The launch of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery is anticipated to drastically reduce Nigeria’s fuel import costs, which currently stand at about ₦6.2 trillion annually.

Recall that Aliko Dangote, the chairman of the Dangote Group, confirmed at the Africa CEO Forum Annual Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, that the refinery will start distributing premium motor spirit next month.

This marks a significant shift towards self-sufficiency in fuel supply for Nigeria and potentially West Africa.

The Dangote Refinery, representing a $20 billion investment, aims to fulfil domestic demands and possibly extend its supply across the West African region, covering petrol, diesel, and aviation fuel needs.

Dangote expressed confidence in the refinery’s capacity, stating, “By sometime in June, Nigeria shouldn’t import anything like gasoline; not one drop of a litre.”

This development aligns with the Nigerian government’s strategy to reduce dependency on imported fuel, especially following the removal of fuel subsidies by President Bola Tinubu, which significantly cut the country’s petrol import to an average of one billion litres monthly.

The operation of the refinery is expected to offer considerable economic relief by slashing the hefty sum spent on importing fuel.

With Nigeria currently spending an average of about ₦520 billion on petrol imports, the commencement of local production could save the nation billions of naira annually.

The difference between the landing cost and pump price of petrol highlights the financial inefficiencies associated with importation.

Local refining is projected to eliminate these costs, providing cheaper fuel to Nigerian consumers and stabilizing market prices.

The reduction in fuel imports is likely to bolster Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves and strengthen the naira.

A source from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) told Punch Newspaper that this shift would decrease the demand for foreign currency, improving the country’s economic position and potentially leading to a stronger national currency.

“As the dollar demand reduces, the naira will rebound and that is good for the economy,” the CBN source said.

As the Dangote Refinery gears up for operation, the potential impacts on the Nigerian economy are profound.

This move could significantly reduce the national import bill and transform Nigeria into a key energy supplier in the region, promising economic benefits that extend beyond mere cost savings.

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, has said the congress was not aware of merger talks involving the Labour Party with some political parties in the country.

The LP, which is a socio-democratic political party, was founded by the organised labour.

There have been speculations about the possibility of a merger between the LP and the Peoples Democratic Party, following the meeting between the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and the presidential candidate of the PDP in the election, Atiku Abubakar.

Obi also reportedly met with some PDP stalwarts in Abuja, including a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and a former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido.

In 2019, both Atiku and Obi ran on the PDP joint ticket but were defeated by former President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress.

However, due to internal conflict within the PDP, Obi left the party in 2022 and contested the 2023 presidential election as the candidate of the Labour Party.

Speaking after the meeting with Obi on Monday, May 13, 2024, Atiku said party members would decide their fate in the 2027 general elections, adding that if the PDP decided in 2027 that it was the turn of the South-East to field the presidential candidate and selected Obi, he would readily offer his support.

The former vice president mentioned that his recent meeting with Obi might indicate a possible alliance leading up to the 2027 general elections.

When asked if the NLC would support merger talks that would make the LP cease to exist or if the organised labour would be involved in any merger talks involving the party, Ajaero said, “We are not aware of such talks.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria has retracted its directive asking banks and payment service providers to collect and remit the cybersecurity levy as outlined in the Cybercrime Prevention and Prohibition Amendment Act of 2024.

The apex bank announced this in a revised circular dated May 17, 2024.

The circular, signed by the Director of Payment Systems Management, Chibuzor Efobi, and the Director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustafa, was addressed to commercial banks, payment service providers (PSPs), non-interest banks, and others.

The circular obtained by PUNCH Online on Sunday was titled, “Re: Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) (Amendment) Act 2024 – Implementation Guidance on the Collection and Remittance of the National Cybersecurity Levy.”

It read, “The Central Bank of Nigeria circular dated May 6, 2024 (Ref: PSMD/DIR/PUB/LAB/017/004) on the above subject refers.

“Further to this, please be advised that the above-referenced circular is hereby withdrawn.”

The directive for the collection of the levy was met with nationwide backlash which prompted the Presidency to suspend the implementation.

The Federal Executive Council suspended the implementation of the provisions of the law, citing the need to conduct further reviews.

A member of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Prof Usman Yusuf said the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu has turned to hopelessness.

Yusuf, a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) stated this in an interview Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.

According to him, rather than inject the Nigerian people with some hope capsules, the Tinubu administration has made Nigerians more hopeless in the last one year.

He said, “People have lost hope. It pains me to see our people lining up to collect cups of palliatives. Renewed Hope has turned into hopelessness. People have lost hope.

“The last one year has been a year of nothing but deception, destitution and hopelessness.

“From next week, they will start telling us their propaganda. What have they done to benefit the ordinary people? In a span of one year, they have brought millions of people back into multidimensional poverty, they have pushed millions more children out of school because their parents cannot pay their school fees.”

Yusuf described the economic management team of the President as “tax collectors” rather than “economists”.

“The economic team, to me, looks more like tax collectors than economists. Taxation does not grow economy; only production does,” he said.

Recall that President Tinubu campaigned on the mantra of the ‘Renewed Hope.’

The President was sworn-in on May 29, 2023 after a keenly contest election in the February 2023.

Since inception, the President Tinubu administration has introduced some reforms such as petrol subsidy removal and the unification of the foreign exchange windows.

The labour has also told the government to be serious with the negotiations on the issue of workers wages, insisting that it used the lowest minimum in arriving at the N615,000 as new minimum wage.

Recall that the organised labour comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, pulled out of the negotiation meeting last week Wednesday when the government offered N48,000 as the new minimum wage. 

However, Chairman of the Tripartite Committee on the National Minimum wage, Alhaji Bukar Goni in a letter to the organized labour for a meeting tomorrow indicated interest that the government will shift ground and asked the organised labour to also shift ground.

Speaking to Vanguard in Abuja, the NLC Head of Information and Public Affairs, Benson Upah, said that the organised labour would honour the invitation tomorrow but he advised the government to be serious.

He said, “Our expectations are that the government should be serious this time around. We expect them to take more seriously the issue of wages of workers.”

On whether labour would accept N100,000 as being insinuated, he said, “Well, it will not be fair and these are the reasons. The first reason is that when we demanded for N615,000, we broke that down. In fact, we used the barest minimum.,

“For instance we put accommodation for N40,000, we also use for feeding N500, tell me where you are going to get food for N500 with a family of six. As I said, we used barest estimate but beyond that, government hiked electricity tariff by two hundred and fifty percent after we made our demand and that has introduced new cost and expenses. So if government is serious, it should not be thinking about a hundred thousand naira.

“You know that when you create poor citizens, you create a poorer county.” On his part, a member of the NLC delegation on the Tripartite Committee, Prof Theophilus Ndubuaku, said it would not be kind of the government to offer N100,000.

He said, “I don’t think one hundred thousand naira is a kind of thing we want because it’s far below expectation, we will accept something that can at least keep somebody alive. I don’t think a hundred thousand naira will keep a worker alive in this country a man with a family of six because our computation is based on the size of family.

“So, if they come up with that kind of amount, I don’t think we will appreciate it. In the private sector even artisans are not taking one hundred thousand a month. Whatever we accept we will look what is the income, what are they collecting, what is available to government because if government is collecting one trillion naira, we cannot ask them to pay two trillion.

“We are responsible people but the same government should know that people are suffering they will have to agree with us that there is crisis, that something needs to be done to create wealth, that something needs to be done for Nigeria to be a producing country and not a consuming nation.

Something needs to be done to reduce the cost of governance. We are supposed to be partners in governance, after all we are the labourers.”

Asked to give reason why labour may not accept one hundred thousand, he said, “If we see that that hundred thousand is affordable, if we see that they can afford more, we will reject it. They have to tell us why they cannot pay N615,000, the onus is on them to tell us why, then we will sit down and say okay you don’t have the money but we will also know why you don’t have the money because Nigeria is a country that is naturally endowed but something is wrong, how do you make sure you get the money so that when we come again in two years time, you won’t tell us the same story?

“What are you doing to create wealth, how are you going to partner with us to create wealth instead of being wasteful, how are you going to partner with us to reduce cost of governance. If a father comes home and says the only money he has is one thousand naira and you know that the father is not wasting the money, you will manage but if it is when the father comes and he is eating food bought from the fast food joint and it cost N10,000 and he gives one thousand to the entire family to go and look for food and cook for themselves, he may be beaten up, the family may refuse it. 

“The letter they wrote to us they said that both parties should shift ground, that means they will shift ground and they are expecting us to shift ground but the question is, what ground are they shifting, are they going to shift ground by two naira or two thousand naira to make it N50,000 or are they going to shift ground by N62,000 to make it N100,000 or by N150,000 or N200,000 to make it N300,000 plus.

“The point here is, this thing we are doing is not rocket science, the government should sit down and calculate how much it will cost, what is a befitting wage for an average Nigeria? They should breakdown what they are giving us because even in salaries, you break everything down. So when you break it down, they will tell us whether they are going to put one thousand naira per month for transport and two thousand naira per month for food.

“That N48,000 they are offering, they should have broken it down so if there are certain things they don’t want to make provision for, for instance health, if they say if any worker is sick they person should go and die or they don’t want to make provision for food, let them just put standard things.

“The problem here is that, you asked someone to tighten his belt, you said there is no money but you removed subsidy. Since they removed subsidy, FAAC has been collecting almost three times of what they were collecting before subsidy. That money you are collecting, what are you doing with it?

“You now said you want to build coastal highway when the existing roads to the same location are not passable, you are budgeting trillions of naira, you want to build Lagos-Sokoto brand new Highway, you want to put billions for hajj subsidy, you bought 200 vehicles for Customs and this is somebody that is complaining that naira is having issues but you now want to spend hundreds billions to import Toyota cars for Customs, why can’t you buy made-in Nigeria vehicles?

“This whole thing doesn’t make any meaning, we don’t even understand it. They are behaving as if they have money but they don’t know what to do with it like General Yakubu Gowon said in the 70s. You bought 200 Toyota Jeeps for Customs, it means you really do have the money but you don’t know what to do with it. But one thing you don’t want to do with the money is to feed Nigerians, feed your workers, make your workers comfortable.

“And as you can see, they are not even giving anybody hope. There is no programme for agriculture, government is not declaring emergency on power, food security, transportation.

“So what we are expecting is that, if they tell us they cannot pay N625,000, they should tell us why they cannot pay, this is negotiation. If we have told them to pay N615,000, what we expect government to calculate how many workers that are expected to receive this minimum wage.

“We did our research, you now say each state has this workforce, this is what they are now getting as revenue forget the fact that some of them are not doing anything to increase their IGR. Whatever they are getting now from the money coming from the federal revenue account, the federal government should say, this is the number of workers that we have, this is how much that you are asking, at the end of the day, this is how much we are expected to spend as salary and this is how much we have.

“So, NLC please look at it, we don’t want to spend this percent on salary, we will then sit down and ask, if you don’t want to spend it on salary, you want to spend it by importing vehicles for Customs when you have locally manufactured vehicles that won’t cost capital flight.”

He, however said that if the government comes out with something”relevant “, the organised labour will shift ground as asked.

“We must discuss with them that the figure presented is realistic and based on facts and statistics as the organised labour has done,” he said.

He said, “For provision of food for one person, we put N500 but there is a survey carried out by the National Bureau for Statistics covering all parts of the country, NBS is the custodian of statistics and it came out with that in today Nigeria, the average you can spend for a meal is N900.

“But we went low, we took the minimum. Their average is N900 but we took the minimum of N500, that is you cannot go below the N500. So you can see how realistic we are. So we will insist that government breakdown every item. Food, hospital, accommodation, transportation etc.

“We don’t want anyone to come and say that the NLC and the TUC presented arbitrary figure.”

Erling Haaland has finished as the English Premier League (EPL) top goal scorer for a second consecutive season as Manchester City beat West Ham 3-1 to win a fourth consecutive title.

The Norwegian striker was absent for two months of the season through injury and struggled to match the heights of his debut campaign at City when he struck 52 times in all competitions, including a Premier League record 36.

The 23-year-old failed to add to his 27 Premier League goals on the final day but still proved decisive in the run-in to help City secure an unprecedented fourth consecutive English top-flight crown.

Haaland scored nine times in his final seven Premier League appearances of the season to help City edge Arsenal to the title by two points.

Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, who himself started the season at City, was second in the top scorer standings with 22 goals, one ahead of Newcastle striker Alexander Isak.

EPL Top Goal Scorer Chart

27: Haaland (Man City)

22: Palmer (Chelsea)

21: Isak (Newcastle)

19: Foden (Man City), Solanke (Bournemouth), Watkins (Aston Villa)

18: Salah (Liverpool) 

17: Son Heung-min (Tottenham)

16: Bowen (West Ham), Mateta (Crystal Palace), Saka (Arsenal) 

14: Jackson (Chelsea), Wood (Nottm Forest)

13: Havertz (Arsenal)

12: Cunha (Wolves), Hwang (Wolves), Trossard (Arsenal), Wissa (Brentford) 

11: Alvarez (Man City), Eze (Crystal Palace), Gordon (Newcastle), Morris (Luton), Nunez (Liverpool), Richarlison (Tottenham)

10: Adebayo (Luton), Bailey (Aston Villa), Fernandes (Man Utd), Hojlund (Man Utd), Jota (Liverpool), Olise (Crystal Palace)

Manchester City are champions of the 2023/24 English Premier League season after defeating West Ham 3-1 at the Etihad on the campaign’s final day. 

The Citizen clinched the title after finishing just two points over Arsenal, who defeated Everton 2-1 at the Emirate Stadium.

The latest title triumph is Man City’s fourth consecutive title, a record-setting achievement for Pep Guardiola’s side.

It is also the club’s 10th EPL title and the sixth since Guardiola took over the team in 2016.

A Phil Foden brace and Rodri’s shot in second-half ensured Man City ended the season with 91 points over Arsenal’s accumulated total of 89.

The two teams’ performances took the title race to the season’s final day, and the Citizens executed their plans to perfection.

Arsenal had to come from a goal down against Everton, but their effort proved short of the indefatigable champions.

Idrissa Gueye put Everton ahead early in the first half after his freekick was deflected past David Raya by Declan Rice into the net. The Gunners struck back three minutes later when Takehiro Tomiyaso stroked the ball home after Martin Odegaard teed him up.

Kai Havertz completed the come-back for Mikel Arteta’s side with one of the final kicks of the game.

Elsewhere, Jurgen Klopp got a winning farewell in his final game at Anfield, thanks to a Liverpool 2-0 victory over ten-men Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Chelsea confirmed their return to European football next season with a 2-1 win over Bournemouth, while Manchester United will hope to win the FA Cup for a chance to play European football next season after finishing eighth in the league despite a 2-0 win at Brighton.

Luton join Burnley and Sheffield United to be relegated from the EPL following a 4-2 loss to Fulham at home.

RESULTS

• Arsenal 2-1 Everton
• Brentford 2-4 Newcastle United
• Brighton 0-2 Manchester United
• Burnley 1-2 Nott. Forest
• Chelsea 2-1 Bournemouth
• Crystal Palace 5-0 Aston Villa
• Liverpool 2-0 Wolves
• Luton 2-4 Fulham
• Manchester City 3-1 West Ham
• Sheffield Utd 0-3 Tottenham

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was also among those killed, along with seven others.

His death comes at a fraught moment in the Middle East, with war raging in Gaza.

The helicopter crashed weeks after Iran launched a drone-and-missile attack on Israel in response to a deadly strike on its diplomatic compound in Damascus.

Hardliner Raisi became president in a historically uncompetitive election in 2021. Previously the chief justice, he oversaw a period of intensified repression of dissent in a nation convulsed by youth-led protests against clerical rule.

Raisi was the second-most powerful person in the Islamic Republic’s political structure after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini. The Iranian Constitution mandates that, in the case of the president’s death, the first vice president assumes office with the approval of the Supreme Leader.

Iran was thrown into uncertainty Sunday as search and rescue teams scoured a fog-shrouded mountain area after President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter went missing in what state media described as an “accident”.

Fears grew for the 63-year-old ultraconservative after contact was lost with the aircraft carrying him as well as Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and others in East Azerbaijan province, reports said.

The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Iranians to “not worry” about the leadership of the Islamic republic, saying “there will be no disruption in the country’s work”.

“We hope that Almighty God will bring our dear president and his companions back in full health into the arms of the nation,” he said in a nationally televised address as Muslim faithful prayed for Raisi’s safe return. 

Expressions of concern and offers to help came from abroad, including Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia, and Turkey, as well as from the European Union which activated its rapid response mapping service to aid in the search effort.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani expressed gratitude for “governments and international organizations for their sympathy and offer of help in the search and rescue operations.”

State television first reported in the afternoon that “an accident happened to the helicopter carrying the president” in the Jolfa region.

“The harsh weather conditions and heavy fog have made it difficult for the rescue teams to reach the accident site,” said one broadcaster, as the massive search effort later continued into the night.

Iran’s Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand told state TV the area of the accident “has yet to be identified” and that the situation remained “difficult”. 

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the helicopter “made a hard landing” in bad weather and that it was “difficult to establish communication” with the aircraft.

He urged people to get their information “only from state television”, and not listen to foreign media channels Iran deems hostile to the Islamic republic.

– Massive search effort –

Iran’s cabinet held an emergency meeting led by Vice President Mohammad Mokhber after the incident, IRNA reported.

Raisi’s convoy had included three helicopters, and the other two had “reached their destination safely”, said the Tasnim news agency.

More than 60 rescue teams using search dogs and drones were sent to the mountainous protected forest area of Dizmar near the town of Varzaghan, the IRNA news agency reported.

Air passengers travelling through Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, NAIA, Abuja, can now use free Wi-Fi, Vanguard has gathered.

Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Tunde Moshood, on Sunday, confirmed the development.

Moshood also said plans were in progress to have free Wi-Fi services installed at other airports across the country, saying access to free internet services at the country’s airports conforms with Keyamo’s third agenda.

Moshood, in a chat with Vanguard, said: “Both local and international flyers can now enjoy free Wi-Fi in Lagos and Abuja, at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and Murtala Muhammed International Airport (Terminal 1 & Terminal 2). Stay connected, surf the web and make your journey smoother.

“Look for the NCC Free Airport Wi-Fi, and get connected. Your life does not have to pause while at the airport. Use the Wi-Fi to enjoy all your latest music and download your favourite Netflix programmes.

“Other airports are presently on course. This actually complies with the agenda of the Minister, which is to improve infrastructures across all airports and the aviation industry as a whole.”

Recall that Keyamo had attributed the absence of airport Wi-Fi to bureaucratic hurdles between the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, and the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, NAMA, which he swiftly resolved by allocating Wi-Fi provision to NAMA.

Collaborating with the Ministry of Communication, Keyamo said he was ensuring imminent access to complimentary Wi-Fi at airports, with discussions underway with international firms for in-flight Wi-Fi.

He said the initiative aligned with global aviation standards, which is to enhance passenger connectivity during flights.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has reacted after the Federal Government ignored the union’s ultimatum to reconstitute the governing councils of universities across the country and released a list of new members for 111 tertiary institutions.

Naija News reported that President Bola Tinubu had last week approved the appointments of 555 persons to serve as Pro-chancellors/Chairmen and members of the Governing Boards of 111 Federal Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.

An advertorial signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, showed the appointment of a chairperson and four members for each institution.

The advertorial stated that the Inaugural/Retreat for the Chairmen and Members of the Governing Councils of Tertiary Institutions will take place on Thursday, May 30th, and Friday, May 31st, 2024.

Notable among the members of the councils include the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, two prominent Nigerian lawyers and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Wole Olanipekun and Yusuf Alli, former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Peter Okebukola, and labour activist, Issa Aremu.

Reacting to the development, the ASUU President, in an interview with PUNCH, said the Federal Government was expected to reinstate the ‘illegally’ dissolved governing councils and not to constitute new ones.

Osodeke also stated that the union’s demand was not limited to the dissolved governing councils of tertiary institutions, adding that the Federal Government should implement other ASUU requests.

He said, “It is not just about the governing council alone, it is just one of them. Secondly, we said they should reinstate the illegally dissolved governing council. We didn’t say they should constitute a new one. As far as we are concerned, they have not met any.”