Kalu Aja

Between 1956 and 1967, groundnut was one of Nigeria’s most valuable export crops. There were groundnut pyramids in Kano by 1960; Nigeria was the world’s largest exporter of shelled groundnuts, with a 40% global market share.

Today, Nigeria has a 0% market share. Specifically, groundnut exports fell from 502,000 tons in 1961 to 291.000 tons in 1970 to zero by 1980.

Why did the groundnut pyramid disappear from Nigeria? Sure there was the Aflatoxin contamination that affected the groundnut exports. Why could the Northern region not just fumigate and fix the contamination? Why did it just allow exports of this cash crop to cease?

The story is similar in Palm Oil. In the year 2020, Indonesia made $18.45 billion from exporting palm oil. This is more than the entire 2020 budgets of the states in the South-East, South-South, Lagos, and Ondo combined. A Center for International Forestry research paper dated 2017 and titled “A short history of palm oil in Indonesia,” authored by Alice Baudoin, Pierre-Marie Bosc, Cécile Bessou, and Patrice Levang, states “the African oil palm, Elæis guineensis, originates from West and Central Africa. The first seeds of the oil palm were brought from West Africa by the Dutch and planted in the Bogor Botanical Garden (Java Island) Indonesia in 1848 (Wahid et al. 2004)”.

In 1832, 75% of the global palm oil export came from Nigeria. Between 1961 and 1965, world oil palm production was 1.5 million tons, with Nigeria accounting for 43% of that production. According to a report by PWC, Nigeria ranks behind Malaysia and Indonesia in palm oil output, accounting for less than 2% of the total global market production of 74.08million MT. See Figure 1. They are also crude oil-producing nations; they have crude oil.

Why has agriculture collapsed? Well, everyone says crude oil, but that’s a bit simplistic; why didn’t exports of Palm Oil and Groundnut expand when crude oil prices fell? From 1960 to 1973, crude oil prices were sold below $3 a barrel. Why did Nigeria not return to exports of palm oil?

In the same decade, palm oil saw a steep decline in production and exports from Nigeria.

To summarize, from 1960 to 1965, Nigerian crude oil revenues to total revenues were zero. By 1970, Nigeria’s crude oil revenues as a share of total revenues jumped to 26%, but crude oil was sold at below $3 a barrel from 1960 to 1972. Also, in the same period, Nigeria’s palm oil exports fell from 167mt to 8mt, same for groundnuts, 502mt in 1961 to 291mt in 1970. By 1975, crude oil share was at 77%, but crude oil prices were $10 on average a barrel.

Crude oil did not eclipse palm oil. Instead, palm oil exports fell, and oil became the most significant contributor to revenues for Nigeria. Central Bank of Nigeria is quoted as saying, “if Nigeria had maintained its market dominance in the palm oil industry, Nigeria would be earning approximately $20b annually from cultivation and process of palm oil as at today (2019)”.

If palm oil had continued to be exported, Nigeria would have earned from palm oil alone, the equivalent of the 2020 budgets of Lagos, all South East and the South-South States combined.

Crude oil is not the problem; the problem is how Nigeria has structured its fiscal federalism. I explain.

Below is the progression of the fiscal allocation formula.

1953 Sir Louis Chick: The penultimate revenue allocation formula for Nigeria was done by Sir Louis Chick.

Export duties were 50% to the State of origin of export.

1958 Raisman; Commissioner Raisman amended Sir Chick formula.

Export duties were 100% to the State of origin

1963 constitution….

Export duties maintained at 100% of the state of origin

1970 Decree no 13, the Military steps in. the States lose fiscal autonomy, maintain derivation. The Distributable pool was gone

1975, Decree 6: the military further reduced derivation to 20%.

1977, Aboyade Commission. The military created the Federation Account. Derivation abolished. Export duties are now 0% to the State of origin.

Thus in 13 years, Nigeria took Regional/States share of export proceeds from 100% to 0%. Groundnut exports never recovered when States in the North lost the export revenues of agriculture after 1970.

There remains NO incentive for state governments in Nigeria to encourage agriculture. States own the land where the land is commercially farmed. Still, the companies that run commercial agriculture pay Corporate income taxes to the Federal Government (FGN) when the cash crops are exported. The states are left with nothing. The states receive a share of these taxes via Consolidated Revenue Fund, but not according to the derivation principle. During this period that states lost derivation right in the fiscal federalism framework that commercial agriculture crashed in Nigeria.

What did the Federal Government do with crude oil and non-oil export proceeds revenues? The FGN shared it back to the States and Local Government according to a formula. States got on average 32%, Federal 47%, LGAs 15% (*note there are statutory transfers to Ecology, Agric development, etc.)

Export and corporate income taxes remain 0% to states by derivation except for solid minerals like gold. This means states do not retain as revenue to their budgets the export duties on cash crops produced within their states like palm oil. They only get PAYE on worker salaries.

But wait, there is more;

That 31% the FGN shares to states, is it shared equally? No, the sharing formula is called the horizontal revenue allocation formula. The critical sharing heads are:

Equality 45%,

Population 25%,

Landmass 5%. Lets pause here

This means that just being a state in the federation with a high population guarantees 65% of the allocation to states from the federation purse.

The FGN took the mineral and non-oil export earning to a central account, retained 47% of that account, then returned 51% to the States and LGAs but determined it will be shared out based on “equality” and “population”… not derivation, i.e., where the income was generated. Thus all States now focus on their population figure, not agriculture. Population and “equality,” not exports or derivation, determine how states receive revenues from the 51% allocation.

Palm oil, for instance, can be farmed in 24 states in Nigeria, including Kaduna. Specifically in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Benue Kwara, Kogi, Nassarawa, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, and Kaduna…but why should a state bother incentivizing the planting palm oil? If groundnut export revenues still went to Kano State 100% via derivation, there would still be groundnut pyramids in Kano today. Kano lost the export proceeds funds to FAAC, thus no incentive to support planting groundnuts by the State.

Solution?

Reward what you want to improve; if you wish for safer drivers, you reward drivers with zero car scratches. Unhook states from crude oil-funded FAAC by giving them a derivation share of their export proceeds from their agriculture cash crops. Return to the states the fiscal principle of derivation on agricultural exports. That will mean states see a direct relationship between commercial farming and IGR, which will spur agriculture investment. Governors will seek out agriculture investors the same way and vigour they seek out Shoprite Malls.

If States retained even 13% derivation on income taxes and export duties on agricultural produce just as they enjoy with solid minerals, they would see the incentive to attract companies to come to their states and push non-oil exports.

Derivation on agriculture is also fair. All states have land; all states farm, graze or fish. Agriculture is still a significant contributor to Nigeria’s GDP growth, and it still employs millions of Nigerians. A fiscal amendment to give states even 13% export earning can have two massive impacts. In the short term, it makes agriculture attractive, and in the long term, it makes all states fiscally viable.

The problem with agriculture in Nigeria is not crude oil but Nigeria’s faulty fiscal federalism (FAAC).

Nairametrics

 .. says incompetence, ill-health, unpreparedness are major hindrances to performance

..Nigerians need to pray more do not go worse, as APC continues it's silly dance

No tangible success can be recorded in the remaining days of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration, as his ill health, incompetence and unpreparedness among other factors are major hindrances to his performance in office.

A chieftain of the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar's spokesperson, Segun Sowunmi stated this in an interview with Nigerian Newstrack.

Sowunmi advised Nigerians to expect no miracle from the APC, but register in the ongoing Continuous Voter registration of the Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC and be ready to vote in leaders of their choice in forthcoming elections.

Here are the details of the News Interview...

Running a Country like Nigeria, among many skills you need to have, you need to have spent a lot of years thinking about the problem. So in thinking about the problem, you are also looking for a potential solution or getting inspired for solution.

I think what happened to Buhari was that he just wanted to lead and his biggest reason perhaps is that he feels that there is a special capacity to fight corruption.

We noticed that there is a disconnect between where the world is or where it was then and where the world is now, so even if you want to fight corruption some of the tactics and styles you used then, the world has moved faster than that.

So he seems to have been stuck in 1983. And that really affected the way he's doing.

And even the kind of governmental system we run in Nigeria is such that , we deceive ourselves that we are running a civilian democracy  but no, I will like to say that what we are running is a termed monarchy , a termed monarchy in the sense that when somebody emerges as either governor or President, almost everything around the system begin to hero-worship him almost as if he is a king. 

Unfortunately, because we have also entrapped it under democratic law, civil society and the general populace can not bow or submit at the level that is required for you to make a monarchical system work. A monarchical system works in the shared belief that everybody bows to the monarch but when you give a leader the trackings of a monarchy and yet the people are not going to bow you are going to have chaos and that's why you see all the #endsars and all of the things happening.

Imagine the importance of the economy in the formative years of that cabinet therefore I'm saying that there inability to have an economic adviser, someone who understands the workings of an economy and how to stimulate same affected them.

You sometimes wonder why is the cost, the price of things that are locally produced, food items ,oil and all of those things that the very busy poor people would have to use , all the people would have to use but you know would impact the poor, why is it galloping like that ? What's causing that inflationary hype? And why is it important?

It is because to translate the policy intention of government into economic realities for people, you need somebody that seats on a chair and ensures that whatever it is that government is doing both the fiscal and monetary policy impacts the area they want to grow within the economy. They didn't have that and that affected them.

Then, there was the health of the president, he fell very ill, which nobody can be absolutely sure of his own health , that also affected them significantly.

Every blame  belongs to them, they wanted to lead, and they sort to take power by telling lies. What people like to call propaganda, but I will just put it simply that they were just telling lies, they were telling lies to the Nigerian people, they were telling lies about the Nigerian situation and more importantly, they were telling lies to themselves as to what they will do and their ability to do same.

Some of the things that could have helped them had the previous government of Jonathan achieved it, they prevented it from happening because of those lies. One of them to make it practical is the exit from subsidy for petroleum.

The whole of 2022 which is next year, we are hoping would be spent predominantly on politicking and Political related issues and it has started already. And when the government gets into that mood, a lot of government activities, development would take a backstage. Even with a torchlight standing on top of people's heads ,you are not able to prevent them from behaving true to the nature of humans so, much can not happen again, we only have to pray that much does not go worse.

Let's say, let it not go worse than this, it is bad as it is, if they can not improve it, they should just continue with their silly dance untill they exit.

So, democracy with all of its weaknesses, all of the frustration involved in it, it is the best opportunity that people have by which to participate in government or effect change in government. That responsibility can not and should not be taken lightly, so my advice to Nigerians is that, they should patiently, deliberately get their PVC, get themselves ready, ask questions from candidates, interrogate the policy not from the point of what they are saying but ask them the question, how would it translate into reality

The United States Government as well as several human rights groups, including Amnesty International, on Tuesday called for action on the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other matters, which stated that at least nine persons were killed and 39 others injured at the Lekki toll plaza on October 20, 2020.

However, the Nigerian Army and the Federal Government refused to comment on the report, which was submitted to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Monday.

The panel, led by Doris Okuwobi, also recommended that all soldiers (excluding Major General Omata), who were deployed in the Lekki tollgate, should be made to face appropriate disciplinary action, stripped of their ranks and dismissed as they were not fit and proper to serve in any public or security service of the nation.

It said the Divisional Police Officer of the Maroko Police Station, along with policemen deployed from Maroko Police Station on October 20 and 21, 2020, should be prosecuted for arbitrary, indiscriminate shooting and killing of protesters.

Responding to the report on Tuesday, the United States Mission to Nigeria said it welcomed the final report by the panel, adding that it awaits the response of both the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government.

It said in a statement, “The United States welcomes the conclusion of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry with the transmission of its final report. We look forward to the Lagos State Government’s response as part of a process that represents an important mechanism of accountability regarding the #EndSARS protests and the events that took place near the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.

“Those events led to serious allegations against some members of the security forces, and we look forward to the Lagos State and federal governments taking suitable measures to address those alleged abuses as well as the grievances of the victims and their families.”

The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Edward Kallon, noted that the submission of the findings of the judicial panel would accelerate the process of justice and accountability.

Kallon in a statement on Tuesday titled, ‘United Nations welcomes the submission of #EndSARS report, urges government’s commitment to implementing judicial panel’s recommendations’, said the implementation of the findings would help rebuild trust and start the process of healing and reconciliation.

Kallon said, “I welcome the submission to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, of the reports of the judicial panel on claims of brutality and shooting in the Lekki area of Lagos State during the 2020 #EndSARS protests.

“I urge the government to implement the recommendations of the judicial panel of inquiry to rebuild trust and start the process of healing and reconciliation.”

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana in a statement, recommended that the report of the panel be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Falana, who is the Interim Chair, Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond, said this in a statement titled, ‘Lagos State is Duty Bound to Implement the Recommendations of the Okuwobi Judicial Commission of Inquiry’.

The activist said members of the panel deserved commendation for the thorough investigation of police brutality in Lagos State.

He stated, “In particular, the revelation that some of the 99 dead bodies dumped in the various mortuaries in Lagos by soldiers were traced to the Lekki tollgate has exposed the official lie that the report of the brutal killings was a figment of the imagination of the protesters.

“A certified copy of the report of the panel should be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari in view of the recommendation that the soldiers and police personnel, who engaged in the torture and reckless murder of citizens, be sanctioned.”

He urged the state government to accelerate the issuance of the White Paper as well as the implementation of the far-reaching recommendations.

The activist said the policemen, who were killed by criminal elements during the protests, should be honoured notwithstanding that their family members had been compensated by the Lagos State Government.

“The violent attack on unarmed protesters during peaceful rallies by police and military personnel should be completely outlawed since Section 83 (4) of the Police Establishment Act, 2020 has imposed a duty on the police to provide adequate security for citizens, who participate in peaceful meetings and rallies,” Falana said.

Global rights group, Amnesty International, hailed the report, insisting that those indicted by the panel must be brought to justice.

Amnesty said this in a statement titled, ‘Nigeria: Perpetrators must Face Justice after #EndSARS Panel Confirms Shootings of Protesters at Lekki Tollgate’.

In the statement, Director, Amnesty International Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, said the panel’s findings revealed the truth about what happened at Lekki tollgate and contradicted the blatant denial by the Nigerian government that deadly force was used against peaceful protesters.

Amnesty recalled that a day after the crackdown, it conducted its own on-the-ground investigation, which confirmed that the Nigerian Army and the police killed at least 12 peaceful protesters in Lekki and Alausa, with evidence gathered from eyewitnesses, video footage and hospital reports.

The statement read in part, “For the survivors and relatives of the dead, the judicial panel’s report findings are only the first step towards justice and restitution. Buhari must act promptly to ensure that those found to be responsible for shooting and attacks on peaceful protesters are brought to justice in fair trial.

“Nigerian authorities must ensure access to justice and effective remedies, including adequate compensation, restitution and guarantee of non-repetition to victims and their families. The authorities must also immediately and unconditionally release all #EndSARS protesters unlawfully detained since last year.”

Don’t insult military over #EndSARS report, CDS urges Nigerians

Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, faulted the procedure adopted for the release of the report of the panel, stating that the issuance of a White Paper was the standard method.

Irabor said he could not, at the moment, comment on the content of the document, because he had not seen the official report and could not confirm the authenticity of the leaked one.

The CDS stated this during a courtesy visit to the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, in Benin City on Tuesday.

Responding to a question, he said, “I am sure those of you in the media must have seen a report that was released through, in my view, a wrong channel, that is making the rounds in the social media. Whether it is a true report, I can’t tell.

“But I’d like to indicate that the normal procedure is to have such a report submitted to the convening authority. Then, there will be a White Paper that will be presented, based on which one can make informed comments.”

Irabor, however, maintained the Nigerian military was professional and remained committed to its constitutional mandate.

He added, “So, we will not at this point think that Nigerians should make disparaging remarks regarding the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the sense that we are professional. If there are issues, of course, we will address them within the ambit of the provisions of the law.

“It will not be right to disparage the men and women, who have worked so hard to ensure that the territorial integrity of this nation is kept intact.”

Punch

Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers (NIStructE) says the 21-storey building that recently collapsed in Ikoyi, Lagos state was originally designed to be six floors.

The structure, which was being developed by Fourscore Homes, caved in on November 1, leaving over 40 people dead.

Femi Osibona, owner of Fourscore Homes, is one of the 45 persons who have so far been confirmed dead.

In a statement on Tuesday, Kehinde Osifala, NIStructE president, said the changes made to the project appear to “have been seriously inadequate”.

“There are clear indications of several design brief changes on the project and the engineering and management of these changes appear to have been seriously inadequate,” Osifala said.

“The building that collapsed was initially designed for just six floors, and later to 12 floors, before this was further changed to 15 floors.

“It could not yet be established the adequacy of any properly designed and documented further revision to the eventual (and tragically, final) 21 floors that was being implemented and which collapsed.

“There are also indications that more than two structural engineering design firms worked on the project at different times.

“The preliminary investigation also revealed some evidence of structural inadequacy in the construction and that signs of some structural distress had already started to show within certain elements of the building. Some remedial measures were already being undertaken to address some of this.

“The method of implementation of this was not in accordance with sound structural engineering practices.”

The NIStructE president also said lack of proper quality control during the construction of the building was evident.

“All the above findings, which are very significant from the structural engineering point of view, need to be investigated further during the detailed investigation stage so that all factors related to the cause or causes of the collapse can be truly established and the appropriate lessons identified and implemented,” he said.

“It is our view that the outcome of our preliminary investigation will give a general indication of what likely led to the unfortunate incident.”

The Cable

PRESS RELEASE

The House:

Notes with dismay that once again, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Nigeria is threatening to proceed on another industrial action on a matter that has been on the front burner for so long: The implementation of negotiated and signed Agreements with the Federal Government;

Notes also that the Federal Government has not been quite forthcoming, neither has it attached any consistent seriousness to the urgent need to reposition and refocus the education sector in line with our developmental objectives;

Aware that the ASUU President has threatened to call out his members across the nation, if all the issues, including those of unpaid academically earned allowances and the universities revitalisation fund are not addressed within a period of 3weeks;

Further aware that the future of Nigerian Students once again, will be negatively impacted, if this impending strike by ASUU is not nipped in the bud by the Federal Government;

Recognising that incessant strikes disrupt the academic calendar and contribute significantly to the poor quality of graduates in the country, with far-reaching implications for national development;

Also acknowledging that strikes encourage brain drain, migration of students abroad and low world rankings of our academic institutions;  

Embarrassed that the Federal Government has, since, the last strike was called off in December, 2020 continued to pass the buck, make excuses and engage in diversions and distractions rather than meet the terms of Agreement it signed with the Union;

Resolves to

Urge the Federal Government to urgently take all necessary measures to open a realistic negotiation with ASUU to stop the strike and implement the signed agreement in the interest of our students, their parents, the education sector and the country.

Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. has signed a deal with a U.N.-backed group to allow other manufacturers to make its experimental Covid-19 pill, a move that could make the treatment available to more than half of the world’s population.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Pfizer said it would grant a license for the antiviral pill to the Geneva-based Medicines Patent Pool, which would let generic drug companies produce the pill for use in 95 countries, making up about 53 percent of the world’s population.

The deal excludes some large countries that have suffered devastating coronavirus outbreaks. For example, while a Brazilian drug company could get a license to make the pill for export to other countries, the medicine could not be made generically for use in Brazil.

Still, health officials said the fact that the deal was struck even before Pfizer’s pill has been authorized anywhere, could help to end the pandemic quicker.

“It’s quite significant that we will be able to provide access to a drug that appears to be effective and has just been developed, to more than 4 billion people,” Esteban Burrone, head of policy at the Medicines Patent Pool, said.

He estimated that other drugmakers would be able to start producing the pill within months, but acknowledged the agreement wouldn’t please everyone.

“We try to strike a very delicate balance between the interests of the (company), the sustainability required by generic producers and most importantly, the public health needs in lower and middle-income countries,” Burrone said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer will not receive royalties on sales in low-income countries and will waive royalties on sales in all countries covered by the agreement while Covid-19 remains a public health emergency.

Earlier this month, Pfizer said its pill cut the risk of hospitalization and death by nearly 90 percent in people with mild to moderate coronavirus infections. Independent experts recommended halting the company’s study based on its promising results.

Pfizer said it would ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulators to authorize the pill as soon as possible.

Since the pandemic erupted last year, researchers worldwide have raced to develop a pill to treat Covid-19 that can be taken at home easily to ease symptoms, speed recovery and keep people out of the hospital. At the moment, most Covid-19 treatments must be delivered intravenously or by injection.

Britain authorized the Merck’s Covid-19 pill earlier this month, and it is pending approval elsewhere. In a similar deal with the Medicines Patent Pool announced in October, Merck agreed to let other drugmakers make its Covid-19 pill, molnupiravir, available in 105 poorer countries.

Doctors Without Borders said it was “disheartened” that the Pfizer deal does not make the drug available to the entire world, noting that the agreement announced Tuesday also excludes countries including China, Argentina and Thailand.

“The world knows by now that access to Covid-19 medical tools needs to be guaranteed for everyone, everywhere, if we really want to control this pandemic,” said Yuanqiong Hu, a senior legal policy adviser at Doctors Without Borders.

The decisions by Pfizer and Merck to share their Covid-19 drug patents stands in stark contrast to the refusal of Pfizer and other vaccine-makers to release their vaccine recipes for wider production. A hub set up by the World Health Organization in South Africa intended to share messenger RNA vaccine recipes and technologies has not enticed a single pharmaceutical to join.

Fewer than 1 percent of Pfizer’s Covid-19 shots have gone to poorer countries.

NBC News

Unknown number of residents are feared dead in a gas explosion that occured at Ojekunle Street, Papa Ajao Lagos on Tuesday morning.

Reports have it that the explosion occurred around 8am.

There was pandemonium in the area while many bodies have been taken away from the scene with more feared trapped.

The number of casualties could not be ascertained.

Rescue efforts by residents were ongoing as at the time of filing this report by Nigerian Newstrack.

Details shortly…

BY FAROOQ KPEROGI

A marginal, inconsequential news blog by Nmodu Danlami, an Abuja-based journalist who reported for the guerilla media of the 1990s, is being used to maliciously besmirch the Peoples Gazette, which I described in a forthcoming book chapter as “an up-and-coming, uncompromisingly hard-hitting, evidence-based, digital-native investigative news reporting outfit headquartered in Abuja.”

Relying on the resources of his febrile imagination-- or the premeditated propaganda materials supplied to him by a third party--Nmodu’s blog libeled Peoples Gazette’s editor in what seems like a gratuitous smear campaign but that may actually be a sponsored political hit job by the usual—and perhaps unusual— suspects. 

Nmodu never bothered to reach out to the Peoples Gazette editor to get him to respond to the injurious falsehoods against him, never spoke to the EFCC and the DSS, which have been pretty open to the press lately, and capped it off with a last paragraph that dripped wet with intentional propagandistic fraud, which gives a hint of the source of his libel.

Nmodu said the Peoples Gazette editor whom he recklessly libeled left Premium Times after he was accused of “ethical misconduct.” I have some familiarity with the circumstances of his voluntary resignation from Premium Times, and I can confirm that he committed no ethical misconduct. 

Read my May 3, 2020 article titled “Dangote, Premium Times, and Journalistic Ethics” to get the context. The man, along with his colleague who still reports for the Premium Times, got a credible memo that signaled unfair labor practices in Dangote Group. 

But, as is now routine, company executives dismissed the memo as “fake” even it was clearly legit, and Premium Times editors “killed” the story on the basis of the company executives’ dismissal of the memo as “fake.”

The reporter then publicly ruminated on Twitter about the growing trend of dismissing unfavorable but credible news as “fake news.” Premium Times editors argued that by publicly talking about a story they had killed, he violated their social media policies, which they actually didn’t have.

If there was anyone who was unethical, it was the Premium Times editor who went to Twitter to publicly throw his reporter under the bus.

Danlami Nmodu, whom I’ve known since the late 1990s, should be ashamed of himself for making himself a willing tool in the campaign to discredit one of Nigeria’s most credible muckraking news sites. 

Peoples Gazette publishes my Saturday Tribune column, and its editor is well-known to me. Up to this moment I have zero reasons to call his credibility and probity into question. I would never knowingly associate with anyone or any organization that is immersed in fraud.

Lauretta Fagbohun, Ogun

The Asiwaju Leragun Egba, Chief Toyin Amuzu, has decried the daily rising cost of living and the hardship being experienced by Nigerians, saying it clearly showed that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is wicked and inconsiderate in their policies and programmes. 

Amuzu said it also showed that the ruling party has “no idea or solution on how to salvage the people from the myriad of problems confronting the nation.”

Speaking in an interview with Nigerian Newstrack in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Amuzu condemned the recent increment in the prices of electricity metres, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), otherwise known as cooking gas and other commodities, especially food items, describing the act as “wicked and inconsiderate.” 

While conceding that the nation’s problems could not be solved miraculously, he opined that those saddled with leadership responsibilities should at least show direction, commitment and patriotism, alleging that “this has not been the case with the APC.”

The Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said: “An average Nigerian now finds it very hard to make ends meet as prices of goods soar virtually everyday. The ruling party has no clear cut vision and sincerity to tackle the challenges confronting us as a nation. It is sad that Nigerians have to pay for their leadership failures.”

The real estate developer lamented that, “eating three square meals has become a big deal. Security is not guaranteed, there is infrastructure deficit and a whole lot. Infact, many businesses have crumbled. But, all the government of the day thinks about is how to take more loans and how to further overtax the people, who are already finding it hard to survive.”

Speaking further, he posited that, “This is not about politics, we must be sincere with ourselves and ponder for once how we want our country, State and local governments to be. Our people are being pushed to the extreme. That is why we must genuinely work out modalities to make things work, else we will all continue to sit on a keg of gunpowder.

"We need to halt this trend, this is not about party affiliation but about genuinely saving our society and improve. Our people can’t go to their farms, or walk freely because they don’t want to be kidnapped. There is nowhere to run to, the ruling party must shun politics and seek advice and solutions to the problems bedevilling the nation anywhere and everywhere,” he told Nigerian Newstrack.

The Egba Chief, enjoined professionals and technocrats to join politics, saying their ideas and contributions were needed to formulate policies that would better the society.

He urged Nigerians, especially the people of Ogun State to embrace the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration exercise of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) so as to be able to vote during election period and stop being mere critics of the government.

Nigeria will start a mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign later this week, aiming to inoculate half of its targeted population by the end of January, government officials said.

Africa's most-populous country has a goal to vaccinate 111 million people to reach herd immunity.

Under the initiative to start on Friday, 55 million doses or more than a million a day will be administered. The country has to date vaccinated only 2.9% of those eligible to get vaccines.

The plan will see vaccine sites set up at private health facilities, universities, colleges, stadiums, motor parks and shopping malls among other venues.

Boss Mustapha, head of the presidential steering committee on Covid-19, said the government "has enough vaccines in the pipeline to vaccinate about 50% of the target population by the end of January 2022."

He also said the government was making efforts to secure booster shots "so as to build a healthy level of antibodies." He did not provide details.

Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said Nigeria received about 5 million AstraZeneca (AZN.L) shots last month from the COVAX global-sharing facility, both purchases and donations. Nigeria also had commitments for 11.99 million and 12.2 million doses of Pfizer Inc/BioNTech (PFE.N)(22UAy.DE) and Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) Covid-19 vaccines, respectively, he said.

The government has purchased nearly 40 million Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N)vaccine doses, which would be coming in batches, said Shuaib.

Reuters