The Tinubu-led federal government has commenced the nationwide distribution of 42,000 metric tonnes of grains.

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari announced the development during an interactive session with the National Assembly joint committee on Agriculture Production Services and Rural Development, on Tuesday.

The committee chaired by Senator Saliu Mustapha (APC -Kwara Central), had asked the Minister to divulge how the federal government was planning to curb the high cost of food items in the country and make it affordable to the citizenry.

Replying, Kyari disclosed that they had received a directive and approval from President Bola Tinubu to distribute 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains.

According to him, “We have received directive and approval from Mr. President to distribute for immediate impact 42,000 metric tonnes of assorted grains free of charge to the Nigerian population.

“This was received in mid-February, as we are speaking we have a record of the distribution being carried out, but I will want to plead with the Honorable House Members and Distinguished Senators that some of the movements can’t be made public but a lot of states have started receiving their grains.

“We are distributing to State capitals in the first instance as you all are aware of the risk involved in the vandalisation of foodstuff, so we are working with the office of the National Security Adviser and other national security agencies.

“Furthermore, 58,500 metric tons of milled rice from mega rice millers will also be released into the market for stabilization.”

He said that the action of the Federal Government had become imperative to cushion the impacts of hardship on Nigerians which he said, will soon become a thing of the past.

Ayodele Fayose, a former governor of Ekiti state has reacted to the statement made by Afe Babalola (SAN), who opined that previous governors of the state did not do well in office hence the reason for hardship in the state.

Recall that the founder of Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), on Monday, said all the past governors who managed the affairs of the state before the incumbent, Biodun Oyebanji, failed to develop it.

Speaking at the commissioning of the multi-system hospital annexe in Odo-Ado, Igirigiri road, Ado Ekiti, Babalola commended Oyebanji for doing a wonderful job so far.

The legal luminary added that the former governors abandoned the vision of those who laboured for the creation of the state.

However, in an interview with Premium Times on Tuesday, Fayose said that contrary to Babalola’s assertion, all past governors of the state did their best and contributed to Ekiti’s development.

However, the former governor said Babalola remained a leader he respects and would never want to join issues on any matter.

Fayose said Babalola himself is trying at everything he is doing, but that he would not finish every good thing he intends to achieve.

He also expressed the belief that Babalola must have been misquoted, adding that the senior lawyer had, in 2018, described him as a patriot not only to Ekiti State and the Yoruba race but also to Nigeria.

He said: “He is our leader, we owe everything to him, we cannot join issues with him, we will continue to respect him. In this case, he must have been misquoted.

“I want to believe he must have been misquoted, Governor Adebayo did his best. Governor Fayemi did his best. I did my best.

“In fact, what Baba said about me in 2018 does not correlate with what you are saying he said about me yesterday.”

Some parts of the nation's capital, Abuja and Kogi State are experiencig blackout due to the collapse of a power station.

The two areas earlier mentioned are under the coverage of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

On Tuesday, the AEDC informed its customers in Zamani Estate, Abacha Road Mararaba, Ruga Juli and other parts of Abuja that a technical fault on 33kv feeder k6 from AT9 Karu Transmission Station was responsible for the power outage.

“The management of Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc wishes to notify its esteemed customers that there is currently a technical fault on 33kv feeder k6 from AT9 Karu Transmission Station, managed by the Transmission Company of Nigeria.

“The areas affected in Abuja are: Zamani Estate, Abacha Road Mararaba, Ruga Juli, Old Karu Road, Glory Estate and environs,” the Disco said in a statement.

The AEDC disclosed that the TCN maintenance crew was working to ensure the supply of electricity to these areas was restored soon, regretting any inconvenience caused.

Earlier, the TCN had announced its maintenance crew would carry out planned maintenance on its TR3 45MVA and TR2 60MVA power transformers in its 132/33kV Okene Transmission Substation.

The maintenance was scheduled to run from Tuesday to Wednesday, from 10 am to 03pm on each day.

The removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, pushed up the statutory revenue allocations from the Federation Account that was shared by the three tiers of government in 2023 to N10.14tn.

Data released on Tuesday by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in its latest report on the Federation Account revenue allocations for the year 2023, showed that the amount shared by the federal, state and local governments increased by N1.93tn last year, when compared to what they got in 2022.

NEITI attributed this increase to the removal of subsidy on petrol by President Bola Tinubu in May 2023, when he declared during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023 that fuel subsidy was gone.

Tinubu’s declaration was immediately implemented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited the next day, as petrol price jumped from N198/litre to about N500/litre.

The cost of the commodity moved up again within a month to N617/litre at filling stations operated by NNPCL, while other marketers dispense the product at between N660 and N700/litre depending on the area of purchase.

Commenting on the latest report, NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Dr Ogbonnaya Orji, who announced the release of the report at the NEITI House, Abuja, said that the agency embarked on the NEITI FAAC Quarterly Review to enhance public understanding of Federation Account allocations and disbursements as published by government.

“The ultimate objective of this disclosure is to strengthen knowledge, awareness and promote public accountability of all institutions in public finance management,” Orji explained.

A breakdown of the revenue receipts showed that the Federal Government received N3.99tn, representing 39.37 per cent of the total allocation.

The 36 states got N3.585tn representing 35.34 per cent, while the 774 Local Government councils of the Federation shared N2.56tn equivalent to 25.28 per cent.

A further analysis of the N10.143tn disbursements in 2023 showed an increase of N1.934tn or 23.56 per cent when compared to the disbursement of N8.209tn shared in the preceding year of 2022.

The review attributed the increase to improved revenue remittances to the Federation Account due to the removal of petrol subsidy and the floating of the exchange rate by the new administration.

The report highlighted that while total revenues distributed from the Federation Account recorded an overall increase of 23.56 per cent in 2023, the increase accruing to each tier of government varied, largely due to the type of the revenue streams contributing to the inflows into the Federation Account.

The NEITI Quarterly Review of 2023 FAAC allocations disclosed that the federal, states and local governments cumulatively received N1.934tn more than the amount shared in 2022.

The first quarter of 2023 increased by N579.71bn (33.19 per cent) when compared to the first quarter of 2022. The second quarter increased 10.32 per cent, third quarter by 27.49 per cent, while the fourth quarter had an increase of 23.42 per cent.

The Federal Government’s share increased by N574.21bn (16.79 per cent) from the N3.42tn it received in 2022 to N3.99tn in 2023.

The state governments shared N3.59tn in 2023 compared to the N2.76tn they got in 2022, showing an increase of 29.99 per cent. Similarly, Local Government councils’ share of federation allocation was N2.57tn in 2023 compared to N2.032tn in the 2022, which amounts to a 26.22 per cent increase.

While total distributed revenue from the Federation Account recorded an overall increase of 23.56 per cent in 2023, the increase accruing to each tier of government varied, largely due to the type of revenue item contributing to the inflows into the Federation Account.

In the same period (2023), states and Local Governments recorded increases in their allocations by 29.99 per cent and 26.22 per cent respectively. The increase in allocation to the Federal Government, however, was 16.79 per cent

State by state share of the allocations showed that Delta State received the largest share of N402.26bn (gross). The figure is inclusive of the state’s share of oil and gas derivation revenue.

Delta was followed by Rivers State which received N398.53bn. Akwa-Ibom State received the third largest allocation of N293.58bn. Nasarawa State received the least amount of N73.32bn, while Ebonyi and Ekiti states received N73.91bn and N74.04bn respectively.

The review observed that the first five states that topped the allocation during the period under review are among the major oil producing states in the country.

On the share of 13 per cent derivation revenue, nine states received the 13 per cent allocated to mineral producing states from the proceeds from mineral revenue.

The derivation revenue remains a significant portion of revenue for states like Delta, Akwa Ibom, Anambra and Rivers states. Also, the derivation revenues of states such as Delta, Akwa Ibom, and Bayelsa, which were 161.47 per cent, 141.25 per cent and 127.89 per cent respectively, eclipsed their statutory revenues.

Rivers State’s derivation revenue was 74.15 per cent during the period. Notably, the other five oil producing states recorded lesser derivation revenue compared to the four above.

For example, Ondo State had 27.71 per cent, Edo had 30.04 per cent, while Abia, Anambra and Imo recorded a derivation revenue of about 20 per cent or less.

The NEITI report noted that solid minerals producing states did not receive derivation revenues during the last quarter of last year because of the need to allow the revenues to accumulate over a period of time before sharing can occur.

On direct deductions from state, Delta State recorded by far the largest debt deductions in 2023. With total deduction of N12.97bn, Delta debt deduction was more than the deductions for Bauchi State, the second largest in 2023 by N282m. Lagos State recorded the least cumulative debt deductions amounting to N370m.

The report stated that the reduced debt burden was attributable more to the increase in the size of Federation Account allocations than a reduction in the size of debt.

“The stark similarity in the debt size and sustainability charts indicates that states’ borrowing decisions are being determined by the size of their Federation Account allocations and expected future earnings.

“While this pattern indicates good fiscal decisions by the states, it may also cause states to increase their current borrowing as revenues from the Federation Account allocations are beginning to increase,” NEITI stated in its report.

Other key findings of the report showed that revenue remittances to the Federation Account fluctuated significantly on monthly basis due to corresponding fluctuations in oil and gas revenue.

Oil and gas revenues reflected crude oil prices and Nigeria’s output which in turn is significantly affected by crude oil theft and acts of sabotage.

The report pointed out that the main sources of revenue inflows to the Federation Account/contributors to the Federation Account in 2023 were the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Federal Inland Revenue Service and Nigeria Customs Service, through earnings from the different revenue stream.

This include oil, gas royalties, petroleum profit tax, company income tax, value added tax, import and excise duties.

The report also revealed that revenue from solid minerals sector was very negligible, and reflects the underperformance of the sector. The NEITI Quarterly Review proffered key recommendations for enhanced performance of the Federation Account.

“Government (the National Assembly and the Executive) should adopt more conservative estimates for crude oil prices and output to enhance budgetary performance, reduce budget deficits and borrowing and strengthen fiscal stabilisation.

“NEITI renewed its earlier recommendations for the Federal Government to highly prioritise the ongoing efforts at economic diversification and investment to improve power generation to encourage small, medium and large businesses to promote local production, reduce import and dependence on oil revenues,” it stated.

NEITI’s FAAC Quarterly Reviews also underlined the need for states to join hands with the Federal Government to deal with insecurity in rural communities where agro-based businesses thrive, pay attention to internally generated revenues through innovations and leadership that are citizen-centered.

The Senate has expressed the fear that Nigeria may not recover N358 billion about 30 per cent of the N1.1 trillion Anchor Borrowers.

The Senate said the N1.1 trillion has an impressive repayment rate of up to 70 per cent but added that the rest of the 30 per cent amounting to N358 billion are loans given to low-income farmers which have very high risk.

This came up yesterday at the Senate Ad-hoc Committee probing the N30 trillion Ways and Means loans to the federal government and Anchor Borrowers Programme.

The chairman of the committee, Isah Jibrin (Kogi East), who met with officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the National Assembly, said they must do everything to recover the debt.

The CBN team was led by the deputy governor for corporate services, Bala Bello, who made presentations on “Ways and Means and Anchor Borrowers”.

Senator Jibrin said the committee was able to extract useful information from them, which would guide their next level of discussion.

He said the committee had issues with approvals in areas where it was discovered that the CBN governor “unilaterally gave approvals”, which is abnormal to the committee.
The committee could not get immediate explanation for that and therefore gave 24 hours to provide the necessary explanation.

Meanwhile, the Senate has extended the implementation of the 2023 Supplementary Appropriation Act from 31st March, 2024 to 30th June, 2024.
The Senate had earlier extended the life span of the N21.8 trillion 2023 budget from 31st December 2023 to March 31, 2024.

The extension of the budget lifeline followed the Second reading of the bill read by the Senate leader, Bamidele Michael Opeyemi (Ekiti Central).
Bamidele said the release of capital component of the budget to the MDAs is unlikely to be utilize before March 31, 2023 if it is not extended.

African best footballer and Napoli of Italy star striker Victor Osimhen, Nottingham Forest of England forward Taiwo Awoniyi and the dou of Tyronne Ebuehi and Gabriel Osho have all been ruled out of the Super Eagles’ friendlies against Ghana and Mali.

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirm this in a statement signed by its director of communication, Ademola Olajiri and shared with Media Houses on Tuesday, saying the quartet will not be available for the friendlies due to Injuries.

12 players are already at the team’s Adam Park Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco.

The players at the camp in Marrakech are goalkeepers Stanley Nwabali and Olorunleke Ojo, defenders Calvin Bassey, Semi Ajayi, Jamilu Collins, Bruno Onyemaechi and Benjamin Tanimo, midfielders Alex Iwobi, Raphael Onyedika and Alhassan Yusuf, and forwards Moses Simon, Nathan Tella, Cyriel Dessers, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Sadiq Umar and Ademola Lookman.

Goalkeeper Francis Uzoho, defender Chidozie Awaziem, midfielders Frank Onyeka and Wilfred Ndidi, and forward Kelechi Iheanacho were being expected at the team’s training camp at time of filling in this report on Tuesday. Only Turkey-based defender Bright Osayi-Samuel is being expected on Wednesday.

The 2023 AFCON runners up will square up against the Black Stars of Ghana on Friday before lock horns with the Les Aigles of Mali at the same Grand Stade de Marrakech on Tuesday, 26th March.

Former Nigerian forward Finidi George will occupy the chief’s corner in the dugout when the Super Eagles confront West African arch-rivals Ghana and Mali in friendlies in Marrakech, Morocco.

The 52-year-old former Ajax and Real Betis winger, who made a scoring debut for Nigeria in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Burkina Faso in 1991, has been appointed by the NFF to hold the reins in the meantime as a group of 22 players take on Ghana and Mali in this month’s international window.

On his debut in 1991, George, who also featured for Calabar Rovers and Sharks FC in the domestic scene before heading to Europe, scored one and made four assists for legendary ‘goalsfather’ Rashidi Yekini (of blessed memory), and also assisted the latter to score Nigeria’s first-ever FIFA World Cup goal against Bulgaria in Dallas, USA on 19th June 1994.

Actually, George scored the goal that took Nigeria to her first FIFA World Cup finals, when he put Nigeria ahead against hosts Algeria in a crucial qualifier in Algiers on 8th October 1993. The match eventually ended 1-1 and earned Nigeria a ticket to the finals in America.

The former Enyimba of Aba gaffer will bellow instructions from the touchline, 21 months after he began to understudy Portuguese José Santos Peseiro, who led the Eagles to runner-up position at the 34th Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire earlier in the year.

Olympian Elizabeth Anyanacho defeated African number 1, Mohammed Aya of Egypt in 3 rounds to win gold medal at the ongoing 13th African Games in Ghana.

2019 African Games bronze medalist started the day defeating W. Zaboure of Burundi in the Quarter-final to at least get into the medal range.

In the semi-final, Elizabeth Anyanacho maintained her winning spirit to defeat Salih Sofia of Morocco in another 3 rounds on the mat.

Coming into the final, Elizabeth who has already qualified for this year Paris Olympics took her time and studied her opponent Mohammed Aya in the bout losing the first round but came back strong to win the second and third round to claim the gold medal.

With this gold medal, Team Nigeria Taekwondo has won one gold medal and one bronze.

The Senate has expressed its intention to summon former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, concerning the N30 trillion ‘Ways and Means’ advances issued during President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

This decision comes in the wake of inadequate explanations from the current CBN leadership regarding the transactions.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on ‘Ways and Means’ from Kogi East, Senator Jibrin Isah, made this known after a session with CBN officials, including the Deputy Governor, at the National Assembly in Abuja.

The Senate’s move is part of a broader inquiry led by Isah’s ad-hoc committee, established to scrutinize the acquisition and utilization of the CBN’s Ways and Means loans under Buhari’s tenure.

The committee is tasked with delving into the intricacies of the financial mechanism known as ‘Ways and Means,’ a facility that allows the CBN to cover government budget deficits.

Additionally, the probe extends to the examination of the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, another financial initiative from the same period.

During the engagement with CBN representatives, Senator Isah unveiled that their preliminary findings indicated that Emefiele had autonomously authorized several transactions, an action the committee deems unlawful.

He said, “The CBN made a presentation on the ‘Ways and Means’ and on the Anchor Borrowers Scheme, and we were able to extract so much information from them and that will prepare us for the next line of discussion with them. Basically, we were able to make presentations on the Ways and a means with regards to the beneficiaries of those loans.

“But we had issues, issues of approval. We discovered that the CBN governor unilaterally gave approvals and we feel that is abnormal. We asked them for explanations in that regard, they don’t have immediate explanations and I want to believe that they want to go back home, check their records and at the next meeting, they will be able to provide us with those explanation.

“We believe that every approval must be given by committee of members, the governor and the deputy, that is the standard. Where the governor Aline gives an approval, that also is confusing and that, they will provide answered to us.”

He said if the current leadership of the CBN does not provide the needed answers, the committee would summon Emefiele.

He said, “Where it is absolutely necessary, we will not hesitate to invite the former CBN governor, Emefiele.”

Speaking on the discussion regarding the Anchor Borrowers Scheme, Senator Isah said, “With respect to Anchor Borrowers, the performance today on the average is impressive. About 70 percent of the loans have been settled. The rest 30 percent are loans given to low income farmers and the risk there is that, those low income farmers do not have what it takes to perform to expectations.

“They don’t have the necessary equipment, they don’t have the necessary knowhow. So that is where we are going to have possible problems of loan default.

“And we are talking about N358 billion, spread all over the country. But we have advised them that those loans were processed through commercial banks, the credit risk lies with the commercial banks. And the commercial banks should go after those borrowers to recover their monies. We told them that they should try and go into a round table discussion with those commercial banks that purportedly guaranteed those loans.

“Those loans were guaranteed by the commercial banks and those commercial banks are still in existence. The credit burden lies with the commercial banks and they know what to do because all the accounts of commercial banks are domiciled with the CBN. They may have to go to the extent of evoking the rules that we all know.”

Anti-graft agencies must check govt books —APC

We’re not afraid —PDP

GOVERNOR Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, yesterday, faulted claims by the All Progressives Congress, APC, that his administration spent N18 billion to renovate the Government House, describing their claim as fake news.

He added that the administration did not borrow such for its infrastructure project as claimed by the APC.

The governor, in a statement by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, described the APC as a party struggling to cope with the reality of its failure in government.

The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to the All Progressives Congress, APC, in which it again repeated his lies about the Osun State Government having taken a loan of N10 billion to implement current infrastructure programmes across the state.

“We equally rejected fake news that the state government spent N18 billion on the renovation of the Government House. It is a figment of the imagination of failed men of yesterday. Rather than sponsoring falsehood, we urge the APC to accept it failed while it governed Osun state and it should be brave enough to commend the present government for succeeding where it recorded mass failure.

“We affirm once again that the current government has not taken any loan since inception to pursue any programme or project. The man, who granted the interview on one innocuous YouTube channel, lied and acted as a purveyor of fake news.

“Governor Adeleke had told the public clearly and on several occasions that he is not borrowing to pursue the infra projects. Rather, the Governor explained that his administration’s strategy was to block leakages, expand earnings and save for projects by opening a project account dedicated to the financing of the projects.

“The project in question is a multi-billion naira expenditure spread over time designed to bridge the huge infra deficit the Governor inherited from the Gboyega Oyetola administration. Yesterday, today or tomorrow, no loan is contemplated as the Governor has a sustainable investment and implementation plan within the confines of state resources.”

Anti-graft agencies must check govt books —APC

Meanwhile, the APC has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission, ICPC, to look into the finances of the state to curb ongoing corruption in the state.

The party said: “We want to use this medium to call on the anti-graft agencies, especially the ICPC and EFCC, to immediately move in their men to Osun State to halt the reckless mismanagement of public funds which is now endemic under the government of Senator Ademola Adeleke.”

We’re willing to receive them — PDP

However, the PDP Chairman in the state, Sunday Bisi said the administration is willing to receive the anti-graft agencies should the APC properly invite them to come and probe our books.

Bisi said: “Unlike the APC government, which looted the State Treasury and denied civil servants their rights, we are willing to see the anti-graft agencies and our books are well open to anyone.”

The Federal Government has released a list of 15 entities, including nine individuals and six Bureau De Change operators and firms, involved in terrorism financing.

The details of the development were revealed by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and made available to Naija News on Tuesday night.

The document, entitled “Designation of Individuals and Entities for March 18, 2024,” disclosed that the Nigeria Sanctions Committee met on March 18, 2024, where specific individuals and entities were recommended for sanction following their involvement in terrorism financing.

“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, with the approval of the President, has thereupon designated the following individuals and entities to be listed on the Nigeria Sanctions List,” the document read in part.

Among the individuals named on the document is a Kaduna-based publisher, Tukur Mamu, who is currently being tried by the Federal Government for allegedly aiding the terrorists who attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train in March 2022.

According to the document, Mamu “participated in the financing of terrorism by receiving and delivering ransome payments over the sum of $200,000 US in support of ISWAP terrorists for the release of hostages of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack.”

The document also said one of the individuals is “the suspected attacker of the St. Francis Catholic Church Owo, Ondo State on June 5, 2022 and the Kuje Correctional Center, Abuja on July 5, 2022.”

Another was described as “a member of the terrorist group Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladissudam, the group is associated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

“The subject was trained and served under Muktar Belmokhtar, aka One Eyed Out, led Al-Murabtoun Katibat of AQIM in Algeria and Mali.”

The NFIU said the individual “specialises in designing terrorist clandestine communication code and he is also Improvised Explosive Device expert.

“The subject was also a gate keeper to ANSARU leader, Mohammed Usman aka Khalid Al-Bamawi. Equally, he was a courier and travel guide to AQIM Katibat in the desert of Algeria and Mali. He is into carpentry. Subject fled Kuje correctional centre on July 5, 2022. He is currently at large.”

Another was identified as “a senior commander of the Islamic State of West Africa Province Okene.”

The agency said the individual “came into limelight in 2012 as North Central wing of Boko Haram.

“The group is suspected of the attacks carried out around Federal Capital Territory and the South West Geographical Zone, including the June 5, 2022 attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State.”

Another was described as “a financial courier to ISWAP Okene. She is responsible for the disbursement of funds to the widows/wives of the terrorist fighters of the group.”

According to the document, another of the individuals “in 2015, transferred N60m to terrorism convicts.”

He was also said to have “received a sum of N189m between 2016 and 2018.”

The same person is said to “own entities and business reported in the UAE court judgment as facilitating the transfer of terrorist funds from Dubai to Nigeria.”

Another individual was said to have “received a total of N57m from between 2014 and 2017.”

Another was said to have “had a total inflow of N61.4 bn and a total outflow of N51.7bn from his accounts.”