Juventus fans on Wednesday, August 9,  stormed the pitch during a training match against Juventus Next Gen and chanted 'we don't want Lukaku' in protest against the club signing the Belgian striker.

The Italian fans do not want the club to do a part-exchange deal that will see striker Dusan Vlahovic move to Chelsea while Lukaku move the other way.

Juventus' fans consistently applauded Vlahovic during the game, which the senior team won 8-0.

It comes after the Curva Sud ultra group unfurled a banner telling Lukaku to stay away, which read: 'Lukaku stay in Milan, we already have a second goalkeeper'.

The mocking message refers to the Champions League final, when Lukaku accidentally blocked Roberto Dimarco's goalbound effort in their 1-0 defeat to Inter Milan.

Fans began the anti-Lukaku chants within the first minute of the game, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.  

Chelsea rejected a £26million bid from Inter for the wantaway 30-year-old earlier this summer and Todd Boehly wants in the region of £40m.

He was on loan at the Milanese giants last year but the Blues are adamant he will not go out on loan again, even if they don't want him themselves.

Lukaku is understood to be open to Juventus, forcing Inter to pull out of trying to sign him after hearing that talks were being held between Chelsea and the Old Lady.

He was reportedly unhappy that the Nerazzuri left him out of the starting line-up for the Champions League final and so snubbed them this summer after scoring 14 goals in 37 games for them.

Chelsea were willing to table a £38.5m bid plus Lukaku for Juventus' Vlahovic.

The Niger military junta that seized power has made a new announcement.

The junta announced a list of 21 people that it said will become ministers in a new government.

This announcement was made overnight. 

It comes as West African heads of state are set to hold a summit on Thursday to reach an agreement on the next line of action regarding the recent coup in Niger. 

Senator Ireti Kingibe has called for government officials to be mandated to use only vehicles assembled in Nigeria following an outcry over the high cost of governance as Nigerians cope with economic hardships.

During an interview on Channels on Wednesday, August 9, Kingibe disclosed that she rides “a 1986 car”. When asked what she would do differently, the senator representing the FCT said;

“I would insist that all government vehicles must have been assembled in Nigeria. That would go a long way to improving productivity in Nigeria.

“For one thing, Innoson, perhaps Volkswagen and Peugeot, and maybe even Toyota might decide that it’s worth their while to set up an assembly plant here.”

Kingibe who also noted that certain commodities such as tinned tomatoes should not be imported, stated that cutting down on importation would cause the dollar to fall and help grow the economy.

Also reacting to the criticisms directed at her and other members of the Labour Party for not speaking out more during the recent screening of ministerial nominees, the FCT senator said;

“Whenever people talk about us Labour senators, they’re only eight of us. And in a democracy, the minority will have their say, and at the end of the day, the majority will have their way.

“We will make changes that we can make, but we’re also new in the Senate. We’re trying to find our feet; we’re trying to know the run of the place. So, they have to give us a little bit of time to see the impact that we can make as well.”

59-year-old anti-corruption crusader, Fernando Villavicencio has been shot dead.

The popular Ecuadoran presidential candidate was killed while leaving a rally in the nation’s capital on Wednesday, prompting President Guillermo Lasso to declare a state of emergency and blame the assassination on organised crime.

He had complained of receiving threats before he was murdered as he was leaving a stadium in Quito after holding a campaign rally, officials said.

Lasso declared a two-month state of emergency early Thursday following the assassination but said general elections slated for August 20 would be held as scheduled.

“Outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio,” the president said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, blaming the killing on “organised crime.”

“For his memory and for his fight, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished.”

Villavicencio was the second most popular candidate in the presidential race, according to recent opinion polls.

“The Armed Forces as of this moment are mobilised throughout the national territory to guarantee the security of citizens, the tranquility of the country and the free and democratic elections of August 20,” Lasso said in a YouTube address.

The president also declared three days of national mourning “to honour the memory of a patriot, Fernando Villavicencio Valencia.”

“This is a political crime that acquires a terrorist character and we do not doubt that this murder is an attempt to sabotage the electoral process,” he added.

If President Bola Ahmed Tinubu hit the ground running, it was because problems chased him into office. Yet, it wasn’t long before he tripped on a matter in which his genius has been acknowledged: forming his cabinet. 

One of his credentials for eight years as governor of Lagos, and even outside public office for 16 years, has been his gift for spotting talents and putting them to work. 

He campaigned on this record in the last election. You can therefore imagine the disappointment in some circles when he not only waited 60 days, nearly exhausting the time allowed by law, but then went on to release in two instalments, lists that have been widely criticised as an appeasement to the “old brigade.”

There are, of course, bright spots with a few professionals and proven hands. But a cabinet which features nine former governors, a number of who had lost elections or had been ministers before, gives the impression that Tinubu’s genius for talent hunting may have been captured by vested interests on the national stage. Has Abuja, the graveyard of good intentions, done its worst? Is Tinubu undone by pressure? Or are there forces in his inner circle taking advantage of the chaos to grab power?

Reality is more nuanced. We’ve been here before, over 20 years ago. Tinubu was not in charge at the centre then. He was governor in Lagos, a complex place to govern no doubt, but far less so than the “beast” called the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was also faced with choices similar to those that Tinubu wrestled for 60 days. It’s easy to forget now, but Obasanjo’s choice of ministers in his first term, much like those of Shehu Shagari in 1979, gives an idea of what potentially confronts a new president, especially one that is a product of a fragile and fraught political transition. 

In hindsight, Obasanjo is applauded for assembling perhaps what has, so far, been the best collection of ministers in the last nearly four decades.

But it was not so when he first got into office. For those who despise politicians intensely, sometimes with reasons, it might be useful to remember that Obasanjo’s first collection of ministers was a shambles of strange bedfellows. It was spiced with Second Republic politicians retrieved from the museums, and former military governors and army generals who ran the country before the #Endsars generation was born.

I’m not kidding. Obasanjo’s first list of ministers contained such names as General David Jemibewon; General TY Danjuma; Tony Anenih; Col. Mohamed Bello Kaliel (rtd); Adamu Ciroma; Iyorchia Ayu, Dapo Sarumi; Alabo Graham-Douglas; Bola Ige; Sunday Afolabi; Hassan Adamu; and Haliru Bello.

Even Ojo Maduekwe, one of the masterminds of Daniel Kanu’s two-million-man march who threatened to go on exile if General Sani Abacha did not run for office, also made Obasanjo’s ministerial list. It was that unwieldy.

If the team were a flight crew, not many would have been comfortable to fly. Obasanjo knew that but had his reasons for choosing them. The country was just transiting from decades of military rule. He needed politicians who understood the country, and also military-politicians who could help him stabilise things and keep soldiers at bay, while he launched a shuttle diplomacy to rebuild the country’s battered image.

But trust Obasanjo, the old fox. Once he got his footing and at least part-paid his political IOUs, he shuffled his cabinet within months, followed by another shuffle in his second year, in which he weeded out a number of the worst performers. 

By his second term in 2003, the cub in him had become a tiger drawing in some of the best talents, but also making mince-meat of a good number, including his deputy, Atiku Abubakar. It’s a story triumphantly told in three volumes of Obasanjo’s book, My Watch.

It’s fair to feel disappointed by a few nominees in Tinubu’s lists who make the legend of Robin Hood look like a child’s play. Some have also expressed concern about the role of Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, who has obviously set a new record as the country’s most expensive bespoke delivery service for political nominees’ list. 

Not a few curious eyebrows were raised when LEADERSHIP reported exclusively, for example, that against the ethics of international courier service, and in the midst of the screening, the integrity of the nominee lists was nearly undermined by allegations of “package tampering!”

I was genuinely concerned that the controversial news reports from the office of the Chief of Staff could make Mike Oghiadomhe, former Chief of Staff to President Goodluck Jonathan, look like an amateur. I’m not sure any Chief of Staff since 1999 has assumed and executed with a comparable degree of passion the task of dispatching nominees’ lists the way Gbajabiamila has done so far.  

Those who know him well, famously called Gbaja-philes in Villa-pedia, however insist that his performance is out of the goodness of his heart; and so, I won’t let anyone put words into my mouth or ideas in my head about his sterling qualities. 

Since the Chief of Staff has taken over the function of the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) Liaison to the National Assembly as his own contribution to a leaner government, it is my humble submission that the positions of the two SSAs should be scrapped forthwith, at least to appease Labour. 

It is concerning, however, that at a time when Tinubu needs a strong inner circle to get things done, reports of a civil war, with his Chief of Staff at the heart of it, continue to engulf his government. From the election of presiding and principal officers in the 10th National Assembly to the nomination of ministers and God-knows-what-else, the story has been one of near complete Gbaja-nisation!

Yet, Tinubu’s job is cut out for him. He cannot blame anyone for what becomes of his presidency. If choosing the right team helped him get a lot done when he was much younger and stronger, then he needs that gift even more desperately in the midst of the present chaos. 

The tough, but necessary decisions he has taken already mean that if he has his eye on legacy, never mind a second term, then there’s very little time to settle IOUs or indulge internal strife. 

That’s not all. It also means that while Tinubu would hardly get any credit if the suspects in his cabinet perform, he would be blamed squarely if they fail and he alone would bear the brunt of the difference between expediency and necessity.

All said, when our obsession with Abuja has faded, perhaps in a week or two after the ministers have been assigned portfolios, we must quickly turn our attention to the states, a number of which offer the premium version of the atrocities we saw on the national stage in the last one week.

The Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA)  is disturbed by the developments unfolding in the Republic of Niger following the  seizure of power by the military from a duly democratically elected leader- His Excellency, Muhammed Bazoum through a coup d‘etat.

The Coup, which has attracted several reactions and different degrees of sanctions from nations and supranational institutions such as the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS), has socio-economic negative implications for both Nigerians and Nigeriens especially as we share common history and borders. The Council observes with dismay, that although the military junta in Niger has remained defiant, ECOWAS has just lately further imposed more stringent sanctions against it. But it is well known that such kinds of economic sanctions are counter-productive and eventually end in futility. It is the masses that do suffer the pains and difficulties of the sanctions while the junta that seizes power takes control of state resources and begins a life of indulgence. The Council therefore, calls on ECOWAS and in particular, the Nigerian Government to retrace their steps in this regard to avoid correcting wrong with another.

While Nigeria spearheads the imposition and heaping of sanctions on Niger it should be reminded of the thousands of Nigerian refugees to whom Niger provided succor and safe abode for several years now. This is undoubtedly an act of good neighbourliness, rare hospitality and kindness that should not be reciprocated with measures that would cause disaffection, breed hate and hostility and aggravate the sufferings of the downtrodden people across both sides of the borders. 

While it is understandable that the leadership of both ECOWAS and Nigeria must preserve and protect democracy by discouraging forceful take-over of power through military coup d’état, the NSCIA strongly implores the Federal Government of Nigeria and by extension the leadership of ECOWAS to continue to tread the path of dialogue rather than resorting to violence. This is because violence does more harm than the intended good in any circumstance. Should violence break out in Niger, it is the helpless and hapless masses, who have already been devastated and impoverished by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the world economy, that would pay the very costly price, not the coup plotters.

It is pertinent to state here that Nigeria has not gotten away with its own intractable issues and challenges of insecurity and violence that have been causing death incessantly, displacing millions and destroying livelihood in states that share borders with Niger. The Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast and the banditry in the Northwest have not been subdued. Given this situation it would not only take a dance on the precipice to  embark on military expedition at this material time, but would also smack of ingratitude to a neighbor that had consistently remained faithful in helping and supporting us in our fight against those extreme groups and criminal gangs.

The Council has consciously and keenly followed the reactions that have trailed the rather belligerent stand of the ECOWAS and its resolutions that include possible use of violence in Niger. It can be asserted without fear of contradiction that Nigerians are very much united against military intervention in Niger. Many religious and civil society groups across religious, ethnic and regional divides, as well as elder statesmen and retired military veterans and security experts have all categorically rejected the use of violence in intervening in Niger. In this regard, the Council hereby reiterates the need to pursue peace by peaceful means as any war between Nigeria and Niger would severely strain the fraternal relationship between the two countries which dates back to the pre-colonial era. There is therefore, no option to dialogue, and to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

The Council prays that Almighty Allah would grant our leaders the wisdom and ability to resolve the crisis in Niger in a peaceful manner. May He also bestow peace upon us in Nigeria and the region at large.

Signed.

Prof. Salisu Shehu

Deputy Secretary-General

Azman Air has sent all of its staff on a compulsory leave without pay, indefinitely.

Nurudden Aliyu, the airline’s spokesperson, said the decision was made due to a number of factors, including the ongoing C-checks on its aircraft and the high cost of operations.

In aviation, C-check is a deep inspection of the majority of an aircraft’s components usually done by a maintenance technician. The goal is to check the functionality of the plane.

“We have temporarily suspended operations due to all our 737 used for domestic operation being due for C-checks,” Aliyu said.

“We have already sent two of them to a maintenance facility in Turkey, but unfortunately, since we sent the aircraft there, there is a queue in the maintenance hanger and they were not able to finish in time.

“The other two we are using here are also due for maintenance and we are trying to send them for C-checks also.

“Also, one of the aircraft has achieved 90 percent completion so we are expecting two of the aircraft back in October.”

‘AZMAN AIR FACING FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS’

Aliyu further said the airline is facing financial difficulties due to a lack of revenue, explaining that sending workers on leave without pay was a way to cut costs.

“We have been doing on-and-off operations since March, sometimes with one aircraft. So we decided, due to this harsh situation, to temporarily suspend domestic operation until we put our house in order,” the spokesperson said.

“We are not going to employ another set of people, we are going to engage them; that’s why in the mail sent to them we gave them assurance that once the situation normalises, they will be called upon.

“The only problem is that we didn’t state the date of resumption. Like I said, since March that we have been doing on-and-off operation, we have not denied anybody salaries, we have been consistent in that regard but the burden became too much on the company since there is no revenue, that’s why we decided to suspend operations.”

‘WORKING TO REFUND CUSTOMERS FOR CANCELLED FLIGHTS’

In the past months, a lot of Nigerians have shared their ordeal with Azman Air, accusing the airline of cancelling their flights and refusing to make refunds.

Aliyu, speaking on the matter, said the airline has made it a priority to process the payment for those that have applied for a refund and that they hope to complete the process upon resumption.

“We are working on that and we are going to pay everybody. In fact, that’s what we are working on now, to pay those that have refund cases with us,” he said.

“The payment will be made to those that apply to get a refund. Once your flight is cancelled we have a refund form that customers are meant to fill. It’s only the customers that fill this form that can be refunded.

“We are determined to make payment to everyone we are owing and we hope to clear that upon our resumption.”

If there is an issue everyone—and I mean everyone—agrees on, it is that the cost of running the government needs urgent and radical pruning. One of the most topical issues in the public service system, administrative cost, is also where the government’s indecisiveness is highly exemplified. So it was no surprise when, on Monday, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, reported President Bola Tinubu’s justification for having an even more expanded cabinet. Ajaero, during their meeting with the president on the pressing issues of the fallouts of his policies, had tasked him with reducing the number of tentative ministers. Tinubu responded that, as labour union leaders, they ought to view his bloated cabinet from the perspective of job creation. The other borderline revelation from Ajaero was that Tinubu claims that to save money, he lives in a two-bedroom apartment, and had offered to use his private jet (instead of the official one) and reduce the number of vehicles in his motorcade. The last two proposals, he claimed, were denied because of security concerns.

If Tinubu believes appointing 48 ministers with the ripple effect of more appointments of a retinue—all shades of aides and special assistants who will also hire their own aides with added perks such as furniture, wardrobe, housing, car allowances and estacodes—will have a significant impact on the unemployment crisis, we should all flinch on his behalf. Was it not just last week that his Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, lamented the Federal Government’s personnel cost of N5tn before a legislative committee? Did he also forget that he promised a structural review of the civil service payroll just a few days ago? Within a few days, he had gone from wishing to purge to becoming flatulent. The inconsistency generating these rogue ideas suggests insincerity. They are already confused by the complexities of the country and cannot figure out which direction to go.

Nigeria’s unemployment situation cannot be impacted by turning bureaucracy into an industry. More than half of the country’s population is either unemployed or un-gainfully employed, how many can the government possibly absorb? Besides, the government does not create jobs by merely taking party loyalists and some of their hangers-on off the streets. The creation of jobs is a consequence of policies that facilitate a conducive environment for private businesses to thrive. Nigeria is not yet at that place; we rank dismally on the global ranking of ease of doing business. Our public administrators, unable to build a system that allows enterprises to breathe, have found a shortcut to generating employment in padding public service. Time and space will not permit a rundown of the worst culprits.

Resolving the problem of an expensive civil service will need far much more than petty gimmicks; it will take an entire administrative attitude. The subject is an old conversation that keeps acquiring currency. In 2011, former President Goodluck Jonathan set up a committee headed by Steve Oronsaye for this same purpose. They delivered an 800-page report detailing wide-ranging reforms. From that point, different administrations have set up implementation committees, reviews of reports, reviews of reviews, White Paper, and so on. Nothing much changed. Between 2016 and now, the cost of running the government in fact increased by about 400 per cent. That was a lot of time and effort spent retrogressing. No wonder we are down to superficial solutions such as the empty symbolism of jettisoning the presidential jet. For a man like Tinubu who has never demonstrated the integrity of separating what belongs to the public from what he owns, it will amount to an error to let him do official business from his private jet. As for his motorcade, cutting down on the unwieldy number of vehicles is far better for him, security wise, than the unwieldy horde he lungs around the FCT.

If he truly wants to make personal sacrifices to contribute his share to reducing the cost of governance, a more meaningful move would be to mobilise his Lagos party members to entirely repeal the odious pension law. That would be a good place to start. It was Tinubu’s last-minute parting gift to himself but has since become a model for other governors who want to eat the future of even unborn children. That he applauded present Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-olu’s move to amend the law and slash the benefits does not change the question of why he ever felt the need to take so much for himself. Why sign it into law if not for a lack of conscience? Nigerian leaders hardly know more than smash, grab, and run. While in the office, they take and take and take. When it is time for them to leave that office, they are so frightened by the reality of a life no longer propped up with the sweat and blood of poor people. Their next move is to create pipelines to funnel money from the public purse into their private pockets. It is a madness that keeps exceeding diagnoses.

The pension law that targeted Tinubu as the prime beneficiary is only one of the many acts of authority stealing institutional robbery that needs to be dismantled. Instead of moaning that security concerns keep him from making significant reforms to reduce what he costs the nation as president, how about starting from where your hands are not tied? Like Zacchaeus the tax collector who resolved to refund what he immorally took four times, Tinubu should return every pension he ever took from Lagos with interest. Let the state invest the money in education so some Lagos children can start breathing.

Since his harsh reforms started to suffocate life out of poor people, we have been serially entertained with hired propagandists, talking heads, and faux analysts who run from one soapbox—either on television or social media—to another to enjoin Nigerians to keep enduring suffering for some vague promise of greater glory. Those sermons have become tiring; they assume people they are talking to have enough left to keep sacrificing. If the country will truly advance that way, why should the people already impoverished by the greed of the Nigerian political class keep making all the sacrifices while the privileged get to keep their loot? The pain should be generously circulated across the board. If they are sincere that the sacrifices are worthwhile and there is a promise of abundance at the end, they too should offload some of their own benefits.

The All Progressives Congress cannot, of course, do much about their Peoples Democratic Party counterparts especially at the state levels where all kinds of injustices have been entrenched, but they can work on themselves. It will take some sincerity of purpose, but by making belt-tightening measures for the ruling class they can demonstrate their faith in the abundance that awaits everyone if we can endure some more suffering for some more time. They should pressure themselves to repeal the pension laws that have turned greedy governors (and their deputies) into a raging army of locusts. They should drastically cut down on their perks, fix the number of aides they can appoint to a bare minimum, freeze estacodes, and get rid of outdated privileges like “official cars.” These are lean times; public officers should use their personal cars. When they go on official errands, they can be refunded the cost of petrol and a set amount for wear and tear on their vehicle calculated according to the mileage expended. It is all possible except, of course, but the truth is out of character for them. Their new leader is Abdullahi Ganduje who also does not separate his agbada pockets from the public purse. When he tells you to sacrifice, what he is asking is for your sweat to keep sponsoring their excesses.

Niger currently owes Nigeria N4.22bn ($5.48m: $/N769.27 exchange rate) for power supply; the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s just released first quarter report has stated.

According to the report, Niger’s state power firm, Nigerien Electricity Society, was yet to remit the $5.48m invoice issued for power supply by the Nigerian market operator.

“None of the underlisted international customers made any payment against the cumulative $16.11m invoice issued to them in 2023/Q1; Paras-SBEE ($3.46m), Transcorp-SBEE ($3.85 million), Mainstream-NIGELEC ($5.48m) and Odukpani-CEET ($3.32 million).

“Out of N842.38m invoice issued by MO to all the eight (8) bilateral customers in the NESI, only North-South/Star Pipe made a remittance of N15.38m against its invoice of N24.69m,” it stated.

The NERC mandated the Market Operator to invoke the provision of the market rules to curtail the payment indiscipline being exhibited by the various market participants.

The PUNCH had last week, reported that the power supply from Nigeria to the Republic of Niger was stopped on August 2.

Last week, ECOWAS, led by President Bola Tinubu, decided on sanctions against the military personnel in Niger, who toppled President-elect Mohamed Bazoum in a coup d’état.

NIGELEC is under contract with a power firm in Nigeria, Mainstream Energy, for the supply of electricity.

Nigeria also exports electricity to the Republics of Benin and Niger based on various Transaction Service Agreements.

In July, The PUNCH exclusively reported that Nigeria exported about N23.13bn worth of electricity to some neighbouring countries in 2022.

“Nigeria disconnected since Tuesday (last week) the high voltage line that carries electricity to Niger,” a report by AFP said, quoting industry sources through local production.

According to a report by NIGELEC, Niger’s sole electricity supplier, in 2022, 70 per cent of Niger’s share of electricity came from purchases from the Nigerian company – Mainstream.

Electricity supplied to Niger is produced in Kainji Dam located in Niger State.

However, to free itself from its energy dependence on Nigeria, Niger is working to complete its first dam by 2025.

Located about 180km upstream from Niamey, the Kandadji Dam is projected to generate 629 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually.

A separate report by the BBC also said major cities in Niger are facing rolling blackouts following last week’s coup.

Residents of Niamey, Maradi and Zinder had power for about an hour at a time before it was switched off for up to five hours. Power cuts like these are unusual in Niger, which normally has regular and reliable supplies.

The President of Nigeria Consumer Protection Network and Coordinator, of Power Sector Perspectives, Kunle Olubiyo, confirmed that ECOWAS would isolate Niger Republic from the electricity supply.

“About 60 per cent of power supply to Niger comes from Nigeria. Just like organised labour usually shuts down the national power grid as part of negotiations when all appeals might have failed to achieve results, Mr President (Tinubu) is the leader of ECOWAS at the moment.

“Disconnection of power supply is seen as a low-hanging fruit,” he stated.

Tougher times are ahead of gas consumers, as marketers have hinted that prices will go up next week.

The President of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, Olatunbosun Oladapo, said gas consumers should brace themselves for price hikes starting next week.

He cited rising international prices, high tax rates and prices of vessels, forex scarcity, and naira devaluation as some of the reasons for the intended price review.

“It is starting next week because international prices have gone up. The prices of vessels have gone up and taxes are high, but consumers are not earning more.

“Their purchasing power has gone down. Everybody is crying. Consumers, middlemen, and retailers are feeling the impact because business is now on the low side,” he said.

Olatunbosun described the imminent price increment as unfortunate.

“The situation is very unfortunate because prices are going higher. Nigerian consumers are passing through very difficult times because they can no longer afford gas,” he added.

According to him, consumers are now returning to firewood, charcoal, and sawdust for cooking.

“The government should come in and alleviate the suffering of the masses by providing palliatives, reducing taxes and levies.

“You can imagine that for every 1kg of gas priced at N700, tax would take way N3.50. How much is left in such a business?” he continued.

He urged the government to tax profit and not products because consumers were not buying gas anymore.

“Local taxes are worsening the problem,” he said, calling on marketers who had the opportunity to buy products locally to fix prices with “consumers’ sympathy” in mind.

His reaction came on the heels of findings by The PUNCH that vessel scarcity in the international market would push up local prices of Liquified Natural Gas, also known as cooking gas in the coming months.

Vessel scarcity in the international market has led to charter rate hikes, ahead of the 2023 winter, when demand for heating fuel peaks.

As of August 1, 2023, charter rates surged to $284,750 per day for November and $206,750/day for October, quadrupling the current price of $70,500/day, according to data from Spark Commodities quoted by Bloomberg.

“Tanker supplies are increasingly tight because traders are using the ships as floating storage in a bet that LNG prices will rise as the weather turns colder.

“Volatile shipping rates can eat up margin for an LNG trader looking to cash in on higher winter prices, and rising transportation costs ultimately can mean higher prices for buyers in Europe and Asia.”

The number of LNG vessels floating on the water for at least 20 days also rose in late July, with 42 vessels tracked, which is about 27 per cent higher than the same time a year earlier.

Nigerian LPG prices are internationally benchmarked based on Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Contract prices and are always influenced by international prices.

And like other internationally traded commodities subjected to price fluctuations due to market dynamics, the NLNG CP is subject to changes and can be reviewed either upwards or downwards at least once to three times.

The devaluation of the local currency would also impact the domestic price of LPG.

The dollar exchanged for N749.62 on Wednesday, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The Nigerian LNG usually sells the cooking gas it produces locally to off-takers based on the prevailing exchange rate.

The PUNCH checks showed that the prices of 20 metric tonnes of LPG at the major depots in Apapa, Lagos, between July 28 and August 7 had been between N10.7m and 11m.

Local consumers of cooking gas have for some months now enjoyed low prices due to a drop in international prices.

The price of LPG dropped from an average of N730 per kilogram in June to around N600/kg in July and increased to N750/kg in August due to the naira devaluation.

As of June, the price dropped by 76.1 per cent to 2.10 per one million British Thermal Units on May 31 from 8.78 per one million BTU, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A report by the National Bureau of Statistics on retail gas prices said the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas decreased by 6.71 per cent month-on-month from N4,360.69 recorded in May to N4,068.26 in June.