Chief Olabode George, a former deputy national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, has refuted allegations of seeking an appointment under President Bola Tinubu. He has stated that he is too advanced in age to be considered for such a position.

The individual in question made it clear that while he has not been approached for any political position, he would only consider assisting in the nomination of qualified candidates from his party.

In a recent telephone interview with our correspondent, George, a former critic of Tinubu, revealed that he has put an end to their rift. He clarified that his decision was not based on any appointment but rather to promote peace and out of respect for those who intervened in the matter at the request of Tinubu.

The octogenarian expressed satisfaction after a group of prominent Lagosians and a delegation from the ruling All Progressives Congress paid him a visit to resolve a longstanding conflict and seek his endorsement of the Tinubu administration. He deemed this development as a desirable outcome, given his advanced age.

The individual made a statement indicating that the current discourse on the matter is nonsensical and those engaging in it should refrain from doing so. The individual in question, Tinubu, appears to be in the early stages of his political career. Meanwhile, it should be noted that the party in question is currently involved in legal proceedings. The call to let bygones be bygones was made. The user's statement highlights a biblical perspective on the concept of vengeance, emphasising that it is solely within the purview of God. The user also suggests that once a resolution has been reached, it is important to refrain from further conflict, even if others may encourage it.

The individual in question has made a statement regarding those who have expressed a desire for an appointment. They appear to be dismissing such requests and suggesting that those who make them are misguided in their intentions. What are their proposed policies regarding the future generation? The individual in question has reportedly been granted forgiveness, according to sources close to the matter. The individual in question has seemingly dismissed a previous matter, attributing its resolution to the actions of others.

When questioned about the possibility of accepting a government appointment, the individual in question responded by indicating a preference for recommending individuals with extensive experience managing the party and possessing a deep understanding of its inner workings. The individual in question has expressed a desire for my assistance in securing a target. However, it is worth noting that there exists a vast population of youthful individuals who possess the requisite vigour to engage in such pursuits, as opposed to myself.

The statement suggests that the speaker is not interested in seeking employment. In a statement, the individual expressed their willingness to engage in discussions with party leaders regarding the nomination of a young, knowledgeable, and capable candidate who can contribute to the betterment of the nation. They emphasised the importance of collaboration and consultation in the decision-making process.

The individual in question has declined to extend congratulations or pay a visit to Tinubu at the villa, citing the ongoing legal challenge mounted by his party, the PDP, against the results of the presidential election. According to the source, the individual in question stated that such an action would be considered a disloyalty to their political affiliation.

Nigerian chef, Damilola Adeparusi, popularly known as Chef Dammy, has revealed plans to displace Hilda Baci as the world record holder for the longest cooking marathon by an individual.

Chef Dammy, who spoke to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Friday, said the concluded 120-hour cook was not registered with the Guinness World Record (GWR).

She, however, said after completing the 120-hour cook-a-thon, she is ready to apply for the Guinness World Records.

Vanguard correspondent confirmed that she plans to cook for 150 hours in the new challenge set to take place next month.

“I know the question that has been surrounding the minds of many people online and offline is what is next for Chef Dammy after the 120-hour cook-a-thon? What will become of Chef Dammy after the world has known her and she has been put in the spotlight? Well, Chef Dammy is open to exploration! I am open to new opportunities and new experiences in life. Now that the world knows what I am capable of doing. I think it’s high time everyone started giving me a chance to explore in diverse ways and capabilities.

“Finally, I know there have been many speculations about me not registering this just-concluded cooking, but my team and I have decided to embark on this new challenge next month.

“After the support I have received from fans, well-wishers, and many highly notable individuals in the society. I, Adeparusi Damilola popularly known as Chef Dammy and my team have decided to hold another cook-a-thon programme next month.

“This time, it will be held for a 150-hour, and it will be duly registered with Guinness World Records. Chef Dammy is coming back!

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has detained the Receiver Manager appointed by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria for Arik Nigeria Limited, Mr Kamilu Omokide, over alleged misappropriation and diversion of about N120bn, According to PUNCH report.

EFCC detained Omokide alongside one Captain Samuel Caulcrick in connection with alleged illegal sale and tearing down of a $41m CRJ 1000 aircraft, which was operated by Arik Air.

Documents obtained by our correspondent on Friday revealed that the detention of the two top executives was sequel to a petition written by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), who is a solicitor to Arik Nigeria Limited.

The petition detailed how there had been alleged financial fraud and sales of assets worth over N120bn.

The petition, addressed to the EFCC Chairman, and dated April 27, read, “We are solicitors to Arik Nigeria Limited (hereinafter referred to as “our client”), on whose behalf and specific instructions we write you. Our client operates an airline in the aviation industry by offering air transportation services for passengers and cargo in Nigeria and has been in business since 2006.

“In compliance with an ex parte order of the Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria appointed a receiver manager to manage our client’s assets due to its financial obligation to some banks.

“Pursuant to the said ex parte order, the said receiver manager has been overseeing the affairs of our client’s assets pursuant from 2017 to date. In the course of running the airline business the receiver has engaged in financial mismanagement, diversion of monies, sales of assets and misappropriation of funds belonging to Arik Airline.

The petition listed the details of the alleged diversion of money, sale of assets and misappropriation of funds.

AIT Broadcaster Ijeoma Osamor Testifies For Peter Obi

The Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, has admitted in evidence, additional video evidence that was tendered by candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi.

The video recording, which was played in the open court on Friday, after it was admitted as an exhibit, was brought on the strength of a subpoena that the Justice Haruna Tsammani-led five-member panel issued on Africa Independent Television, AIT.

It was tendered in a flash drive, through the anchor of the Democracy Today program on AIT, Ijeoma Osamor.

In the video, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, during a press conference, assured that results of the 2023 general elections would be electronically transmitted, using Bimodal Voter Accreditation, BVAS, devices.

Meanwhile, after the video recording was admitted in evidence, the court, gave the lawyers that represented INEC, President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress, APC, who are Respondents in the matter, the nod to cross examine the witness.

Under cross examination, Osamor, told the court that contrary to positions of both President Tinubu and the APC, the INEC Chairman did not at any time before the elections, declared that the results would no longer be uploaded.

However, counsel for the APC, Mr. Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, insisted that there was a newspaper publication to back the claim of the party that the INEC Chairman had before the elections, adduced reasons why the Commission could not transmit the results.

However, the witness, told the court that as a reporter covering the INEC beat, she attended all press briefings by the Commission and never heard such announcement by Prof. Yakubu.

She told the court that the said publication that President Tinubu and the APC relied on, which was dated February 23, was probably a personal interview between the INEC Chairman and Tribune Newspaper.

Meanwhile, all the Respondents challenged the admissibility of the video recording from AIT in evidence, saying they would adduce reasons behind their objections in their final written address.

Earlier in the proceedings, a Professor of Mathematics at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Eric Ofoedu, told the court that he analysed some of the results of the presidential election that INEC uploaded on its IReV portal.

Under cross examination, Prof. Ofoedu told the court that he embarked on the analysis, as an academic exercise that would benefit his students.

He told the court that he was not paid for the job, adding that he had to be subpoenaed to tender the outcome of his analysis in evidence, since his original aim was not to use the report for any election litigation.

Nevertheless, the witness, maintained his ground that over 18,088 result sheets that INEC uploaded in relation to the presidential contest, were blurred.

The court adjourned further hearing on the matter till Monday.

Obi, who is claiming that he won the presidential election, is among other things, praying the court to nullify Tinubu’s victory and withdraw the Certificate of Return that was issued to him by INEC.

The Peoples Democratic Party on Friday fielded Senator Dino Melaye as one of its star witnesses before the Presidential Election Petitions Court sitting in Abuja.

Melaye testified against the Independent National Electoral Commission, President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The PDP and Atiku Abubakar’s lead counsel, Chris Uche SAN announced his portfolio as National Collation Agent for the party, businessman and politician.

Adopting his statement on oath, Melaye said the final results declared by INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood, was wrongly computed and announced at the National Collation Centre, Abuja, adding that he refused to endorse the results.

Under cross-examination by INEC’s lawyer, A.B, Mahmoud SAN, he said most of the PDP agents did not sign the polling unit Form EC8As across the country.

Mahmoud asked him to tell the court all he knows about electoral procedure of the 2023 presidential election.

Melaye said he knows the electoral procedure based on the fact that he was one of the lawmakers who put together the Electoral Act at the National Assembly.

He noted that the sequence of 2023 election involves sorting, collating and announcement of results after which it is uploaded to the INEC Results Viewing Portal, IREV, before the presiding officer can proceed to the Ward collation centre.

“You stormed out of the National Collation Centre Abuja before the end of the collation process,” Mahmoud asked him.

“In protest of the fraudulent activities at the National Collation Centre, I left,” Melaye responded.

Tinubu and Shettima’s lawyer, Akin Olujimi SAN, asked the senator if the failure to transmit results to IREV can change the results already recorded on Form EC8A, to which, he said, “It will not, in an ideal situation.”

Melaye admitted that he did not state what he found to be the actual scores of Atiku in his statement on oath, saying he briefed the party’s statisticians.

“Which law designates IREV as a collation centre?,” Olujimi asked him.

The senator replied saying IREV is not a collation centre but it is part of the process for the conduct of the 2023 election.

He was asked by the legal team of APC if he mentioned the areas in Kano, Borno and Lagos states where he claimed in his statement that there was alleged malpractice and violence.

The senator, however, said he did not mention the places categorically.

The senator was eventually discharged from the witness box by the five-man panel of the court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani.

After that, the PDP lawyer, Uche, disclosed that he received some electoral documents from the INEC Chairman following a subpoena against him.

Some of them were Form EC8As in respect of Nasarawa state(13 LGAs).

The Federal High Court in Awka has set aside its sack order on the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Usman Alkali Baba.

The court upheld the right of Alkali to fair hearing as enshrined in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution which was not guaranteed by the plaintiff in his application.

It said it was convinced by the depositions of the court bailiff that the IGP was not served the originating summons.

Justice Fatun Riman reversed the court’s earlier judgment following an application by IGP’s counsel, Abdullahi Abdulhakeem Ago against a previous ruling in favour of a plaintiff, Okechukwu Nwafor

The Federal High Court in Awka on May 19, 2023 declared that the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, is an illegal occupant of the office of IGP.

Justice Riman, who gave the order, insisted that Baba’s continued stay in office was against the clear provisions of the Police Act, 2020, saying it is “unlawful and unconstitutional”.

The court made the order in its judgment in a suit marked FHC/AKW/CS/58/2023, filed by Okechukwu Nwafor, who claimed to be a taxpayer.

But IGP asked the court to set aside the judgment because the subject matter had been determined by another Federal High Court presided over by Justice J.K. Omotosho in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/31/2023.

The police chief also alleged that the court should quash its judgment due to non-service of the originating processes on him.

The court upheld the arguments of the Inspector-General of Police in a 17-page ruling on June 15, 2023.

Justice Riman said a court can reverse its judgment where there was a fundamental error.

The judge said: “The law is settled that any Court of record including the Supreme Court has the inherent jurisdiction to set aside its own Judgment given in any proceeding in which there must have been a fundamental defect such as one which goes to the issue of jurisdiction and competence of the Court

“Such a judgment is a nullity. A person affected by it, is therefore, entitled ex-debito justicae to have it set aside. The court can set it aside suo motu and the person affected may apply by motion and not necessarily by way of Appeal.

A judgment or order which is a nullity owing to failure to comply with an essential provision such as service of process can be set aside by the court which gave it or made the order.

“The law is trite that the necessity for the requirement of service of originating processes, whether personal or by substituted means to bring to the notice of the defendant in action knowledge of the pending of a suit against him to enable such defendant prepare himself and defend the action appropriately

“I find merit in this application. Accordingly, the judgment of this court delivered on 19th day of May 2023 is hereby set aside for non- service of the originating processes on the 2nd Defendant (the Inspector-General of Police). This is the ruling of this court.”

The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has made a promise to the Nigerian public that they will take "decisive steps" to address the issue of passport booklet scarcity in the country.

The National Immigration Service (NIS) has recently made a statement regarding passport issuance in Nigeria. According to Tony Akuneme, the NIS spokesperson, Caroline Adepoju, the acting comptroller general of the agency, has assured Nigerians that they will soon be able to obtain passports in a timely manner.

The Senate has recently taken action to address complaints regarding the renewal and issuance of international passports throughout the country. Specifically, the Senate has directed its Committee on the Interior to conduct an investigation into these delays.

After receiving numerous complaints from Nigerians, it has been reported that the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) is allegedly facing issues with passport renewals and new applications.

Former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has made a startling accusation regarding the shortage of passports in Nigeria. According to Aregbesola, corrupt officials are actively working to undermine the efforts of the agency to sanitise the passport application process. This accusation raises serious questions about the integrity of the passport application process and the individuals responsible for ensuring its success.

In a stunning revelation, NIS has announced that a whopping 80 officials are currently on trial for their alleged involvement in a scheme to obstruct the passport issuance process. The gravity of the situation cannot be overstated, as this scandal has the potential to undermine the integrity of the entire passport system. Further details on the matter are yet to be disclosed, but one thing is certain - this is a story that demands our attention.

Adepoju has made a promise to eradicate any artificial obstructions that may be contributing to the current passport scarcity, according to the most recent announcement.

The agency head has reportedly issued a directive to all units within the organisation, urging them to work tirelessly towards bridging the gap and alleviating the concerns of Nigerian citizens.

According to a statement, the visit of the Ag. CGI to Lagos included noteworthy events that highlighted the seriousness of the passport crisis.

The individual in question has recently unveiled a cutting-edge visa-on-arrival lounge at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport. This move appears to be a clear indication of their dedication to enhancing the quality of travel for individuals entering Nigeria.

After the incident, she took it upon herself to conduct an impromptu investigation by visiting the Alausa passport office to gather first-hand information.

The Acting Comptroller General of Immigration, Adepoju, highlighted the urgent need to investigate and eliminate any artificial obstacles that hinder the passport application procedure in her speech.

" According to our source, the NIS top management has made a commitment to address institutional and technology-based drawbacks in order to improve service delivery.

The recent declaration of a state of emergency regarding passport issues raises questions about the ongoing challenges faced by Nigerians attempting to obtain passports. It appears that the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) is renewing its commitment to addressing these issues, but the extent of their efforts and the root causes of the challenges remain unclear. Further investigation is needed to determine the effectiveness of this declaration and the potential impact on Nigerian citizens.

This statement seems to suggest that there may be issues with efficiency, transparency, and excellence in service delivery. Who are the stakeholders being referred to and what specific actions are being called for? Further investigation is needed to understand the context and implications of this call to action.

The directive from Ag. CGI Adepoju to all passport control officers, relevant units, and personnel within the NIS, including missions abroad, to eliminate obstacles hindering Nigerians from accessing passports promptly raises questions about the current state of passport processing in Nigeria. As an investigative journalist, it is important to delve deeper into the matter and uncover the root causes of these hindrances.

The NIS seems to be taking steps to improve the passport application and issuance process by utilising technology and implementing strong administrative measures.

The Acting Comptroller General of Immigration (CGI) has issued a statement urging Nigerians to remain patient and cooperate with the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) as it takes steps to address the ongoing passport crisis. The public has been assured by an undisclosed source that efforts are currently underway to ensure that every eligible Nigerian who requires a passport can obtain one in a timely manner. Further details regarding these efforts have yet to be disclosed.

Orders CBN to stop payment to MDAs till further notice

As part of the ongoing efforts at taking firm control of his Administration, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reportedly directed the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN to stop further payments to the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, MDAs, of the Federal Government till further notice.

A presidency told the Saturday Tribune in Abuja on Friday that the Presidential order was issued before the embattled CBN boss Godwin Emeifiele was suspended and handed over to the Department of State Services DSS for further action

According to the source, the directive which came immediately after President Tinubu assumed office was to ensure accountability in the MDAs and to prevent looting of government treasury

The source said that the directive was total and clear, with no exception
Investigation revealed that following the development, the MDAs to have placed a total embargo on payments to their creditors till further notice and as well finding it difficult to operate as no more money coming from the government, CBN

A Director General of a federal Government Agency who confirmed the development to Saturday Tribune in confidence said that the directive had grounded operations for the second weeks running now as the Agency had no money to run its operations

According to him, “Federal Government has placed an embargo on CBN to stop further payments to the MDAs, we are not expecting money from anywhere, debts are piling up, even money we are owing Media Houses for advertisements, we have no money to settle the debts

” The saving grace we have is that the staff salaries are being paid directly from the office of the Accountant General of the federation, I think the situation will be normalized very soon”.
This came just as President Tinubu approved the suspension of the Assistant Director In Charge of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS). and others In the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, OAGF, for alleged Salary Padding
It was gathered that the Assistant Director at the OAGF in charge in charge of staff salary was alleged to have connived with some staff to pad up the salaries of an unspecified number of lower-level staff.

According to findings, many civil servants across several Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), including the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), have been suspended for alleged salary padding on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

The development was confirmed by a top official in the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, who hinted that those identified had been placed on suspension pending investigation.

According to him, “The scam was discovered when a level 7 officer whose salary should be in the range of N60,000 was paid over N400,000, which was in the range of a salary package of a Director.

” The salary padding racket had been on for a while among a small clique of civil servants in different MDAs with the IPPIS office in the OAGF as the epicenter
The source further hinted that ” a staff suspected to be connected with the breach has been suspended to allow for a thorough investigation.”

“All necessary steps are being taken to strengthen the controls around the IPPIS payment platform, and an independent forensic audit of the entire payroll system is underway to ascertain if the reported breach is isolated or widespread,” the source further added.

Justice H. Muazu of the FCT High Court has ordered the Department of State Services, DSS, to allow the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to be accessed by his lawyers.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu had on June 9, suspended Emefiele to enable investigation into allegations against him.

The CBN Deputy governor, operations, Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, was directed by the president to step in in acting capacity.

Hours after his suspension, Emefiele was apprehended by the DSS and has since been in its detention in Abuja.

But his legal team led by J.B. Daudu SAN filed a fundamental right application against the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, DG, SSS and SSS, seeking to assess their client so that they can prepare their defence.

He noted that the secret service had refused to grant them access.

“The lawyers of the applicant shall have access to the applicant immediately and regularly, at reasonable time pending the determination of the application.

“Hearing is adjourned to 20 June, 2023 by 10am,” the judge held on Friday.

Predictably, prices are shooting through the roof in the wake of the inevitable removal of fuel subsidy. Prices of goods and services such as transport fares have risen dramatically and without notice. You get to a petrol filling station from where the previous day you bought fuel for N210 a litre and today from the same station the price has shot up to N550. Subsidy is a mechanism to retool some ailing areas of a nation’s economy or indeed to promote certain economic activity such as agriculture. According to the USDA, Economic Research Service, (an official website of the U.S. Government), the United States Government subsidizes agriculture, focusing on the production of grains, oilseeds, cotton, sugar, and dairy products. This is because agriculture and related industries provide 10.5 percent of employment in the country. What the related industries consist of can be obvious to anyone. They are a chain—food and beverage manufacturing and resultant stores; food services; eateries/drinking places; textiles; leather products; and forestry and fishing. Farming thus contributes $164.7 billion of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is 0.7 percent, excluding the contribution of the related industries.

USDA says in 2021, “21.1 million full and part time jobs were related to agricultural and food sectors. Direct on-farm employment accounted for about 2.6 million of these jobs, or 1.3 percent of U.S. employment. Employment in agriculture and food related industries supported another 18.5 million jobs. Of this, food services accounted for the largest share –11.8 million—and food/beverage stores supported 3.3 million. The remaining agriculture-related industries together added another 3.4 million.” Prof. Daniel A. Summer of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California states that the average rate of ‘producer support estimate’ for the heavily supported commodities in the US ranges from 55 percent of the value of production for sugar to about 22 percent for oilseeds. For the less supported commodities, the rate is typically 5 per cent. He is drawing his figures from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He goes on to state that among the OECD members (a group of high-income countries), “producer support estimate rates average about 31 percent of total revenue for the main grain, oilseed, sugar and livestock products.”

I have gone to this length to show that providing subsidy in itself where it is called for is not a sin. But in our own case, Nigerians are Nigerians! We drag the Nigerian factor into all our activities. As Chief Obafemi Awolowo once said, for Nigerians, “nothing principled, nothing clean and nothing pure.” The brazenness in doing evil is unbelievable. Consider this: The Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative has said the government has spent N16 trillion on petrol subsidies in the past 16 years. It is alleged that in certain instances, claims were filed for payment of subsidies for fuel not supplied. The scandal of the abolition of fuel subsidy thus became a subject of discussion and disdain in international institutions. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have stated that the removal of fuel subsidies “is one of the fiscal reforms urgently needed to lift Nigeria’s development outcomes, which are severely constrained by the inefficient use of resources.” Speaking in the same vein, a former World Bank President David Malpass, said: “Nigeria’s government urgently needs to strengthen fiscal management, create a unified, stable market-based exchange rate, phase out its costly, regressive fuel subsidy and rationalize preferential trade restrictions.”

The issue of subsidy has been a cause for concern to different administrations in this country, indeed from 1973. It has driven every administration to its wit’s end. It was such that on 11 May, 2016, Muhammadu Buhari announced that the Federal Government would no longer be paying subsidy on oil. The price quickly rose from N87 to N145 per litre following the pronouncement. But then he did not walk his talk; subsidy continued, even though his discomfort on it did not ease, going by the statement of the erstwhile Finance Minister, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmad. She spoke at a television interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She said, fortunately, all the frontline presidential candidates took the position that should they win the election, subsidy would be scrapped. Buhari wanted the subsidy to go. Mrs. Ahmad said the cost of N3.25 trillion on subsidy must be exited. Consequently, the complete stop to the expenditure head, initially scheduled for April 2023 may now be moved up to July, 2023. She said out of fear of possible social dislocation, the Administration considered it a hot potato and suggested that the gradual removal may commence in the second quarter of this year.

She went on: “So, the decision was to extend the period from June 2022 by 18 months, beginning from January 2022. So in June 2023, we should be able to exit. The good thing is that we hear a consistent message that everybody is saying this thing needs to go and that it is not serving the majority of Nigerians.” Even though the Buhari Administration saw the necessity to remove subsidy, it still considered it hot charcoal, considering the possible social backlash that may arise therefrom. Ahmad said at the encounter with the television that what had been considered safer “is for the current administration to maybe at the beginning of the second quarter, start removing the fuel subsidy because it’s more expedient if you remove it gradually than wait and move it all in one big swoop.” That approach is not acceptable to the new sheriff in town, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in view of the experiences of Nigerians with the consequences of a piecemeal approach.

How did the issue of subsidy all start? It began under President Ibrahim Babangida when the price of PMS was raised from 15.3 Kobo to 20 Kobo. His Administration raised it again on March 31, 1986, from 20 Kobo to 39.5 Kobo. On 10 April of the same year, the price increased from that to 42 Kobo. According to DAWN Commission in Ibadan, on 19 December, 1989, the price of fuel went from 42 Kobo to 60 Kobo, and on 06 March, 1991 from 60 Kobo to 70 Kobo. Interim Head of State, Ernest Shonekan jerked it up from 70 Kobo to N5. That was on 08 November, 1993. Shortly after, Abacha drove his menacing tank through the corridors to seize power. To endear himself to the citizenry, on 22 November, he reduced the price to N3.25. But barely a year later, on 02 October, 1994, he shot it up to N15 from N3.25. After massive street protests, he brought it down to N11 by an announcement made on 04 October, 1994. General Abdulsalami Abubakar who took over from Abacha increased it from N11 to N25 a litre in one go on 20 December, 1998. Following unrelenting protests in major towns and cities, he brought it down to N20.

When the subsidy first came to national consciousness in 1973, Authorities said the subsidy was to cushion Nigerians against the oil shock of that year. So when Olusegun Obasanjo assumed office as President in May, 1999, he made subsidy the bedrock of his economic policy. No sooner he settled in than he increased the pump price per litre from N20 he inherited from Abdulsalami Abubakar to N30 on 01 June, 2, 000. This was promptly rejected by the people. There were also massive protests which got him to reconsider his position; he reduced the price to N25 on 08 June and further down to N22 on 13 June, 2,000. The instability in pricing went on still. The price went from N22 to N26 to welcome Nigerians to a New Year on 01 January, 2002, then to N40 by 23 June, 2003. By the time he was leaving in May, 2007, the price had climbed up to N70. When Umar Musa Yar’Adua came in that year, he reduced it to N65 a litre, predictably after demonstrations on the street. Obasanjo had tried strenuously to convince the nation of the constraints of subsidy to economic development. His oil chief, Kupolokun went round media houses to convince editors on why subsidy must be thrown out of the window.

In 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan kicked up the price from Yar’Adua’s N65 to N141. He was forced to bring it down to N97 after days of protests particularly at Ojota in Lagos. The price was subsequently reduced to N87 as a result of a fall in crude oil price in the international market. This was the price he passed on to President Buhari. On 11 May, 2016, nearly a year of his assumption of office, he announced that the Federal Government would no longer be paying subsidy on fuel. The price then went to N145 a litre.

Every time the price went up, the government functionaries would go into lecturing the citizens on the imperative of scrapping fuel subsidy, and that what would have gone into subsidy would be used to provide infrastructure. At a time, commercial vehicles on which were boldly written: ‘Federal Government Assisted’ plied the roads to make light the burden on the people. Indeed, General Abacha introduced price differentiation in fuel, and marketers were to designate special pumps at oil filling stations for sale to commercial vehicles.

President Bola Tinubu in his character took the bull by the horns and scrapped the subsidy once and for all. Whether the hour of inauguration was the right time is a different matter. I would have thought, though that the inauguration hour was an occasion for back-slapping, dancing, and rejoicing in renewed hope for a brutalized citizenry. It called for an address that would bring tears running down cheeks, soul-stirring speech; the occasion called for soothing words on the juices his ascendancy has in store and he was only to drop hints that hard times were ahead but that with joint and collaborative working, the nation would overcome. He could then have elected some other day, even if it was the third day to drop his bombshell. He would still have proven that he meant business. It is noteworthy, however, that he made up for this in a subsequent address in which he assured his fellow citizens that he shared in their pains. That was moving. It was as it should be. Other steps he has taken after the inauguration are certainly welcoming and well received. Leadership is a sacred responsibility for which we must be thankful for the privilege to serve and to rescue our people from fear, agony, and hopelessness.

Between 2006 and 2013, N10 trillion had been spent on subsidy, three times the budget allocation for health and two times the budget allocation for education in the 2014 fiscal year. The four refineries in the country with a combined production capacity of 445, 000 barrels a day have not been working for years; attempts to fix them have been unavailing even after gulping trillions of Naira. Given our nature, the Nigerian character, we have proven incapable of managing subsidy. It has been abused long enough. It has kept investors away; it has to go and that is what Bola Tinubu has done with it—kicked it out of the way.

All said, productivity over dependent consumerism is the answer. Pricing is a question of demand and supply. It is in the supply of goods and services which flow from productivity that will stem rising prices. If paper income goes up, everyone else will adjust his prices to meet his costs. It is a vicious circle. This is a subject for another day, for at the root of an economic downturn is the breach of the Law of Balance. Whenever and wherever imbalance manifests, be it in man, be it in a system, there must be disharmony or even collapse.