•Undersea fibre cables linking Europe to Nigeria pass through construction corridor – ALTON, ATCON

Barely 48 hours after Multichoice alerted subscribers to a three-day technical downtime, telecommunication companies have expressed concern over possible connectivity disruptions as construction advances on the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

While the DStv and GOtv owner acknowledged the anticipated impact of the ongoing Lagos-Calabar construction project on their uplink facilities, telcos on Sunday expressed broader concerns emphasising the vital role of telecommunication service and the effect of possible anticipated technical disruption.

The Lagos-Calabar coastal highway corridor serves as a crucial landing point for multiple submarine cables connecting Nigeria to Europe

The cables, including the West Africa Cable System (WACS), MainOne, Glo1, ACE, and NCSCS, are vital for international communications and data transmission in the country.

The Federal Executive Council approved Phase One of the ambitious 700-km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project in February, entrusting the task to Hitech Construction Company Limited.

The highway project was designed to connect Lagos to Cross River, passing through the coastal states of Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Edo Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom, before culminating in Cross River.

Meanwhile, the demolition of numerous properties and recreational centres in Lagos has been carried out to expedite the construction of the highway.

In light of the developments, telcos stressed the necessity of stakeholder consultations with the Ministry of Works to address potential risks and implement robust mitigation measures.

While dialogue with the Federal Government is yet to happen, telcos have warned Hitech Construction to exercise caution to prevent damage to critical national infrastructure.

Speaking with The PUNCH on Sunday, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, confirmed that the Ministry of Works had yet to engage the telcos on environmental impact assessment.

The ALTON chairman said the Ministry of Works, headed by David Umahi, had engaged some stakeholders but excluded the telecom operators.

“The Ministry of Works has not approached us, and I’m unsure if environmental impact assessments have been conducted. The route is crucial for the landing of numerous submarine cables, so caution is essential.

“Some members have reached out to them, urging caution. As the chairman of the industry, I can affirm that ALTON members were not consulted regarding the assessment of the undersea cable within that right of way,” he explained.

Adebayo revealed that some of its members had written to the works ministry on the matter over the need for a dialogue. He however said the body had yet to get any response.

He added that the Nigerian Communications Commission had been engaged to facilitate talks with the ministry.

“We’ve informed the Nigeria Communications Commission about this issue, and they are attempting to contact the Ministry of Works. However, I can confirm that neither we nor any of our members were contacted. This is on record. We were not included in the stakeholder consultations, and we’re concerned about the actions being taken.”

According to Adebayo, the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway corridor facilitates international traffic into the country, with so much risk involved if caution is not applied by the construction firm.

“There’s a significant risk involved, and I advise carefulness. Any destruction could lead to total disruption and severe economic consequences. Caution must be exercised to avoid damaging this critical economic infrastructure.”

In March, service disruption caused by cuts to the undersea cable supplying broadband Internet connectivity to Nigeria and countries in the West African sub-region forced many banks and other financial institutions, as well as telecom companies and allied firms, to scale down their operations.

Experts said the recent subsea cable cut, which disrupted connectivity in West Africa on March 14, 2024, could result in collective repair costs of about $8m for the four digital infrastructure companies affected.

The Chief Executive Officer of West Indian Ocean Cable Company, Chris Wood, said the four digital infrastructure companies affected could spend as much as $8m each to repair a single cable.

The affected cables include MainOne Cable, the West African Cable System, the African Coast to Europe submarine cable, and the SAT3 subsea cable systems.

Wood highlighted that each affected cable firm might need to allocate between $1m and $2m for the complete restoration of a single subsea cable, depending on the severity of the damage incurred.

The WIOCC CEO stated, “It is not a few $100,000. It is several millions of dollars, maybe $1m to $2m per cable, depending on how long it takes the ship to find the cable and repair it.

“Maybe slightly more than that. And those costs are borne by the cable owners themselves. It is a cost that we will factor into our businesses because these things do happen.

“I can’t say exact figures because it depends on the nature of the cuts and how long it takes to repair them, but when you look at the four systems together, it is several $1m.”

According to Wood, it will cost Africa $1bn to lay new cable that will connect from Europe, connecting multiple African countries, including Nigeria.

He noted that it would take at least 10 years to design the project and finish building, noting that the cost would be huge.

“So, it is not a simple thing to say, right? Let’s lay more cables because ultimately somebody has to pay that billion dollars, and eventually it is the end user. So, there has to be a commercial justification for spending that kind of money.

According to the President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Tony Emoekpere, the ongoing construction work is yet to get close to the areas where the undersea cables and fibre cables are located.

However, he said it was crucial to recognise that all submarine cables to Lagos are situated along that coastal line.

“Discussions will ensure that the ongoing construction won’t affect them, with plans in place to prevent any disruption. Nobody will allow anything to happen without precautions.

“I spoke with someone this week who mentioned this. Concerns will naturally arise, and ongoing interactions will address them as the risk is significant. These are sensitive issues, and measures will be taken to ensure services aren’t disrupted along that line,” he added.

A few weeks ago, ALTON and ATCON jointly issued a statement expressing worries over wilful vandalism and theft as well as other challenges affecting the growth of the sector.

They requested the protection of assets and network infrastructure and urged the federal government to pass legislation that designates telecommunications infrastructure as critical national infrastructure.

Telecommunications infrastructure undoubtedly plays a pivotal role in national security and socioeconomic growth, especially as the country currently contends with multiple security challenges that require urgent and immediate actions in response to these threats.

“Attacks on cell towers, fibre optic cables, and other critical assets disrupt telecommunications services and result in significant financial losses for operators,” telcos lamented.

The telecom sector has been grappling with economic challenges that have significantly increased their operating costs, a situation that has dwindled appetite for investments.

Investment in the sector decreased by 70.5 per cent to $134m in 2023 from $456.8m in the corresponding year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Last week, the ALTON chairman mentioned that telcos were becoming reluctant to invest more in infrastructure as they continued to contend with a tough economic environment.

Adebayo stated, “If you don’t invest in a sector, you can’t talk about quality of service; you can’t talk about right pricing. The government must help, and the time is now.”

He drew a comparison with the energy sector, where a lack of investment in infrastructure had led to decrepit substations and outdated transformers, some of which are 25–30 years old.

“When the people in the energy sector came, they licenced the DisCos; they sold them those companies and all of that, and everybody thought that would solve the problem. The answer is ‘no’ because when the DisCos came, they didn’t invest in infrastructure.

“We don’t want to come to a time where the telecom sector becomes like that. We need to continue to put the right policies and regulations in place to attract investment. It is only when we attract investment that we can demand a minimum level of performance,” he emphasised.

No fewer than 13 lives, 130 vehicles and an unspecified number of houses have been destroyed in separate gas tanker explosions that occurred in Rivers, Osun and Delta States in the last seven days.

DAILY POST reports that tanker explosions have been consistent in the country, leading to loss of several lives and properties.

The recent occurrences have raised concerns amongst stakeholders who are calling for a better method of transporting all petroleum products across the country.

Recall that on Friday last week, April 27, a tanker conveying Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol, burnt motorists and commuters beyond recognition and destroyed at least 120 vehicles in Rivers State.

Five unlucky persons, including a pregnant woman, were killed in the unfortunate incident.

The incident occurred between the Indorama Petro-Chemical Company Gate and the Aleto Bridge on the popular and ever busy Eleme section of the East-West Road now undergoing major reconstruction by the Federal Government.

Barely 12 hours after the Rivers incident, a gas tanker exploded in Ita-Osin, Abeokuta, Ogun State on Saturday, April 29, killing one person, while about five others were seriously injured.

The incident which also left five vehicles burnt, occurred following a suspected brake failure, after which the tanker rammed into the road culvert and went up in flames.

According to the spokesperson of the Ogun State Sector Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Florence Okpe, the deceased was suspected to be the motorboy of the gas-laden tanker.

On Friday, May 4, about eight persons were killed in a petroleum tanker explosion at Ometan-Okpe community along the Effurun-Sapele Road in Okpe local government area of Delta State.

DAILY POST gathered that a breastfeeding mother and her three-month-old baby were among the casualties.

It was learnt that the breastfeeding mother was burnt to death while trying to rescue her baby who was trapped in the inferno.

Sources at the incident also disclosed that a 16-year-old secondary school girl and her mother who were trapped in their apartment also died in the fire incident.

DAILY POST gathered that the incident occurred on Friday when the ill-fated tanker coming from Effurun reportedly lost control while overtaking another truck a few metres away from the boundary bridge between Uvwie and Okpe Local Government Area.

According to eyewitnesses, the front part of the oil tanker suddenly detached from the rear compartment while on motion, leading to an explosion.

All buildings within the accident scene were razed. Some residents who were trapped in the building were also burnt to death.

Speaking with DAILY POST on Saturday, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Edafe Bright confirmed that about eight bodies were recovered from the incident scene.

He said, “The head of the tanker pulled off from the body of the truck, the vehicle fell and went up in flames, leading to the major accident that claimed those lives.

“About seven houses, five shops, including POS shops, were burnt down.

“Four vehicles, including car, truck were all destroyed by the inferno.”

Governors, FG move to end incessant gas explosions

The 36 governors under the aegis of Nigerian Governors Forum on April 28 said discussions were advancing among them and strategic federal agencies in the oil and gas industry in a bid to adopt safer methods of transportation of petroleum products across the country.

The forum’s Chairman, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq gave the hint at the Rivers State Government House, Port Harcourt, when he visited to commiserate with Governor Siminalayi Fubara, over the incident.

AbdulRazaq said, “We also spoke with the Head of the Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency, and there will be a review of some laws.

“There will also be engagement between the Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency and state agencies in terms of ensuring health and safety on these issues.

“As you know, Nigeria relies a lot, virtually, on pipelines for the movement of petroleum products, and we need to strengthen regulations in that sector, and also emphasise on improving and expanding pipelines for the transportation of products as well.”

Similarly, the Federal Government vowed to stop granting licences to gas companies with no capacity to build pipelines for gas distribution.

This was communicated by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Gas, Ekperikpe Ekpo, when he visited Abeokuta for an on-the-spot assessment of the explosion at Ita Oshin.

According to the Minister, the development became imperative to discourage the transportation of compressed natural gas through the roads.

“I have directed the authority chief executive that for any further issuance of licence, the company should be competent enough to pipe it to their end users so that we are not exposed to this kind of danger any longer.

“As a ministry, we are looking at how we can reduce a lot of virtual conveyance of gas.

“That is why we are putting much in developing the gas pipeline infrastructure so that the transportation would not be virtual, but rather through the pipelines. This will reduce this kind of incident and take off the pressure on our roads”, he said.

Meanwhile a retired officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Danjuma Alkali told DAILY POST on Saturday that the best way to stop the ugly occurrence was to ban night travels.

According to him, most of the incidents occurred due to “inability of drivers to have enough rest at night”, stressing “the incidents either happened in the night or when the drivers were totally exhausted”.

According to him, if there was a piece of legislation declaring an outright ban on night travels, the FRSC would be in a position to curb vehicles, whether big or small, travelling at night.

“Even before the recent incidents, statistics had shown that most of the crashes happen at night.

“For instance, a driver will want to go to Lagos and he takes off from Ilorin or Lokoja by 5pm; does a person get to Lagos before it becomes very late?

“If the federal lawmakers can come up with a piece of legislation to ban night travel, that will assist both the law enforcement agencies and other citizens.

“Banning night travels will put an end to some of these issues we face as a country, including insecurity.

“The federal government, in its wisdom, created tanker parks all over the country so that when it is night, the drivers can pack and rest until the following day, yet, most of them still prefer travelling at night.

“Nigeria should discourage night journeys because when articulated vehicles, especially fuel tankers, break down at night, drivers of such vehicles tend to abandon them on the road without any sign of caution and this has caused several incidents,” he stated.

The Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has promised a review of the law punishing suicide attempts.

He gave the promise when he received a delegation from the Asido Foundation, a non-governmental organisation promoting mental health advocacy and reforms to improve awareness, reduce stigma and discrimination and empower persons with mental disorders and their families.

The AGF said health is one of the priority areas of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“The law is something we have to take a second look at, especially where it is established that the offenders are not in the right state of mind. What the offenders need is pity, treatment and love to rid society of this kind of situation. But whatever we do is not binding on the states. So, I will take the case to the Body of Attorneys General,” Fagbemi said.

He promised to take up the issues around the Mental Health Act with his colleagues in the Federal Ministry of Health.

Earlier, the founder of Asido, Dr Jibril Abdulmalik, sought the help of the AGF in reviewing the law sentencing people for attempted suicide and the implementation of the Mental Health Act signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2023.

Abdulmalik said medical evidence had shown that all over the world, 80-90 per cent of those who attempted suicide had a background of mental illness, especially depression.

“It is their sense of hopelessness that makes them get to the edge, where they think they are better off dying. In that situation, what they need is help and treatment, not punishment and incarceration. We know the workload is heavy for our judicial officers. We don’t want them overburdened with cases that should ordinarily go to hospitals,” he added.

The 2023 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Sunday said the Nigerian Government was “solely expediting action on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway due to the business ties between President Bola Tinubu and Gilbert Chagoury, the owner of Hitech.”

Chagoury is the contractor responsible for the highway project.

Atiku said the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway contract was granted in violation of procurement regulations. 

In a statement signed by his Media Aide, Paul Ibe, Atiku disclosed that the involvement of Tinubu’s son and his associates on the boards of companies belonging to Chagoury presents a clear conflict of interest.

Atiku also claimed that Tinubu’s son, Seyi, is a director on the board of CDK Integrated Industries.

The former Vice President said instead of “enhancing the ease of doing business, the Tinubu government had allegedly demonstrated to the global community that his business endeavours and those of his family would consistently take precedence over national interests.”

Atiku claimed that the project being done with more than $13 billion was awarded without competitive bidding.

Atiku also claimed that the “so-called’ Badagry-Sokoto highway would be awarded similarly at an enormous cost to taxpayers purely because Tinubu had put his interest ahead of the Nigerian people.

Atiku said the demolition of tourist and recreational facilities and other properties within the Oniru corridor, including parts of Landmark, without ample notice, “is one of the reasons foreign direct investments continue to elude the country.”

He added that in more orderly environments, “establishments like Landmark would have been provided with a minimum of two years’ notice to facilitate proper planning.”

In an attempt to put an end to the fuel scarcity that has lingered for about two weeks across the country, petroleum marketers on Sunday advised the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to continue its emergency fuel supply for another two weeks.

This came as the NMDPRA disclosed that about 4,000 trucks laden with Premium Motor Spirit departed Lagos depots for filling stations in various states over the weekend to supply the product.

The Federal Government had, through the NMDPRA, on Wednesday said it began a 15-day emergency fuel supply last week Monday to ensure the commodity circulates across the length and breadth of the country.

The government also disclosed that vessels importing PMS would continue to berth at the shore to discharge fuel to different depots, from where the product would be distributed to different filling stations.

In an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the South-West Regional Coordinator of the NMDPRA, Ayo Cardoso, said no fewer than 300 million litres of petrol were loaded at various depots in Lagos between Friday and Sunday to reduce the queues in filling stations.

However, it appears the queues have yet to ease off to an appreciable level as many filling stations remain shut in Lagos, Ogun, Abuja, Oyo and others due to lack of fuel supply.

Our correspondents report that in some areas where the product was available, marketers sold for as high as N1,000 per litre, thereby causing long queues in stations selling for prices around N600.

Though marketers confirmed that the government was making efforts to reduce the queues in filling stations by ramping up fuel supply, they held that the emergency supply must continue for the next two weeks until the product is available in all the nooks and crannies of the country.

In an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the Executive Secretary of the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria, Clement Isong, said the depots and filling stations in the country were currently operating from the bottom of their reservoirs, saying more has to be done to ensure the tanks were filled up.

According to data obtained from the NMDPRA, it was gathered that as of Saturday, a total of 118 million litres of PMS was discharged from different vessels to marketers; being over 2,600 trucks if conveyed by 45,000-litre capacity tankers.

According to the data, Fatgbems Petroleum received 13,688,420 litres from the SL Aremu vessel. From Binta Saleh, A.A. Rano Oil and Gas got 27,485,750 litres, while STI Yorkville discharged 49,069,623 litres of PMS to NIPCO, Total, 11 Plc and NRL, through the ASPM jetty.

Also, MT Watson discharged a total of 27,295,511 litres to Bono Energy and Asharami.

According to the promise of the NMDPRA that vessels would continue to berth for 15 days, Cardoso told our correspondent that the vessels were discharging the product for onward delivery to retail outlets across the nation.

At Cluster 1 in Apapa on Saturday, it was said that AITEO was allocated 23 trucks; MRS, 49 trucks; OVH/NRL, 45 trucks; NIPCO, 61 trucks of PMS, and 11 Plc, 77 trucks. Others include Ardova and Total JV.

Our correspondent gathered that the Total terminal in Apapa was programmed to receive the product from Golden Dahlia, from where HOGL Energy also received PMS on Saturday.

At Cluster 2 in Ibafon, T-Time Petroleum reportedly got 25 trucks, containing 1,196,000 litres of PMS, while Fatgbems received 20 trucks containing 780,000 litres of the product.

Eighteen trucks of 598,000 litres were allocated to Techno Oil and Bono received 32 trucks of 1,535,000 litres. MRS Limited also got 170 trucks of 8 million litres from Ibafon.

Similarly, at Cluster 3 in Ijegun, the Pinnacle Oil and Gas was allocated 312 trucks and A.A. Rano got 129 trucks of PMS, 111 trucks of which were loaded on Friday.

The PUNCH reliably gathered that 128,236 metric tonnes of PMS, about 170 million litres, was awaiting haulage as of Saturday. The haulage was meant to be carried out by MT Keonamex, 20,172MT; MT Stena Immaculata, 18,955MT and MT STI Stability 89,109MT.

On Sunday, Cardoso informed our correspondent that T-Time Petroleum loaded 20 trucks of 1,000,000 litres; Fatgbems got 42 trucks of 1,850,000 litres; Techno Oil received nine trucks of 347,001 litres; Bono Energy, 22 trucks of 1,004,000 litres, while MRS Ltd loaded 180 trucks, being 8,500,000 litres of petrol.

In all, it was gathered that about 4,000 trucks of PMS flooded filling stations between Friday and Sunday.

Cardoso disclosed that six PMS vessels berthed across six jetties on Sunday, four out of which discharged a total of 187 million litres of PMS.

“The remaining two vessels that will hopefully commence after completion of the protocol prescribed in the SOP for Jetty Operations are laden with approximately 150 million litres,” he said.

The NMDPRA regional coordinator said he and his team have been on the field to ensure even distribution of the products, assuring Nigerians that PMS would soon get to all filling stations.

While warning against panic buying, Cardoso said the agency would continue to monitor the situation to ensure strict compliance.

 Ex-depot prices

Cardoso also released the ex-depot prices of the product, which ranged from N556 per litre to N645.

The ex-depot price is the price of a product, in this case, petrol, at the depot or storage facility where it is held before being transported to filling stations.

 In other words, the ex-depot price is the price at which the product is sold to marketers or distributors at the depot, excluding the cost of transportation, taxes, and other charges. It is the wholesale price of the product before it reaches the consumer.

Other additional costs, such as transportation, taxes, and profit margins, are added to the ex-depot price to determine the final retail price paid by consumers at the pump.

According to the data supplied by Cardoso, the NNPC Retail has the lowest ex-depot price of N556/litre, followed by OVH/NRL at N556.5/litre.

Others are 11 Plc, N599; NIPCO, N623; AITEO, N589.50; MRS Plc, N598; Ardova, N585; T-Time Petroleum, N610; Fatgbems, N597; Techno Oil, N600 and Bono Energy, N645/litre.

Marketers seek supply

Speaking with our correspondent, the MEMAN Executive Secretary, Isong, expressed the belief that there was an increase in supply, adding that the queues will disappear if the government keeps the tempo.

He explained, “I think the tanks were really down. So, when you restore supply, the queues will disappear. There are five reservoirs of petrol; the last reservoir is the one in the tank of a car. You can operate from the top or bottom of your tank. In the recent past, petrol stations have been operating from the bottom of their tanks. If a petrol station has two 45,000-litre tanks and it has only five or 10,000 litres, it is operating from the bottom of its tank. That is the second reservoir.

 “The third reservoir is what they call ‘goods-in-transit’. If the supply chain is working correctly, then at any point in time, we should have a thousand trucks on the road delivering products. That is another reservoir, the same thing for the pipelines. If the pipeline is full, that is another reservoir. That is the transportation.”

He added, “After that, we have the depots. If the depots are full, that is the biggest reservoir you have. We then have the vessels, whether it is the mother vessel or daughter vessel. That is another couple of million litres. Sometimes, if the cut in your supply chain is such that one of those reservoirs is empty, it will not be too difficult to come back. But in a world in which all your reservoirs are already operating from the bottom of the tanks; people don’t have enough in their tanks, you don’t have enough goods in transit, you don’t have enough in the tanks of the filling stations, you don’t have enough in the depots over some time; when you have this kind of challenge of scarcity, you really need to flood the market with 150 to 200 per cent of the normal supply for two to three weeks so that everything fills up.”

 Isong emphasised that the filling stations needed to be full, saying there were times in filling stations when trucks would be waiting to discharge because the underground tanks were still full.

“When you have that, it means you have filled up your complete supply chain. But where everything is just at the bottom of the tank, if one thing goes wrong, the entire supply chain dries up again. I think that is the stage that we’ve got to. We need to ramp up supply significantly in the country to about 200 per cent for about two weeks so that the entire supply chain becomes robust again. That way, we can avoid this sort of challenge,” the MEMAN leader stated.

Fillings stations shut

Meanwhile, some filling stations in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, closed their shops due to the non-availability of PMS.

It was also observed that taxi drivers refused to buy from stations willing to sell the products at a rate they considered to be too exorbitant.

This hike in price had however, caused motorists to queue for long hours at a few filling stations such as the NNPC at MKO Abiola Junction as well as its Fowobi outlet, where the product was sold for N600/litre.

Our correspondents report that black marketers were still taking advantage of the situation to make brisk business as they sold for between N1,000 and N1,500/litre.

Commercial drivers in the state capital told our correspondent that some of them slept at the few filling stations selling below N700.

When one of our correspondents visited some fuel stations along the Ikotun-Idimu-Egbeda axis, it was observed that two fuel station outlets belonging to the NNPC Retail along the College Bus Stop were selling.

Our correspondents report that one of the NNPCL outlets on the same axis that witnessed a very long queue was selling the product for N680/litre, while the other one with no queues was selling for N840/litre.

An attendant at the outlet that was selling for N840, who gave her name simply as Mary, said, “We are independent marketers, so everyone is selling according to how they bought. The other outlet is a major marketer that is why it is selling for N680/litre”.

Our correspondents report that queues persist in petrol Stations owned by major marketers in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Sunday.

It was observed that long queues of vehicles were common in stations such as NNPC, Total, MRS and Conoil. However, the supply of fuel in the town has improved as stations owned by the major marketers sold PMS between N580 and N650/litre.

Some independent marketers including Amorry, MKJ, Neemam and Tigress were selling fuel for an average of N1,000/litre as vehicles moved in and out of the stations freely without experiencing any delay.

In Sokoto State, the scarcity of petroleum continued as of Sunday, with one litre selling at the rate of N1,150 naira in most of the filling stations.

One of our correspondents who monitored the situation in the state on Sunday gathered that none of the major marketers in the metropolis dispensed the product.

It was observed that almost all the independent oil marketers in the state opened for business, selling a litre of PMS above N1,000. Also, black marketers sold the product for N1,400/litre on Sunday.

Nigerians have continued to appeal to the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to take urgent actions to put an end to the fuel scarcity, which they said is already inflicting more hardships on them.

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against Nigeria’s governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Mr Nyesom Wike “over their failure to account for N5.9 trillion and $4.6 billion loans obtained by their states and the FCT, and to publish copies of the loan agreements, including details and locations of projects executed with the loans.” 

The suit followed the disclosure last month by Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State that the immediate past administration of Nasir El-Rufai left $587m, N85bn debt and 115 contractual liabilities, making it impossible for the state to pay salaries. 

In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/592/2024 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to “direct and compel the governors and Mr Wike to account for N5.9trn and $4.6bn loans obtained by their states and the FCT and to publish copies of the loan agreements, location of projects executed with the loans.” 

SERAP is also asking the court to “direct and compel the governors and Mr Wike to invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission [ICPC] to investigate the spending of all the loans obtained to date by their states and the FCT.”

In the suit, SERAP is arguing that, “It is in the public interest to grant the reliefs sought. Nigerians have the right to see and scrutinise the loan agreements and know the details of how the domestic and external loans obtained by the governors and FCT minister are spent.”

According to SERAP, “Opacity in the spending of the loans obtained by the governors and Mr Wike would continue to have negative impacts on the fundamental interests of the citizens.”

SERAP is also arguing that, “Many states and the FCT are reportedly spending public funds which may include the loans obtained by them to fund unnecessary travels, buy exotic and bulletproof cars and generally fund the lavish lifestyles of politicians.”

SERAP is also arguing that, “Many states and the FCT are also allegedly mismanaging public funds which may include domestic and external loans obtained from bilateral and multilateral institutions and agencies.”

According to SERAP, “Many states and the FCT reportedly owe civil servants’ salaries and pensions. Several states are borrowing to pay salaries. Millions of Nigerians resident in the state and FCT continue to be denied access to basic public goods and services such as quality education and healthcare.”

According to SERAP, “Transparency in the spending of the loans obtained by the states and FCT is fundamental to increase accountability, prevent corruption, and build trust in democratic institutions with the ultimate aim of strengthening the rule of law.”

The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi and Ms Valentina Adegoke, read in part: “States and the FCT should be guided by transparency and accountability principles and proactively account for the loans obtained and publish copies of the loan agreements.”

“Widely publishing copies of the loan agreements and spending details of the loans obtained would ensure that persons with public responsibilities are answerable to the people for the performance of their duties in the management of public funds.”

“State governors and Mr Wike cannot hide under the excuse that the Freedom of Information Act is not applicable to their states and the FCT. The legal obligations to publish the information sought are also imposed by the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”

“According to Nigeria’s Debt Management Office, the total public domestic debt portfolio for the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory is N5.9 trillion. The total public external debt portfolio is $4.6 billion.”

“The domestic and external loans obtained by the states and the FCT are vulnerable to corruption and mismanagement. The states and FCT have a responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability in how any loans obtained by the states and FCT are spent, to reduce vulnerability to corruption and mismanagement.” 

“Directing and compelling the states and FCT to publish copies of the loan agreements would allow Nigerians to scrutinise them, and promote transparency and accountability on the spending of public funds including the loans obtained.”

“Providing and widely publishing the details of the spending of the domestic and external loans obtained by the states and FCT would enable Nigerians to effectively and meaningfully engage in the management of the loans.”

“The constitutional principle of democracy also provides a foundation for Nigerians’ right to know the details of loan agreements and how the loans obtained are spent. Citizens’ right to know promotes openness, transparency, and accountability that is in turn crucial for the country’s democratic order.”

“The effective operation of representative democracy depends on the people being able to scrutinize, discuss and contribute to government decision making, including on the spending of loans obtained by the states and FCT.”

“To do this, they need information to enable them to participate more effectively in the management of public funds by their state governments and the FCT.” 

“The public interest in obtaining information about expenditures relating to the loans obtained by the states and FCT outweighs any privacy or other interest.”

“The oversight afforded by public access to such details would serve as an important check on the activities of the states and FCT and help to prevent abuses of the public trust.”

“There is a significant risk of mismanagement or diversion of funds linked to loans obtained by state governments and the FCT. The accounts of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT are generally not open to public scrutiny.”

“The Nigerian Constitution, human rights and anticorruption treaties to which Nigeria is a state party also impose obligations on the states and FCT to prevent mismanagement or diversion of public funds including the loans obtained.”

“Many years of allegations of corruption and mismanagement of public funds including the loans obtained by the states and FCT have contributed to widespread poverty, underdevelopment and lack of access to public goods and services.” 

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.

British actor Bernard Hill, best known for his supporting roles in “Titanic” and “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, died on Sunday aged 79, his agent announced.

He played Captain Edward Smith in the Oscar-winning 1997 epic romance “Titanic”, and earned worldwide recognition playing Theoden, King of Rohan, in two of the three “The Lord Of The Rings” films directed by Peter Jackson.

His agent Lou Coulson confirmed his death in the early hours of Sunday to British media outlets.

Early in his career, Bernard Hill featured in the BBC’s 1982 acclaimed drama “Boys from the Blackstuff”, which won numerous awards and is still lauded as one of the finest examples of its genre from the era.

He is set to return to television screens in series two of a contemporary BBC drama, “The Responder”, starring Martin Freeman, which begins airing in the UK later on Sunday.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disassociated itself from a circulating report in the media alleging the release of a list of 58 ex-governors, under investigation for corruption, to the tune of N2.18 trillion.

In a press statement on Sunday, the EFCC clarified that it has not issued any such list nor discussed the investigation of the former governors with any media outlet.

According to the statement signed by EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, the report titled ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex-Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ was “a phantom report,” deemed “false and mischievous.”

“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, feels obliged to dissociate itself from a phantom report circulating in sections of the media, claiming it has released a full list of ex-governors being investigated for alleged corruption.

“The report headlined ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex- Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ in one of the news outlets, is false and mischievous as the commission neither issued the said list nor entertained discussions on the investigation of ex-governors with any news medium.


“This invariably means that the so-called list is a disingenuous fabrication designed to achieve motives known only to the authors,” the statement read.

Oyewale urged the public to disregard the report and advised the media to verify information regarding ongoing investigations directly with the commission, to prevent the spread of false and inaccurate information.

The EFCC had said it would consider the fresh petition it recently received over the alleged N70 billion corruption case of Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.

The EFCC’s acting Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwajuren, stated this while addressing protesters under the aegis of the APC Akida Forum who were at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday to demand the reopening of the pending case.

On May 18, 2023, the EFCC, through its Director, Media and Publicity Affairs, Osita Nwajah, had said it was probing corruption activities, award of phantom contracts, and diversion of over N70bn allegedly carried out by the minister during his tenure as Zamfara State governor between 2019 and 2023.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disassociated itself from a circulating report in the media alleging the release of a list of 58 ex-governors, under investigation for corruption, to the tune of N2.18 trillion.

In a press statement on Sunday, the EFCC clarified that it has not issued any such list nor discussed the investigation of the former governors with any media outlet.

According to the statement signed by EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, the report titled ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex-Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ was “a phantom report,” deemed “false and mischievous.”

“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, feels obliged to dissociate itself from a phantom report circulating in sections of the media, claiming it has released a full list of ex-governors being investigated for alleged corruption.

“The report headlined ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex- Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ in one of the news outlets, is false and mischievous as the commission neither issued the said list nor entertained discussions on the investigation of ex-governors with any news medium.


“This invariably means that the so-called list is a disingenuous fabrication designed to achieve motives known only to the authors,” the statement read.

Oyewale urged the public to disregard the report and advised the media to verify information regarding ongoing investigations directly with the commission, to prevent the spread of false and inaccurate information.

The EFCC had said it would consider the fresh petition it recently received over the alleged N70 billion corruption case of Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.

The EFCC’s acting Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwajuren, stated this while addressing protesters under the aegis of the APC Akida Forum who were at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday to demand the reopening of the pending case.

On May 18, 2023, the EFCC, through its Director, Media and Publicity Affairs, Osita Nwajah, had said it was probing corruption activities, award of phantom contracts, and diversion of over N70bn allegedly carried out by the minister during his tenure as Zamfara State governor between 2019 and 2023.

AFTER three months of bootless committee meetings in the comfort of air-conditioned offices at the cost of one billion naira (President Bola Tinubu approved 500 million naira to “start with… first”) and about a month after the expiration of the last minimum wage approved in 2019, the Tinubu government has not been able to approve a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers even when it wastes no time to approve policies that inflict maximum suffering on poor people. 

On May 1, I woke up here in Atlanta to the news of an increase in the minimum wage of workers, which would be backdated to January 1st. Although it’s the legal thing to do, I was impressed nonetheless, not only because I’ve significantly scaled back my expectations about what the government can do but also because I know most Nigerian workers could use the relief that the increase and the arrears would bring.

So, I started looking for the exact amount of the new minimum. I scouted social media platforms and news websites. I had no luck.

It turned out that I was mistaken. The national minimum wage has not been increased even though the current one expired on April 17, which is frankly untenably criminal.

All that had happened, I later learned, was that the federal government had approved an increase of between 25 per cent and 35 per cent in the salaries of certain civil servants, according to the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC). 

“They include Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS), Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS) and Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS),”NSIWC’s spokesman by the name of  Emmanuel Njoku said in a statement on April 30. “Others are: Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure (CONPASS), Consolidated Intelligence Community Salary Structure (CONICCS) and Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure (CONAFSS).The increases will take effect from January 1.” 

That’s some impenetrable mumbo jumbo for those of us who are not civil servants or who are not tutored in the tortured, tortuous ways of the civil service. It’s obvious, though, that this is not the new minimum wage. 

A 25 percent increase on the existing minimum wage, that is, 30,000 naira,would amount to a mere additional 7,500 naira, and a 35 percent increase is a mere additional 10,500 naira. That’s lower than Edo State’s new minimum wage of 70,000 naira.

This is both exasperating and unconscionable, especially given that this government, since its inception, has understood its role as consisting of merely conceiving, initiating, and implementing policies that squeeze the hope and life out of poor and middle-class folks.

The originative signal of the intensity of the hardheartedness of this government came from the precipitate, ill-conceived, thoroughly unjustified announcement of the removal of petrol subsidies on President Tinubu’s inaugural day.

He followed this up with the disastrous “floating” of the naira, which wiped out trillions from the economy, hemorrhaged existing foreign investments, and made nonsense of the pittance workers collected as salaries. 

Not done, the government chose to hike tariffs on electricity (that’s barely there to start with) to amounts that regular people can’t afford. Fairly regular electricity will now become the exclusive privilege of people and companies that can pay extortionate amounts for it.  This will, of course, exacerbate the existing cost-push inflation in the economy that was ignited by the removal of petrol subsidies. 

Now life has become an unwinnable daily war for most people as a result of these policies. But President Tinubu brags that these life-sucking policies represent “courage.” By that, it is obvious he meant that these policies are so soulless, so callous, so predatory that normal people would violently revolt against them but that he damned that prospect and did what he did anyway.

He should be lucky that his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, laid the foundation for the current mystifying docility of Nigerians, for the emergent national culture of toleration of injustice without a fight, and for the absolute death of critically collective democratic citizenship.

As I pointed out in a previous column, preying on vulnerable members of society who have lost the will to resist injustice is no courage. It’s moral cowardice. And there’s no better example of the deceit and cowardice of the government than its inability or unwillingness to implement a basic minimum wage for workers after realizing trillions of naira from the removal of petrol subsidies (which has devalued the worth of the existing minimum wage by several folds).

The government has never ever needed a committee to implement policies that hurt the poor and the middle class. All it usually needs is Tinubu’s cowardly and preposterous presidential “courage.”

It only needs committees—which sit for extended periods because every sitting is a money-making venture—when any issues concern giving just a little welfare to beleaguered workers. Although the government is obligated by law to conduct nationwide public hearings as a precursor to increasing electricity tariffs, according to Femi Falana, the government chose not to be distracted by such pesky legalities in its haste to do what it seems to love to do best: make poor citizens squirm in torment and cry.

Accountable and socially responsible governments all over the world preoccupy their minds with finding ways to assuage the existential injuries that life episodically throws at citizens. But like the Buhari regime that preceded the current government, there appears to be a single-minded obsession by people in government with making life more miserable than it already is for everyday folks every day.

It seems to me that this government’s reason for being is to inflict pain and misery on Nigerians. It is what gives it its highs and delectations.

I get the sense that the strategists and tacticians of the government spend their time brainstorming on the next sadistic agony to visit on Nigerians. When they are out of ideas, they might choose to remove subsidies on the air Nigerians breathe, the land Nigerians walk on, and even the saliva Nigerians gulp.

By the end of this month, the Tinubu government will be one year old. Can it honestly point to a single thing it has done that has brought even a smidgeon of relief to our people, that has given ordinary people a reason to smile?

In less than one year, the Tinubu government has built a public image as a government that invests all its energy and resources into devising ways to hurt the people and to being a passive, unresisting servant of the IMF and the World.

We know that historically the IMF has always been opposed to increases in minimum wages. Last year, for instance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the planned minimum wage increases in many countries in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe (CEE) should be stopped because the “increases will result in more persistent inflation or lower employment, especially given relatively weak productivity growth in the region.”

The IMF always encourages, even compels, governments in Third Word countries to totally remove all subsidies that benefit the poor but warns them against increasing minimum wages.

Could the reluctance by the Tinubu government to increase the minimum wage of workers be inspired by its fear of the IMF, its lord and savior? I don’t know, but it’s worth exploring.

Well, as I pointed out in a previous column, Nigeria’s elite have a personal incentive to obey the IMF. The increased financial burden that IMF’s policies impose on poor Nigerians helps to keep them in check and renders them more docile and controllable. The poorer people are the less strength they tend to have to resist oppression and the more likely they are to be esurient for crumps from their oppressors.

So governance by sadism is rooted in the desire to keep the vast majority of the people dirt poor, miserable, ignorant, and therefore more manipulatable.