Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director-general of the World Trade Centre, recently addressed Southeast governors at the ongoing Southeast summit on economy and security in Owerri, Imo State.

During her speech, she emphasized the need for unity among the governors to boost the region’s economy.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala praised the governors for taking steps to change the narrative but also highlighted the lack of unity among them. She acknowledged the high human resources of the Igbo people, both within the region and across the world.

The former Nigerian finance minister urged the Southeast governors to organize an investment forum to address the issues hindering progress in the region. She encouraged them to work together and avoid unnecessary conflicts.
pharmaceutical companies and vaccine producers to establish a market chain in the region, taking advantage of the privatization of power.

Furthermore, she appealed to the governors to utilize the abundant human resources of the Ndigbo community to support the development of high-quality schools by providing resources and assistance to professors. She also proposed leveraging the expertise of diaspora doctors to establish quality hospitals in the region.

The President, World Medical Association, Osahon Enabulele, on Thursday, said that for Nigeria to meet the World Health Organisation’s standard of ratio of doctors to patients, the country needed to have not less than 250,000 medical doctors in its employ.

Osahon, who spoke as a guest speaker at the public lecture organised by the Federated Chapel of the Edo Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Benin City, however, lamented that Nigeria had less than 100,000 doctors, a figure he said was grossly inadequate to meet the doctors-patients ratio.

“The present situation by international standards, a doctor should be assigned to less than 600 patients but in Nigeria’s case, a doctor attends to over 3,000. So Nigeria needs over 250,000 doctors to cope with the current reality”

“There is less than 100,000 registered doctor in Nigeria, let’s say it is 98,000 doctors according to the last update’.

“Out of these 98,000, only 50,000 are actually practicing in Nigeria,” Enabilele bemoaned.

The WMA president stressed that for Nigeria to have good healthcare system, there must be political commitment by the Nigerian leaders to meet the Abuja Declaration of dedicating 15 percent of its budget to healthcare provision.

He decried how political leaders in the country traveled abroad to queue up before seeing less qualified doctors to check blood pressure they could conveniently do Nigeria.

Enabulele, however, identified lack of funds, inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, workplace conditions, remuneration, brain drain, economy, inflation and ineffective healthcare among others as problems facing Nigeria’s health system.

“Because of these problems senior doctors, consultants are moving out of Nigeria in drove because of greater remuneration,” he said.

This, he said resulted in low quality of healthcare delivery in the country.

He called for improved political commitment, empowered healthcare work, improved working conditions, recognition of value and professional work of the medical practitioners, stop medical tourism for political leaders, make wages to be competitive to change the narrative in the health sector.

He said Nigeria government must create a better living condition for the people including the medical profession, saying a lots of people want to come back home when the country is better.

“There is need to establish Health Service Commission that would better administer the health system and drive medical man power, training, best human resource, develop plan among others,” he submitted.

Napoli say the club’s now-deleted social media post was not intended to mock Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen.

The TikTok post, which was subsequently deleted, showed Osimhen failing to score his spot-kick in the Serie A match with a high-pitched voice saying “gimme penalty please,” sparking a furious reaction from Roberto Calenda. Calenda, Osimhen’s agent had threatened legal action against Napoli after the video was published.

“(It is) A serious fact that causes very serious damage to the player and adds to the treatment that the boy is suffering in the last period between media trials and fake news,” he tweeted. “We reserve the right to take legal action and any useful initiative to protect Victor.”

But Napoli say the club did not intend any harm.

“Calcio Napoli, wishing to avoid any exploitation of the issue, point out that we never wanted to offend or mock Victor Osimhen, who is a treasure of this club,” a Thursday statement read.

“As proof of that, during the summer training retreat, the Club firmly rebuffed every offer that was received for the striker’s transfer abroad.

“Social media, in particular, TikTok, has always used an expressive form of language with a light heart and creativity, without wanting to, as in the case with Osimhen as a protagonist, have any intention of insult or derision.

“In any case, if Victor perceived any offence towards him, this was not what the club intended”.

‘Employing Diplomatic Avenues’

In the wake of the development, Osimhen who led the club to their first Scuddeto in three decades, deleted all Napoli-related posts on his Instagram account.

In the summer, the Nigerian who became an icon in Naples for his exploits, was a target for Manchester United and other clubs. But the Italian side turned down moves for the striker.

On Thursday, the Minister of Sports Development John Enoh expressed reservations over the matter.

“My office is trying to reach Victor Osimhen directly as well to understand first-hand the issues. We are committed to establishing the facts of the matter,” he wrote on his X account.

“Meanwhile, I am in touch with the Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, and the Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Italy, Ambassador Mfawa Abam.

“Together, we are employing diplomatic avenues with Italy for a more proper approach to looking into the matter as it is.”

 Calls For Continued Negotiations At State Level

The National Economic Council (NEC), presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima, has appealed to organized labour to stay the action on the plan to initiate an indefinite, nationwide strike from Tuesday, October 3, 2023.

Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang, who disclosed NEC’s resolution on the Labour action to correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday, September 28, also said the council asked Labour leaders to resume negotiations at the states’ level.

It would be recalled that the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had directed their affiliate bodies to commence the nationwide industrial action from October 3, saying it would be a total shutdown of the system until the government takes steps to attend to their demands.

“It’s going to be a total shutdown…until the government meets the demand of Nigerian workers, and in fact Nigerian masses. The federal government has refused to meaningfully engage and reach agreements with organised Labour on critical issues of the consequences of the unfortunate hike in the price of petrol, which has unleashed massive suffering on Nigeria workers and masses”, the Labour bodies had warned in a joint statement on September 26.

However, relating to the NEC’s appeal to the media after the monthly meeting, Mutfwang said the council was of the opinion that continuing on the path of dialogue would be the best option for the economy, especially at the state level.

The governor said: “Council noted the notice by the national leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress to proceed on an indefinite strike from October 3, 2023. The Council noted further the implication of this strike for the economy and the nation and thus urged members to continue to engage with the leadership of their respective states and to appeal to them to shelve the action and continue on the path of dialogue with the federal government. This is the appeal of Council.”

Explaining the grounds for NEC’s appeal further, Mutfwang described the situation of most of the states when the various governors took off on May 29, noting that many of them were just coming out of prolonged industrial strikes, adding that enforcing a new strike at this time would further damage the economy.

He, however, appealed for more time for the government to work on addressing the concerns of Labour, even as he noted that there are feelers indicating that leadership at every level genuinely wants the issues raised by labour addressed once and for all.

He said: “NEC actually expressed genuine concern on the situation in the country and appreciates the concern by Labour to have those issues addressed. That is why NEC is appealing for patience, appealing for time to be able to address the concerns of Labour. We also believe that Mr. President will be addressing the nation first of October and some of the concerns of Labour will be appropriately addressed in the President’s speech.

“It is therefore important that… it’s a federation, so whatever happens, Labour is represented in all 36 states and the FCT and NEC are appealing that discussions should continue at the state levels because there will be peculiarities as to the issues to be addressed concerning the demands of Labour, therefore dialogue is the way to go.

“The nation is at a very critical moment at this time, in some of the states, when they took over on May 29, the workers were on strike, some of those issues have just been resolved for the workers to return to work. To ask them to go back immediately, it’s going to further damage the economy.

“Therefore NEC, while expressing genuine concern about the situation in the country, appeals for calm and patience and I want to believe that the leadership across the nation at this point in time wants to truly address the issues that concern Labour and the general populace and move the country forward.”

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has cleared 190,749 passports application backlogs following the directive of the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo four weeks ago.

According to information from the Minister’s office in Abuja, the NIS now has about 13,583 pending applications before it.

The backlogs cleared were as of September 27th.

The update does not however include applications filed by Nigerians within the past four weeks as the Immigration offices nationwide continued to attend to request of renewals of expired passports and those applying for fresh booklets everyday.

Our correspondent however gathered that the Minister has promised to keep a close watch on the operations of the NIS to prevent a recurrence of backlogs of applications due to deliberate human activities.

Dr Tunji-Ojo also said he would ensure eliminations of human interactions in the processes to stamp out corruption while technology would be deployed to hasten the processes of procurement of the booklets.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has decried the sudden rise of fake dollars and cyber crimes in the Benue axis.

EFCC acting chairman Abdulkarim Chukkol, who disclosed this on Thursday in Makurdi, said the agency had taken measures to address the situation.

The EFCC boss spoke during a workshop on ‘Effective Reporting of Economic and Financial Crimes’, organised for 30 journalists from major media organisations in the country.

Mr Chukkol said the primary aim of the anti-graft agency was to reduce corruption in the country to the barest level and would continue to discharge its duties effectively and professionally.

“Through the commission’s enforcement activities, recoveries running into several billions of naira have been recorded, and the country’s anti-money laundering framework strengthened,” explained the EFCC chief. “There is now a more robust regulation of the activities of these entities which are vulnerable to money laundering.”

Mr Chukkol warned people against disclosing their bank details to anybody to avoid them being used for illegal financial deals.

“I would like the media to educate family members, friends, politicians and others that they run the risk of going to jail if they allow their company or bank accounts to be used to launder proceeds of illegal activities,” the EFCC chief stated.

He pointed out that under the Money Laundering Act 2022, family members and close allies of politicians and public officeholders, including top civil servants, are now classified as politically exposed persons.

“The EFCC is determined to ensure that anyone who steals from the public treasury and all those who assist them under whatever guise are brought to justice, and ignorance of the law will not be an excuse,” said Mr Chukkol.

He disclosed that EFCC had recorded 3,785 convictions in 2022, the highest since its establishment. (NAN)

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar has told President Bola Tinubu that he cannot use the excuse of privacy law to stop the release of his academic records from the Chicago State University (CSU).

Naija News recalls that the court had on September 19, held that Atiku’s application for discovery outweighs Tinubu’s plea for protection under the privacy law.

Tinubu had, amongst other grounds for the denial of Atiku’s request, submitted that Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Gilbert erred in directing the CSU to release documents bordering on his diploma certificate, transcripts and admission letter, amongst others.

But Judge Gilbert pointed out that the case of Atiku has merit as it has to do with Tinubu’s qualification for the 2023 presidential election, which he (Tinubu) won.

Dissatisfied, Tinubu last Thursday begged a Federal High Court presided by Judge Nancy Maldonado to delay the enforcement of the order till Monday, September 25, when he would formally file his objection.

Speaking on Tinubu’s objection, Atiku insisted that all the grounds of objections raised by him against the execution of the lawful order of the magistrate court were resolved by Justice Gilbert after listening to parties.

At Monday’s proceedings, Tinubu had, amongst others, argued that the granting of the order violates his right to privacy and breached US law regarding the release of academic records.

But Atiku, in his latest move, insisited that the law of privacy pleaded by Tinubu to stop the release of his academic records was not relevant and tenable in this instance.

Atiku’s lawyer, Angela Liu, in her reply, pointed out that the FERPA and analogous state laws do not create an independent privilege for educational records and cannot serve as a shield against a court-issued subpoena.

According to the applicant, “the assertion of a privilege or privacy interest under FERPA is a nonstarter; the statute does not give individuals any enforceable rights”, adding that, “FERPA does not provide a privilege that prevents the disclosure of student records.”

Moreso, Atiku argued that Tinubu cannot plead protection when he “has placed its educational records at issue, ECF 40 at 25-26 (explaining that Intervenor put his diploma at issue by submitting it to INEC and Tinubu’s records have already been introduced into the Nigerian proceedings, including by Tinubu himself, and widely published in the media”.

[NaijaNews]

A judge in western England on Thursday sentenced a teenager who stabbed a teacher in a school corridor to 14 months in youth detention, amid concern about rising knife crime in the UK.

The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be identified because he is aged under 18, had previously admitted attempting to unlawfully and maliciously wound the maths teacher at Tewkesbury Academy in Gloucestershire.

He had also earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing a bladed article.

His sentence follows a fatal knife attack on a 15-year-old girl in south London on Wednesday.

Bristol Magistrates’ Court heard how the boy in Tewkesbury covered his face and put on a hooded top after bringing a kitchen knife with a six-inch (15-centimetre) blade to school from his home.

Minutes before the attack he dialled emergency services to inform them a teacher at the school would be stabbed.

Imposing a 14-month detention and training order, District Judge Lynne Matthews told the defendant he had acted in a premeditated manner.

“Nothing strikes me about it that was impulsive,” she said.

Matthews ordered he serve half the sentence in custody, with the remainder at home working with the area’s youth offending team.

[NaijaTImes]

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has accepted the public apology made by his deputy, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu, noting that as a person of faith, he was under obligation to accept the apology.

In a letter titled, “Re: Public Apology By The Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu,” the governor said in good faith, he trusts that the public apology as expressed by Shaibu is genuine and followed by contrite steps to improve his conflict resolution skills.

The letter reads: “I have noted the public apology made by the Deputy Governor of Edo State, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu. This apology followed an aberrant behaviour that contradicts what the people of Edo State stand for.

“To name a few, the Deputy Governor needlessly filed unfounded petitions in the Nigerian courts restraining me, the State House of Assembly and Security agencies from a non-existent impeachment process, followed by repeated breaches of protocol; unwarranted and unprovoked attacks in the media on my person and the State Government. The media frenzy as a result of the above and more, provided an impression of crises that has been precarious and distasteful to Edo people in the State and across the world.

“Although these unwarranted provocations caused me severe personal discomfort, as a person of faith, I am under obligation to accept this apology because as they say, “to err is human, to forgive is divine.”

Obaseki further noted, “In good faith, I trust that the public apology as expressed by the Deputy Governor is genuine and followed by contrite steps to improve his conflict resolution skills. I also enjoin the Deputy Governor to guide his proxies to act in accordance with his piety.”

He added, “It is my sincere hope and that of my other colleagues in government and all well-meaning Edo people, that these rhetoric’s will be put to an end forthwith to enable this administration finish strong and deliver the dividends of democracy to the greatest number of Edo people over this final twelve (12) months.”

[NationalDaily]

Given what the Nigerian economy has been through since June 2023 sequel to the removal of decades-old petrol subsidy by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, the policy could be described as one with the most unexpected negative impacts. Unsurprisingly, like an albatross, the impetuous policy has turned an ignominious badge on the Government of the day; yet, the ‘ghost’ of fuel subsidy has kept looming large in the Nigerian polity. Every facet of life of the citizenry has been disrupted; with millions pushed down below poverty line unwittingly.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his inaugural address on 29 May 2023, announced that “fuel subsidy is gone,” but this singular pronouncement and kindred policies of the Government have practically thrown the Nigerian economy into an abyss. Prior to the fuel subsidy removal, price of petrol (Premium Motor Spirit, PMS) was at about N185 per liter, but soon after the presidential fiat (fuel subsidy is gone), the price of the commodity literally jumped through the roof—standing at between N500 and N6oo per liter. In no time, this jump in the price of PMS drove up the prices of all goods, services and commodities to unprecedented levels.

As the prices of even the basic necessities of life (food, shelter, transportation, etc.) went beyond the reach of not a few Nigerians, inflation rate took a quantum leap—now standing at almost 26 per cent—the highest in about two decades. Concomitantly, the purchasing power of most people, standard or quality of life have deteriorated: translating into rising misery index for the citizenry. Coincidentally, as the ripple effects of the fuel subsidy removal were permeating the nooks and crannies of the life and livelihood of all Nigerians, the Tinubu administration also announced the floating of the Naira.

The Naira floatation (or unification of all exchange rates) promptly led to an unprecedented devaluation of the local currency vis-a-avis the dollar and other hard currencies. From an official exchange rate (at Investor & Exporter window) of N460/US$1 by end-May, the rate hit about N800/US$1 by end-August. In the parallel market, the exchange rate has since hit and crossed the N1000/US$1 level. The freefall of the local currency is yet on.

Even as these trends are evolving, rather than addressing frontally, the root cause(s) of fuel subsidy that had been draining trillions of Naira from our public till, the Tinubu administration elected to license more importers of PMS. Yet, it has been the complete dependence on (wholesale) importation of PMS for all local needs that warranted subsidy in the first place. A politic or perceptive approach to effective fuel subsidy removal would have been by proactively ensuring local refining or availability of PMS. In other words, the nation’s existing giant refineries (that have been lying dormant) should be re-streamed or privatized for improved capacity refining and management.

Alongside this, should also be the licensing and building of many modular refineries in line with global specifications and regulatory standards. The licensing of more importers of PMS, rather than addressing the fraud-ridden supply side of petrol, is unwittingly escalating the problems of the downstream oil sector. It is no brainer that the people being licensed to import PMS will keep sourcing dollar from the already ‘heated’ foreign exchange (forex) market. This joins in piling up pressure against the Naira—that has been on a tailspin—having already lost much value against the dollar.

The import of this scenario has been that as the licensees for PMS importation bring in the commodity at a high landing cost, its pump price is driven up. This is already playing out, as the importers procure dollars at very high exchange rate, they push to factor this into their selling price. And so, as the Naira freefall goes on ad infinitum, the prices of PMS at the pump must, all things being equal, keep rising. Indeed, acute forex scarcity has become a cog in the wheel of the PMS importation drive. Reports show that after the first batch of 27 million litres of petrol imported by Emadeb Energy in July, independent oil marketers have not been able to bring in a single drop of petrol.  The national oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), has remained the sole importer of petrol.

This NNPCL’s monopoly in the downstream sector has so far made a mess of the deregulation of the sector, giving NNPCL the power to continue to fix prices, and putting the country at risk of some rounds of fuel scarcity. The argument by Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (MMDPRA) and NNPCL that other marketers were free to import petrol (as those who had applied for importation licenses had been given) does hold waters. The high and volatile exchange rate does not make business sense for marketers other than NNPCL to keep importing PMS.

Indeed, the National Controller Operations of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mike Osatuyi, is reported to have said that marketers were not importing petrol because of forex scarcity and the increasing price of crude oil at the international market. At this dead end, the NNPCL may have gone back to its ‘old game’ of ‘dual citizenship’ as an operator and regulator—a sole importer and price determiner! This could be why in spite of rising prices of oil in the international market (now at about US$95/barrel) pump price of PMS is ‘kept’ at N620 per litre.

It is noteworthy that the Dangote Refinery that has since been projected as the ‘saviour’ in terms of local supply of PMS has rather presented a forlorn hope to Nigerians. Commissioned in the last week of May 2023 by (then out going) President Muhammadu Buhari, the plant is yet to commence production almost four months after the ceremony. Indeed, reports indicate that the Dangote Refinery is most unlikely to be the solution to PMS supply problem in Nigeria. Its executive director, Devakumar Edwin told S & P Global Commodity Insights recently that oil refined in the facility would be bought in US dollars, not naira. He defended the decision by saying that the refinery’s location is in a free trade zone.

In the face of all these, when the Tinubu administration seems to be at its wits’ end, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has voiced its unalloyed support and encouragement to fuel subsidy removal and forex rates unification. That is, the enthronement of full market forces in all pricing decisions in Nigeria. The IMF Representative in Nigeria, Ari Aisen, said in a Channels TV programme that the removal of fuel subsidies and unification of exchange rates must continue for Nigeria to reach macroeconomic stability.

However, given the results of these economic liberalization initiatives in the past four months, the Government from all indications, is overwhelmed by their negative impacts on the economy. Scarcity of foreign exchange is worsening; solution to PMS supply problem is nowhere in sight. Businesses are being forced into bankruptcy, while some have closed shop in Nigeria, and relocated to other climes. Even the apex bank—Central Bank of Nigeria—seems to be resorting to ‘unorthodox’ and esoteric methods in ensuring that the forex rate is kept at around N700/US$1—thereby throwing transparency to the winds. This, in all consideration, is not sustainable; neither does it inspire investor-confidence nor engender improved productivity.

Ironically, while the IMF is ‘encouraging’ the Government to sustain the painful reforms, practically all sectors of the Nigerian economy is gasping for breath. Today, neither the expected gains of the reform measures are being realized nor are the citizenry convinced the journey leads to ‘anywhere.’ This, in part, is why the Organised Labour (NLC and TUC) and their allies are still up in arms, several months after the reforms were put in place. Indeed, for the umpteenth time, ‘palliatives’ negotiations between the Government and the Organised Labour failed. Apparently, in order not to further ‘rock the boat,’ the CBN cancelled its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting that was to hold on September 25 and 26. Usually, the MPC parley come with critical updates on the economy; and also indicate the outlook.

As it is, Nigerians are at the moment left in the dark, as the Government shrouds in secrecy its handling of oil subsidy and Naira floatation. One thing that is obvious is that the Tinubu administration has not made any progress in enthroning the reign of market forces both in the forex market and downstream oil sector. On the contrary, the entire economy has been pushed further into the woods. Unfortunately!