ASKED last December to comment on Bola Tinubu’s performance as President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces since May 29, 2023, Professor Wole Soyinka, first black man to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and one of the most fervent cheerleaders of the Tinubu presidency, said he will only do so on the administration’s first anniversary.

“Well, you know, something you may have noticed about me is that most heads of state, when they take office, I always leave them alone for about the first year… because they need time. I know when they come in, they don’t start from ground zero. They often start even lower than ground zero and they have to make up. So, I’m adopting the same principle this time. When you see me next year, ask the same question again and listen to my answer,” Soyinka, who has taken up the untypical role of Tinubu’s attack dog, told journalists on December 25 when he paid the president who was holidaying in Lagos what he called an “embarrassing visit.”

The literary giant, whose primary assignment from the Tinubu government seems to be a vicious and unrelenting put-down of Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections with the sole purpose of demarketing him ahead of the 2027 polls, is yet to comment even as fellow citizens struggle to make sense of where the government is headed. Nigerians are patiently waiting for him.

But Tinubu, just like the proverbial lizard that jumped from the high Iroko tree to the ground and crowed that he would praise himself if no one else did, didn’t wait for Soyinka’s validation of his “exceptional exploits” in office.

While flagging-off the 700-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway on Monday, a visibly excited President Tinubu said it was his day to boast.

Maybe it is. But the boasting would have been more appropriate if it was reserved for the commissioning of the project after completion. The deal cannot simply be done as he ululated because a project has been flagged-off. The deal can only be done when the project is completed and delivered to the Nigerian people.

But he was not only euphoric about the coastal highway, he also commissioned the rehabilitated Third Mainland Bridge and the concrete-paved road to the nation’s major ports in Apapa and Tin Can Island.

It is instructive that Tinubu is making a song and dance about a rehabilitated bridge. But why not? Considering the fact that the disastrous Muhammadu Buhari administration worked on the same bridge intermittently without any appreciable result, the Tinubu administration, indeed, has earned a bragging right for doing a refurbishing job on the 12.5 kilometre bridge that even their worst critics acknowledge is outstanding.

What’s more, in an era where a state governor is listing a visit to the National Security Adviser, NSA, and a courtesy call by his constituents as achievements in his first 100 days as Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State did recently, why won’t Tinubu brag about refurbishing a bridge in his first 365 days in office?

But to say that the president has made good progress in the last one year as his spin doctors are doing is to incredulously stretch logic and common sense.

Agreed, Tinubu is entitled to his fantasies which explain his gloating while speaking to a group of investors in November 2023 at the 10th German-Nigerian Business Forum in Berlin, Germany, that his name be included in the revered Guinness World Records, GWR, for reforms that have made life unbearable not only for the poor but also the rich.

But beyond the grandstanding and propaganda, Nigerians, with the exception of those feeding off the crumbs from his table, agree that Tinubu’s first year in office has been a curse rather than a blessing.

The primary purpose of government is the security and welfare of the people as clearly spelt out in Section 14(2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.

So, beyond refurbishing the Third Mainland Bridge, which, to those who may have forgotten, was commissioned by President Shehu Shagari in 1980 and completed by President Ibrahim Babangida in 1990, and the reconstructed concrete-paved road leading to the Lagos seaports, a project which was financed by the Dangote Group, using its tax credits, the economy is in dire straits and Nigerians are bleeding, literally.

Besides, assessments cannot be made in a vacuum. Those who say Tinubu inherited a hellhole from Buhari and use that as an excuse for his abysmal performance are being smart by half.

To be sure, Tinubu knew that Buhari was a colossal failure. He was well aware that the All Progressives Congress, APC, government took Nigeria to the brink of socio-economic and political collapse, which explains why Nigerians refused to reward such dreadful performance and rejected the APC at the February 25, 2023 poll. But the magician he is, he managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Having wangled his way to Aso Rock, and knowing how badly Buhari damaged the country, he unfurled an eight-point agenda to recovery that included food security, poverty eradication, growth, job creation, access to capital, inclusion, rule of law and fighting corruption. Any assessment not anchored on this agenda is duplicitous.

Unveiling the agenda in September 2023 at the first Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting after three months of haphazardness, Tinubu said it was targeted at addressing the country’s socio-economic challenges and mandated the ministers to deliver the first phase within three years. Reminding them of the prevailing adversity, unemployment, insecurity, and poverty in the land, he said the idea was to move away from the frenzied borrowing of the Buhari regime, check the “unacceptably high” jobless rate, achieve economic growth, “prosperity for all,” and end poverty with a promise to create 50 million jobs to boot.

One of those three years has been spent and no item in the eight-point agenda was realised. With food inflation at over 40 per cent, Nigerians are starving, literally, and food security has become a mirage. Rather than creating 50 million jobs, millions of Nigerians have been pushed into the unemployment loop.

It couldn’t have been otherwise. The ill-digested twin policies of petrol subsidy stoppage and consequent higher pump prices, and the unification of official and parallel foreign exchange rates not only pummelled the Naira but also pushed the headline inflation to 33.69 per cent in April 2024, according to the figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, on May 15. It was 22.22 per cent in April 23, a month before Tinubu came on board. Food inflation which was 24.45 per cent in March 2023 is today 40.01 per cent, a 15.56 percentage point year-on-year climb.

Rather than ebb, insecurity has spiked in the 12 months of Tinubu’s presidency. This week, some 84 civil society organisations led by Global Rights disclosed that more than 4,416 people were killed and 4,334 abducted in the last one year.

Tinubu enthused in October 2023 at the 29th Nigeria Economic Summit in Abuja that the economy under his watch can grow to $1 trillion by 2026, stressing that a $3 trillion economy is possible in a decade with government ensuring “double-digit, inclusive, sustainable and competitive growth.” That remains a mirage with the GDP declining to 2.98 per cent in the first quarter of 2024. With interest rate at 26.25 per cent, access to capital for businesses is near zero.

The average Nigerian is poorer today than he was a year ago. Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda has not yielded the touted benefits. Instead, it has dragged Nigeria back to the Hobbesian state of nature in which life, to many, has become solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

If the sole purpose of government is the welfare and security of citizens, a fact which Tinubu captured in his eight-point agenda, then, he cannot claim to have achieved much, if anything at all, when there is hardly any Nigerian that can sincerely say he is better off today than a year ago.

But most worrisome is the fact that the president, like the fifth Roman emperor, Nero, who was busy playing the fiddle while Rome was consumed by fire, has perfected the inelegant art of majoring in the minor, focusing on insignificant things rather than the larger, more important issues at hand. It is quite instructive that on a day that should have been spent introspecting and seeking ideas for navigating out of the self-inflicted headwinds, the government busied itself replacing the National Anthem with the colonially bequeathed version, discarded since 1978 . 

Talk of Tinubu’s best-forgotten first 365 days in office.

The Naira recorded its first massive depreciation against the dollar at the foreign exchange market 24 hours after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s first anniversary.

FMDQ data showed that the Naira depreciated to N1484.75 against the Dollar on Thursday from N1329.65 on Wednesday.

This represents an N155.1 loss against the dollar compared to N1329.65 traded on Wednesday.

Similarly, at the parallel market section the depreciated to N1490 per dollar on Thursday from N1480 the previous day.

The development comes as the turnover of foreign exchange transactions dropped to $235.41 million on Thursday from $328 million on Tuesday.

Accordingly, the last time the Nadepreciatedated at both official and parallel foreign exchange markets was on May 23, 2024, when the Central Bank of Nigeria announced fresh guidelines to Bureau De Change operators.

Since mid-April, the Naira has continued to fluctuate against the dollar at the forex market despite CBN interventions.

Olayemi Cardoso, the governor of CBN at the last 295th Monetary Policy Committee blamed the volatility on seasonal fluctuations.

President Bola Tinubu has vowed to sack any minister in his cabinet who he feels falls short of the expectations of Nigerians.

Tinubu stated this during a meeting with the leadership of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday.

The president, again, vowed to continue to do his best for the country.

“I thank the cabinet members for their efforts, but I will relieve any of them of their duties anytime I feel that they are failing Nigerians,” Tinubu said.

Uruguay striker, Edinson Cavani, has announced his retirement from international football on Thursday.

The 37-year-old is his country’s second all-time leading scorer and third most-capped player, with 58 goals in 136 appearances.

Cavani, who currently plays for Boca Juniors, wrote on social media: “I have been and always will be blessed to have pulled on this shirt to represent what I love most in the world, my country.

“I want to dedicate myself to this new stage of my career and give everything I have to where I need to be.

“Today I’ve decided to retire, but I’ll always follow you with my heart pounding, just like when I played in that beautiful shirt.”

Cavani made his debut for Uruguay in 2008 and played at four World Cups.

He also won the 2011 Copa America in Argentina.

DEAR readers, I am wearing my academic cap this week, and assessing the first-year performance of Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s president since May 29 last year. In fact, I have marked Tinubu’s first-year assessment. The result? He failed badly. He scored an abysmal 37 per cent!

Earlier this week, Tinubu marked his own exam paper and awarded himself a pass mark. He said he met Nigeria bleeding and stopped the bleeding. That’s utterly ludicrous, given that most Nigerians have been trapped in unimaginable misery and anguish over the past one year, and the fundamentals of Nigeria’s economy and social fabric have crumbled further in the past year. Yet, Tinubu has cheerleaders. One of them is Dr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, who said Tinubu “has laid the groundwork for progress” in his first year. What an outlandish thing to say! Well, for me, Tinubu failed his first-year assessment.

Talking about assessment, let me, in fidelity with the Aristotelian mode of persuasion, appeal to ethos, to credibility. Until recently, I was a tutor at the London School of Economics, LSE, where I am still a visiting fellow. Over the years, I have marked many essays, exams and dissertations, against established marking criteria. To secure a Distinction or top Merit, a student must show sophistication in the following areas: their answers must be relevant to the questions; organised and structured; show clarity of exposition; have analytical depth; and demonstrate the use of evidence.

Now, don’t think these criteria are only relevant to students’ assessments; no, they are also applicable to performance in government, especially to policy development and delivery. Tinubu failed in each of them.

Trust me, dear readers, the 37 per cent I have awarded Tinubu has nothing to do with the 37 per cent he secured in last year’s presidential election. That said, there is a shared resonance of failure between them. I mean, anyone who secured 37 per cent in an election, rejected by 63 per cent of voters, can hardly claim any success. But under Nigeria’s military constitution, someone with such a weak mandate and legitimacy can form a winner-takes-all government. Thus, despite his 37 per cent “mandate”, Tinubu has absolute power and runs Nigeria like his personal fiefdom. The election result, now history, is not my concern here. Except that, coincidentally, Tinubu also gets 37 per cent in his first-year assessment. But how?

Well, first, Tinubu’s government lacks an organising principle, lacks a vision; everything is based on a scattergun approach. The first evidence of the absence of a vision is the formation of his cabinet. No president who wants to succeed, knowing the challenges that Nigeria faces, would form the kind of cabinet Tinubu formed. It was a cabinet designed to reward cronies, return political favours and shore up support for his re-election bid in 2027. Why, for instance, did Tinubu put virtually all the economic ministries under his Lagos “boys” and other cronies from the South- West, his geo-political zone? And why are there so many deadwood ministers, whose only qualifications were that, as governors, they helped Tinubu “ win” their states? Why did he choose to form a government of cronies, sycophants and political jobbers? Truth be told, Tinubu’s current cabinet is too weak, too ineffectual, to tackle Nigeria’s acute challenges; the time calls for a government of all the talents.

Another evidence of Tinubu’s unpreparedness is that none of the policies he introduced since he came to office involved serious analysis and planning. There is what political economists call stroke-of-a-pen decisions. These are decisions anyone can make quickly and easily. But there are decisions, with far- reaching consequences, that no president should make simply at the stroke of a pen. Yet, when Tinubu declared that “subsidy is gone” and when he floated the naira, no analysis and planning went into those decisions. No thoughts went into their implementation to avoid unintended consequences. Absolutely none. Tinubu said he was “possessed by courage” in abruptly scrapping the fuel subsidy. But good policies are not made with such impulsiveness, such rashness.

Dr Agbakoba listed removal of the fuel subsidy, flotation of the naira and “ rehabilitating refineries and incentivising new private refineries” as Tinubu’s “notable achievements” that laid the “groundwork for progress”. The learned senior lawyer was hasty in his judgement. Each of the “achievements” is already unravelling. Take the fuel subsidy. Even the IMF which called for its removal also called for “adequate compensatory measures for the poor and efficient and transparent use of the saved money.” None of these has happened. There is no transparency on the use of the saved money, and the savings have not been used to alleviate the pains of poor Nigerians.

Furthermore, the IMF believes the government has quietly introduced “an implicit subsidy.” Truth is, until Nigeria can produce refined petroleum, enough to meet local demands, fuel subsidy won’t go away completely. Yet, despite the promises to turn around the Port Harcourt Refinery, it is still not working, and the other three state- owned refineries remain moribund. Recently, Aliko Dangote said the government won’t need to import refined petroleum from next month, suggesting his refinery would produce enough to meet local demands. Would that happen? Even if it did, would Dangote’s consumable fuels bring down the pump price of petrol? The jury is still out!

What about the floating of the naira? Well, the government is fretting about the naira’s devaluation. And it is intervening aggressively to make the naira appreciate. But the value of a currency is determined by the strength of the economy. If the economy is weak, the currency will be weak, and vice versa. Yet, the fundamentals of Nigeria’s economy are extremely weak, with inflation at 33 per cent and interest rates at 24.75 per cent. In a recent report titled “Nigeria’s currency crisis the last straw for many overseas groups,” the Financial Times said naira’s devaluation and foreign exchange scarcity have forced many foreign companies to divest from Nigeria, while many local businesses “have died quietly.” So, where are Tinubu’s “notable achievements” that lay the “groundwork for progress”?

There are other policies, such as students’ loans, plans to establish state police and the so-called Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, that space doesn’t allow me to discuss. But they all fail the good policymaking test and will have perverse consequences.

So, forget the praise singers, Tinubu’s first year in office is a failure. It inflicted untold pains on ordinary Nigerians and caused huge damage to Nigeria’s economy and social fabric. All for some pie-in-the-sky future “gains”!

There are strong indications that Organised Labour may begin a nationwide strike from Monday, June 3, over a new minimum wage.

This is as the tripartite committee on a new national minimum wage, NNMW, reconvenes today, following abrupt adjournment due to labour’s walkout of last Tuesday’s meeting, where it accused government negotiators of unseriousness in the negotiation process.

Meanwhile, accusing fingers are pointing to the state governors of ganging up against the Federal Government to stall the ongoing negotiation.

Labour’s negotiating team had on Tuesday, for the second time in two weeks, walked out of the committee meeting after the Federal Government increased its offer marginally to N60,000 from the N57,000 it offered on Wednesday, May 22.

Labour, represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and its Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, counterpart, had on May 15, walked out of the tripartite committee meeting after the government offered N48,000 and Organised Private Sector, OPS, offered N54,000, against its N615,000 demand.

Meeting reconvenes

However, in a letter reconvening the meeting, Ekpo Nta, member/Secretary of the committee on behalf of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, NSIWC, dated May 29, said: “You are respectfully invited to attend the 7th meeting of the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage which is scheduled as follows: Date: Friday, 31, May 2024

Venue: Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall, Nicon Luxury Hotel Plot 903, Tafawa Balewa Way Area 11, Garki, Abuja, Time: 10:00 am Prompt

“The minutes of the 6′ meeting and the draft agenda for the 7” meeting wil be circulated in due course.

“Please note that the following ‘Zoom link’ has been provided for any member who indicates inability to be physically present to participate in the meeting.”

Labour mobilizes for strike

Organised labour sources, nonetheless, told Vanguard that a nationwide strike might start on Monday, depending on the outcome of today’s meeting.

According to the sources, organised labour is already mobilizing for a strike from Monday, June 3.
A labour leader, who spoke to Vanguard anonymously, said: “The outcome of tomorrow’s (today) will determine our next line of action. If the meeting comes out fruitful, better for everyone.

“But should government’s team continue with its carefree attitude and disdain for workers’ welfare, nothing will stop us from going on strike from Monday. We are already mobilizing for the strike.

“Everyone knows that the one-month ultimatum we gave to the government to conclude negotiations on the new national minimum wage ends tomorrow (today). We have been patient amid the hardship and mass suffering inflicted on us by the government’s anti-poor policies.

“Besides that, the issue of the minimum wage is statutory. The old Minimum Wage Act ceased to exist since April 18. We had more than six months, at least, to work on a new minimum wage.

“But the government has not been serious with issues affecting workers. Well, Nigerians can bear us witness that we have been patient with this government. If the government knows what is good for it, let its negotiators come up with something reasonable to meet workers’ expectations, otherwise, strike will be inevitable from Monday.”

Govs gang-up

On alleged gang-up by governors, organised labour which appears not to be unaware of the gang-up, is already working on a series of industrial actions, including a total shutdown of nation’s economy to speed up the process.

According to a Presidency source, “the unwillingness of most of the state governors to commit to a reasonable new national minimum wage is putting pressure on the federal government to do the needful.

“Even though what labour is demanding is on the high side, the Federal Government is under pressure from the state governors not to give in to labour’s demand. They have been insisting that they do not have the resources to pay a high wage.

“You can see that they have been shunning the ongoing negotiations because they are afraid to come to the open to put forward their arguments. They cannot continue to shy away. We know there are challenges, we have to face it one way or the other. We must come up with a new national minimum wage. It is a law that we have to abide with.”

Reacting, one of the labour leaders in the negotiating team, told Vanguard that Labour was not ignorant of the antics of the state governors, but said the federal government had a fair share in whatever the governors were doing.

He said: “From the onset, the federal government created this problem by choosing governors that have breached the 2019 Minimum Wage Act as members of the tripartite committee, representing the governors.

“Check, none of the six governors in the committee is labour-friendly. They never fully implemented the N30,000 minimum wage. I remember that the NLC president raised the issue when their names were announced as members representing the governors in the tripartite committee on the new national minimum wage.

“As we speak, many of them have refused to pay the wage award to their workers as a temporary measure to cushion the effects of the removal of petrol subsidy. Even some of them that agreed to pay have not paid more than two or three months. In fact, some of them are paying a meagre N10,000 or N15,000.

“They cannot run away from the reality. Whatever economic challenge we face today, they created it. They are all receiving more money from the federation account as a result of the removal of fuel subsidies and the excessive taxation of the people, among other sources of funds, such as IGR. They have no excuse or reason not to pay.

“We have lined up a series of industrial actions, including shutting down the economy, to speed up the process. We are just waiting for the May 31 deadline we gave on May Day to take the next line of action.”

FG pleads labour’s understanding

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has appealed to organized labour to see reason with its offer.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, who appealed yesterday, asked Labour to be considerate and patriotic in their demand in the ongoing negotiations.

She said the government had been consistent in taking steps to secure a fair and realistic wage for Nigeria workers but urged Labour to recognise that the nation’s economy is still on the path of recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other economic distress.

The minister said: “We appeal to organized labour and, indeed, other relevant stakeholders to be considerate and patriotic in their demands, recognizing that our economy is still recovering from the devastating effects of the pandemic and other global economic shocks. “We are committed to putting the people first and ensuring that our economic policies benefit all Nigerians, not just a select few.
“The government remains dedicated to prioritizing the well-being of our citizens and urge all relevant parties to demonstrate patriotism and understanding, particularly during this critical period when President, Bola Tinubu is working diligently to revitalize the economy. 

“We recognize that the economic challenges we face are complex and multi-faceted, and we require the collective effort of all stakeholders to overcome them.”

The minister noted that last Tuesday’s meeting with Labour was a significant step in the ongoing efforts to secure a fair and realistic wage for Nigerian workers.

“As a government, we recognise the importance of ensuring that our citizens receive a decent standard of living, and we are committed to making this a reality.

“After hours of intense negotiations, labour leaders took a recess to consult with other key stakeholders and have pledged to return to the negotiating table for further discussions today. We welcome this development and are optimistic that our continued engagement will yield a positive outcome.

“In light of the current economic conditions, we have made a concessionary move from N57,000 to N60,000. This increase is a demonstration of our willingness to listen to the concerns of labour and work towards a mutually beneficial agreement. 

“We understand that the current economic landscape is challenging, and we are doing everything in our power to mitigate its effects on our citizens. This is the path this government has chosen to pursue, and we will not deviate or stray from the course.

“President Tinubu has been tireless in his efforts to revitalise the economy and improve the standard of living for all Nigerians. His commitment to creating jobs, stimulating economic growth, and reducing poverty is genuine, and we appeal to all to support him in this endeavour.

“As we move forward, we will continue to engage with organised labour and other stakeholders to ensure that our economic policies are inclusive and beneficial to all. We recognise that the times are challenging, but we are confident that with the collective effort of all Nigerians, we can overcome any obstacle and build a brighter future for ourselves and future generations.”

Credit to the government rose month-on-month, MoM,  by 2.0 percent to N19.98 trillion in April from N19.58 trillion in March.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Money and Credit Statistics for April showed mixed trend in credit to the government since January where it stood at N23.5 trillion.

According to the CBN,   credit to the government grew to N33.92 trillion in February and fell to N19.58 trillion in March but went up to N19.98 trillion in April.

The data also showed that credit to the private sector rose MoM by 2.4 percent  to N72.9 trillion in April  from N71.2 trillion in March. This resulted in a 2.31 percent MoM rise in net domestic credit to N92.9 trillion in April from N90.8 trillion in March.

Analysts at Cowry Asset Management Limited attributed the March decline in credit to the government to the effect of policy rate hike by the CBN.

Commenting in the company’s  weekly financial Market review and outlook, they said: “This could be linked to the effect of the policy rate hike by the monetary authority on the economy where the CBN’s  Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has raised interest rate by 600 basis points to 24.75 percent so far in 2024 from 18.75 percent  just to achieve price stability.  

“The full impact of the policy rate hike by the central bank will continue to be seen in the economy as borrowing costs trend higher while businesses seek alternative funding options in the local debt market through the issuance and raise  of commercial papers for the short term in order to keep business operations afloat.”

However, the increase in credit to the government in April contradicts analysts’ prediction of a continuous declining trend.  

“While we think a continued slow  growth in total credit to the government and private sector will continue, businesses will explore further funding options  amidst rising prices. On the other hand, we think the federal government will continue exploring various funding options with lower debt servicing requirements just to meet its project funding and investment obligations”, analysts at Cowry Asset projected.

Nollywood actress Eniola Badmus has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration for bringing “significant progress and hope” to Nigeria. 

Badmus shared her views while congratulating President Tinubu on his first year in office.

Recently appointed as the Special Adviser on Social Events and Public Hearings to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, Eniola Badmus expressed confidence in Tinubu’s ability to drive the nation forward. 

She emphasised that Nigerians are optimistic about continued success and growth under his leadership.

On her Instagram page, the movie star wrote: “Congratulations on your first year in office, @officialasiwajubat.

“Your dedication and leadership have brought significant progress and hope to our nation. We look forward to continued success and growth under your guidance.”

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said that most people he helped to power during the 2023 general elections now avoid him.

Umahi said this in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State on Thursday while speaking with newsmen.

The minister said that even National Assembly members whom he helped to power were among those who now avoid him, adding that he was not disturbed by their behaviour.

“It is only Chief Onyekachi Nwebonyi who will openly acknowledge that I am his father and boss.

“The others feel that by doing so, the state governor, my successor, will be angry with them.

“The governor cannot do that because he too openly acknowledges that I was instrumental to his emergence,” he said.

He said that the development made him stop having political godsons but has opted for political friends.

“I will fight anybody who makes trouble with the governor because he deserves our respect.

“I have done my bit, have left the stage and have to respect myself,” he said.

Umahi said there were usually crises between the predecessors and successors, adding that “I am however not available for such because I have been so blessed in life by God.

“There are always pathways to successes and failures and when you dig for someone to fail, you have already failed,” he said.

The minister vowed to stick with Nwifuru for eight years and thanked God for giving the governor the grace to unite all leaders of the state.

“The issue of the leaders staying together for long is not our business but I have known the governor for 16 years and will continue to support him.

“I will never regret making him my successor as he, alongside few others, stood with me during the hard decision of defecting to the APC,” he said.

Umahi previously served as the senator representing Ebonyi South senatorial district from June to August 2023. Before his tenure in the Senate, he was the governor of Ebonyi State from 2015 to 2023 and served as the deputy governor from 2011 to 2015.

(NAN)

The Federal Government has secured a $500 million World Bank loan to empower Nigeria's energy distribution industry, the Bureau of Public Enterprises stated on Thursday.

The BPE announced that the financing has been secured to help address the numerous issues that Discos face in the country.

“In a strategic move to address the identified gaps in the electricity distribution companies, the Federal Government of Nigeria has secured a $500m loan from the World Bank,” BPE stated in a statement issued in Abuja by the Head of Public Communication, Amina Othman.

It added, “Approved on February 4, 2021, by the World Bank board of directors, this funding supports the Nigerian Distribution Sector Recovery Programme aimed at improving the financial and technical performance of the Discos.

“The DISREP is designed to enhance the financial and technical operations of the Discos through capital investment and the financing of key components of their Performance Improvement Plans, which have been approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.”

The Bureau stated that key areas of improvement include bulk procurement of customer/retail metres and metre data management systems, implementation of a Data Aggregation Platform, and strengthening governance and transparency within the Discos.

On the programme components, BPE said the DISREP comprises two main components.

It said the first is the programme for results, with an allocation of $345m, adding that the purpose is to support the implementation of selected PIP components. The Bureau of Public Enterprises is to implement this.

The other component is the Investment Project Financing, with an allocation of $155m and the purpose is to finance the procurement of metres, a data aggregation platform, and technical assistance.

“The DISREP loan, particularly the Investment Project Financing component, is expected to significantly benefit the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry by closing the metering gap, reducing Aggregate Technical, Collection, and Commercial losses, and improving remittances and liquidity for the Discos.

“Others include to enhance the reliability of power supply, as well as increase transparency and accountability within the Discos,” BPE stated.

It said the $500m DISREP loan from the World Bank offers concessional financing with more favourable terms than commercial bank loans.

“This will enable the Discos to invest in critical distribution infrastructure, improve ATC&C losses, increase power supply reliability, achieve financial sustainability in the power sector, and enhance transparency and accountability,” the bureau stated.

It noted that significant progress has been made in the preparation of the DISREP programme with several key milestones achieved and approved by the Federal Executive Council on August 3, 2022.

It said there has been the execution of the Financing Agreement by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and the World Bank, and adoption of the Programme Operations Manual by BPE and Transmission Company of Nigeria.

The government has also obtained a legal opinion from the Attorney-General of the Federation and executed the Subsidiary Loan Agreement, adding that the effective declaration of the DISREP Programme was done on January 31, 2023, while the inauguration of the DISREP Technical Committee was on May 6, 2024.

It said the inclusion in the Federal Government borrowing plan was approved by the Senate Committee on May 16, 2024.

“To ensure repayment assurance, the Bureau of Public Enterprises sought and obtained approval from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and the National Council on Privatisation for a structured repayment hierarchy.

“This structure prioritises payments as follows: 1. Statutory payments (taxes); 2. Repayment of CBN market loans; 3. Market obligations; 4. Repayment of DISREP loan; 5. Discos’ net revenue. This structured repayment plan aims to mitigate risks associated with repayment uncertainty and defaults, with regulatory sanctions imposed for any defaults,” BPE stated.

Power distribution companies in Nigeria have been widely criticised as being the weakest link in the country’s power value chain. This is due to many lapses on the part of the Discos.

For instance, about eight million registered power users out of an estimated 13 million electricity consumers are not metered by Discos. Also, there are complaints of poor power supply to many locations by Discos. Consumers on estimated billing also accuse Discos of extortion, among other concerns.

Nigeria got 11 power distribution companies after electricity generation and distribution arms of the industry were privatised in November 2013, and since then, the Discos have been struggling to meet the demands of end users.