Electricity distribution companies(DisCos) in Lagos say the proposed Standard Transfer Specification (STS), a metering code, to be introduced soon, is not targeted toward increasing electricity tarrif.
A top official in one of the Discos in Lagos, who preferred anonymity, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday that the code, a software which is of an international standard, is to upgrade old meters to STS rollover.
NAN reports that DisCos in Nigeria have already advised its customers to upgrade their meters before Aug. 1 in order not to lose them.
The STS rollover is a secure message system for carrying information between a point of sale (PoS) and a meter.
The official said that the timeline for the upgrade would end in November 2024 and that customers’ meters had to be upgraded to allowed for accessibility.
According to him, every DisCo has scheduled it metering coding, differently.
“Some have scheduled for Aug. 1, but ours is not same date, However, it will be done before the expiring date of November 2024.
“We will ensure the migration is seamless for our customers on STS TID rollover system.
“The software will be upgraded without affecting reading or payment model.
“In electricity process, there are intelligent units that transfer the load to an alternative source.
“The technology of the remote communication makes possible the function and recharge of prepaid meter,” the staff added.
The source said that the TID – Token Identifier is a 24 bit field contained in STS compliant token that identifies the date and time of the token generation.
He said that it is used to determine if a token had already been used in a payment meter.
The source said that the upper limit for the software would be reached by November 2024, noting that would lead the rollover to zero.
He also said this would be needed for the TID rollover for meter upgrade to enable meter recharge.
The source said that customers need to upgrade their meters by using a Key Change Token (KCT), a special rest token, to be loaded on their meters.
“Customers will get a KCT of the DisCos offices or their agents at the point of purchase of a token alongside the purchased energy tokens.
“Customers will only need to use KCT once and subsequent energy purchases will be as usual,” the official added.
He said no customers’ meters needed to be changed to enable the upgrade, except it is an obsolete or faulty meter.
[championnews]
Two people were confirmed dead after a building collapsed partially in a suburb of Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, on Saturday morning, local authorities said.
The incident occurred at about 11:30 a.m. local time (1030 GMT) on Saturday in the Ishawo area of Lagos, said Ibrahim Farinloye, a coordinator of National Emergency Management Agency in Lagos, in a statement.
Farinloye said the two victims were trapped when their house was partially damaged as a fence from the neighboring house fell on their building during Saturday's heavy downpour.
"It was very unfortunate that no distress call was properly channelled to those whose responsibility is to save lives at the right time," he said, adding the two bodies were recovered from the rubble of the collapsed section.
Building collapses are not uncommon in Nigeria. Local experts blame them on aging structures, non-compliance with building planning and regulations, and the use of substandard materials during construction.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency
FOLLOWING the increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, known as petrol, from N488 to between N568 and N617 per litre, civil servants in Lagos State have resorted to shift operations to cushion the effect of the increment.
Consequently, most private vehicle owners in Lagos have decided to board public transportation to their offices and various destinations.
The development has reduced the chaotic gridlock in Lagos State, as most of the highways are witnessing free flow of traffic across the state.
Most of the areas visited include Egbeda, Iyana-Ipaja, Dopemu, Ikeja, Oshodi axes, Ikotun, Isolo axis, Agege, Yaba, Ikorodu Road, CMS, Ikoyi, among others.
Residents resort to trekking
Also, many residents have been left with no choice but to resort to trekking as means of transportation due to hike in fares, with many unable to afford the exorbitant fares.
The metropolis, which is gradually becoming a ghost town, has continued to witness commuters trekking to their various destinations daily.
The inability to cope with the rising transport fares has forced people from different walks of life to embark on the long walks despite scorching sun.
Commercial buses and taxis have recorded considerable drop in patronage by passengers as more commuters have taken to alternative commercial transportation like Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, and trekking, particularly, short distance journey.
Civil servants in the state are not left out in the hardship as most of them have embarked on shift operation to reduce the financial impact.
As residents of Lagos continue to adapt to the new reality of trekking long distances, many are yearning for a relief package in the much expected “palliative” as promised by the Federal Government to address, cushion the fuel price crisis and restore affordable transportation options for all citizens.
Workers, residents lament
Some of the workers and residents, who spoke to Vanguard in confidence, narrated how they have been coping with economic situation in the country.
Commercial bus drivers have hiked the transport fares as high as 300 per cent. A journey that earlier cost N200, is now N600, while a journey of N100 is between N250 and N300 across Lagos metropolis.
A journey from Ikotun to CMS, which used to be N1000, has gone up as high as N3,000.
A worker, simply identified as Idowu, who resides in Alimosho area of the state, lamented how he has dropped his car at home and dumped commercial buses to join the Lagos State staff bus to avoid the high cost of fuel on his meagre salary.
Idowu said: “The hike in petrol has forced me to drop my car at home, I now join the staff bus home and to the office because I cannot afford the daily cost of fuel.”
Also Mrs Adeola, who lives in Ifako-Ijaiye area, told Vanguard that most of the ministries have adopted a one day on and one day off for workers to limit the number of days at work due to the situation in the country.
Adeola said: “Since the fuel subsidy and the latest fuel hike, we have resorted to a kind of shift service of one day on, one day off among staff. That is what most of the staff are doing now. This is to relieve staff of financial stress occasion by the fuel hike.”
Shift basis
Meanwhile, a check by our correspondent revealed that most workers operate on shift basis presently as few workers were seen in most of the offices visited.
A senior official, who spoke under anonymity, said: “Anyway, everyone is still regular at their respective offices. It is just that many were thankful for the provision of staff buses that convey them to and fro. That’s the only support at this tough time for now.”
A resident, Ayo Elemide insisted that the new subsidy regime, which enjoyed the endorsement of the APC-led administration, was worsening an already dire economic situation.
According to Elemide, “The increase is worsening the already suffocating economic situation on Nigerians and could crumble the country if not quickly addressed.”
[Vanguard]
Vice President, Sen. Kashim Shettima will on Sunday depart Abuja to represent President Bola Tinubu at two major international Summits in Rome, Italy and St Petersburg, Russia.
Mr Olusola Abiola, Director, Information,
Office of the Vice President, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.
Abiola stated that at the Rome event, Shettima would join other global leaders for the first Stocktaking Moment (STM) Summit themed “Transforming Food Systems for People, Planet and Prosperity,” holding from Monday, July 24 to Wednesday, July 26.
According to him, during the summit, Shettima would chair a high-level session themed “Innovative Financing for Food System Transformation: the Case of Nigeria”
He added that the side event titled ”Scaling up Multi Stakeholders Collaboration and Investment in the Implementation of Food Systems Transformation Pathways in Nigeria,”
Abiola also said that the event is being organised in collaboration with the Rome-based UN Agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Food Programme (WFP), as well as the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub and wider UN system.
“Shettima will then proceed from Rome to St. Petersburg in Russia to represent the President at the Russia-Africa Summit scheduled from Wednesday, July 26 to Saturday, July 29.
” While in Russia, the Vice President will join other political and business leaders at the 2nd Russia–Africa Summit and Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum focused on strategising to enhance relations between Russia and the African continent, among other benefits.
[Guardian]
The Concerned Northern Forum has decried the continued detention of Sarkin Hausawan, Lagos, Alhaji Aminu Yaro, over his alleged connection to former Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Godwin Emefiele, by the Department of State Services, DSS.
The forum described the detention as a violation of human rights and disrespect for the rule of law.
In a statement signed by the Chairman of the forum, Mohammed Danlami, on Sunday, the group said, “We don’t see any legal reason for the DSS to continue to hold such a respected figure in detention, a community leader and renowned businessman along with his wife. This is barbaric; we detest and stand against it; it is not done anywhere in the world, it is not democratic, only under military dictatorship will such a thing happen.”
He said an accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law, lamenting that the DSS was yet to arraign him.
Danlami said the group could not ignore the perceived injustice being meted out to Yaro and his wife, urging President Bola Tinubu to call the DSS to order.
It also called on Nigerians to come out en masse for a peaceful protest against the leadership of the DSS over disrespect for the rule of law and acting without professionalism.
[DailyPost]
George Akume, secretary-general to the government of the federation (SGF), says President Bola Tinubu is committed to fulfilling his promise of improving the lives of Nigerians.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, Akume reeled out actions the Tinubu administration is taking to fulfil the All Progressives Congress (APC) manifesto.
Another Weekend is here- 20 Nuggets To Chew On
As our team takes shape, I want to remind you all that @officialABAT came prepared- he came with a plan. He knows what to do & he is doing it. He has nurtured this vision for decades and he is now bringing it to life #TheAsiwajuPlan pic.twitter.com/YPvqhOZ2Pm
— Senator Dr. George Akume (@SGFAkume) July 22, 2023
Some of the plans, the SGF said, is to stabilise the surging price of petrol in the country.
In his inaugural speech as president on May 29, Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy which immediately led to a hike in the pump price of the product across the country.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, which also increased the price of petrol at its retail outlets, said the change was due to market forces.
TheCable had reported that transport costs soared by over 100 percent in the wake of the president’s speech.
Speaking on the situation, Akume said Tinubu’s vision to restore the country has been in the works for decades and that the president is addressing the solution.
He asked citizens to be patient while the government unveils a plan to improve the country’s economy.
“As our team takes shape, I want to remind you all that @officialABAT came prepared- he came with a plan. He knows what to do & he is doing it. He has nurtured this vision for decades and he is now bringing it to life #TheAsiwajuPlan,” the SGF tweeted.
“As a government, we have heard your cries about fuel price increases, and be rest assured, we are working round the clock to normalize & bring solutions that ease the pain. Our job is to give you the quality of life you deserve when you wake up. So far, we are on course.”
The former Benue state governor described the petrol subsidy regime as regressive, adding that the annual payments were not sustainable and that Tinubu “had to act”.
Although he noted that the immediate effect is not favourable, the former senator asked Nigerians to be patient.
“To this end, we are already working out modalities to ensure market forces normalize pricing while we drive policies that better your lives & boost your earning power. We have a clear economic restoration plan, so I urge you to trust the process,” he said.
Akume said Tinubu’s actions of unifying the exchange rate and rejigging the country’s security architecture were proof of his commitment to using strong measures in securing the country’s future.
“Deregulation is only the first part of this process/plan. Other health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, and more measures will come on stream soon. #HolisticSolution #NigeriaISBack,” the SGF added.
[TheCable]
Following the worsening effects of the removal of petrol subsidy, Nigerians have embraced several ingenious and sometimes crazy measures to survive.
For a people already impoverished during the immediate past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, the development has further deepened their situation, thereby making everyone adopt survival strategies.
The policy, which saw the petrol price rise from N160 to N510 on May 29, 2023, resulted in an increment in prices of goods and services in a nation already battling 22.77 percent inflation.
Apart from depleting the purchasing power of the people, the country’s currency, which lost more than 200 percent of its value in the eight years of Buhari, has lost whatever is left of it.
Consequently, people now struggle to finance their basic needs given that prices have escalated more.
Food items, transportation, drugs and essential products among others have become unaffordable owing to the impact of petrol prices.
This is happening as income remains static, with N30,000 Minimum Wage and 37.7 percent unemployment rate, according to KPMG.
Across the states, some governors struggle to pay the Minimum Wage while others owe several months of salaries and pension arrears.
With the turn of events, the wage payable to the least paid federal civil servant could barely buy 50 liters of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise called petrol.
Difficult
Escalating energy costs also added more pain in a society that battles acute electricity challenges as more people and businesses now find it difficult to power their generator sets.
As of May this year, the nation had a grid electricity capacity of 13,014MW and transmission capacity of 8,100MW. But the capacity now hovers between 5,000 and 4,000 MW.
The World Bank had, in its Energy Progress Report, said about 92 million people live without electricity in Nigeria, making it the nation with the lowest access to power globally.
Now, the latest rise in the price of fuel from N510-N617 per liter on July 18, has increased hunger and anger in the land as more people face bankruptcy in a nation where the least-paid worker earns N30, 000.
To say that a bad situation has been worsened is, to say the least.
The latest price increment in fuel meant increased poverty, brought more pain, added to hyperinflation, diminished purchasing power, and expanded social inequality and misery.
Poverty trap
While 100 million Nigerians were already living in poverty before the beginning of the year, the World Bank, in June this year, said more than four million were pushed into the poverty trap in the first six months of 2023.
It warned that 7.1 million more were expected to become poor if the fallouts of fuel subsidy removal are not properly managed.
The Washington-based institution, in another report, Macro Poverty Outlook for Nigeria, released in April, projected that 13 million would fall below the national poverty line by 2025.
Though government has proposed sharing N8,000 to 12 million people for six months in a population of 200,000,000 to cushion the effects of petrol subsidy removal, the measure falls short of what is required to address the growing poverty level.
Apart from the consensus that government’s planned palliative measures would make no sense, Nigerians are already bearing the brunt of the subsidy removal.
Findings by Sunday Vanguard across the country reveal that many are worried and unsettled with the development, which has put pressure on households and Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs.
Another source of uneasiness is the proposed 40 percent increase in electricity tariff, which may likely take effect any moment from now.
It was learnt the decision followed the drop in government subsidy to the electricity sector, which was estimated to have fallen by about 80 percent.
Given the hardship accompanying these policies Sunday Vanguard observed that citizens have embraced different survival measures, especially in the last two months.
Pressure
In most households and SMEs, things are no longer the same as the focus is now mainly on survival and nothing else.
Across geopolitical zones, many said they have no confidence in whatever palliative government is rolling out since none such worked in the past.
In Lagos, in most areas, especially on the mainland, this paper observed that many people no longer use their power-generating sets quite often and whenever they are using them, it’s no longer like in the past.
Cancer
A resident of FESTAC Town, Munachiso Nwike, said in his estate, people no longer use their generator sets until after 9: 30pm.
“It is not only in my estate, in many closes in FESTAC, people now wait until 9 or 10 pm before using their power generating sets. And the usage is for about three hours. It is understandable. How much are people earning for them to spend three thousand on four litres of fuel per night?’’ he said.
Another Lagosian resident on the Island, Mr. Emmanuel Nwainya, identified electricity tariff as his major headache.
He sounded crazy when he explained that to regulate the usage of power in his household to save cost, he told his children that usage of the microwave could lead to cancer while the air-conditioner triggers pneumonia.
According to Nwainya, “the situation if not properly managed could lead to bankruptcy. I am particularly worried about the frequency with which I recharge my prepaid meter. N20, 000 hardly lasts three weeks. I had to tell my children that excessive use of the microwave leads to cancer while one gets pneumonia if he excessively uses the air-conditioner. I had to tell them to see if we could minimise the usage of power.”
Air-condition
Another Lagos resident, Mr. Eziashi Ifeanyi, said since he had no control over the usage of power in his household, he often turned off the entire electricity from the central switch any time he felt his children were wasting power.
“For me, it’s survival first. Since I don’t want to have issues with my wife over how she uses electrical appliances at home, especially the air-conditioner, I usually turn off the power switch from the central control system. When I do that, they would assume it is the usual power failure.”
A Lagos-based hairdresser, Mrs. Tobore Odi, said: “Since the price increase affected everything, we have decided to buy only what we need to survive. For tomatoes which are now N7, 000 for a bucket of paint, we buy the quantity they sell for N2, 000 and augment with onions. I buy many onions now to add to the tomatoes we use for making stew. Without that, we can’t afford to spend N7, 000 on tomatoes. The paint bucket sold for N1, 500 before now.”
Mile 2, Alakija, CMS, Oshodi, Agege
Further checks in Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre reveal that many car owners have dropped their cars and embraced public transportation.
Areas like Mile 2, Alakija, CMS, Oshodi, Agege, Ojota, Berger and Opebi/Allen among others, hitherto known for heavy vehicular traffic, no longer experience traffic jam.
In the last two months, it’s rare to find a heavy presence of vehicles on such roads as many people have resorted to public transportation owing to the price of PMS.
Speaking in that regard, a civil servant, Mr. Jonah Bulus, whose office is located on Lagos Island, said: “Spending about N35, 000 to fuel your car weekly is not sustainable. I reside in Ikorodu.
“When this whole madness started, I thought I could be managing half a tank, which is about N16, 000, but it wasn’t possible. How much am I earning? I don’t own the house I reside in. I have other bills, which have also skyrocketed. What I use now is public transportation. I use BRT buses. Some of my friends even use ferry but I have a phobia of water transportation.’’
Sell cars
A politician and farmer in Ondo State, Zadok Akintoye, said:” To adjust, I am aware that some of my friends and associates have had to sell off one or more cars for low fuel-consuming vehicles. Some pre-plan their movement. “Citizens would look for cheaper options to meet their basic nutrient needs. The full impact of the policies you see now would become fully felt in about one year.
“My advice is for citizens to tame their expectations and prepare for the worst.”
Similarly, the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in Ondo State, Stephen Adewale, said: “Nigerians are adopting cost-cutting strategies to stay afloat because times are extremely tough.
“First, I noticed that more people now walk a considerable distance to get to work or their places of business to save money.
“You would note that streets and highways are no longer busy in the morning and evening. I have noticed that many of my acquaintances now opt to leave their cars at home and take commercial transit instead.
N80,000
“For instance, recently, I spent N80,000 refuelling my car as I travelled from Ondo to Ilorin. In contrast, my friend who travelled from Akure to Ilorin for the same occasion left his car at home and chose public transport, which cost him only N20,000. I have noticed that many employees now choose to spend the weekdays at work and return home on weekends.
“Businesses are also adjusting to the new reality. For example, my office had to lower the number of days workers would come to work to three days per week to cushion the effect of the fuel price increase on the staff.”
On his part, a public affairs analyst, Ayo Fadaka, said: “Life for Nigerians under the administration of President Bola Tinubu is hell.
“We simply jumped from the frying pan that Buhari’s era represented directly into fire.
“I consider it stupid to make our pump price at par with what is obtainable in the US or UK.
“The joke that government wants to distribute N8, 000 per household for 12 million Nigerians is another ploy to bleed our nation dry.
“Buhari may have done the same and got away with it, entrenching the same by this administration will not only be criminal but also provocative.”
In Ekiti State, a member of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Bernice Larryoboh, said:” I have adapted to the realities. I spend my income on essentials. I am sourcing more streams of income. We can only hope for a better Nigeria.”
A barber, Jawolusi Ayodeji, added: “This is not what President Tinubu promised us but I have found a way to survive. I have multiple sources of income and that has been helping me apart from my barbing shop.”
Sharing her survival strategy, a nurse, Oladipo Blessing, said: “At this crucial time when things are difficult in our nation, I survive by adjusting my lifestyle according to my income.
“I go out when necessary because of the hike in fuel price. I also put on my generator when it’s unavoidably needed.”
Also speaking to Sunday Vanguard in Abeokuta, Ogun State, a social worker, Mr. Niyi Rotimi , said:” I now trek from home to my office every morning. It is a distance of one kilometer. Whenever I have anywhere to go from the office, I use public transport.
The current situation has made me adjust my spending in many ways. At home, I have stopped using generator.’’
Aso Ebi
Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, in Ogun State, Wale Olanrewaju, said: “With the current economic hardship in the country, Nigerians should not go beyond their limit. This is not the time to be spending on luxury. “We should do away with anything that is not that important to us at this crucial period. Things like Aso Ebi and other unnecessary things should be avoided.
“While buying food items, people should embrace bulk buying. The more you buy in bulk, the more you can bargain properly and the cheaper the things you buy.
“As much as possible, one should avoid going into debt, unless there is a clear capacity to repay it. If you must take loan, you have to use it on profitable ventures that will yield returns.’’
In Ibadan, Oyo State, an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan, Christiana Akande, said: “I have reduced the way I purchase food from food vendors. I now deliberately skip meals. I am spending more money to get less quantity and quality of food items. I buy more Garri and rice because Indomie Noodles is a luxury. Since my rent expired two months ago, I was forced to get a roommate to split the cost of the new apartment I just rented.’’
A civil servant, Mrs. Kemi Fasasi, added: “I always took Uber or Bolt to wherever I was going, but now I go around in public buses. In some cases, if the distance is not far, I walk instead of spending N500 or N800.
“The rate of suffering will increase. This will cause a surge in robbery cases and other criminal activities.’’
A business owner, Dupe Olagoke, said: “I went to the market to talk to customers to understand their pains, attitudes and behaviours in response to inflation. I realised that more customers were looking out for promotions and discounted sales.’’
In Abia State, residents expressed sadness over the latest hike in petrol pump price, lamenting that life has become uninspiring.
A commercial tricycle operator, Mr. Chuks Afamefula, said: “Since the increase in fuel price, passengers have decided to trek instead of taking commercial vehicles following the increase in transport fare.
“Passengers are no longer willing to take tricycles since we increased the transport fare because of the high cost of fuel.
“It may sound crazy but they now trek to their destinations no matter the distance. We are just surviving by God’s grace. If this continues, I don’t think many people will still be in the city by the end of the year”.
Similarly, a business centre owner at Niger by Awolowo Street, Mr Chimdi Ojirika, said:”On the first day of the fuel price hike, I couldn’t make any profit because I pitied my customers.
“Now, we type and print a page at N500. Patronage has decreased. Life has become unbearable. This situation is so bad. Government should immediately reverse the price if we must survive.”
In Taraba State, Sunday Vanguard observed that residents jettisoned personal cars while others have taken farming more seriously to survive hard times.
Those who spoke said they have abandoned their cars and opted for public transport, while others returned to full-time farming.
Grains
A resident, who identified himself as Peter Simon, said: “I now spend most of my time on the farm. With the current increase in prices of commodities, I need to ensure I grow enough grains for my family.’’
A businessman, Mr. Chukwudi Uzomah, said: “I have parked my car. I can’t continue buying fuel when the money could be channeled into providing basic needs for the family. I use my car on Sundays whenever we are going to worship God.’’
Similarly, a civil servant, Mr. Jonathan Yakubu, said:” I no longer use my cars often because I can’t cope with the price of fuel. I use the car occasionally. We are lucky that we don’t experience traffic gridlock here. My wife and I have agreed that we would only buy what we need. No more unnecessary expenses.’’
Three daughters
A Port Harcourt-based civil servant, Emmanuel Kingdom, said: “We weren’t surprised at the turn of events.
The situation is unbearable. I no longer talk about fuel because I am not a fool to be spending all I earn on fuel. I have three daughters in tertiary institutions. If I don’t adjust, I will become bankrupt. I no longer have savings.’’
On his part, Junior Ibitimi, a teacher, said: “Immediately government announced the first increment, I told my wife we have to sit up to survive. Anything about burial or wedding Aso Ebi, we have canceled it. “Unnecessary trips, especially for burials, have been banned in this house. For now, we have to survive before anything else. I no longer pick the calls of certain people, especially from the village because I know what they would be looking for.’’
A Benin-based car dealer, Mr. Osahon Omoruyi, said: “I think our business is the worst affected. In the past, I sold cars monthly. In two weeks, I could count the number of Tokunbo cars I sold. “But now, we are in a deep mess. People no longer buy fairly used imported cars. They prefer Nigerian used cars, which are not even cheap. How fast things deteriorated is surprising.
“I have told my brother in Holland to stop sending cars because I am leaving this business. I want to relocate abroad because there are no options anymore in Nigeria.’’
Workers
To also survive the hard times, the College of Education Academic Staff Union, COEASU, directed its members to henceforth report to work for only two days a week.
The union, which explained that life has been unbearable with members, insisted that members can only work two days a week until the government meets its demand for salary adjustment.
The decision, according to a statement by COEASU National President, Smart Olugbeko, was taken at the extraordinary meeting of the national leadership of the union held on July 18, 2023.
According to the union, “The implementation of the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government two months ago raised the price of a litre of petrol by 250%.
“This worsened the inflationary rate on the cost of transportation, food and other essential commodities.
“It impoverished the Nigerian people.
‘The national leadership of our great union at its extraordinary meeting had agreed to direct its members to go to work two days weekly until government yields to its demand of 200 percent increase in salary.’’
The National Association of Nigerian Students(NANS) has called on President Bola Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, prevail on the management of various federal universities in the country to jettison their plans to increase school fees and levies being paid by the students.
The students’ body warned that should this call be ignored and schools hike their fees and want to enforce implementation, the students would embark on nationwide protest and remain on the streets till their demand is met.
NANS made this call in a statement made available by its Public Relations Officer, Mr Giwa Temitope on Saturday.
According to NANS, the increment of school fees by the University of Lagos(UNILAG), Akoka, as announced on Friday, and the planned increment by other federal universities across the country and even for the federal government colleges, have shown that the current administration is insensitive to the plights of most Nigerians, who are going through difficult times.
The association said, “It is most ridiculous that government will be introducing fees increment without thinking of rescuing the over 133 million Nigerians out of multi-dimensional poverty they are in.
“To us, increment in school fees will complicate the poverty conditions of most parents and students and also increase the number of out-of-school children in the country.
“Before now, some students couldn’t afford the fees and various other levies and because of that, dropped out of school and what would now happen to students, who are sponsoring themselves and their parents, who have more than one child in school?
“As an association, we believe that the Nigerian government has what it takes to massively fund education and make it accessible if there is a political will.
“In fact, the student loan that was introduced by the Federal Government is nothing but a sham and a bait to lure Nigerian people into accepting increment in fees payment.
“Beyond the fact that the terms of the loan are ridiculous, history has taught us that not every applicant will be considered.
“And even if all were to be considered, that does not justify fees increment in an economy like ours with a high unemployment index.
“Now, rather than give us loans, government should give us grants and scholarships.
“Our demand therefore is clear and simple and that is to tell all schools with the decision to increase their fees to suspend such plan and those that have already announced theirs to reverse it with immediate effect.
“Otherwise, we will embark on an all-round protest that will last till the Federal Government reverses the policy.”
Today, it will be 40 days since the immediate past chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has been in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS).
The embattled anti-graft czar, who has been languishing in the detention facility of the secret police in Abuja, popularly called “Yellow House” since June 14, was arrested by the operatives few hours after his suspension by President Bola Tinubu.
His house and office in the country’s capital were subsequently raided by the operatives of the SSS. Bawa celebrated Eid-el-kabir in the secret police net.
It would be recalled that the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, via a statement, announced Bawa’s suspension, citing “weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him” as the main reason the president took the decision.
Since June 14, Bawa’s specific alleged offences have not been made public by his detainers and he is yet to be charged to court or arraigned for any trial, a development that has been faulted by many prominent Nigerians.
Earlier findings by Daily Trust on Sunday revealed that the suspended EFCC boss was picked up over his role in the cash crunch that shook the country early this year, as well as the agency’s faceoff with a former Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle.
Top sources who were familiar with the matter had confided in one of our correspondents that the investigation of the suspended apex bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, could not be unconnected with Bawa’s prolonged detention.
Speaking to Daily Trust on Sunday, lawyers, security experts, academics, among others, berated the SSS over the continued detention of the suspended anti-graft agency boss.
In an interview with one of our correspondents, a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Ekiti State, Dayo Akinlaja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), wondered why Bawa would be detained for so long without trial.
Continued incarceration against spirit of constitution – Lawyers
Akinlaja said the delay in the arraignment of the former EFCC boss in court was against the spirit of constitution, adding that the theory of fundamental human rights is not hidden or alien in our clime as it is part of our laws.
“However, there is a possibility that he might be detained in pursuant to a court order. As a matter of practice, security agencies have a way of obtaining ex parte court orders to enable such a prolonged detention in the guise of conducting investigations.
“Be that as it may, there is no disputing the fact that any long detention without arraignment in court is against the spirit of the constitution. To that extent, it is expected that he should be charged to court or otherwise released,” the senior advocate said.
Another lawyer, Tijani Ahmed, called on the general public and the media to put their searchlights on the custody of the secret police, saying there are many innocent Nigerians languishing in detention without arraignment in court just like Bawa, Emefiele and others.
According to him, the development defies the tenets of constitutional state.
“There are so many Nigerians languishing in the SSS custody, including Bawa. He may have abused the laws himself, but he cannot be there in perpetuity,” Ahmed argued.
In the same vein, an Abuja-based human rights lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, said it was “illegal” for the SSS to keep Bawa in detention without trial.
Olajengbesi said, “Without any contradiction, the continued detention of Bawa by the secret police for over three weeks now is unconstitutional and a breach of the fundamental rights of the detainee.
“Illegality cannot beget another illegality. The SSS should immediately release Bawa to rejoin his family members without further delay or charge him to court to face charges preferred against him by the federal government. Anything outside these two options is alien to law and won’t stand.”
Nigeria’s law enforcement remains analogue – Security expert
On his part, a security sector reform expert, Chukwuma Ume, bemoaned how law enforcement in the country had remained analogue, saying it is not proper to first arrest someone or a suspect before the commencement of any investigation.
According to him, it is only someone who wants to tamper with evidence that should be incarcerated, not someone like Bawa that has no access again to documents in the EFCC since the day he was suspended by the president.
“The SSS must have some documents from the court to keep him for that long. They won’t be that careless. There is no power that will allow you to keep somebody in detention for that long. Usually, they go to court, and they will get a magistrate to sign for them to be able to keep him for that long.
“Although this style is not only peculiar to Nigeria, it happens everywhere in the world. But it is something they do in connivance with the court. When they (SSS) go before a judge or magistrate, they will argue that they would need to keep more than what is stipulated in law. What is stipulated in law is 48 hours.
“The Act itself is also to the position of the fact that our law enforcement is still very analogue and crude. Usually, in the western world, before you are arrested they would have almost concluded their investigation.
“Here, it is after the arrest that they will start investigation, and in the process, they will infringe on the fundamental human rights of the person by keeping him longer than expected. If they take him to court, the court will also give him bail.
“If they go to court, they might have not prepared to start the case, so the judge would have no choice than to grant the person bail. Of course, his lawyers would argue for the bail,” Ume said in an interview with Daily Trust on Sunday.
‘It is a demonstration of naked power’
Speaking further, he said, “Having said that it is a failure of our law enforcement agencies, it is also important to say that it is a demonstration of naked power. It is also something you find where there is a rule of man, not a rule of law, because in other climes, it is supposed that his lawyer would go to court.
“They (secret police) would have gone through the backdoor to get power to keep him longer than expected. His (Bawa’s) detention is not necessary because if you have removed him from office as EFCC chairman, he is not going to tamper with the evidence.
“Definitely, they have removed him and he does not have access to the EFCC anymore for some pertinent files that he would destroy the case. So, why keeping him there for so long? If you grant him bail as expected rather than going to the magistrate or the judge to get the injunction to keep him, it doesn’t mean he would fly away. He has no hidden place. He is not going to run anywhere in the world that you cannot get to.
“If he runs to the United States or Dubai you can bring him back because you have security and defence pact or agreements with these countries. That’s where Interpol comes in. What is happening is just a show of power.”
SSS reacts
The spokesman of the SSS, Peter Afunanya, in an interview with one of our reporters, did not state the exact day Bawa would be arraigned in court.
Afunanya said, “All legal procedures are being diligently followed. We had assured of professionalism, justice and fairness in the matter in line with the tenets of the law.”
When Daily Trust on Sunday asked how long the former anti-graft czar would be kept in detention, the SSS spokesman declined further comment.
President’s lawyers say party, candidate labouring in vain
Alake, APC knock Atiku over anti-judiciary plot allegation
President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima have branded the final written address of Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) as a fiction, an expedition and a frolic of a sort.
They said, in their response to Obi’s final written address, that rather than prove the claims in his petition that he won the February 25 election, “the petitioners have been so busy and occupied milling around the worn out and obsolete subject of the contrived disqualification of the respondents.”
They also dismissed as untenable Obi’s call for a rerun between him and the PDP Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Obi and his party, the respondents argued, even “have no locus standi to present a petition challenging the 2nd respondent (Tinubu) on the purported ground that he did not score 25 per cent of votes cast in the FCT, having been constitutionally barred and/or excluded from participating in any rerun election, in the unlikely event of the court making such an order, as Section 134(3(a) and (b) of the Constitution prohibits and excludes him from so-doing.”
Tinubu and Shettima’s response was filed on Friday by their lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN.
Olanipekun said that in the unlikely event of a rerun, Obi and the LP would be excluded on the strength of provision of Section 134(3)(a) and (b) of the Constitution.
That part of the Constitution reads: “In a default of a candidate duly elected in accordance with subsection (2) of this Section their shall be a second election in accordance with subsection (4) of this section at which the only candidate shall be *(a) the candidate who scored the highest number of votes at any election held in accordance with the said subsection (2) of this Section; and,
*(b) one among the remaining candidates who has a majority of votes in the highest number of states, so however that where there are more than one candidate with majority of votes in the highest number of states, the candidate among them with the highest total of votes cast at the election shall be the second candidate for the election.”
Obi and the LP had, in their petition, asked the court to order a rerun on the grounds that Tinubu did not score 25 per cent of votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Tinubu and Shettima, however, said in their reply to the final written address by Obi and the LP that the petitioners lack locus standi to present a petition challenging the 2nd respondent (Tinubu) on the purported ground that he did not score 25 per cent of votes cast in the FCT.
They said that even if a rerun was ordered, Obi can only vote and cannot be voted for, as the duel or contest will now be between the 2nd respondent and the person who scored “the next majority of votes in the highest number of states (19 states)” and who “also came second by plurality of votes,” that is Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.
Olanipekun said: “Borrowing the language of the Supreme Court in the celebrated case of Thomas v. Olufosoye (1986) 1 NWLR (Pt. 18) 669, the 2nd petitioner (Obi) is a meddlesome interloper, as he is presenting a case where he will derive no utilitarian value.”
The respondents urged the court to dismiss the petition on the grounds that not only did the petitioners fail to show that Obi won the election, they failed to prove their case with relevant evidence.
Their words:”The evidence presented by the petitioners themselves point to the fact that all the electioneering processes of accreditation, voting, sorting, counting, entry into the respective Form EC8As and manual transfer to the collation centres went smoothly.
“None of the witnesses called by the petitioners offered any scintilla of evidence to avail the court of the total number of votes that should be due to the petitioners, as a result of the non-electronic transmission of votes to the IREV, and the number of votes that have been unduly credited to the 2nd respondent, for the same reason.
“By the imperative of Section 135 (1) of the Electoral Act, the mere fact that results were not transmitted through the IREV cannot operate to ground an invalidation of an election. The hardcopy of the Form EC8A is the building block for any collation of results.
“By paragraph 93 of the Regulations, electronic copy is only relevant where the hardcopy of the form EC8A is not available at the collation centre, and that even in the absence of the electronic copy, recourse should be made to either the copy given to the party agent or police officers.”
They said that contrary to the petitioners’ claim that no glitches occurred during the transmission of results of the election to IREV, one of their expert witnesses (PW7) “admitted under cross examination by the respondents’ counsel that the Amazon Web Services (AWS) server has, in recent past, suffered numerous outages, including the ones of 28 February, 2017 and the over 27 others, as at 2021; admitting the possibility of other outages as, according to her, ‘anything is possible.’”
They further noted that “on the close of evidence, it has become glaring that none of the reliefs prayed for by the petitioners is grantable.”
Besides, the respondents said the petition should be dismissed on account of “clear manifestation and display of abandonment of the entire petition” by Obi and the LP in their final written address.
“Order 22 Rule 5 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, which is applicable to the proceedings mandates that “a written address shall…contain…© the issues arising from the evidence for determination,” they said.
“From this simple grammatical provision of the rules, it is clear that the petitioners have not formulated any issue for determination capable of being considered or countenanced by this honourable court; and the court can also not consider their address without issues for determination being presented by them.
“Arising from the foregoing, this honourable court is urged, as respondents have done in their final address, to dismiss the petition, not only for the reasons and submissions contained in that address, but also for the clear manifestation and display of abandonment of the entire petition.”
The 2nd and 3rd respondents faulted the authorities cited and relied on by the petitioners, noting that they “are in the habit of citing cases and decisions which are against their contention, and more importantly, election cases, where the petitioners in the respective decisions lost out, from the trial courts, up to the Supreme Court.
“These cases include Faleke v. INEC, Buhari v. Obasanjo, Wada v. Bello, Oyetola v. INEC, Abubakar v. INEC, Oke v. Mimiko (supra), and a host of others.
“Deducible from this is that the petitioners, like the petitioners in these cases, expect that their petition be dismissed by this honourable court.”
For example, the 2nd and 3rd respondents referred to the case of Awolowo v. Shagari cited by the petitioners, “a case which supports the contention of the respondents, but is against every grain of the petitioners’ postulations.
“If one is inclined to even reason with their (the petitioners’) application of that case at all, then, it behoves us to draw the court’s attention to, and indeed, submit that should the petitioners insist on their strange legal construct, it smacks of mischief and inconsistency for them to place emphasis on one-quarter of the votes in the FCT, without reckoning 2/3 of the total valid votes in the FCT.
“Invariably, therefore, going by the petitioners’ advocated disjunctive interpretation, the court, with all respect, will need to first determine what 2/3 of the votes cast in the FCT is, before then determining what one-quarter of the said two-thirds is.
“Empirically put, therefore, by the Form EC8D for Abuja, before this honourable court, the total valid votes recorded in the FCT is 460071 votes; two-thirds of 460071 is 306714; one-quarter of two-thirds will, therefore be 76678.5 votes.
“The petitioners have deliberately refused to suggest this legal proposition which, in any event, is the natural import of their submission, because the 2nd respondent, by Exhibit RA20, scored 90,902 votes in the FCT, thereby exceeding the 76678.5 votes, which is the 1/4 of 2/3 of the total valid votes cast in the FCT.
“This was the approach taken by the Supreme Court in Awolowo v. Shagari (1979) NSCC 87 at 125, where Atanda Fatai-Williams, JSC. (as he then was), in the process of determining two-thirds of the entire states of the federation, after identifying the settled 12 states, established two-thirds of the total votes cast in Kano State, before proceeding to determine 1/4 of the said two-thirds.
“Curiously enough, in their entire presentation, at no point did the petitioners assert that they are the winners of the election; rather, they are asking the court to ‘discountenance the 2nd and 3rd respondents’ defence.’
“The petitioners have been so busy and occupied, milling around the worn out and obsolete subject of the contrived disqualification of the respondents.
“This is a further demonstration of the fact that their petition, at the very best, is an expedition, a frolic of a sort.
“The court is not a Father Christmas. Even a Father Christmas, with all his assumed generosity, only gives to those who stretch their hands, and despite the fact that he (Father Christmas) is masked, he feels their presence.
Law is not, has never been and will never be an appeal to sentiments and emotions, as the petitioners think or assume that sentiment is a route to persuading the court to give judgement in their favour,” Tinubu and Shettima said in further praying the court to dismiss the petition.
“With respect, the entire address, like the petition itself, is a fiction,” they said.
More...
…Says he sees sinister plot to undermine Nigeria’s judiciary, democracy
Calls on Nigerians to be vigilant, puts international community on alert
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu of standing in the way of justice by making catastrophic threats to anarchy if justice is not served according to his whims.
Atiku, in a statement signed by his Media Adviser, Mr Paul Ibe, and made available to newsmen, said that “these and reports in the media about some heinous plots to harass justices sitting on the petition are ominous to peace and the security of our nation.”
The PDP candidate is contesting the result of the 2023 presidential election, which declared Tinubu winner, at the tribunal.
Atiku said: “Our democracy gives the people of Nigeria the powers to choose their leaders, and our laws demand that our judiciary must be allowed to act independently without harassment and intimidation by the government or powerful interests.
“To compromise the workings of our democracy and seeking to compromise the workings of our judiciary is an open call for anarchy.
“As a party in the litigation that is currently reviewing the outcome of the last presidential election, we wish to express our intentions to do all that is within the law in resisting any attempt to undermine our fragile democracy.”
He, therefore, called on the international community to be alerted.
He insisted that Nigeria’s democracy should not be undermined by using the judiciary to serve the interest of the ruling party.
“Sadly, this has become the stock in trade of the All Progressives Congress to intimidate the judiciary.
“Recall that in 2019, the APC-led Federal Government similarly removed the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, when it was obvious that he would not bend to their will.
“The Department of State Services similarly stormed the homes of judges in 2016 and 2017, all in a bid to beat the judiciary into submission.
“The plot of the APC is simple: intimidate the judiciary, threaten judges with arrest so that they will bow to their will. This is a playbook from 2019 when they removed the CJN and then replaced him with Tanko Muhammad, who himself was later accused of corruption by his colleagues at the Supreme Court and resigned shamefully.
“However, the APC government never went after Tanko Muhammad as they did in Onnoghen’s case because it was never about corruption but election. The APC has, over the years, built a reputation of judiciary intimidation. They accused about 10 judges of corruption, stormed their homes, and got them suspended and yet could not convict a single one of them. Justice Sylvester Ngwuta of the Supreme Court could not recover from the embarrassment that he ended up dying in office.
“Now, they have initiated a new plot. This time around, they want to intimidate the judges into delivering favourable judgments for them at the election tribunal. We draw the attention of the international community and, indeed, Nigerians to this fresh plot to steal the mandate of over 200 million people,” Atiku said.
He also urged Nigerians to abide by the golden rule of eternal vigilance being the price of liberty.
Similarly, he appealed “to all security agencies in the country to remain professional in the discharge of their duties and resist being used as an instrument of oppression and intimidation against the judiciary.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Adamawa State, Senator Aishat Dahiru Binani, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of frustrating her petition against the declaration of Adamu Fintri of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the poll.
Binani alleged that the electoral body in utter display of bias and disregard to order of court is presently making desperate efforts to arrest and detain the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari as a ploy to prevent him from testifying for her at the ongoing Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
Speaking on her behalf at a press conference in Abuja yesterday, the APC Returning Officer at the March 18 Governorship Election and the re-run of April 15, Alhaji Mustapha Umar Madawaki appealed to well meaning Nigerians to call INEC to order to allow the APC candidate reclaim her mandate obtained from the poll.
Madawaki who alleged that the electoral body was in conspiracy with the state government and anti-Binani forces to thwart the diligent prosecution of the petition claimed that INEC wanted the suspended REC apprehended and kept out of circulation to make him unavailable as witness for the governorship candidate.
Tracing the genesis of the election crisis and the resulting petition, the APC Returning Officer alleged that at the point of collation of results, INEC suddenly allowed its trained add- hoc workers changed and unlawfully and mysteriously substituted by another group of untrained staff that were not meant for collation.
The result of the unlawful change of add- hoc workers, he said, was the production of different election results from the one submitted by the authentic workers.
Alleging that an agent of the state government submitted an unlawful ad-hoc staff list, the Returning Officer explained that the fact that INEC accepted the list and used it was a clear evidence and proof that it was biased in favour of the People’s Democratic Party PDP.
“To my mind, that is a major reason why INEC is working overtime, trying to prevent the former Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari from testifying before the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
“They are afraid of the revelations he would make. Their desperation is so brazen that Justice A.O Manji was forced to openly question INEC lawyer on why they are in a hurry to get Hudu Yunusa Ari arrested while there is a clear court order against that.
“To my mind also, that is the same reason that the Force Headquarters under the former Inspector General of Police IGP shot itself in the foot when it doctored the earlier investigative report into the Adamawa elections that found no indictable offence against Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari to another one they could use to quickly arrest and incarcerate him.
“We have both the original investigative report and the doctored one at our disposal. We are aware that these are serious charges and have therefore, refrained from elaborating further on some of the matters because they are before the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal”
Madawaki who described Senator Binani as a victim of gender discrimination in her governorship ambition said that Embassies and Diplomatic Missions would be carried along in the battle to regain the alleged stolen mandate of the governorship candidate.
‘Why Tinubu dumped gradual subsidy removal’
Peter Esele is a former President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN). With his vast knowledge of the oil industry, Esele speaks on the increases in the price of petrol occasioned by subsidy removal.
From about N149 petrol at the time President Bola Tinubu assumed office on May 29, a day he declared that “subsidy is over”, the price of the product has moved to over N500, before jumping to around N617 last week.
What can you tell us about the way the removal of fuel subsidy and petrol price increase is panning out in the country?
What we have is that marketers are making a kill. They don’t buy fuel from the depot every day. So if they still have the old stock and they are selling at the new price, what we are experiencing is that they have decided to maximize profit. In the other states where they sell at the former price, in a deregulated market, the only thing that matters is the morality of the owner of the retail outlet.
So, if the man has the moral that he bought at X price and decided to stick to it until the product is completely exhausted. So, it is strictly a question of morality. There are people who will go out there and say “This is a window, let me make so much money out of this window”.
The other aspect is that the last time we spoke, I told you we were going to pay higher for fuel in July. The reason for this is that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, normally does between 60 and 90 days’ stock.
It is expected that the stock they got is different from the previous ones they got which was less than N550 to the dollar.
NNPC can get the dollars at N463 but if I am to look at what the others may get, it is about N550 three months ago, that was where NNPC was. Where is NNPC now? If they are to import, they could get dollars at N463 before the advent of this administration.
So now, if NNPC is importing at about N750, they cannot sell at the former price. These are where the changes would come about. Again, you also know that the international price of crude has also gone up and you have a falling naira.
It is like a double warning. These are our new challenges, new reality; new normal. So, the price of petrol may just be N617 in Abuja, N568 in Lagos, but what we are going to have is that this price may likely maintain itself for another 30 to 45 days, except we have new increases in crude oil prices. That is the challenge we may have to face.
Naira value has of late been falling, meaning that this price will keep going up. Is that correct?
Yes. You are going to have the price going up but the way you put it is frightening. It may not be as frightening as that.
But that’s the reality?
There are two things we need to do. Our excess liquidity is quite low. What we are going to do is for the country to take advantage of the current price increase of crude oil. Unfortunately, we are about 500, 000 to 600, 000 barrels short of our daily production quota as fixed by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. That in itself is over $60 million daily that we are losing. That’s one of the challenges.
The second one is that we have pressure on FX because there are no local refineries. I was thinking that before this time, we would be getting at least 30% (petrol) from Dangote Refinery before they go full stream but I don’t know what is happening there anymore and I had a meeting with PENGASSAN two weeks ago where we tabled these challenges.
The road ahead is going to be bumpy and tough but government needs to do something that will mitigate these challenges in this honey period before the honey disappears.
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has always agitated that government must put certain things in place before removing oil subsidy. Do you think those conditions had been met?
No. Those conditions have not been met. It is not just in this tenure because we have a government that is barely two months old and one of the things the NLC has always been saying is “fix our local refineries so we don’t have pressure on FX”.
If you are getting your products, what you are having now is huge pressure on FX and, by September, we are going to have about 20, or a minimum of 10 more companies to help bring in this product. So, we are going to have more pressure on FX. If you don’t have local refineries, and pressure mounts on FX, importers of the product may not get dollars from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and would have to go to the parallel market so as to remain in business.
And going to the parallel market will further devalue the naira because one thing about economics is not about perception. If everybody is worried as we are, right now, no matter what you do, the perception is that we are sinking. So, what we need to do NLC has talked about. Just imagine that from the government of Obasanjo till date, we are always talking about refineries not working. Former President Buhari promised to build two refineries; this was not done throughout his eight years. What I want everybody to do is to go beyond the salary increase.
Do you really say marketers are making a kill when they are not sure of the price they are going to buy when next they go to the depot?
I didn’t generalize. I said some of the marketers. If you still have a product in-house, why increase the price? If I buy a product at N40 and sell at N50 and, suddenly, where I go to buy it, the price has increased to N60, does that mean that I‘ll start selling at N60? No, because the last time I bought it I bought it at N40 and sold it at N50. So, why don’t I stick to N50? That is why I said that it is an issue of morality. I am not putting them all in one basket because I know that some stick to their price due to their morality while others are taking advantage out of fear of what might happen tomorrow.
Some argue that the fuel subsidy removal could have been done better. What is your take?
Well, they say this could have been done better but when you are outside, there is certain information that you are not aware of until you become the President. So, the President has to look at the finances of the country. Again, irrespective of what the presidential candidates were saying, the three major political parties all agreed that they were going to remove fuel subsidies. The process of doing it was difference.
I was an advocate of gradual subsidy removal but what I learnt from this administration is that, even if you want to take away 25%, how do we know what we are paying? This is the first time I know the actual amount of fuel we consume daily. Right now, we are consuming 46.6 million litres of petrol per day. Before this, it was 70 million litres. So, if they had done 25%, we would never have had these figures and the government would have reduced subsidy for two months and the whole thing would balloon again and we go back to square one.
That was the information I got from the players in this administration on why they had to do what they are doing. Then, on whether this would have been done long ago when you talk about what happened during former President Jonathan’s administration, opposition parties are there to take power. The first thing you have to do is to find out if what you are opposing will give you power. That is what opposition parties are all about. They are interested in how to get power. As citizens, we also have to look at what is in our own best interest.
What is happening across the country now is that those struggling to survive are spending about 70% of their earnings on transportation. Recently, the total amount that was shared as allocations from the Federation Account was about N799 billion. Most people ask how the money is going to be used. It is not the responsibility of the Federal Government to provide buses in states; it is the responsibility of the state government. The Federal Government can say “Contribute 50%”.
That is what is supposed to be done in the federal system of government that we are running. The Federal Government cannot provide buses for any state but can guarantee a manufacturer to produce buses for it to buy and distribute to states.
We are being told that the price of fuel could come up or go down. Could that be a political statement?
No. It is not a political statement. It is going to come down, that’s the law of supply and demand. You also know that crude is a commodity and every commodity has booms and bursts, they are all cyclical. What triggered this was that Saudi Arabia withdrew millions of barrels from the market has also cut production.
Meanwhile, we are not even able to meet our production quota. If we have all that in place and we have enough dollars, that will ease the liquidity squeeze that is currently going on. So, let’s assume we go into winter when crude prices fluctuate. That will definitely come, just as we have it in the stock market. What goes up must surely come down. So, it is not a political statement.
The price will rise due to fundamentals such as the falling naira, and inability to access FX. Presently, there are two windows that are merging. The Federal Government wants to have convergence. Those who get dollars at the parallel market may not even be able to sell at N640.
Those are the factors we must look at but I am optimistic that these prices will go down but government needs to create a way to enable Nigerians to breathe so that when it starts running, they will be alive to enjoy it.
What is the cause of the delay in Dangote entering the market? Is he watching the market? Since he is producing and not importing, is it likely that prices will come down or at least stabilize?
Now, the market is very good for Dangote’s entry but I think Dangote is in the best position to answer that question because, by his own projection, he said July, so let us hope that before the month runs out, we see fuel coming out from Dangote Refinery.
In terms of whether he is watching the market, I think the market is ripe for everybody to come in because, for the past two months, the government has shown that they are not intervening. The government is going to allow market forces to take control. So, I think it is very good for players to come in now.
We understand that Nigeria gets less valuable on the crude we export. What’s your take?
That is true but it has to do with the capacity of our leaders. You see, for the past two months, Nigeria has been making new mistakes and that is good. It’s when you keep repeating old mistakes that you are not growing.
New mistakes are evidence of growth. On the question of gas, Nigeria is actually a gas country. Our gas reserves at the moment are over $3trillion. So, if we allow private investors to come in, it’s going to benefit government and the people. A Nigerian company is currently investing $ 5 billion in gas and once the market is available, it will be easier to for us to move on. The other aspect is refinery.
Our refineries need to work for our national security interest and for us to export and earn dollars. If we are able to get our mix right, I am optimistic that things will improve but government needs to do something in the interim to cushion the effects of the removal.
Do you think Nigerians really understand this deregulation we are talking about and do you think government has explained that well enough?
I think the government has to do more in terms of communicating with the people. When the news of the new fuel price was broken, people were really angry. I spoke with someone in Abuja who said he bought a litre at N500 while another person said he bought his at N615, just 45 minutes after. What government should do is communicate this to Nigerians and let them know that the prices are up. The shock we are experiencing is a new reality that we are in, no change is ever easy, not to talk of this difficult one.
So, in Nigeria, the media are all going to talk to Nigerians, letting them know that they will pay less when prices go down, just as it is in the case of gas. I also hope that marketers will reduce their prices once they go down. The government needs to do more in effective communication. Let people be aware. Again, the government needs to hit the ground running now by looking for intervention measures to carry out. If the government doesn’t do that, the prices of crude are still going to be higher due to the OPEC cut.
The escalating costs of living occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy and the subsequent rise in the pump price of petrol, and rising inflation have forced different categories of Nigerians to make adjustments to the way they live.
These are not the best of times in the road transport sector as commuters are now cutting down on interstate travels except for those that are absolutely necessary and essential, while commercial motorists who ply interstate roads have been recording low patronage and as a consequence are scaling down the number of trips they make and taking other measures, including to combine passengers going to different destinations along the same route.
Sunday PUNCH investigations revealed decreasing passenger traffic at popular bus terminals and motor parks in different cities across the country, while vehicles that usually get full within an hour now take over four hours in some cases.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of subsidy on petrol during his inauguration on May 29, 2023 and this was followed by a jump in the pump price of the commodity from N185 per litre to N500.
As Nigerians were battling with the effects of the subsidy removal and awaiting the palliatives promised by the Federal Government to alleviate their suffering, a new price regime kicked off on Tuesday and resulted in petrol selling for between N586 and N630 per litre.
Many transport operators, who spoke to our correspondents, said they had to raise the fares to reflect the new economic realities, as their services were solely dependent on petrol.
On Monday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited published a new price list which pegged petrol at between N586 and N630/litre.
This new price, according to the Group Chief Executive of the NNPCL, Mr Mele Kyari, is because of some market forces, including the exchange rate of the dollar to the naira, among other factors.
The country’s annual inflation rate rose to 22.41 per cent in May from 22.22 per cent in the previous month, almost matching an 18-year high, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The transport sector has been the worst hit by the fuel price increase as fares for interstate travels have increased by up to 250 and 300 per cent.
Lagos, Ogun, Oyo
Before the fuel hike, travellers going from the Iyana-Ipaja park to Ibadan, Oyo State, were asked to pay between N1000 and N1500 for the trip, Sunday PUNCH has learnt.
An Oyo State-based content creator, Ibrahim Sadiq, said in an interview with one of our correspondents he was charged N2,500 from the old toll gate area in Lagos to Ibadan on Wednesday.
“When I got to the small park right after the toll gate along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the bus drivers asked that we pay N2,500. A Sienna even charged N3,000. When I travelled last month I paid N2,000 from Berger. The increment is just too much,” he said.
Another commuter, who works with an educational consulting firm in Abeokuta, Ogun State but has her family in Lagos, Mrs Aishat Ahmed, said she used to pay between N1,500 and N1,800 from Berger in April.
“Since May, I spend as much as N3,500 sometimes and Abeokuta is not even that far. I remember when I used to enter a bus from Berger to Abeokuta for about N800 around 2018 or 2019. I have decided to begin to divest from Lagos and move fully to Abeokuta. This time around, the buses take so long to fill up because there are no passengers,” she added.
When Sunday PUNCH visited the God is Good Motors’ park at Yaba, Lagos, at 10.41 am on Thursday, the place looked almost empty.
On enquiry, a worker who spoke on condition of anonymity said the day had been slow, adding that passengers now preferred to go with unregistered operators because of the increase in fares.
He added that the fare from Lagos to Bayelsa a few months ago was around N7,900 and N8,000, but had increased to over N23,000 now.
For Enugu, from Lagos, the fare was around N9,000 but is now N21,000. The fare for Edo (Auchi, Akpakpava, Uselu and Ekpoma) has also increased by almost 100 per cent, hitting N19,000.
The operator stated, “The major problem now is that the company is trying to review the fares because even the amounts do not reflect the current realities. This recent increase in fuel to about N630/litre has not even been considered.
“A lot of our customers are no longer coming to board our vehicles. The business has been slow. Now, for people going to Ughelli in Delta State and other places along that route, we put them on the same bus going to Bayelsa.
“Before, by 7am, the first bus would have moved. Now, even by 8.30am, we are still doing some kind of amendments to make sure that the bus does not leave any vacant seats. It (the fuel price hike) has really affected business.
“As I speak, I am scared that the company may begin to consider downsizing in order to stay afloat. With the current situation, I hope we don’t go under.”
A ticketing agent, who spoke to one of our correspondents at the terminal, said the rate of passengers booking trips online had also dropped.
She said, “Before this current palaver, we used to have about five or more first buses going to Jos, Plateau State; Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Yenagoa, Bayelsa State; Enugu, Enugu State; and even to the far North like Bauchi. But, now, we manage to fill the second buses going to these areas.
“As of yesterday (Wednesday), we got a report from our Jibowu office that as of 9.30 am, the second bus going to Port Harcourt had yet to move because it was half empty. We are really losing a lot of time, manpower and resources to the fuel palaver.”
An Owerri-Imo State-bound passenger, Mrs Ogechi Nnaemeka, said she thought she had missed the bus when she arrived at 9am, but was shocked to find out that the vehicle had not moved because it was waiting for a few more passengers.
“In 2018, if you didn’t arrive at 8am or even 15 minutes earlier for the second bus, you would miss it. I am in shock how this bus has still not moved till now,” she said.
Nnameka also stated that she used to board a bus from Lagos to Owerri for between N4,500 and N6,500 between 2016 and 2018, adding that the spike in the pump price of fuel had made things difficult for her.
“For the first time in my life, last week I used the state-owned Imo Line. It was so uncomfortable but it was a bit affordable, it was N3,000 lower than what I would have paid if I had patronised any of the private transport companies,” she said.
Another passenger, Madam Martha Nzube, said she travelled from Port Harcourt to Lagos to see her daughter four days ago using the Rivers Transport Company, which charged her around N9,000, but was shocked that even the Akwa Ibom Transport Company, touted to be the cheapest, refused to accept N11,000 back to Port Harcourt.
“I am currently calling my daughter to send me some more money so that I can go back. Some people are even saying I should pay N25,000. The cheapest I have heard so far is N16,000,” she stated.
Another stranded passenger at the Yaba bus park, Mr Essien Etuk-Udoh, said he only came for a show at the Lagos State University last week.
He added that he was shocked that even the AKTC fares had also increased.
“I don’t even know what to do and Akwa Ibom is far. If I don’t set out by 12pm, I may get to my final destination by midnight and I don’t want to board any of these undocumented buses that do not have any proper registration. They have been found to be unsafe,” he said.
A loader at the Ekeson Transport Company, who refused to give his name for fear of retribution, said there had been low patronage since May when the fuel price began to rise.
He said, “You know people have to travel. And since airfares have increased to more than N100,000, people have to use buses. Imagine how they will feel when the buses too increase their fares.
“We are an affordable transport company but we also run on fuel. So, our prices have also increased by up to 100 per cent.
“The problem is that passengers now prefer Siennas because they are unregistered, cheaper and get filled easily, but I cannot assure you of their safety.”
At the Lekki terminal of the GUO Transport Limited, a field operative with the company, who gave his name simply as Shadrach, said the firm now had only one bus going to the North because of the fuel crisis.
Shadrach stated, “You know we are an elite service company. Before the fuel price increment, most people choose our services because of comfort. Now, they are going for kabu kabu buses and Siennas, which are relatively cheaper, because they have no choice.
“We have the seven-passenger Toyota Sienna vehicles, which have become our best seller during this period because it takes less time to fill them with passengers. We also have the 14-passenger Sprinter buses, 15-passenger Toyota Hiace buses and our luxury buses, which can convey 33 to 59 passengers.
“As of April, the fare from Lagos to Aba for an adult was around N10,000. Children paid around N8,500. Now, it is more than N19,000 for adults and N16,000 for children. It changes by the day. I am speaking from my knowledge of working here for more than five years.
“Lagos to Abuja used to be N11,000 for adults. Now, it should be about N21,000 or more. Lagos to Enugu used to be N12,825. Now, it is around N23,000. Lagos to Ogoja, which used to be around N11,000, has risen to double that amount.
“The change has affected business badly.”
Another worker, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the company, said he feared that the firm might cut the number of workers if the situation continues.
“Over the years, the company has faced a lot of woes in the economy, from recession to incessant inflation to COVID-19 and now this. Doing business in Nigeria is so difficult,” the source said.
When one of our correspondents visited G. Agofure Motors located in the Ojota area of Lagos State, he observed a price list displayed in the company’s reception displaying fares to Port Harcourt at N25,000; Bayelsa, N20,000; Warri, N18,000; and N18,000 for Sapele, Benin and Abraka.
However, a staff member, who identified himself simply as Livinus, revealed that the fare to Port Harcourt before the increase in petrol price ranged from N18,000 to N20,000, while to Warri was N15,000.
An attendant at Freeman Motors, Ojota, Lagos, Romeo Elvis, disclosed that the fare from Lagos to Warri was N15,000 and to Port Harcourt, N23,000, whereas, in the past, the fare to Warri was N12,000, while Port Harcourt was N15,000.
Elvis said, “In the past, individuals used to travel for parties on Thursdays and Fridays, but that is no longer the case. Now, they have stopped going to parties on those days due to the prevailing circumstances in the country. Many are now exercising caution when choosing their travel destinations and aiming to minimise their expenses.
“In the current situation, individuals refrain from travelling unless it is absolutely necessary. Several individuals who previously journeyed from the eastern region to Lagos to purchase goods have now ceased doing so. Instead, a significant number of them opt to send money and have the items delivered through waybills.”
A cashier at Peace Mass Transit, Ojota, Lagos, stated that transport fares to Enugu increased from N12,000 to N17,000 after the hike in petrol price. According to her, the increase became necessary in view of current realities and in order for the company to meet up with running costs.
Lamenting the situation, a bus driver at PMT park, Ojota, Lagos, Kalu Kalu, stated that the increase in fuel pump price had continued to affect patronage, predicting that several companies would fold up if nothing was done to address the current situation in good time.
He said, “How can people be suffering and you are telling them to endure? The reality is that there is nothing anyone can do; if fuel price increases, transportation costs will also increase.
“The new government better do something about this issue of fuel because a lot has been affected. Even fares within the town have increased, why won’t the interstate increase? If care is not taken, we will begin to see a lot of companies folding up.”
Abuja
At the usually busy Nyanya park at the boundary between the nation’s capital city of Abuja and Nasarawa State, a number of drivers sat idly in their vehicles on Friday, waiting for passengers to convey to various destinations.
One of them, who gave his name simply as Aliyu, explained that while about 20 vehicles used to leave the park daily with passengers, now on average, only about four vehicles heading for Lafia leave the park.
Aliyu stated, “What we are experiencing now is not easy. There’s an increase in the price of fuel and passengers don’t come as much as before. Before, we could load between 15 and 20 vehicles in a day, but now, we load only between three and four vehicles, and it takes about three to four hours to fill up one vehicle.
“We now charge N3,500 to Lafia, which barely results in any profit because we will buy fuel and now, it is difficult to get passengers on the way back. So, the transport business has changed, and we plead for the government’s intervention. What we make now is barely enough to feed our families.”
Another driver, Musa Mohammed, who plies the Abuja-Jos route, stated that while it used to take him a day to load passengers, but now takes him four days to find a Sienna vehicle full of passengers to drive to Jos.
He added that the increase in the pump price of fuel had added to his woes as he now buys a full tank for N50,000 from around N16,000 when petrol sold for N195/litre.
A passenger, who declined to be named, lamented having to wait for hours before the vehicle was filled up and ready to leave.
“I’m going to Benue. Before now, the car would probably be full 10 minutes after I arrived. Now, I have been here almost an hour and there’s no telling when we will commence the journey, because the drivers won’t take off until the vehicles are filled up,” she said.
Another passenger, who gave his name simply as Francis and was heading for Keffi, said he had been at the park since about 11am and as of the time of filing this report around 12.30pm, the car had yet to be filled up.
At the bustling Utako/Jabi Park in the Federal Capital Territory on Friday, the ticketing halls of several prominent transport companies were desolate and devoid of activities.
A driver with Andalinks, Sir Henry, stated that he had been stationed at the company’s base in the FCT for the past five days without a single passenger despite offering cheaper fares compared to other major operators.
Henry explained that prior to the fuel subsidy removal, it took N17,000 to fill his tank, but at present, it costs about N80,000 and passengers were not willing to pay the N25,000 fare to Lagos.
On his part, the Assistant Manager, RiversLinks Transportation Company, who gave his name simply as Okey, said there had been a sharp decline in passenger numbers due to the financial constraints faced by travellers as a result of the current increase in fuel price.
Presently, he said the fare for a trip from the base to Port Harcourt was N26,500, whereas before the removal of fuel subsidy, it was N18,500.
“That fare (N26,500) is for us, but some companies like G.U.O are collecting about N37,000. If you don’t have anything important to do, just remain at home. Before, we used to fill this vehicle with N40,000 petrol, but now it is above N70,000 to fuel it to Port Harcourt,” Okey stated.
Early-morning travellers from the FCT to areas in the South-West have reduced significantly even as they complained of high fares.
One of our correspondents, who paid a visit to the Giri junction early on Friday, observed that drivers had no choice but to drive half-filled vehicles to their destinations after waiting several hours for passengers.
A driver, identified simply as Michael, said he could only get two passengers after waiting for over three hours.
“People are no longer travelling. After waiting for three hours, I could only get two passengers but I had no choice but to embark on the journey at half capacity,” he said.
At the popular Zuba park, numerous vehicles were seen with empty seats with fewer passengers coming in.
It was gathered that a trip from Abuja to Ibadan now costs around N15,000 from between N6,000 and N9,000 before the subsidy removal. Also, a trip to Sokoto is now N15,000 from N8,000, while the fare from Abuja to Kaduna rose to N4,000 from N2,000. Kano passengers pay N6,000, while N3,000 is charged for a short trip to Minna.
A driver, Yusuf Usman, plying the Abuja-Minna route explained that he now makes a profit of N2,000 on a trip to Minna, Niger State capital.
Another driver, Muhammad Sani, noted that some drivers had been at the park for nine to 11 days waiting for passengers.
Anambra
Activities at major motor parks in Anambra State have slowed down since the hike in the price of petrol.
One of our correspondents, who visited various motor parks in the commercial cities of Onitsha, Nnewi, Obosi, Ekwulobia, Nkpor and Awka, on Friday, observed that vehicles took time to get filled up as a result of few passengers coming to the parks.
The managers of the parks and drivers attributed the development to the rise in transportation fares, which have soared marginally by over 70 per cent for both inter and intra-city commuting.
Vehicles going to Awka from Onitsha now charge N1,200 as against N500, while the fare from Onitsha to Nnewi is now N800 as against N400 before now.
One of the drivers at the motor park owned by the Transport Company of Anambra State in Onitsha, simply identified as Chisom, said, “There is low patronage by passengers at the parks these days and I think it’s because of the transport fare hike, which is not our fault.
“Before the fuel price increase, we were loading an 18-passenger bus in less than an hour. But now, it takes more than two hours before the buses manage to fill up with passengers.
“This is because of the increase in the fares caused by the fuel price hike. Before the fuel price hike, from Onitsha to Awka used to be N500, but now it is about N1,000. For this reason, passengers now prefer to board vehicles by the roadside, otherwise known as ‘pick and drop’, because those ones are cheaper.
“Another reason for the delay in the filling of vehicles at the park is that many offices have asked their workers to come to work on selected days. And many people have resorted to trekking long distances.
“Before now, the park used to be filled with passengers travelling to various destinations, especially for the weekend. The park used to bubble every Friday for weekend travellers, but today (Friday), everywhere is dull as the people have refused to travel because of the price increase.”
A passenger at the Goodness and Mercy Motor Park in Awka, who identified herself simply as Chinwe, said, “I am travelling to Enugu for the wedding of my sister. If not for the importance of my presence, I would not have travelled because the transport fare has been increased abnormally. It used to be between N1,500 and N1,800, but today, they are charging as much as N3,000.
“For over two hours now, I have been in this bus and the vehicle has not filled up. To worsen the situation, when passengers come and are told the fare, they turn back and you can’t force anyone to board a vehicle against their wish.
“I think people have withdrawn from travelling for now because of the high fares. It is not funny what we are now passing through. If not that the person I am attending her wedding is my sister, I would have just used the money for transport fare to buy her a gift and send it to her through waybill.”
Kano
Transporters in Kano have hiked their fares by about 100 per cent on many routes. Before the recent fuel price increment, transporters operating with Hiace at Unguwa Uku charged N9,500 from Kano to Lagos, but currently charge N18,000.
The commercial bus operators are lamenting low patronage, as only fewer people now embark on travels outside Kano.
It was discovered that some passengers on arrival at the motor parks change their minds and opt to waybill parcels to their loved ones outside Kano in order to save costs.
Some, who are desperate to travel, have to wait for between four and five hours for the bus to fill to capacity before takeoff.
A bus driver at Unguwa Uku bus stop, Salihu Mustapha, told Sunday PUNCH that the motor park used to bubble with activities, but was now a shadow of its old self due to poor patronage.
At the Luxury park in Hotoro, only a few passengers were boarding luxury buses to Lagos and other states in the South.
The luxury bus drivers too have hiked their fares to Lagos from N15,000 previously to between N25,000 and N26,000.
Those fitted with air-conditioners charge a lot higher than those without.
Airfares soar
Meanwhile, airfares have soared to unprecedented levels, impacting the affordability of domestic travel. In the past, passengers could secure next-day tickets for as low as N70,000 to N75,000.
Now, a one-way economy class flight from Lagos to Abuja with AirPeace now costs N95,000, while the business class fare is N150,100.
Similarly, Arik Air charges N93,429 for an economy ticket and N123,429 for a business class ticket on the Lagos-Abuja route.
Green Africa puts the fare for a one-way ticket at N88,500, while Dana Air charges N85,000 for an economy ticket and N130,000 for a business class ticket from Abuja to Lagos.