..Decry DISCOs inability to meet operators' 5,000MW yearly threshold

The resolution was passed sequel to the adoption of a motion sponsored by the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Aliyu Sani Madaki.

In his lead debate, Hon. Madaki observed that recently, Distribution Companies (DISCOS) alerted customers of a planned electricity tariff hike hinged on the Multi-Year Tariff Oder (MYTO).

“The House also notes that the circular issued by DISCOS stated that effective July 1, 2023, there would be an upward review of the electricity tariff influenced by fluctuating rates.

“The House is aware that under the MYTO, 2022 guidelines, the previous exchange rate of N 441/$1 may be revised to approximately N750/$1 which would have an impact on the tariffs associated with electricity consumption.

“The House is also aware that under the planned hike, consumers within ‘B’ and ‘C’ with supply hours ranging from 12–16 hours per day will pay N100 per KWh, while Bands ‘A’ with 20 hours and above and ‘B’ with 16–20 hours, would experience comparatively higher tariffs, that is, for customers with a prepaid

metre, whereas, for those on post-rand (estimated) billing, a significant increment is expected to be higher.

During the campaign, Bayo Onanuga, a spokesperson for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urged Nigerians to be patient in the face of recent increases in fuel prices.

The condemnation has followed the recent increase in petrol prices from N540 to N617 per litre.

In a tweet late Wednesday night, Onanuga warned against making rash attacks on Tinubu’s administration in response to the fuel price increase.

He emphasised the importance of patience and understanding, as the entire country is feeling the effects of the fuel price increase.

The veteran journalist urged the public to wait for the federal government’s promised palliatives, expressing hope that these measures would alleviate the burden caused by higher fuel prices.

He emphasised the potential benefits of subsidy savings, such as more funds being channelled into states for various development initiatives.

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The Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has identified registered and unregistered Digital Money Lenders (DMLs) devising new methods to harass individuals who have borrowed money from them.

Some of the registered companies still harassing their customers include Orange Loan and Purple Credit Limited; and Sycamore Integrated Solutions Limited.

The Commission also stated that the unregistered DMLs still making use of prohibited loan recovery practices, have devised a new means of providing services to people, while also harassing them even after being taken off the Google Playstore.

This was revealed in a statement released by the Chief Executive Officer of the FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, on Thursday, where he revealed that the unregistered DMLs have adopted the use of Android Package Kits (APK) file formats.

The Commission had earlier removed some of these DMLs from the Playstore violating the Limited Interim Regulatory/ Registration Framework and Guidelines for Digital Lending 2022, as well as for their unsavoury methods of loan recovery.

“The Commission notes a resurgence in the occurrence of prohibited loan recovery methods and practices in the past weeks. The Commission’s investigations and continuing surveillance demonstrate that the vast majority of the resurging infringements are not by otherwise approved/listed DMLs approved to be on Playstore and other financial services providers.

“The violating DMLs have resorted to the use of Android Package Kits (APK) file formats. The illegal DMLs provide links to consumers to visit unregistered websites using their Android devices/phones. In the course of that interaction, consumers’ private information that is otherwise protected and prohibited from access or download by DMLs or their apps is accessed and downloaded. This conduct is prohibited by sundry laws, particularly relevant data privacy protection instruments, and more specifically, the Limited Interim Regulatory/Registration Framework & Guidelines for Digital Lending 2020 of the Commission.

“In the course of the Commission’s continuing investigation and tracking of these illegally operating DMLs, the Commission has discovered duplicity by at least two otherwise legally registered DMLs on the Commission’s approval list. The nature of the duplicity is that the DMLs having been approved and placed on the approved list and Playstore, as well as cleared for services by other financial services/institutions, as an alternate channel, and method of engaging in prohibited conduct, also engaged in the use of APK to attract borrowers to a process and practice that is illegal and unregulated.

“The companies or apps so far identified, and for which there is supporting evidence of this malfeasance are Sycamore Integrated Solutions Limited and Orange Loan and Purple Credit Limited. They are the owners of “Getloan” and “Camelloan” respectively, and occupy Nos. 1 and 65 on the Approved List of the Commission, which is available on the Commission’s website,” the statement read.

As such, the Commission stated that the companies have been delisted and the apps have been taken off the Playstore permanently.

”Accordingly, the Commission has now permanently delisted Sycamore Integrated Solutions Limited and Orange Loan and Purple Credit Limited, along with their respective apps – “Getloan” and “Camelloan”. In addition, the Commission has entered an Order to Google Playstore and other payment and financial service providers, permanently prohibiting the provision of any services associated with digital lending to Sycamore Integrated Solutions Limited and Orange Loan and Purple Credit Limited.

“The Commission reiterates that this revocation and action are permanent without option or opportunity of reconsideration, and the same consequence shall apply to all other violators as the Commission discovers them. In addition, all the information and evidence available with respect to these businesses will be transferred to law enforcement agencies and or any other relevant regulator(s).

“The Commission has also placed DMLs that have refused or failed to register under the Guidelines on its watchlist for strict surveillance and necessary action. The list of those DMLs will be made available on the Commission’s website.

“The Commission will continue to scrutinise listed DMLs and periodically update the list to ensure only businesses that consistently and completely comply with the spirit and intention of the regulatory framework are allowed to do business legally in Nigeria,” he said.

Irukera warned the public to exercise discretion when choosing which of these DMLs to patronise at all times.

“As such, the Commission again advises consumers to exercise restraint and discretion in selecting DMLs and specifically recommends that consumers patronise only DMLs on the Commission’s approved list to diminish, if not eliminate being victims of illegal and prohibited lending and recovery practices.

“The Commission further advises consumers to consider only DMLs whose apps can be downloaded from Google’s Playstore, as only those have been subjected to regulatory scrutiny and the technology associated with their apps precluded from accessing and downloading private information of consumers. All other DMLs are operating illegally.

“The Commission and the JRETF continue assiduous efforts to track illegal operators using APK and other means to engage, and interact with consumers, and welcome credible evidence from the public. Feedback and complaint in this regard may be forwarded to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.”, he explained.

Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti(ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, has commended Governor Biodun Oyebanji for ushering in a paradigm shift to governance and making copious efforts to correct past mistakes of his predecessors to garner the trust of the citizens.

As a way of boosting the spiritual inclinations of Ekiti citizens, Babalola pledged a partnership with the government to sponsor Ekiti citizens to the holy lands of Israel and Mecca for attitudinal reformation and character rebranding that will uplift governance.

Babalola spoke in ABUAD, Ado Ekiti, on Thursday while playing host to the Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Chief Monisade Afuye, who paid a courtesy visit to the Legal Luminary in his office.

The legal Icon revealed that his university now has an industrial park, farms, and a multi-system hospital that are setting the pace on how best to run a successful government in Nigeria to halt the scourge of brain drain that is pummeling the country.

Having retrospect of the epic battle for the creation of Ekiti State, Babalola said the proponents did it with huge sacrifices and selflessness, by their refusal to control the levers of powers, and gave those who never participated the leeway to take absolute control at the advent of democracy in 1999.

The Special Assistant on Media to the deputy governor, Victor Ogunje, in a statement, quoted Babalola to have said, “But we are happy today that someone who served as the Secretary of the Committee for the Creation of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji, a young man then, is now the Governor of our dear state.

“Within this short period, Governor Oyebanji has brought a new dawn in the running of the government of Ekiti. He has been correcting past mistakes making people to have trust in the government.

“Help me tell him that I thank him for how he has been directing the affairs of this state. I am ready to support him because myself and the people are happy with his government.”

On the positive impacts being made by his university, Babalola said, “My farms, multisystem hospital, university, and Industrial park are now setting the pace on how best to rule a country. We can get it right if we have the desire.

“Go and look at our Industrial park, it was an innovation conceived to show how to ignite the industrial revolution in a country. We are doing well and making our impacts felt.”
The renowned lawyer stated that he never considered sponsoring of people for pilgrimage as a colossal waste, saying it brings character rebranding, attitudinal change, and reformation that can help the system.

On how to open the vista of business opportunities in Ekiti, Babalola assured Governor Oyebanji that he would make meaningful contributions for the speedy completion of the International Cargo Airport located along Ado-Ijan road.

Speaking on how to curb the exponential increase in poverty level in the land, Babalola urged rich Nigerians to strive hard and uplift the wellbeing of the poor, saying, “The monies you are keeping in banks are not your monies.

“Some of the richest banks in the world are sitting on the monies of dead people and using them when families still fight over their wills. It is only the monies you used to empower the people that are the real and beneficial monies.”

In her submission during the interface, the Deputy Governor, Afuye, saluted the elder statesman for his unwavering and solid support for all successive governments in the state, especially for being the highest taxpayer in Ekiti for the past two decades.

Mrs Afuye also paid profound tributes to the Legal Icon for his epochal role in the creation of Ekiti State by leading the pack to rationalise the demand for Ekiti’s creation before Justice Arthur Mbanefor Panel in Akure, Ondo State.

The Ekiti’s number two citizen congratulated Babalola on the 60th anniversary of his call to the Bar, saying his giant leap in law practice is replete with good history and enigmatic achievements that would be difficult to surpass.

The Deputy Governor applauded him for his resolve to sponsor staff of ABUAD and Ekiti citizens for the holy pilgrimage since the government had withdrawn interventions in the form of sponsorship.

The Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has come under heavy criticism for appointing the son of his late elder brother and ex-governor, Isiaka Adeleke, Tunji Adeleke as a board chairman.

Tunji, who graduated from Adeleke University in 2020 and served in 2022 was appointed chairman of the Local Government Service Commission.

This is coming barely two weeks after Adeleke appointed the wife of his late elder brother Adenike Adeleke as a state commissioner.

However, Adeleke’s appointment of his family members into key positions in the state has caused a stir on social media.

A Twitter user, @Realadeshina, wrote: “Congratulations Tunji Adeleke as Osun State Chairman board of local government. This disgrace is getting too much.”

@simplysnipe said “Most people didn’t know or heard of the guy before, now they know him. I’m just loving the news coming out of Osun, the second Edo State. Next now is for our dancing governor to be commissioning disgraceful projects as an achievement but Osun people will blame the president.”

@IkotunEmmy said, “ I told them when they were shouting “imole”. Adeleke should be ready to face a massive vote-out in the next election. Osun does not fall for mediocrity twice. The unfortunate thing is retrogression the state would have suffered.”

Similarly, @MustyOsun said, “I never knew we could still operate a constitutional monarchical system.”

Akin Akinwale wrote: “Whatever appointment Ademola Adeleke is making, whatever ineptitude he is displaying, it serves Osun State people right.

“That said, I don’t have a problem with appointing your family members into your government (silly tho’). But I am after the competence. Is Tunji Jnr competent? If he is, all the best.”

Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber, the Senate, says reports making the rounds that it has received ministerial list from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is false.

Labour Party’s Senator representing Anambra Central, Victor Umeh, issued the disclaimer on Tuesday.

Senator Umeh said it was impossible for the Senate to be discussing the ministerial list during its closed-door meeting when the Senators had not received one.

Umeh’s statement comes after several media reports claimed that the Senate had received the ministerial list and was discussing it in a closed-door meeting.

As the deadline for submission of the ministerial list by Tinubu to the National Assembly draws near, Nigerians are anxious and waiting with batted breath to see who will make the list.

Experts say the calibre of people appointed by Tinubu into his cabinet will go a long way in determining the success or otherwise of his policies and administration as a whole

More details coming…

An Onitsha trader, his wife, two children, mother in-law and newly arrived apprentice have been reported dead after inhaling poisonous fumes from the generator powered the first night they slept in their new mansion.

Sympathisers who wailed uncontrollably yesterday at Borromeo hospital, Onitsha where the bodies were rushed to said the man, Identified as Ifeanyi from Enugu state , a trader at the Onitsha Bridge Head Market, had planned a surprise package for his wife after her discharge from the hospital having been delivered of a new baby by deciding that they would park into his new mansion at Nkwele Ezunaka to celebrate the new born and new house together .

Following a blackout from the public power source, he put on the generator stationed at the veranda close to the bedroom to provide light in the new house that night.

They were said to have chatted heartily as they made merry into the night before they slept off without putting off the generator.

The next morning, a friend of his who was supposed to join them in the celebration but could not make it went to felicitate with them only to discover that the doors were locked but the generation was still buzzing.

After knocking continuously without response, he alerted other neighbours and they forced the door open and saw the lifeless bodies.

On rushing them to the hospital, the wife and one of the daughters were still semi-conscious but later on died after all resuscitation efforts including fixing them on oxygen failed.

Only the four-day old baby survived without any crisis thereby raising more curiosity on the circumstances of their death.

Chairman of Onitsha Bridgehead drug market, Ndubuisi Chukwuneta who confirmed the sad development described the deceased Ifeanyi as a hardworking young man who desired the best for his family.

Manager of St. Charles Borromeo Hospital, Onistha, Rev. Fr. Izunna Okonkwo confirmed that only the new born baby was in stable condition when they reached the hospital as four had already died before getting to the facility.

… Over N1trn To Be Used To Shore Up CBN Reserves

The 36 State Governors have endorsed the proposal of the Federal Government not to share the entire revenue of N1.9trn which may have accrued to the federation by Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, THE WHISTLER can authoritatively report.

The endorsement of the Federal Government’s proposal was made at a meeting held by the Governors on Wednesday night in Abuja.

It was gathered that during the meeting, the issue of the revenue accruals into the federation account was discussed ahead of the FAAC meeting to be held later today.

During the meeting, THE WHISTEER understands that the Federal Government had proposed that the sharing of the entire N1.9trn was not a good idea because it would increase the amount of money in circulation and cause further inflationary pressures in the economy.

Nigeria’s inflation stands at about 22.7 per cent based on figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

One of the governors who attended the meeting told THE WHISTLER that in view of the removal of fuel subsidy, the Federal Government raised concerns that if the entire N1.9trn is to be shared, it may put pressure on the naira and also affect the price of fuel.

Rather than sharing the entire N1. 9trn, the governors, it was learnt agreed that N900bn should be shared while the balance of N1trn should be transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria to shore up the nation’s external reserves.

Figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed that as of July 18, Nigeria’s external reserves stood at $33.99bn

The governor said, “The N1.9trn revenue is true. But we won’t be sharing all. FAAC will only be sharing N900bn and keep the rest with CBN. The fear is that sharing all will further push inflation and put pressure on the dollar, which will in turn push further the fuel price.

“The governors have agreed with the proposal made by the Presidency not to share all the money. The idea is to help the CBN raise the foreign reserve up to $40bn from the current $33bn.”

The revenue of N1.9trn is the highest amount generated in one month in the history of Nigeria.

The amount almost tripled the N786.161b shared in June and more than tripled the N655.93bn in May.

Allocations are usually shared from the preceding month’s revenue — meaning June will be shared in July.

Statutory collections make up N1.7trn of the federally collected revenues, followed by N293bn from Value Added Tax and N12bn from electronic money transfer charges.

The fall in the official exchange of the naira might have contributed to the seemingly unprecedented rise in revenue.

It was learnt that FAAC adopted N436.38 to a dollar as the exchange rate for the calculation of the forex component of federally-collected revenues for June 2023, but this has now gone up to at least N750 to dollar.

Members of FAAC will be meeting in Abuja today to share the N900bn which was endorsed by the governors last night.

Some of the agencies remitting funds to the federation account are the Federal Inland Revenue Service, and the Nigeria Customs Service among others.

The FAAC committee is made up of commissioners of finance from the 36 states of the federation; the Accountant-General of the Federation, representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd, the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, CBN and Customs
.

The federation account is currently being managed through a legal framework that allows funds to be shared under three major components – statutory allocation, Value Added Tax distribution; and allocation made under the derivation principle.

National vice chairman North-West of the All Progressives Congress, Salihu Lukman has cautioned against a move to give the leadership of the party national secretariat to former Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

The erstwhile national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu and national secretary, Iyiola Omisore resigned from their positions on Monday.

Speaking with journalists, Deputy National Chairman, ( North) Senator Abubakar Kyari who presided over the National Working Committee said he had since assumed the position of acting national chairman in line with provisions of the party Constitution.

Checks revealed that at the meeting of the Progressives Governors Forum held on Wednesday night, Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Forum, Senator Hope Uzodinnma conveyed the stance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give the exalted seat to the former Kano State Governor.

Reacting in a statement on Thursday, through a statement, “APC: Way Forward,” Lukman who incidentally is a member of the APC National Working Committee expressed strong reservations about the speculated choice of Ganduje by President Tinubu and the governors.

He noted that having produced the Deputy Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives, giving the positions of National Chairman to same North West zone would be inimical to the existing zoning arrangement in the ruling party. He further submitted that the Progressives Governors Forum as a power bloc should be willing to submit themselves to the larger interest of the APC.

He said:” Through restoring constitutional order, we can activate some of the power blocs to actively participate in the process of producing and engaging leaders of the party.

For instance, elders of the party can have stronger say when the meetings of the National Caucus are restored. Women, Youth and Persons with Disability will similarly have stronger say when the Women, Youth and Persons with Disability wings are constituted with all the complementary structures as provided in the APC constitution.

In fact, beyond the Women, Youth and Persons with Disability Leaders, these three wings are expected to have Secretaries who will be members of NEC.

“So far, as things are, only the President and Governors blocs are active in the negotiation to produce and engage leaders of APC.

Already, part of the speculations emerging from the Governors bloc is that Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is being considered to succeed Sen. Abdullahi Adamu.

If this is true, it only suggests insensitivity and taking members of the party for granted. This is without prejudice to the person of Dr. Ganduje.

This is because such a choice will completely distort the zoning arrangement that informed the present configuration of the leadership of the National Assembly.

With the Speaker of House of Representatives and Deputy Senate President coming from North West and North Central shut out of consideration, to propose the party’s National Chairman to move to North West from North Central will be unjust and almost a political suicide.

“We must caution our Governors that since the emergence of APC, Governors have served almost as the conscience of the party. Any consideration for such an insensitive and unjust consideration of Dr. Ganduje to become the National Chairman of APC must be discarded.

If anything, the position of National Chairman of the APC must be retained in North Central. Part of the challenge of managing the current transition within the party is getting the NWC to properly take the driving seat in managing and facilitating negotiations to produce and engage leaders of the party.

The NWC must sit up and guide the unfolding negotiations.

No single power bloc should be allowed to appropriate the process.

“This where the intervention of the President, being the leader of the party would be required to moderate the excessive conduct of any power bloc, especially when such conduct risk further damaging the prospect of returning the APC to its founding vision.

At these early stages of President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s leadership of the party, he needs to make that strong intervention to guide the process of restoring constitutional order and returning the APC to its founding vision of progressive politics.

Progressive politics must be about inclusion and justice and not some blind and insensitive considerations.”

The former Director General of the PGF also cautioned against the excitement trailing the exit of the duo of Senators Adamu and Omisore from the party national secretariat.

He maintained that the panacea to peace in the party is to restore constitutional order by allowing statutory organs of the party to function.

“It is therefore necessary that at this very early stage of negotiating new leadership for the APC, we caution all our leaders that the only way we can justify the exit of Sen. Abdullahi Adamu and Sen. Iyiola Omisore out of the leadership of the APC is by demonstrating commitment to restore constitutional order in APC and return the party to its founding vision of being a progressive party.

These are issues that would appear to be taken for granted and if not engaged could be abused by power blocs within the party, which could lead to the emergence of leaders that are worse than Sen. Adamu and Sen. Omisore.

This must be avoided.

“First, restoring constitutional order in APC is basically about complying with extant provisions of the party’s constitution.

A situation whereby the National Chairman usurped powers of National Working Committee (NWC) and all organs of the party is unacceptably.(sic)

” All organs of the party, namely, National Advisory Council (NAC), National Caucus, National Executive Committee (NEC), etc. must be allowed to function in accordance with provisions of the party’s constitution.

The irresponsible culture of asking organs of the party to donate their powers to the NWC, which basically empowers the National Chairman to convert all the resources of the party to personal use must end.

“Inability to allow organs to function will block any attempt to return the party to its founding vision of becoming a progressive party.

Being a progressive party is about ensuring that we can produce a dynamic, action-oriented party that is able to produce governments that can and improve the lives of Nigerians.

It is about goal-setting and developing strategies to achieve them. with a clear vision.

This is easier said than done. In our context in Nigeria, this is reduced to claims and narrowed to winning elections.

Certainly, winning elections is primarily the required precondition to improve the lives of citizens. Being a progressive party will mean that we are able to ensure that organs of the party develop the capacity to hold elected and appointed officials accountable.”

Unknowingly but steadily, ripples of the petrol subsidy removal by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration have become the Albatross of the few-weeks-old Government. The ‘heroic’ pronouncement by the President in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, has since remained a ‘three-edged sword’—eliciting opprobrium and condemnation from the populace, tacit acceptance from the elite and moneyed class and rabid applause from hirelings and the gullible public. Subsidy on petrol (Premium Motor Spirit, PMS) has been in place in Nigeria in various forms and shapes in the past several decades.

Successive administrations have made efforts at subsidy removal (in part or in full) without much success; but at his inauguration, President Tinubu said “fuel subsidy is gone.” Since this declaration however, the Nigerian economy has been in a ‘turmoil’ of sorts. Prices of literally everything has gone through the roof. Indeed, the day after the ‘fiat’ by President Tinubu, pump price of PMS jumped several folds, from below two hundred Naira per litre to over seven hundred Naira per litre—depending on the location. This quickly translated into very high cost of transportation, food stuffs, house rents, etc.

All these in turn led to soaring cost of living, weakened consumer purchasing power and impoverishment of many more Nigerians. Practically, many salary earners’ take-home-pay could no longer take them home. Not a few state governments reduced their work days in a week from five to two or three—just to somewhat ease the terrible plight of their public/civil servants. Most of the civil servants could no longer sustainably afford cost of transportation to and fro their places of work. Of course, this, inadvertently, gave more room and tacit support to truancy, absenteeism and massive dereliction of duties. On the aggregate, these translated to immeasurable drop in productivity and morale across the states and at the federal level—where nobody bothered anymore to query anyone for lateness or absence from work.

As the situation persisted, the federal government, apparently in response to public outcry and agony of the people, came up with the idea of some palliatives to cushion the hardship. Evidently at its wits’ end, the federal government came on the 2022 supplementary Appropriation Act—to draw some N500 billion. From this amount, according to the Government’s plan, each poor/vulnerable household would be receiving a cash transfer of N8000 per month for a period of six months. On the whole, twelve million poor households are to benefit from the scheme, according to the Government. But rather than assuage public angst and pain, the proposed palliative package drew public opprobrium and the ire of practically all Nigerians—irrespective of socio-economic strata.

Everyone recalled the recent experience during COVID-19, when similar palliatives were meant to get to the masses, but largely ended up in private pockets. Indeed, large quantities of some food stuff procured as part of the palliative, were later discovered to have been stolen and stored in private warehouses or diverted elsewhere. Deep-seated corruption ensured that the target publics did not get either the money or other items. The conditional cash transfer initiative of the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari administration that was a woeful failure also sustained the doubt about the Tinubu cash dole. Thus, the cash transfer plan of the current administration was not only widely criticised but also wholly rejected by a critical mass of the people. 

At present, the Federal Government has backpedalled, jettisoned the cash transfer initiative but still promises an amorphous palliative package for the suffering Nigerians. This vacillation and prevarication is coming at a time the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) came up with a new PMS pricing template that further raised the price of the product. The template carries prices ranging from N560 to 620 per litre (depending on the location) as against about N500 per litre that had since remained the ‘default price’. The latest move by the NNPCL is ruffling not a few feathers in the Nigerian polity: organized labour, civil society organizations and all and sundry are literally ‘up in arms’ to fight the measure. Threat of civil unrests and protests is rampant.  

As it were, the people, indeed, remain at the receiving end of the Government’s indecision as it continues to unleash ill-digested policies on the citizenry. From all indications, the NNPCL’s new pricing of PMS is a reflection of the landing cost of the product (just imported by the marketers). Rather than dealing with the petrol subsidy fiasco from the roots, Government has elected to license more importers/marketers of PMS. But the business moves of these importers imply more pressure on the exchange rate of the Naira vis-à-vis the dollar—because these marketers must acquire the greenback to import the PMS. The more Naira they amass to acquire ‘enough’ dollars to import the product, the higher the prices at which they (marketers) will sell at the pump.

However, in playing to the gallery, as it were, the Tinubu administration has also devalued the national currency (via exchange rates unification or floatation policy). This initiative has since crashed the Naira exchange rate against the dollar (even in the official window), from N465/$ in May to over N800/$ at present. The forces of demand and supply have shown that the demand for dollar consistently far outstrips its supply as far as Nigeria is concerned. Being a largely import-dependent economy, the scenario cannot be otherwise; and being a mono-product nation (largely depending on crude oil sales), its foreign exchange earnings remain constrained.

The upshot of all these is the continued deterioration of the economic condition of the people as well as all growth and development indices. This is why inflation has maintained its runaway trajectory—hitting a 17-year-high of 22.79 per cent at end-June 2023. The trend is driven essentially by food inflation, according the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Apparently in another whimsical and knee-jerk reaction to the continued acute shortage of food (and its high prices), President Tinubu administration has declared a ‘state of emergency’ on food security. Again, like a grope in the dark, no clear details of the ‘emergency measures’ are available yet in the public space.

All the lingering challenges inhibiting food production/agriculture generally are yet unaddressed by the government. Devastating flooding, gully erosion, desertification and other adverse climatic conditions in various parts of the country keep getting worse. Above all, insecurity—banditry, kidnapping, brigandage among other social upheavals—have since dislocated the farmers, many of who now live in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps. Moreover, farming in Nigeria today is still largely at subsistence level—with little or no mechanization. Therefore, how soon/well the state of emergency on food security declared by the government will yield results remains a conjecture.

Besides food, many micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been having tough times since the hike in the prices of PMS courtesy of subsidy removal. In point of fact, some businesses have either temporarily suspended operations or closed shops—because the cost of energy (petrol) which propels them has gone beyond their projections. So, rather than helping with the unemployment crisis in the land, fuel subsidy removal has (directly) led to job losses. And as it is, the higher the price of PMS (courtesy of the NNPL’s price template), the more the number of businesses that go under due to ballooning cost of operation.

As this reality is dawning on the citizenry, the Tinubu administration, practically cap in hand, is also going after the US$800 million loan (for palliatives) from the World Bank initiated by the Muhammadu Buhari administration at its twilight. This facility, said to have been approved by the National Assembly, automatically adds to the humongous and already unsustainable debt profile of the country. At present, over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s public revenues goes into debt servicing—and new loans certainly go to worsen this situation.

It is therefore imperative that the President Tinubu administration should beat a retreat, and come up with its full-scale economic development blueprint—so that it can tackle the nation’s multifaceted problems in a more deliberate manner. A ‘fire brigade approach’ is certainly counterproductive!

The author, Mr. Okeke, an economist, sustainability expert and consultant on business strategy lives in Lekki-Lagos. He can be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.