With politics since over, time now is for governance. Not just governance, but good governance. And of course, a government delivers good governance only if it is deliberately committed to “accountability, leadership, integrity, stewardship and transparency”, or simply, if it is evidently citizens-oriented. 

Then again, of the three arms of government, the legislature is the one central to good governance. Its core functions begin and end with good governance. And even by configuration, it is the closest to the people, connecting them to the government. So, the legislature is indeed the people’s shield and advocate.

Hence, as Nigerians are already in a hurry to see the ultimate manifestations of the promises of the 2023 general elections all eyes are now on the legislature.

Most families can no longer feed adequately, basic health care and education, including transportation, are increasingly becoming unaffordable and also, insecurity is growing geometrically. These and many more are gaps yearning for good governance.

But the question is: how prepared and well-equipped is the 10th national assembly relative to this task of dispensing good governance?

By the constitution, the 10th national assembly is ill-equipped. The laws are beset with several limitations that greatly weaken the positions of the parliament, particularly in the exercise of checks and balances on the executive. The weak constitution renders the legislature powerless and protects the presidency all-round. It equally offers the governing political parties undue latitudes to influence the legislature. 

So except with a president who is deliberate in cooperating with the legislature, the 10th national assembly is already undermined sequel to the imbalance in strengths among the arms. It is such that even if the legislature insists on its ideal roles and responsibilities, there will only be a state of anarchy as both arms will ‘justifiably’ fight always to preserve their powers and authority. There are no clear-cut mechanisms in the constitution to check executive breaches and abuses.

Thus, the extent to which the legislature is in cooperation or hostility with the executive determines the quality of governance dispensed. 

But if the well-being of the people is the ultimate goal of governance, then collaboration is a valid option, provided that the relative independence of the arms is recognized and respected. Besides, the mark of a responsive government is the willingness and ability to make sacrifices and or do whatever is necessary, within the ambit of the laws, to offer a quality life to the people.

And in this regard verifiably, the 10th national assembly has demonstrated immense determination borne out of a deliberate commitment to the public interest. 

Going by the legislative activities so far, notably the resolutions, the 10th national assembly is in tune with the mood of the moment. It truly understands that Nigerians today yearn for only actions that bear assurances that the government cares about them. Both chambers are remarkably mobilized and upbeat as regards the people’s expectations. 

And then by way of impetus to this public-oriented disposition, there is this rare blend of executive and legislative leadership antecedents that characterizes the dramatis personae in both the presidency and the national assembly including also the ruling APC, which portends a viable opportunity for good governance.

The president and vice as well as the secretary to the government of the federation, who incidentally is the head of the cabinet ministers, are former state governors and senators of the federal republic. More interestingly, the presidential home-keeper, the first lady, and the two gate-keepers, the chief of staff and deputy, are alumni of the national assembly.

Similarly, the national chairman of APC, also a former governor, alongside the deputy, and the secretary, who equally is an ex-deputy governor, had all served as senators.

Then again, the head of the federal legislature, wearing two hats as the president of the senate and the chairman of the national assembly, was at different times before now, governor, senator and minister.

And instructively as well, it is likely that the federal executive council would feature some past legislators.

So predictably, these would culminate in a home-grown hybrid governance model defined by among others, shared vision, consensus-building, sustainable collaboration, mutual respect for boundaries, empathy, and commitment to institutional and legislative strengthening as well as unity of purpose. 

Clearly these basic catalyses for good governance are to the advantage of the legislature. At least, the highly-influential presidency and the governing party, apart from being pleased with the choice of the parliamentary presiding officers, would objectively, on all issues of governance, deploy their priviledged knowledge of the constitutional limitations undermining the legislature. And in the end, the masses are the ultimate beneficiaries.

Thus, with the formation of the federal cabinet in a few weeks, the stage would have been fully set for the delivery of this much-anticipated good governance.

Once again, the 10th national assembly is not just fully abreast of the citizens’ expectations but is self-motivated and well-prepared.

While the president of the senate, Godswill Akpabio, declared that “it is time now to go forward with the task set before us as a collective body – the promulgation of laws and enactments for the well-being and security of the country and as a check on the executive arm”, the speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, announced that “we shall work closely and inter-dependently with the Executive and Judiciary to give Nigerians the good governance they deserve……. We will champion legislation that will uplift the lives of our fellow citizens, promote social justice, and drive sustainable development”.

Buoyed by the truism that security is consequential to the overall well-being of the country, Abbas added that “we will focus on strengthening our security apparatus, collaborating with relevant stakeholders to combat insurgency, terrorism, and all forms of criminalities. We aim to help create a safe and secure environment that fosters economic growth and social stability”.

On the economy, they both have enough up their sleeves. 

Mr Speaker elaborated further that “through legislation, the 10th House will promote entrepreneurship and support small and medium-scale enterprises. We shall diversify our economy and provide sustainable employment opportunities for our youth. We are aware of the challenges in our education, healthcare, and infrastructure sectors amongst others”.  

Meanwhile, Senator Akpabio had hinted that “we will, as a forward-looking Senate, pass laws that emphasise economic viability, social acceptability and environmental sustainability, to encourage alternate and green technologies without prejudicing our developmental needs”.

Then towards mitigating the lapses in the constitution that largely restrict the legislature, the honourable speaker was unambiguous that “we will work in harmony with the executive arm, while upholding principles of checks and balances. Our collaboration will be anchored on the principles of transparency, accountability, and respect for the rule of law”. 

Similarly, the senate president observed that because president Bola Tinubu has within this very short period in office proven his commitment “to a strong economy, national security, inclusion and the rule of law………..We should, therefore, anticipate an executive that is proactive, progressive and practical”. 

He was also unequivocal that “our laws must, therefore, align with the vision of Mr President to protect and provide for our people at the innermost core of their essence while our actions must also guarantee the best and most efficient use of our national commonwealth”.

Continuing, Senator Akpabio stressed that conscious and sustained attention must be accorded to “gender matters, with specific affirmative provisions to guarantee women’s inclusivity” as well as “issues relating to persons with special needs and equality”. 

He was equally enthusiastic about “engaging, empowering and rewarding our resourceful and innovative youths in terms of protection of intellectual innovations and property, and improved access to finance for technological start-ups” adding that “we must recognise and prepare for a mid-21st century global economy that places a premium on intellectual content and knowledge, and our young men and women must be supported to engage competitively”.

Furthermore, Akpabio listed as a priority area, “expansion of the revenue streams available to the country, especially from our huge but largely unregulated natural and solid mineral resources base, while insisting that “these additional sources of revenue will build the nation’s resilience to shocks and stresses resulting from the fluctuation of oil prices in the international market;

And then, in conclusion, both leaders have words of covenant for the country. 

While the president of the senate vowed to Nigerians that “your dreams, your aspirations, and your well-being will be at the heart of everything we will do in this Senate”, Rt. Hon. Abbas pledged that “we hold our respective offices in trust for the Nigerian people. We MUST, therefore, justify the confidence reposed in us by our constituents to represent their interests and work committedly for our dear nation”.

Although it has become a ritual to hear appealing speeches at every turn of the inauguration of presiding officers, what is significant in this case is the exceptional courage to frontally speak to the issues and show pragmatic resolve to tackle them. Nothing can be more reassuring. A problem identified they say, is a problem half-solved. Above all, and given the deliberate adoption of bipartisanship as well as the promotion of national interest consciousness in legislative business, as seen majorly on the motions so far, the 10th national assembly is not ready to incur the citizens’ ill will. The leadership is mindful that their public profile and reputation depend on the offices they occupy today. The legislators are aware that they would run into landmines if they fail their constituents especially now that every quality of leadership is a direct challenge to the democratic will of the people. 

Therefore, well-meaning Nigerians should rise beyond ethnicity, partisanship and religion to embrace this assembly with all the support and cooperation necessary for excellence. If you expect the right things always from the government, then do the right things always for the government. Even in the face of the porous constitution, the legislature can still deliver, if only the people are in firm partnership with it basically through timely and useful information as well as relevant questions. For it is only by constantly reminding these elected representatives of their words that our mandate can fetch us the desired dividends.

So to you public-spirited Nigerians desirous of a new order: now the ball is in your court! And then to the 10th national assembly: the days, weeks and months ahead shall offer you the ultimate test. But in the meantime, the clock is already ticking and you cannot afford to disappoint.

Egbo is a parliamentary affairs analyst

A report a few days ago that Nigeria recorded a negative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow in 2022 is indeed a worrisome pointer to the persisting unattractiveness of the country’s investment climate. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) world investment report released early July 2023, Nigeria “experienced negative (-$187 million) inflows due to equity investments.” Following this trend too, first quarter 2023 capital inflow into the country also dropped significantly by 28 per cent, from US$1.573 billion in the first quarter last year to US$1.132 billion (year-on-year). According to the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the bulk of the capital inflow (in the first quarter 2023) was from portfolio investment (57.32 per cent); ‘other investments’ accounted for 38.31 per cent while FDI was merely 4.20 per cent.

The NBS explained that the decline in capital importation can be attributed to “a variety of factors, including the prevailing global economic uncertainty as well as the persistent political instability within Nigeria.” The NBS said “these factors have likely contributed to a cautious approach among foreign investors, leading to a decline in capital inflow.” Although these statistics (of FDI inflows) are for 2022 and first quarter 2023, current trends and near-future situations in Nigeria are unlikely to be anything different. Indeed, as implied by the NBS, capital importation (FDI and Foreign Portfolio Investment, FPI) is largely a function of the economic climate of a recipient country. Therefore, the decline in FDI (especially a negative level) is an ugly testimonial of a poor and deteriorating investment climate for any nation. And in this case, Nigeria!

The UNCTAD report and the NBS data therefore serve as a timely indictment of the Government of Nigeria and its propaganda on so-called improvement of ease of doing business in the country in the past several years. In point of fact, on the contrary, Nigeria’s investment climate has been getting gloomier and uncompetitive; with numerous businesses fleeing the shores of the country to more enabling and attractive environments. Whether in the manufacturing sector, the aviation industry, shipping and logistics business or the hospitality or automobile sectors, the Nigerian economy has been experiencing an exodus.

Specifically, not a few of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) have left the shores of Nigeria (either fully or in part) in the past few years. Some left on grounds of “energy conversion” for greener pastures while others got practically suffocated by the stifling business environment. Local operators or entrepreneurs who acquired these businesses (in full or part) are yet grappling with the scorching and uncertain terrain in Nigeria.

Today, if any sector is in distress, it is the aviation industry—where for a whole eight years, the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari kept struggling to ‘re-start’ the defunct Nigerian Airways. The effort ended up a huge fraud—with nothing to show for it, while billions of dollars (of public funds) went down the drain. The story of foreign airlines operating in Nigeria and whose well-earned revenues running into hundreds of millions of dollars remain trapped in the country—sends all the ugly signals to the world. Deep-seated corruption within the officialdom is yet prevalent in the industry: it accounted for the quick exit of the otherwise reputable Virgin (Atlantic) Airlines from Nigeria. Virgin that entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to emerge as the country’s national carrier was ‘sabotaged’ even by the bureaucrats of the Federal Government. Who wants to invest in the aviation industry today?

Despite pretensions to the contrary, time there was, when the industrial sector in Nigeria was really booming: Nigerians rode in locally assembled cars, buses and trucks. Volkswagen Automobiles produced cars in its Lagos plant; Peugeot cars in Kaduna; Leyland produced trucks/buses in Ibadan and ANAMMCO in Enugu also assembled buses and trucks. Dunlop produced tyres in Lagos and its plants elsewhere and Michelin tyres were produced in Port-Harcourt. In the textile industry, the giant UNTL Textile Mills in Kaduna, Chellarams, President Industries, Chanrais and many others across the country practically ‘clothed Nigerians.’ Unfortunately, none of these businesses is alive today; all are moribund, with their erstwhile huge warehouses serving mainly as places of worship!

It won’t be out of place to say that a number of factors combined to make Nigeria the ‘investment desert’ that it is today (having negative FDI in 2022). There are internal and external factors—major among them being policy somersaults by successive governments, entrenched corruption, ill-digested policies, insider abuses/sabotage, mono-product economy, insecurity, etc. External factors would include impact of globalization, global insecurity and wars, COVID-19 pandemic, among others. Successive governments in Nigeria seem not to have gotten their priorities right; thus, economy diversification always received mere lip service while the so-called infrastructural development efforts almost always turned out hollow. On the contrary, infrastructural gap has kept widening over time!

In the fiscal policy realm, for no obvious reasons, governments over the years have been creating multiplicity of taxes and levies. These now constitute serious disincentive and impediment to existing and potential investors. This is why the few-weeks-old President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration is flagging the tax issue to, perhaps, decisively deal with the incubus. In this regard, it has empanelled the Taiwo Oyedele-led Presidential Committee on Fiscal and Tax Reform. The government has also gone ahead through Presidential Orders to suspend/postpone the effectuation of some tax laws enacted at the twilight of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, including the Finance Act 2023.

Fittingly and properly, operators in the real sector of the Nigerian economy have interpreted the President Tinubu gesture as “shallow”, and are demanding for “absolute reversal and not suspension” of the tax laws, among others. Indeed, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) insists that the transformation of the country’s economy would require an absolute reversal of key tax measures and not just postponement. NECA Director-General, Adewale Oyerinde, who spoke at a recent Nigeria Employers’ Summit at Abuja, said the “taxes have the potential to worsen the nightmares of the organised businesses and push many into extinction.”

Truly, if the Tinubu administration is bent on turning Nigeria’s investment fortune around for good, it must deal decisively and expeditiously with the tax conundrum—that has practically stalled the country’s economic growth for long. As reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), if portfolio investment is accounting for over 57 per cent and FDI is merely 4.20 per cent of foreign investment inflow at this point in time, then Nigeria is fast degenerating into a ‘pariah state.’ But Nigeria badly needs a total transformation, well diversified and productive economy, safe and secured polity on the backdrop of minimal corruption and committed and transparent leadership. So much political will and clear-headedness is a sine qua non! The Federal government’s palliatives here and there and tokenism cannot pull out the economy from its current place far in the woods.

• 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.

Daniel Levy met Bayern Munich chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen on Thursday to discuss the possible transfer of Harry Kane.

Sky Sports News has been told no meaningful progress was made but dialogue remains open. This is not the first time Levy and Bayern have met or spoken.

Tottenham will continue to try and persuade Kane to sign a lucrative contract extension but fear he will leave for a Premier League rival should he run down his current deal.

Kane has not ruled out any option at this stage and will be part of the Tottenham squad that departs for their pre-season tour to Australia on Friday.

On Wednesday Sky Sports' Paul Gilmour gave an update on Kane's future possibilities with communication with Bayern Munich ongoing

Postecoglou has made it clear that he plans to shape a side that produces exciting, attacking football and would like Kane to be part of it.

Should he start the season in England it will give the club a chance to show him and other senior players that there can be a more positive outlook than recent years.

Bayern believe Kane wants to join them and that appears to be his most likely destination if he departs in the coming weeks. Tottenham have made it clear they do not want to sell their record scorer and certainly won't entertain the £70m figure Bayern are willing to pay.

The England captain has scored 213 goals for Spurs and is the second-highest scorer in Premier League history behind Alan Shearer. He needs 48 more goals to break the record.

Kane scored an impressive 30 league goals last season as Spurs could only finish eighth.

One thing that is clear is Tottenham will not sell to an English club in this transfer window, ruling out a move to Manchester United, with Erik ten Hag shifting his focus to Denmark striker Rasmus Hojlund.

Postecoglou: No guarantees over Kane future

Postecoglou said at his first Tottenham news conference on Monday that he had received no guarantees over the future of his star player. "No, I haven't had any assurances [over Kane's future] and I wouldn't expect any assurances because with these kind of things you're never dealing in definites or certainties.

"I'm trying to concentrate on the things that I know right now, and what I know right now is that Harry's part of this squad. He's looking forward to coming back to training, getting among the players back in here and we start working together.

"If I spend too much time worrying about the impact that it may have either way, I'm going to miss trying to build a team because ultimately that's what's going to make us successful.

"If we build a team that plays football a certain way. I'm not going to miss this initial opportunity to lay down what I know is going to be important in the long term.

"What's important in the long term goes beyond individuals. It's more about overriding philosophy on who we want to be as a team and the key people within that."

Speaking ahead of Wednesday's meeting with Kane, Postecoglou said: "I don't think it is my role to sit there and sort of treat people in a manner because of their circumstances. I am big on treating everyone the same.

"Harry is already part of the history of this club and I want him involved here. My conversation with him will be about how we can make this club successful and that is what he wants as well.

"I doubt it will be defining in the manner people think. I want to introduce myself to Harry, give him my vision, get an understanding from him over what his vision is and try be successful."

Postecoglou officially started his new role as Tottenham head coach on July 1, but he's been working hard behind the scenes for nearly a month already.

Since the announcement of his appointment was made on June 6, the Australian has been planning thoroughly for what appears to be a huge job at Spurs, who face the reality of no European football for the first time since 2010.

[SkySports]

Nigerians are a rare breed — at once contemptuous of their country and fiercely defensive of it. When arguing among themselves, Nigerians criticise their country viciously as if the country means nothing to them. Well, it doesn’t— because it hasn’t bothered to achieve an emotional bonding with the younger generation who account for three-quarters of the population. And, conversely, the country does mean a lot to its citizens because, although they are fiercely critical of it, they are proud enough of its past and its potentials to defend it against ‘foreign attacks’.

Don’t take my word for it. Check out Naija netizens. Nigerians in cyberspace are the ones taking their country to the cleaners by themselves. A foreign commentator is not permitted the same privilege. Any foreign criticism, even when true and verifiable, is, by some strange logic to which many Nigerians subscribe, the ranting of either an interloper, a racist or a paid agent provocateur.

Whereas the older generation of Nigerians have many reasons to be loyal to their country, young Nigerians have not been that lucky. Since the rude intervention of the military in governance, ethical standards have nose-dived. Young people hear stories of the many benefits their parents enjoyed as students in the 50s, 60s and 70s. When they compare those stories with their squalid surroundings and woe-be-gone experiences while growing up, they see no reason why they should love a country that treats them with so much disdain.

Our values as a people have broken down. Standards have fallen. The children we have raised in these tremulous times have become adults and the serial idiocies we fed them with have graduated to become peculiar insanities of which we are ashamed, but whose source we are shy to acknowledge as the man in the mirror.

When a typical ‘Japa’ returnee lands at the Nigerian airport in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, or Port-Harcourt, he encounters immigration and customs officials begging for alms. How is that supposed to make him feel? He looks into the eyes of foreigners on the other queue and he sees bewilderment. What beggars’ colony is this, for crying out loud? He cannot even use the restroom in peace. There are beggars everywhere all over the pee-point offering either a kettle to rinse your unmentionables or tissue paper to wipe your hands.

Those who are returning after decades to spend their retirement in the land of the forebears are waylaid at the seaports where they are forced to pay a litany of bribes in order to clear their personal effects. The situation is akin to paying a penalty for ever thinking of returning home!

Young Nigerians abroad can’t comprehend a situation where an accountant general would dribble hundreds of billions into his personal account or where serving military officers become billionaires in plain sight on account of serving as commanders in the oil-rich Niger Delta. When the supposed catcher of thieves is himself a thief, now who is going to catch the catcher?

Last year, Lawyer Femi Falana SAN, screamed against the burning of a vessel interdicted by the Nigerian Navy for stealing crude oil, describing the development as an attempt to cover up criminality.

Falana said: “There is no provision in the rules of engagement that authorises military personnel or security operatives to set fire to or destroy vessels loaded with stolen crude. Apart from the sabotage of the national economy, the crime of oil theft has portrayed Nigeria as a nation where official impunity has been institutionalised by the government. Apparently embarrassed by the involvement of highly placed military officers and their civilian collaborators in the scandalous offence of oil theft, the Federal Government has adopted measures to end it.”

The lawyer noted that the vessel was set ablaze off the Niger Delta creeks by a group of military personnel and described the endorsement of the operation by the then Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, as “an embarrassing justification of criminal conduct…”

Every Nigerian wonders why for a long time the country was unable to meet its OPEC quota due to the incidence of oil thieves. Massive oil tankers with a capacity for millions of barrels of crude routinely sail in and out of Nigeria while the navy and other security agencies snooze. Each loading trip takes many days, yet nobody sees them. Apparently there is an omertà code in operation: “See no evil….”

What did we think we were doing when an incumbent governor of the central bank declared, through proxies, his intention to run for president — and scores of branded campaign vehicles were unveiled to convince doubters that we all were inhabitants of a land where anything was possible?

We have scandalised the young and the old. We have abandoned the ways of the founding fathers of this nation. We have thrown whatever remains of morality to the dogs — and yet we wonder why we are stranded on a parched island where we cannot as much as slake our thirst. “In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty”, says the rastaman.

Since the days of military rule, Nigerians got used to the jackboot logic of the end justifying the means and might being right. Forget what you learnt in geometry — a straight line is not necessarily the shortest distance between two points. A Nigerian youth knows that for spherical surfaces, like the Earth, great-circle distances actually represent the true shortest distance. But why bother with all that when you can simply shift the two points in contention to suit your whim?

Wherever you turn, the goalposts keep shifting everyday. Just the other day, the media went haywire with the news that a new kind of tax— Proof of Ownership tax— had been introduced by the Joint Tax Board. Every motorist was required, said the announcement, to pay one thousand Naira annually as proof that the payee was the owner of the vehicle in question.

An activist lawyer, Muiz Banire SAN, recently authored an insightful piece ( https://sunnewsonline.com/mr-president-let-the-vehicle-ownership-renewal-policy-be-rescinded/) in which he counselled President Tinubu not to allow the apparent fraud to sail.

Banire was miffed that any government parastatal could add to the tax burden of citizens without the constitutional power to do so. Nigeria is perhaps the only country on the planet where there is no comprehensive list of approved taxes. Sundry government organisations simply impose their own taxes and share the loot with co-conspirators.

That much is borne out of Banire’s disclosure: “I also learnt from the grapevine that the states are already promised and apportioned 50% of the accruable revenue from the illegal enterprise, while the Commission gets 25% and the consultant and other undefined stakeholders get 25%.”

Nigerians are waiting for a presidential declaration stopping the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and its co-conspirators from further picking our pockets. The primary goal for the setting up of the FRSC is NOT to generate revenue. If they concentrate on their primary duty, perhaps our dream of having safer highways may yet be realised.

As with the FRSC, so it is with the Nigerian Immigration Service. In 2019, the nation was apprised of the scandalous frittering away of revenue accruable to the national coffers. A federal high court sitting in Lagos in a landmark judgement delivered by Justice Rilwan Aikawa, declared as illegal the engagement of a private company, Continental Transfer Technique Limited, by the Minister of Interior to fix and collect the Combined Expatriates Residence permit and alien card Fees paid by all expatriates in Nigeria.

The court ordered the Minister of Interior, the comptroller-General of Immigration and Continental Transfer Technique Ltd  to account for, refund and remit into the federation account all combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Alien card (CERPAC) Fees collected from all expatriates in Nigeria since 2014.

Before the bubble burst, the revenue collected from the CERPAC was shared and distributed as follows:

1. 5% to the Minister of Interior
2. 7% to the Comptroller General of Immigration
3. 33% to the Federal Government
4. 55% to Continental Transfer Technique

Nigeria is a sprawling crime scene! A national re-orientation campaign is the way to start by co-opting the youth in what promises to be a war against impunity. A war in favour of propriety— at the vanguard of which is a National Orientation Agency led by a committed patriot with a proven track record of activism. This is not another job for the boys. Nigeria and its citizens ought to be better served.

Patriotism can’t be legislated. Get rid of these entrenched smuts! Return Nigeria to the era of law and order where bad behaviour is called out and punished — and watch patriotism flow like the river.

The decision by the Federal Government to pay N8,000 to about 12 million households in a bid to mitigate the effect of the fuel subsidy removal is generating mixed reactions.

DAILY POST recalls that the president, on Thursday, while seeking the approval of the National Assembly to borrow $800million from the World Bank, revealed the plan of his administration to transfer N8,000 monthly to 12 million low-income households for six months.

In a letter read at the upper chamber by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, on Thursday, Tinubu noted that the money would be transferred directly to the beneficiaries’ accounts.

According to the president, the monies are expected to “stimulate economic activities in the informal sector” and improve the living in the beneficiaries’ households.

“In order to guarantee the credibility of the process, digital transfers will be made directly to beneficiaries’ accounts and mobile wallets.

“It is expected that the programme will stimulate economic activities in the informal sector and improve nutrition, health, education, and human capital development of beneficiaries’ households,” the letter read in part.

The move was sequel to the astronomical rise in prices of essential goods and services, including food items, transportation fare, and others, occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy.

Recall that the president had during his inaugural speech on May 29, declared that the government can no longer sustain the payment of subsidy.

Following the announcement, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, approved an upward review in the pump price of the petroleum product nationwide.

The adjustment, which moved the pump price from N194 to as high as N557 in the states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, led to the increase in the price of other products in the market, particularly food items.

A market survey conducted by DAILY POST on Saturday in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, revealed that Nigerians are presently frustrated due to the increase in prices of staple food items.

It was observed that a bag of Garri which was hitherto sold for N8,000, is now selling for N22,000. Some of the sellers attributed the increase in food prices to the cost of transportation, which according to them, affected their purchasing power.

Similarly, a bag of Nigerian rice previously sold for between N15,000 and N20,000 is presently sold for N35,000, while a bag of foreign rice that was sold for N30,000 now goes for N44,000 and above.

In a move to lessen the frustration, President Tinubu on Thursday, got the approval of the National Assembly to borrow $800 million from the World Bank

From the $800 million, 12 million vulnerable Nigerians, according to the president, would be placed on a monthly stipend of N8,000 per month for six consecutive months as a way of cushioning the effects of subsidy removal on them.

The development has continued to generate controversies as stakeholders expressed pessimism that the proposed N8,000 to 12 million households would only amount to efforts in futility, citing the general economic crisis bedevilling Nigerians.

While some are sceptical on the effectiveness of the program, others are concerned about the value of the N8,000, citing the inflation rocking the country’s economy.

The Head, Media and Communications of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Diran Onifade, while reacting to Tinubu’s move, told DAILY POST on Saturday that the decision was a “quick means of settling their election expenses at public expense”.

Onifade also condemned the approval given to President Tinubu by the National Assembly to borrow $800 million, describing the palliative as a ‘scam’ which Nigerians may not benefit from.

According to him, the plan is “coming from the same party that ‘spent’ billions of Naira on school feeding while children were home during the COVID-19 lockdown.

“It is just a quick means of settling their election expenses. Given that poor Nigerians may end up not benefitting from the scam, we need not incur further debt for that sinister purpose”.

Similarly, the President General of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, Goodluck Ibem said it is impossible for N8,000 to mitigate the hardship imposed on Nigerians by the subsidy removal.

According to Ibem, N8,000 is not enough to make a pot of soup for a family of three, citing the sudden rise in the price of food items since the subsidy was removed.

In a chat with DAILY POST on Saturday, Ibem said the proposed palliative is not different from what the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management did when Sadiya Umar Farouq was the Minister under President Muhammadu Buhari.

He alleged that the “Minister was collecting N500 billion every month from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for the same purpose but no household was seen benefiting from the said programme”.

Ibem added that “Nigerians are tired of hearing such programmes. It is a programme that brings hardship and suffering to Nigerians instead of the better life we are being told it is meant for.

“We want programmes that will have direct bearing on the people and not what will lead Nigerians into more suffering and abject poverty as being experienced today.

“Nigerians are not finding it easy to feed, pay transport fares and take care of other necessities as the prices of goods and services have skyrocketed because of the increased cost of fuel, diesel and other petroleum products. Nigerians are sick and tired of being deceived by those in power”.

The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, also kicked against the plan, describing the proposed N8,000 as a “drop of water in an ocean.”

The spokesperson of the union, Benson Upah told DAILY POST on Saturday that the N8,000 is not enough, citing the level of inflation that has relatively crippled the country’s economy.

He said, “The hardship being experienced in the country right now is so much that when you single out just 12 million people, it will be like a drop of water in the ocean. It is obviously not enough.

“Looking at the inflation that has jumped from 16.9 to 22 per cent all within the period of one month, what will N8,000 do for the people?

“Even before the fuel subsidy was removed, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics had said that one hundred and thirty-six million Nigerians were dimensionally poor.

“After the removal of the subsidy, the World Bank said an additional one hundred million Nigerians are going to be brought into poverty. The only people that are going to be comfortable, you can count them on your finger tips.”

Asked to give an update on the negotiation between the Federal Government and the union over the fuel subsidy removal, the NLC spokesperson said, “Some meetings have been held and the process is on.

“You are aware that we have been fighting for Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, which may crash down the cost of transportation.

“We have also proposed a number of interventions, we have said they should allow the Nigerian refineries to work. The government should fix them and allow it to function.

“We have also talked about several needs the government should meet to cushion the effect of this subsidy removal. To us, what the government is doing or planning to do are parts of what we have demanded”.

However, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Benue State, Mr Thomas Terlumun appealed to Nigerians to remain calm, stressing that the president will roll out other palliatives that would cushion the effect of the subsidy removal.

He said, “Nigerians are just too quick to react to issues. All these controversies are coming from the opposition. The president didn’t say the palliative would stop at that N8,000; obviously, there are others coming.

“I learnt that the Innoson vehicle has been contracted to produce buses that may reduce the cost of transportation for civil servants. Is that not palliative?

“All I know is that President Tinubu means well for Nigerians and we need to be patient. Already, the economy is bad and we can’t blame him for it, he also met it like that.

“You can destroy a building in a few hours but it will take you several months to repair it. We just need to be patient and wait for what the administration has to offer.”

[DailyPost]

Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon has heaped praise on Jeremie Frimpong as the young Dutchman nears a move that will net Celtic a significant sell-on fee. The Bayer Leverkusen wingback is wanted by a number of top teams with a fee of upwards of £40m mentioned.

As reported by Glasgow World, Lennon revealed the process behind signing Frimpong as well as his initial impression of the talented youngster.

“He was brilliant for me. I saw him playing for Man City’s Under-21s at Lennoxtown and I really liked the look of him.

“It was great to see him in the flesh and it’s so much better than looking at Y Scout and watching videos. He came in and he just blew us all away with his pace and his quality – and his enthusiasm. He’s got a very infectious personality. He’s a lovely boy but he could be quite naughty at times too.

“He took the plunge to go to Germany and he has excelled and I’m really proud of him. He’s deceptive. He’s small but he’s so powerful, good on the ball and quite different from a lot of fullbacks out there. I follow his career and I hope he gets the move that he wants now.

“It will mean more money for Celtic – and that’s the model: find a young player who can enhance the team and then sell him on for a profit.

“We got a bit lucky with him and got him for about £300,000 because he was a wee bit under the radar but it worked out very well for Celtic.

“We had a few of these with Fraser Forster, Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dyk and I always follow guys like that – but not just the Celtic lads, Hibs boys too like John McGinn and Ryan Porteous who have obviously gone on to do very well.”

Frimpong joined Leverkusen in January 2021 after an impressive spell with Celtic; albeit, he was only there for 18 months.

The move has paid dividends for both Celtic and the player as he has been able to push on after struggling to see a path under Neil Lennon in the 2020/21 season. Now, he is attracting interest with powerful running down the right hand side. Clearly Frimpong is attracting interest having played in a more advanced role, playing him as an out-and-out winger as opposed to a full-back.

Celtic, who paid £350,000 for the players services from Manchester City, received an offer they couldn’t refuse for Frimpong and it was off to the Bundesliga and Bayer Leverkusen for Jeremie for a fee on £13m. Even with a sell on clause due to City, Celtic will likely net a tidy sum on Frimpong’s next move.

[caughtoffside]

U.S. soccer veteran Megan Rapinoe raised the ire of retired tennis great Martina Navratilova when she said this week she would "absolutely" support a trans woman playing on the American squad.

The inclusion of transgender athletes in women's events is one of the most contentious and divisive issues in sport with World Athletics and World Aquatics among global federations that have tightened their rules in recent months.

The Women's World Cup which kicks off July 20 in Australia and New Zealand will feature some of the fiercest advocates for LGBT rights and visibility, but FIFA are reviewing their trans eligibility policies, a move announced a year ago after swimming passed their new tighter rules.

"We as a country are trying to legislate away people's full humanity," Rapinoe told Time. "It's particularly frustrating when women's sports is weaponised. Oh, now we care about fairness? Now we care about women's sports?"

Navratilova, a trailblazer for gay rights, tweeted a one-word response: "Yikes . . ."

Rapinoe and partner, retired WNBA star Sue Bird, were among the 40 professional athletes to sign a letter to U.S. lawmakers in April, opposing a federal bill that stipulates Title IX compliance requires banning transgender athletes from playing women and girl's sport. Title IX is a 1970s civil rights law which bars discrimination based on sex.

Critics of transgender inclusion in women's sport say going through male puberty imbues athletes with a huge physical advantage that transition does not mitigate.

The U.S. women's team, including Rapinoe, famously lost 5-2 to an under-15 FC Dallas boys team in an informal training match in 2017.

There is no timeline for FIFA's updated guidelines as officials, like those in swimming and athletics did, try to balance the desire for inclusion with safety and fairness.

"Certainly the pendulum is swinging back in a negative way. There's little doubt of that," Joanna Harper, a Canadian-born transgender woman and author, told Reuters.

"In terms of FIFA, I'm reasonably optimistic that FIFA will continue likely to be inclusive, although I don't know that for certain.

"I'm not necessarily optimistic about various more regional or national football organizations. In much of the world, trans people are just lucky to stay alive. So those countries will not be having trans football players."

"CORRECT GENDER"

FIFA's rules, first published in 2011, state that only men are eligible to play in men's competitions, and the same for women.

Each participating member association must, "prior to the nomination to the national team, ensure the correct gender of all the players to be considered ... by actively investigating any perceived deviation in secondary sex characteristics."

Swedish defender Nilla Fischer revealed in her recent book that she and her team mates had to "show their genitalia for the doctor" at the 2011 World Cup, after allegations that the Equatorial Guinea squad had male players.

A cloud of uncertainty hung over Zambia captain Barbra Banda after she was ruled ineligible for last year's Africa Cup of Nations amid speculation of high testosterone levels.

The 23-year-old, who twice netted hat tricks at the 2020 Olympics, will captain Zambia at the World Cup in Australia, but she has been the target of unforgiving scrutiny.

LGBT advocates say the debate over transgender inclusion in women's sport has also made for an increasingly hostile environment for gender diverse people in North America.

Quinn - who goes by one name - became the first openly non-binary trans athlete to win an Olympic medal when Canada captured women's soccer gold in Tokyo.

The 27-year-old, who will make their second World Cup appearance in Australia, told the Toronto Star they have witnessed growing negativity towards gender diverse people.

"I think it is a scary time, for me," Quinn said. "I think I do have a lot of points of privilege when entering this conversation, so I have to be mindful of that. But I think the reality is, it's scary."

According to LGBT website Outsports, a record of at least 87 out players will compete at the World Cup, more than double the 38 who played in the 2019 version.

Several teams including England had hoped to wear a "One Love" armband at the World Cup, but FIFA instead designed eight armbands with different "Unite" messages that teams can support. The "Unite for Inclusion" most resembles the "One Love" band.

Sarah Gregorius, of players union FIFPRO, said she thought it was a sensible solution given the geographic breadth of the teams at the tournament.

"You've got players who might feel something individually, but know because of their cultural context that that's going to be a particularly dangerous stance to take, so it's difficult to say 'This is the position on behalf of all 32 captains of all 32 national teams'," she told Reuters.

[Reuters]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been taken to a local hospital after feeling dizzy, his office said, adding that it appeared he was suffering from dehydration as the Middle East country experiences a heat wave.

"Yesterday, I spent the day with my wife in the Sea of Galilee, in the sun, without a hat, with no water," a smiling Netanyahu shared from the hospital Saturday. "It's not a good idea."

The Prime Minister said that he had taken a holiday Friday with his family and temperatures were hitting 38 Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit). 

The prime minister's office said in a press release that the 73-year-old prime minister complained of mild dizziness and was admitted to the Sheba Medical Center emergency room on the recommendation of his personal doctor, Dr. Zvi Berkowitz.

The prime minister's office said that Netanyahu's wife Sara and his son, Avner, are with him.

The office said that initial tests came out as "normal, and no findings were found," adding that the initial assessment was dehydration.

"On the recommendation of the doctors, the prime minister continues to undergo additional routine tests," the prime minister's office said in a statement

His office later said Netanyahu would stay at the hospital overnight for observation.

Israel is currently in the midst of a fierce heat wave, with temperatures in the mid-30s degrees Celsius, mid-90s in Fahrenheit. 

"I have only one request for you - we're in the midst of a heat wave here in Israel; spend less time in the sun, drink more water, and may we all have a good week," the Prime Minister recommended.

Israel's longest-serving leader thanked the "fantastic" medical team caring for him as he recovers, assuring his constituents that he feels "very good."

"Praise the Lord, I feel very good," Netanyahu added in his video message.

Israel's head of the opposition and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid wished Netanyahu a "complete recovery" in a translated Twitter post.

[FoxNews]