waters, Nigerians continue to feel the impact of fuel scarcity, with many citizens facing increased hardship.
The situation has prompted calls for stringent measures against hoarding and profiteering, with the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources urging security agencies to take action against those exploiting the crisis.
Veteran actress, Shan George has claimed that her Zenith Bank account was drained of N3.6 million by an individual identified as Cecilia Chiagoziem Okoro.
In a video released on her Instagram account on Friday, the actress said she is “koboless” and appealed to Nigerians to help retrieve her money.
The actress shared a screenshot of the debit alert and wrote, “I need help cos I’m dy!ng. This person has just cleared my account.
“Pls my pple, everyone pls help. Pls Zenith Bank, Reverse it. I can’t access my app. I’m De@D”
In a video shared on her Instagram account, George called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and Zenith Bank to come to her rescue.
She added, “Cecilia Chiagoziem Okoro is the name of the person that has just wiped all the money in my account, 3.6 million into an Opay account.
“I am begging everybody, please Zenith bank, Opay, Abeg make una help me. I take God beg una.
“I don’t have any kobo anywhere again, what will I eat? I no fit beg, I beg una, make una help me.
“EFCC, Nigerian police, abeg, I don’t know the authorities, Zenith bank, I am begging you people.
“It’s just today, the 3rd of May, it’s not even up to an hour ago from now that I am doing this video.”
See the video below
Media
The renowned Nigerian pastor and founder of Abel Damina Ministries International, Dr Abel Damina, has provided a controversial remedy to people addicted to pornography, Naija News reports.
In a recent chat on Comfort FM’s Righteous Invasion of Truth (RIOT) programme in Uyo last month, the controversial Christian cleric shared his perspective on how individuals struggling with pornography addiction can overcome it completely.
Damina, who was asked for advice on how to stop and eliminate pornography addiction entirely, suggested that instead of trying to quit forcefully, individuals should continue watching pornography while simultaneously listening to the teachings of God.
“Don’t struggle to stop watching the porn. Don’t struggle at all. Just keep watching the porn. As you are watching the porn, spend more time hearing the ‘word’. If you watch porn for one hour, spend three to four hours hearing the word of God.
“Take not. Go get all my teachings on Christ. Just keep learning and learning. After a while, you will find out that your appetite for porn is dying, and the appetite for the word of God is growing. Before you know it, when you see porn, you will be irritated.
“Word of God will kill that appetite completely and give you a healthy appetite. That’s what to do. Don’t try to stop. In fact, keep watching, but spend more time studying God’s word, and you will find out that before you know it, your desire for porn would be gone,” the pastor stated.
Nevertheless, the submission made by Damina has faced opposition, particularly from conservative Christians on social media which strongly believed that the pastor was promoting sinful behaviour, primarily among individuals struggling with addiction.
Gideon Odoma, a well-known pastor from the Fortress Ministry, responded to Damina’s submission by categorizing pornography as a perversion.
“Christains have trivialise sexcapades. The things God call iniquities, we must never call it flexing,” he said.
Naija News reports that the clergyman, who had previously criticized Damina and Apostle Suleman for favouring the Old Testament instead of the New Testament, stated that both individuals are promoting incorrect teachings with the intention of leading Christians astray.
“The Damina and Suleman terms are wrong. It is as if their only objective in life is to derail believers, so they have a lot of time on their hands, and they find different creative ways to say the same useless things — Your sin does not matter — they find all sorts of ways to discredit as it were,” he said.
Speaking on pornographic addiction, another well-known clergyman, Chris Oyakhilome, referenced Habakkuk 2:15 to convey that pornography is a sinful behaviour that must be abstained from.
He stressed that nudity is viewed as disgraceful by God, linking pornography to prostitution due to its roots in the Greek word “porneia,” which means prostitute.
“The indication is that once nakedness is being made public, it is a shame when you’re not a child. As far as God is concerned, that is a shame.
“It started from Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden apple. Their eyes were open and they found that they were naked and then covered themselves with leaves and hid from God. Christians desist from it. Those who believe in Jesus should not do it,” he stressed.
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.