The immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai has described states’ electoral commissions as rigging tools of the state governors.

El-Rufai stated this on Monday in Maiduguri, in his lead paper presentation titled: “Capacity Building Workshop on Enhancing Skills of Government Officials In Policy Implementation and Productive Human Resources Management”.

The former governor recalled the success recorded through electronic voting for local government areas elections he conducted during his tenure as governor.

He also narrated how a Northwest state governor wanted to use his pattern, but after availing him of the technique used in conducting the elections, he went back to his state and wrote results of the local government elections he conducted instead of conducting it electronically.

The former governor who expressed total support of abolishing state electoral commissions stressed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could be handling all local government elections.

“While I was the Governor of Kaduna State, I introduced electronic voting and conducted local government election with it. After the election, we lost about three to four local government areas to the opposition, because of the credibility of the election. And because we were transparent in the election, some of those opposition candidates decamped to our party because of our fairness in the election.

“I remember that one governor from the Northwest who loved the conduct of the election through electronic voting asked me to assist him with the technology I used in the election, but because it has the state logo, I told him that it would not cost more than 10,000 US dollars, so that he can get the equipment to conduct his state LGA election electronically. But after that conversation, I did not hear from him again, he went back home and conducted his election by writing the results as usual,” El-Rufai said.

On the demolition exercise in Kaduna during his administration, El-Rufai said prior to assumption of office, the people knew who he was, and that he was very careful at ensuring that every demolition carried followed due process.

He added that his government’ is adherence to the process was responsible for the absence of court cases after the exercise.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, arraign a businessman and socialite, Pascal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest, before the Federal High Court in Lagos, over allegations of abusing the naira.

Cubana Chief Priest will be arraigned before Justice Kehinde Ogundare on a three-count charge of allegedly spraying and tampering with the naira notes at a social event contrary to the provisions of the Central Bank Act of 2007.

In the charge filed on April 4 by the EFCC’s prosecutor, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Rotimi Oyedepo, and seven other lawyers representing the chairman of the anti-graft commission, it was alleged that “Okechukwu Pascal on February 13, 2024, at Eko Hotel, within the jurisdiction of the court, while dancing during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same for two hours, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.

In count 2, it was alleged “that you, Okechukwu Pascal sometime in 2020, in Lagos during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same for two hours, and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.”

In Count 3, it was alleged: “that you, Okechukwu Pascal sometime in January 2024, in Lagos during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying the same and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.”

The EFCC, on April 5, secured the conviction of popular cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky, on similar charges for which he was sentenced to six-month imprisonment.

The National Security Adviser, NSA, Nuhu Ribadu, says the Federal Government has rescued over 1,000 victims of verified mass abduction across the country without paying ransom.

Ribadu disclosed this on Monday, in Abuja while receiving 22 rescued students and staff of the Federal University Gusau, that the covert operations were conducted in the last few months.

He said the successful rescue operations were testimonies to the efforts of the government to free all those being unlawfully held in captivity.

“We have so far released over a thousand of such victims without noise and in complete respect for their privacy and safety.

“We released people from Zambara, Sokoto, Kaduna, Katsina, Taraba, Adamawa, and so many other states.

“Thousands, but never said a word and we thank God for that, and maybe that is the reason why we are so far very successful.

“This occasion marks a final juncture in a series of rescues we have undertaken in the last few months to free victims of recent cases of mass abductions that are verified.

“It is making a difference, it is a matter of time and we will see the outcome of the work we are doing,” he said.

The NSA said the victims were rescued unhurt and without any of the female abductees molested, adding that it was a marked departure from what had been the case in the past.

According to him, going forward, the government is strengthening law enforcement and security measures to prevent further abductions.

He added that the government would strengthen physical security across vulnerable communities in the country.

“This work is done by our security forces, our armed forces, our police, our intelligence agencies.

“All of us collectively have done this work together and we all are fully participating and this is the outcome of it,” he said.

Ribadu commended the leadership of President Bola Tinubu for working assiduously to address insecurity in the country.

According to him, the efforts have led to great improvement in recent times in taming terrorist attacks.

Recall that those rescued were abducted from the school on September 22, 2023, when bandits attacked three off-campus students’ hostels at Sabon Gida in Gusau.

Those kidnapped from the university included female students, some male artisans, a private security guard and a protocol officer.

Aisha Galadima, a political ally of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS), has confirmed her release.

Although the reasons for her arrest are uncertain, reports revealed that the strong ally to the former governor may have instigated the current administration with her political views targeted against its principal, Governor Uba Sani and shared via her Facebook page.

Operatives of the DSS were said to have stormed her residence in the Tudun Wada area of Kaduna on Sunday afternoon and was whisked off in a Hilux. Her phone lines were subsequently unreachable.

But the Kaduna government when contacted by the press, expressed its ignorance of the situation.

“I’m not aware that a woman was arrested for posting a negative comment against His Excellency. In any case, you should direct your enquiries to the DSS, not the Kaduna State Government,” the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Muhammad Shehu was quoted to have said.

Checks by THE WHISTLER on her Facebook page discovered most posts by Galadima to have expressed an unwavering support for Nasir El-Rufai, accompanied with his pictures, while others had a direct and indirect criticism of the present administration’s policies, and happenings in the state.

As frequent and engaging as her posts are on her page of over 11,000 followers, Galadima’s last post before her purported arrest was on Sunday. It read, “Living with integrity is better than living with leadership Malam Nasir El Rufai (sic).”

Twenty-four hours after she was reported to have been released, Galadima posted, “Alhamdulillah”, translated — “Praise be to God” — with over 132 comments congratulating her on her release.

Galadima in another post said, “Even If I will be killed, I am with you Malam Nasir El-Rufia”.

She continued, “These are signs of their failure in 2027”, alluding to the former governor’s victory in the 2027 presidential election.

Confirming her release to Daily Trust, Galadima said she was harassed and beaten by operatives of the secret police.

“I was inside my room about to take my bath when they came in and dragged me out. I saw four of their Hilux outside the gate. They pushed me inside and drove away,” she said.

According to her, the DSS had accused her of making some posts against the governor in February.

Recall that Governor Sani revealed that his administration inherited a burden of $587m and N85bn debts as well as 115 contractual liabilities from El-Rufai, noting that the fluctuating exchange rate worsened the state’s capacity to repay almost triple the monies borrowed his former principal.

Sani lamented that a significant amount of the state’s federal allocation goes into servicing the debts while stating that in March alone, N7bn out of the N10bn federal allocation to the state was deducted for debt servicing, leaving just N3b to cover expenses.

However, Bashir El-Rufai, son of the former Governor fired back accusing Sani of negligence of duty, contract inflation, and speculative financial practices.

Bashir accused the governor of lobbying and approving the loans while he (Uba Sani) was a senator.

Governor Sani was the Kaduna Central Senator in the 9th Senate before he emerged as the state governor in the 2023 elections.

The President of the Premium Bread Makers Association of Nigeria (PBAN), Emmanual Onuorah has explained that the 15 per cent Wheat Development Levy on bread and the cost of other inputs are responsible for the high cost of the commodity despite the appreciation of the naira against the United States dollar.

The PBAN president revealed this on Tuesday during a presentation on Arise News’ Global Business Report.

The price of a loaf of bread rose to around N2,000 in February after bakers reported an increase in a bag of flour from N37,000 to N42,000 and sugar from N62,000 to N72,000.

The naira has gained against the dollar from N1,700 in February to nearly N1,000 in April.

Onuorah explained that wheat constitutes 60 to 65 per cent which are imported from Ukraine, Russia, and other parts of the world.

He said, “Since this crisis (Russia/Ukraine war) started about three years ago, it has led to an upending of our pricing structure as regarding wheat. As a country Nigeria produces, we can grow wheat in 15 states.”

The PBAN president said bread makers pay 15 per cent Wheat Development Levy which is transferred to the final consumers.

He said, “For instance, they (federal government) take 15 percent for every bread that you eat, for every flour that we buy, 15 percent of it is taken for wheat development level.

“Cumulatively, the duty on wheat is 30 per cent and 15 per cent Wheat Development Levy that Jonathan initiated in June 2012 and was supposed to be adopted or a stopgap. But it’s still their till today.

“They are supposed to use it for R&D and all of it. But it’s still the same thing, redoing corruption and all that. We are not getting the benefit of that. And that’s why we’ve been asking the government, to remove this thing, and place a moratorium on wheat import since Nigerians are hungry.

“So, we’ll keep pushing on the pressure. That’s why we are a pressure group. And we must use our platform to ensure that Nigerians also get cheap bread.”

He also said the cost of diesel, electricity bills and other inputs are responsible for the prices.

The federal government through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has commenced the disbursement of the Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme to verified applicants.

The disbursement is coming barely two months after the agreement for the loan was sealed between the federal government and the Bank of Industry.

In a progress report posted on the trade minister’s official X (formerly Twitter) handle on Tuesday, Doris Aniete stated that an unspecified number of beneficiaries have received their grants, adding that by Friday, April 19, another significant disbursement will be made to a substantial number of verified applicants.

She said, “We are pleased to inform you that the disbursement process for the Presidential Conditional Grant Programme has officially commenced. Some beneficiaries have already received their grants, marking the beginning of our phased disbursement strategy.”

“By Friday, 19th April 2024, a significant disbursement will be made to a substantial number of verified applicants. It is essential to understand that disbursements are ongoing, and not all applicants will receive their grants on this initial date. However, rest assured that all verified applicants will eventually receive their grants in subsequent phases.”

The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, had in February signed three agreements with the Bank of Industry that would unlock over N200bn funding for businesses in Nigeria.

The first agreement enables both parties to establish the FGN Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Intervention Fund in the sum of N75bn, while the second agreement is for the the N50bn Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS).

The scheme which is also known as the Nano Business Grant Support Section of the Presidential Palliative Program of the federal government would allow the sum of N50bn to be deposited as Grant and with BOI from time to time.

The third agreement would enable both parties to set up the N75bn FGN Manufacturing Sector Fund to be deposited by FMITI with BOI from time to time for the purpose of financing projects and activities falling within the parameters of the Fund.

Under the first agreement which is the N75bn MSMEs fund, the amount would be used to finance approved projects to support micro, small and medium-scale enterprises and serve as a cushion against the high cost of production, marketing and distribution of products arising mainly from infrastructure deficiencies and other ancillary factors involving MSMEs in Nigeria.

The operation and management of the Fund would be the responsibility of BOI in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement.

Under the second agreement which is the N50bn Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme (PCGS), the amount would help to cushion the negative impact of the removal of fuel subsidy by the FGN, and the resulting increase in the pump prices of petroleum products in Nigeria on businesses.

The removal of subsidy had led to some unintended economic hardship on the citizenry of Nigeria.

In a bid to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal, President Bola Tinubu had in a national broadcast made on 31st of July, 2023 introduced palliative measures to support families and businesses affected by the fuel subsidy removal.

The federal government, through the Trade Ministry, is establishing the Nano Business Grant Support Section of the Presidential Palliative Programme to protect and sustain the income of vulnerable nano enterprises from the shock of the economic downturn.

This is in furtherance of the attainment of economic revitalisation, employment preservation and generation, growth, and development of nano businesses throughout Nigeria.

The ministry has a target of at least 1,000 nano business owners in each of the 774 local governments across the country and the six council areas in the FCT, especially women and youth, thereby supporting the growth of nano businesses and improving the social well-being of households across the Nation between now and March 2024.

As the custodian of the Fund, BOI would leverage all its applicable expertise, business profiling and field infrastructure, branch and agent networks, partnerships, and plug-ins across financial institutions nationwide, technology and data management systems, third-party partnerships and institutional support.

Some of the target sectors/businesses include Trade (single retail marketers, corner shop owners, petty traders, market men, women, and youths in open market spaces); Food Services (Food and Vegetables Vendors), ICT (business centers operators, battery chargers, recharge cards vendors, call center agents); Transportation (Wheelbarrow Pushers, independent dispatch riders): Artisans (Vulcanizers, Shoe repairers, painters);Creatives (Makeup artists, fashion designers, drycleaners), and any other sectors as may be identified by the ministry.

For the third agreement, which is in respect to the FGN Manufacturing Sector Fund, the government’s target is to provide support for businesses in the manufacturing sector of the Nigerian economy nationwide.

This is in furtherance of the attainment of economic revitalisation, reduction in the cost of production, employment generation, and inclusive growth and development of the manufacturing sector throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

As custodian of the Fund, BOI would leverage on all its applicable expertise, business profiling and field infrastructure, branch and agent networks, partnerships and plug-ins across financial institutions nationwide, technology and data management systems, disbursement and collections infrastructure where applicable, third-party partnerships and institutional support where effective to the target beneficiaries across all states in Nigeria.

The Fund would be utilized to support eligible manufacturing companies and afford same a cushion against the high and rising costs of production, marketing and distribution of products arising from, among others, infrastructural deficiencies and other ancillary factors affecting manufacturers and the manufacturing sector in Nigeria.

The operation and management of the Fund would be the responsibility of BOI in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement.

Kaka, the Brazilian football legend, has spoken out about his divorce in 2015, responding to a strange claim made by his ex-wife.

Kaka married his childhood sweetheart Caroline Celico, while playing for AC Milan in 2005 and they had a son and daughter together, before splitting a decade later.

Last week, it was reported that Celico claimed she left the marriage, because “he was too perfect for me”.

But Kaka, now 41, speaking on a podcast, as reported by Spanish outlet Sport, insists he did everything he could to avoid the split.

He said: “In 2015 I was married, and my wife at the time decided she didn’t want to be married anymore.

“She said, ‘I’m not happy and I attribute my unhappiness to marriage’.

“I was living in the United States, and she asked to go back to Brazil.

“Her words were, ‘I want to go back to Brazil, I want to live there and I don’t want to be married anymore’.”

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, has pledged to continue voicing his significant apprehensions regarding the 2024 budget, emphasizing its crucial impact on the lives of citizens, particularly the impoverished.

In a statement via X on Tuesday, Obi argued that the budget’s numerous negatives have far-reaching implications for the nation’s development and the well-being of its citizens.

“It is evident that there are items in the budget that do not align with our current circumstances, and it is imperative to call for a review and appropriate virement. Allocating our scarce resources to high-priority areas of need is essential for the well-being of the nation,” Obi stated.

Obi took issue with several specific allocations in the budget.

He said, “Allocating N15 billion solely for the National Assembly hospital is unacceptable, especially when it exceeds five times the budgetary allocation to The National Hospital or the combined capital vote of our six major teaching hospitals across the nation.

He further listed the teaching hospitals including University College Hospital, Ibadan; University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu; Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria; Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife; Jos University Teaching Hospital and University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital.

“This disparity reflects a low level of care for the rest of society,” Obi asserted.

He also criticised the N15.3 billion allocation for the National Assembly library project and procurement of books, including the e-Library.

“Justifying a budgetary allocation of N15.3 billion for the National Assembly library project and procurement of books, including the e-Library, in a country without a National Library is very disappointing.

“The National Library has been under construction for the past 20 years, and its budgetary allocation for 2024 is less than 1B Naira, which makes the National Assembly Library budget 15 times more,” Obi wrote.

Furthermore, Obi expressed concern over the allocation of N10 billion for the Senate’s and House of Representatives car parks and the National Assembly Recreation Centre, while allocating less to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation.

He said, “Allocating N10 billion for the Senate’s and House of Representatives’ car parks and the National Assembly Recreation Centre, while allocating less to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation, is concerning.

“In an era where science, technology and innovation are crucial for the nation’s future, such allocations demonstrate a lack of foresight and basic awareness of global trends and urgent national priorities,” he stated.

Obi called for a reassessment of priorities, a revisiting of the budget, and the elimination of frivolous expenditures.

“This level of insensitivity to the present situation and challenges faced by the people should not be tolerated by any development-minded nation. Every scarce resource must be directed towards productive sectors of the economy.

“It is time for our nation to reassess its priorities, revisit the budget, eliminate frivolous expenditures and channel our resources properly for the benefit of the people. No great nation is built on a foundation of waste and frivolity,” he declared.

At the backdrop of sustained rise in prices of staple food items in the market, Nigeria has recorded an unprecedented food inflation rate of 40 percent in March 2024.

Economists and financial analysts explained that the development would put more pressure on the purchasing power of average Nigerian and they also predict that the trend will continue for some months before stabilising.

The food inflation drove the headline inflation rate to 33.2 percent, up from 31.7 percent recorded in the month of February.

The figures released yesterday by National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in its Consumer Price Index, CPI, report for March 2024, represented a 2.09 and 1.5 percentage percentage points increases month-on-month.

But the analysts see a wider headline inflationary rise in this month to 34.6 percent, representing a 2.4 percentage month-on-month rise resulting from the recent hike in electricity tariff.

Electricity tariff hike to drive further inflation – CardinalStone

Analysts at CardinalStone Finance Limited, a Lagos based investment house, indicated that further inflationary upswing should be expected following the recent drastic hike in electricity tariff.

They stated: ‘’The inflation outlook is biased to the upside, a consequence of the recent implementation of a new electricity tariff. For context, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) have hiked price for Band A customer from N68 to N225 per kilowatt hour.

‘’Nevertheless, we see some downside risk from the recent currency sustainability. ‘’Overall, we project inflation to print 34.6% in April 2024.’’

In the meantime, analysts at Alpha Morgan Capital said: “From our analysis, we project that inflation will further increase but at a continuously slower rate. We tie this prediction primarily to the recent monetary interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria in mopping up excess liquidity, curbing volatile exchange rate movement through various aggressive currency interventions, government fiscal policies, such as agricultural interventions, among others.”

Devpt is bad for businesses – NACCIMA

Meanwhile, OPS said that the persistent rising inflation could sound the death knell for small businesses in the country, with consequential loss of jobs and worsened insecurity.

Commenting, Director General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Sola Obadimu, said: “Persistent rising inflation is bad for business as well as for individuals.

“It erodes income in value terms and purchasing power becomes weaker for both individuals and businesses. Inventories will continue to grow.

“It is bad for planning purposes and breeds growing uncertainty. Cost of doing business continues to grow leading to higher cost of goods. It’s cyclical.

“Even when businesses or individuals tend to earn higher income, the value (in real terms) becomes lower.”

In his reaction, President of Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria (ASBON), Dr Femi Egbesola, said the development will worsen survival of small businesses.

He stated: “The new and rising inflation rate, affecting largely food, essential commodities, raw materials, electricity and alternative power generation, transportation among others, will continue to worsen the survival and growth of SMEs.

It will, no doubt, squeeze out the meager working capital of SMEs and make us more vulnerable to extinction.

“Not all costs can be passed to the consumers but even at that, certain costs will be passed onto them, and since they also have had their disposable income eroded by inflation, sales of goods and services of SMEs will drastically drop. For an average citizen, their standard of living and welfare will significantly drop too.

“More Nigerians will suffer from hunger, and lack of access to basic necessities and amenities, worse of it is health and medical needs.

“Overall, the implications of this on SMEs is that many more businesses will die off and become ailing, job losses will increase as many more businesses will lay off workers.

“There will be an increase in bad loans as more SMEs will be unable to fulfill their loan obligations leading to decreased access to funding from banks that will be more averse to lending to SMEs particularly with the increased interest rate, now coupled with inflation.

“More insecurity will prevail in the land for many will look for alternative illegal ways of survival. More will migrate in the name of Japa.

“The extinction of more businesses will open doors for imported products to take their space which eventually will also stress the Naira exchange rate.”

In its CPI report NBS stated: “In March 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 33.2 percent relative to the February 2024 headline inflation rate which was 31.7 percent .

“On a YoY basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.16 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023, which was 22.04 percent.

On food inflation the bureau said: “The food inflation rate in March 2024 was 40.01 percent on a year-on-year basis, which was 15.56 percentage points higher compared to the rate recorded in March 2023 (24.45 percent).

“The rise in Food inflation on a year-on-year basis was caused by increases in prices of the following items garri, millet, akpu uncooked fermented (which are under the bread and cereals class), yam tuber, water yam (under potatoes, yam, and other tubers class), dried fish sadine, mudfish dried (under Fish class), palm oil, vegetable oil (under Oil and Fat), beef feet, beef head, liver (under Meat class), coconut, water melon (under Fruit Class), Lipton tea, Bournvita, Milo (under coffee, tea and cocoa class).”