Britain will seek to confiscate 101.5 million pounds ($130 million) from James Ibori, a former Nigerian state governor who abused his office to get rich and laundered millions in Britain and elsewhere, under a court order issued in London on Friday.

Ibori, who is in Nigeria, said he would appeal against the confiscation order, one of the largest imposed on an individual in recent British legal history.

"The next steps will be to take my fight for justice to the highest courts in the UK," he said in a statement.

Ibori was governor of oil-producing Delta State from 1999 to 2007 and was extradited from Dubai to Britain in 2011. He pleaded guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering and received a 13-year jail sentence of which he served half, as is standard.

The case was hailed as a landmark in the fight against corruption in Britain, a global money-laundering hub, and in Nigeria, where self-enrichment by the ruling elite has been one of the main factors holding back development for decades.

David Tomlinson, delivering the confiscation order at Southwark Crown Court, said Ibori should pay the sum immediately or face an eight-year jail sentence.

Spokespersons for Nigerian President Bola Tinubu did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether the Nigerian government would cooperate with the British authorities in enforcing the confiscation order.

Ibori remains well-connected in Nigeria. Tinubu, who took office in May, has hosted him twice at the presidential villa, along with other former governors. Ibori frequently mingles with the ruling elite, and has influence on Delta State politics.

The confiscation process took over a decade after Ibori's conviction because of lengthy court delays and legal wrangling in London.

"The long and tortuous road to reach this point shows just how tough it is to recover the proceeds of corruption in the UK," said Helen Taylor, Senior Legal Researcher at campaign group Spotlight on Corruption.

"To ensure justice delayed doesn’t mean justice denied for the Nigerian people, it’s essential that the UK now makes every effort to ensure the speedy return of this stolen loot to benefit the victims of Ibori’s corruption in Delta State," she said.

Britain has pledged to return any funds recovered from Ibori to Nigeria. In 2021, it returned 4.2 million pounds that had been confiscated from Ibori's ex-wife and his sister, who also served jail time for helping him.

($1 = 0.7788 pounds)

 

Reuters

Britain will seek to confiscate 101.5 million pounds ($130 million) from James Ibori, a former state governor in Nigeria who abused his office to get rich and laundered millions in Britain and elsewhere, under a court orderissued in London on Friday.

Here is a timeline of Ibori's complicated legal and political history:

EARLY CONVICTIONS IN BRITAIN

In the early 1990s, Ibori was living in London with his wife Theresa Ibori and for a time he worked as a shop assistant at a Wickes home improvements chainstore. The couple were arrested, convicted of theft and fined for trying to steal goods from the store.

Ibori was also convicted of possessing stolen goods after being caught with another man's American Express card at London's Euston train station.

POLITICAL RISE IN NIGERIA

In Lagos later in the 1990s, Ibori became close friends with Major Hamza al-Mustapha, who was Chief Security Officer to General Sani Abacha, the then military dictator of Nigeria. The connection helped him to get involved in politics and business.

In 1999, as Nigeria transitioned to democracy after Abacha's death, Ibori was elected governor of Delta State, one of Nigeria's top three oil-producing states. He served two consecutive four-year terms, stepping down in May 2007.

CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION

From 2005, Ibori was the subject of a joint investigation by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and London's Metropolitan Police.

Investigators found properties he secretly owned in Britain, South Africa and the United States and evidence of his lavish lifestyle, including American Express credit card bills showing he routinely spent tens of thousands of dollars per month on luxury hotels, shopping, restaurants and night clubs.

$15 MILLION BRIBE

Then EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu alleged that Ibori had offered him $15 million in cash in April 2007 to drop the investigation. Ribadu said he pretended to accept but instead deposited the cash at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Ibori has denied this in statements to Nigerian media but has refused to be cross-examined in court in Britain. Ribadu testified about it under oath in a London court and British judges accepted his evidence as true.

EXTRADITION, JAIL AND HOMECOMING

In 2010, Ibori left Nigeria for Dubai. Britain requested his extradition and in 2011 he was flown to London and imprisoned.

In 2012, he pleaded guilty at London's Southwark Crown Court to 10 charges of fraud and money-laundering and was sentenced to 13 years in jail. Britain hailed the case as a landmark in the fight against corruption.

Ibori was released in December 2016, having served half of his sentence before and after conviction, and returned to Nigeria in early 2017. He was filmed being welcomed by cheering supporters in Delta State.

CONFISCATION DELAYS

British prosecutors began trying to confiscate Ibori's assets in 2013 but the process was repeatedly derailed by parallel, related legal action and by lengthy court delays.

Ibori and several co-defendants who had served jail time for assisting in his money-laundering launched appeals against their convictions, alleging that the investigation was tainted because of corruption in the ranks of the Metropolitan Police.

Court of Appeal judges rejected the claims and upheld the convictions in 2018.

 

Reuters

The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Education has increased the school fees of new students into Federal Government Colleges otherwise known as Federal Unity Colleges to ₦100,000.

This was contained in a directive from the Office of the Director of Senior Secondary Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education, reference number ADF/120/DSSE/I, dated 25th May, 2023, and addressed to all Principals of Federal Unity Colleges.

According to the circular entitled, “Approved fees/ charges for Federal Unity Colleges (1st Term) for new students“, signed by the Director of Senior Secondary Education, Binta Abdulkadir, new students are expected to part with ₦100,000 instead of the previous N45,000 (an increase of 122 percent).

“The latest fees/charge increment will affect virtually all aspects and activities of the school, including tuition and boarding fees, uniform, text books, deposit, exercise books, prospectus, caution fee, ID card, stationery, clubs and societies, sports, extra lesson, insurance, et al.

“Please be informed that the ministry has approved only the underlisted fees and charges for all Unity Colleges,” the memo read.

 

Punch

The management of the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos State has reportedly increased fees for undergraduate students in the institution.

This was contained in a statement dated July 20, 2023, by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, UNILAG branch following a meeting with the top management staff.

The union, in the statement, said the VC  stated that fees would be increased for UNILAG undergraduate students.

Recall that the students of the institution previously paid N19,000 but the management has fixed new fees at N190,250 (more than 900 percent increase) for students studying medicine while for courses that require laboratory and studio, students are to pay N140,250.

According to SSANU, the VC, Folasade Ogunsola met with representatives of the three non-academic staff unions on Thursday, July 20th to discuss issues concerning members’ welfare.

“During the meeting, the proposed fees for undergraduate students of UNILAG were disclosed.

“Students without lab and studio use will pay N100,750, those with lab use will pay N140,250 and the college of medicine would pay N190,250,” the statement said.

A SSANU representative at the meeting, Rasaki Yusuf asked for a rebate for staff members with children in the university but the VC insisted that the new charges were set nationally and could not be modified for specific categories of students.

Ogunsola, however, gave the option of staff paying in instalments but with a condition to pay up one month before final exams.

Efforts to reach the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Alagba Ibraheem, for a comment proved abortive as calls put through her were not answered and text messages were also not replied to.

 

Punch

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine losing ‘significant’ forces – White House

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has claimed that it was too early to make a call on the results of Ukraine’s counteroffensive operations, insisting that despite losing a “significant” amount of forces, Kiev still has “substantial” reserves to throw into battle.

When asked whether “the real counteroffensive is yet to come” at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington, DC on Friday, Sullivan insisted that the counteroffensive began “the day the first Ukrainian put their life on the line.”

“There have already been significant amounts of casualties and deaths of Ukrainian fighters in this counteroffensive, so it is well underway. And it is hard going. And we said it would be hard going,” the White House adviser told the forum’s moderator Edward Luce.

However, Ukraine has a “substantial amount of combat power that it has not yet committed to the fight,” and according to Sullivan, is now trying to choose the right moment “when it will have the maximum impact on the battlefield.”

“It is at that moment when they make that commitment that we will really see what the likely results of that counteroffensive will be,” Sullivan stated, noting that Washington is in “close consultation with the Ukrainians on the conditions for that.”

The West is evidently disappointed that despite “colossal amounts of resources” it sent to Kiev, its much-lauded counteroffensive has failed to produce any results and has led to high levels of Ukrainian casualties, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Top Pentagon officials insisted earlier this week that it was too early to call the counteroffensive a “failure,” saying Washington had expected all along that the operation would be bloody and protracted. The New York Times reported last week that after losing up to 20% of the weaponry deployed in the counteroffensive in just two weeks, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had paused the operation to shore up ammunition.

** Putin points to Kiev’s huge losses, depleted Western arsenals in failed counteroffensive

Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed to the Ukrainian army’s huge losses, depleted Western arsenals and a change in public mood in Ukraine and Europe as the consequences of Kiev’s much-trumpeted counteroffensive that yielded no results.

"It is obvious today that the Kiev regime’s Western handlers are clearly disappointed over the results of the so-called counteroffensive loudly trumpeted by the current Ukrainian authorities in the previous months," Putin told a meeting with permanent members of the country’s Security Council.

"There are no results [of Ukraine’s counteroffensive], at least for the time being. Neither huge resources pumped into the Kiev regime nor the deliveries of Western weapons - tanks, artillery, armor and missiles - nor thousands of foreign mercenaries sent there and most actively used in attempts to break through our army’s front are of any help," the Russian leader said.

The Russian supreme commander-in-chief highly praised the military command in the zone of the special military operation in Ukraine.

"The military command of the special military operation acts professionally. Our soldiers and officers, units and formations fulfil their duty to their Motherland courageously, perseveringly and heroically," the Russian leader stressed.

Depleted Western arms inventories

"Meanwhile, the entire world sees that the much-touted Western and allegedly invulnerable equipment is torched and is frequently inferior even to some Soviet-made armaments by its operational characteristics," the head of state said.

"Yes, of course, Western armaments can still be additionally supplied and thrown into battle. This, of course, causes certain damage to us and prolongs the conflict," the head of state said.

"However, firstly, NATO arsenals and old Soviet weaponry inventories in some states have already been considerably depleted. Secondly, the available production capacities in the West do not allow for quickly replenishing stocks of expended hardware and ammunition," Putin stressed.

As the Russian leader pointed out, "additional and, moreover, large resources and time are needed" to replenish the Western arms inventories.

Ukrainian army’s irreparable losses

The Ukrainian military lost tens of thousands of troops in its counteroffensive, the Russian president said.

"The main thing is that Ukrainian armed formations suffered huge losses as a result of suicidal attacks. They run into tens of thousands, exactly tens of thousands of people," Putin said.

As the Russian leader pointed out, "despite constant raids, incessant waves of total mobilization across cities and villages in Ukraine, it is increasingly difficult for the current regime to send new reinforcements to the front. The country's mobilization resource is running out."

Change in public sentiment

The Russian leader also pointed to a change in public mood in Ukraine and Europe.

"People in Ukraine increasingly often pose this question, a legitimate question: for the sake of what, for the sake of whose mercenary interests their relatives and friends are being killed. They are sobering up, even if gradually and slowly," the head of state said.

"We see that public opinion in Europe is also changing. Both Europeans and representatives of the European elites see that this so-called support of Ukraine is essentially a deadlock, a futile and endless waste of money and effort and in actual fact the servicing of someone else’s, far from European interests: the interests of the global hegemon from across the ocean that benefits from a weaker Europe," the Russian leader said.

Advantageous flames of war

As Putin pointed out, "the endless prolongation of the Ukraine conflict is also advantageous" for the United States.

"Judging from what is happening in real life, the current US ruling elites are doing precisely this. In any case, they are acting following this logic," the Russian leader said.

"Whether this policy corresponds to the true and vital interests of the American people is a big question and certainly a rhetorical question and let them deal with it themselves," the head of state said.

"However, the flames of war are being intensely fueled at present," Putin said. The Russian leader pointed out that the United States "exploits for this purpose the ambitions of leaders of some Eastern European states who have long turned their hatred of Russia and Russophobia into their chief export commodity and an instrument of their internal policy and now want to benefit from the Ukrainian tragedy."

** Zelensky threatens to ‘neutralize’ Europe's longest bridge

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has claimed that the bridge to Crimea is not civilian infrastructure, but a key logistical route for Russia’s “militarizing” of the peninsula, insisting Kiev was within its rights to target it using any means necessary.

The Crimean Bridge – the longest in Europe, which links the peninsula to mainland Russia over the Kerch Strait – was damaged in an explosion on Monday. The drone strike, which Moscow called a Ukrainian terrorist attack, killed a couple and seriously injured their 14-year-old daughter, who was traveling in the same car.

Neglecting to even mention civilian casualties, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria asked Zelensky at the Aspen Security Forum in Washington, DC on Friday whether destroying the bridge “completely” was Kiev’s “short-term objective.”

“For us this is understandably an enemy facility built outside the law, built outside international laws, and all applicable norms, so understandably this is our objective. And any target that is bringing war, not peace, has to be neutralized,” the Ukrainian leader stated.

Zelensky went on to say that Kiev’s objective was to “reclaim all of Crimea because it is our sovereign territory,” avoiding the host’s question whether such a grand goal could be reached through an ongoing counteroffensive that has so far shown underwhelming results.

Government sources cited by Ukrainian media outlets confirmed the strike had been launched by Kiev. The SBU, the security service that allegedly co-organized the operation with the Ukrainian military, reacted by promising to release details about the incident after the conflict with Russia is over.

Crimea broke away from Ukraine shortly after the Western-backed 2014 Maidan coup, which deposed the democratically-elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. Afterwards, the peninsula joined Russia, with its population overwhelmingly backing reunification in a referendum. Since then, seizing Crimea from Russia has become a top talking point for Ukrainian officials.

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia pounds Ukraine's grain, UN warns of hunger from price rises

Russia pounded Ukrainian food export facilities for a fourth day in a row on Friday and practised seizing ships in the Black Sea in an escalation of what Western leaders say is an attempt to wriggle out of sanctions by threatening a global food crisis.

The attacks on Ukraine's grain, a major part of the global food chain, followed a vow by Kyiv to defy Russia's naval blockade on its export ports after Moscow's withdrawal this week from a UN-brokered safe sea corridor agreement.

The UN warned that millions of people in poor countries around the world were at greater risk of hunger and starvation from the knock-on effect for food prices.

"Some will go hungry, some will starve, many may die as a result of these decisions," UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the Security Council.

In Ukraine, local governor Oleh Kiper said the grain terminals of an agricultural enterprise in Odesa region were hit by air, with 100 tons of peas and 20 tons of barley destroyed.

Photographs released by the emergencies ministry showed a fire burning among crumpled metal buildings that appeared to be storehouses. Two people were injured, Kiper said, while officials reported seven dead in Russian air strikes elsewhere in Ukraine.

Moscow has described the attacks as revenge for a Ukrainian strike on a Russian-built bridge to Crimea - the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula seized by Moscow in 2014. It accuses Ukraine of using the sea corridor to launch "terrorist attacks."

Russia said its Black Sea fleet had practised firing rockets at "floating targets" and it would deem all ships heading for Ukrainian waters to be potentially carrying arms. Kyiv responded with a similar warning about ships headed to Russia.

The attacks on grain export infrastructure and anxiety over shipping drove prices of benchmark Chicago wheat futures towards their biggest weekly gain since the February 2022 invasion.

The UN says the deal had helped the poorest by lowering food prices more than 23% globally since March last year.

Russia says not enough Ukrainian grain had reached poor countries and that it is now negotiating directly with those most in need. It says it will not re-enter the deal without better terms for its own food and fertiliser sales.

Western leaders accuse Moscow of seeking to loosen sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, which already exempt exports of Russian food. Russian grain has moved freely through the Black Sea to market throughout the conflict.

WAGNER NEAR POLAND BORDER

A Polish broadcaster reported on Friday that a military reconnaissance drone of unspecified origin had crashed near a base in southwestern Poland this week.

NATO military alliance member Poland has been reinforcing its border with Belarus, where Russia's Wagner mercenary force has taken up residency after a failed mutiny last month.

Belarus has said Wagner fighters are training its troops near the Polish border. Residents in Poland close to the frontier report having heard shooting and helicopters.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said it was Poland that had territorial ambitions in the region, telling Russia's Security Council that Moscow would react to any aggression against Belarus "with all the means at our disposal."

Investigators in Russia detained prominent nationalist Igor Girkin, a former commander of Russia's proxy forces in Ukraine, who had publicly accused Putin and army chiefs of not prosecuting the war in Ukraine harshly or effectively enough.

"This is a direct outcome of Prigozhin's mutiny: the army's command now wields greater political leverage to quash its opponents in the public sphere," said Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of the R.Politik analysis firm.

Inside Ukraine, four people were killed in 80 Russian attacks on settlements in the southern Zaporizhzhia region over the past 24 hours, regional governor Yuriy Malashko said.

A married couple in their 50s were killed in Russian shelling of the city of Kostiantynivka in the eastern region of Donetsk, the general prosecutor's office said.

And in the northern region of Chernihiv, a woman's body was pulled from rubble after a missile strike, regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, noted that Odesa port, its grain facilities and its surrounding region, had once again been a target of Russian attacks with more than 20 people injured this week alone.

"If someone in Russia hopes that they can somehow turn the Black Sea into an area of arbitrary action and terrorism, this will not work for them," he said.

"We know how to defend ourselves and we see around the world a readiness to work together further and more actively in order to guarantee calm for our region."

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last year and claims to have annexed nearly a fifth of its territory. Moscow says it is responding to threats posed by its neighbour, while Kyiv and the West call it an unprovoked war of conquest.

For some people, a moment without your phone in your hand can seem like a lifetime.

Now, a study has warned how our obsession with our phones could be taking a toll on our relationships.

Scientists from Nigde Omer Halisdemir University set out to investigate the effects of 'phubbing' - snubbing others for your phone - in married couples. 

Worryingly, they found that couples who regularly phub each other have lower marriage satisfaction. 

'When individuals perceive that their romantic partners phubbing more frequently, they feel more conflict and less intimacy in the relationship,' the team explained in their study.

What is phubbing?

Phubbing is a term created by combining the words 'phone' and 'snubbing'. 

It refers to a person interacting with their phone rather than interacting with a human being - whether it is your partner or in other social situations. 

Two people may also phub at the same time, known as double phubbing. 

Phubbing a friend is known as friend phubbing or Fphubbing.   

Phubbing is a process where a person is distracted by their phone during a conversation with others. 

'Phubbing behavior, which we can be subjected to (phubbee) or the doer of (phubber), manifests itself as a behavior that is widely observed everywhere in today's technologically advanced societies,' the team wrote in their study, published in Elsevier journal Computers in Human Behavior.

In their study, the researchers set out to study the effect of this behaviour on married couples. 

They enlisted 712 married people from Turkey (347 females and 365 males), with an average age of 37. 

These participants were surveyed on their marriage satisfaction, phubbing tendencies, and communication skills. 

The results will come as bad news for those who can't put their phone down - phubbing significantly prediced martial dissatisfaction.     

Izzet Parmaksız, lead author of the study, said: 'Our research demonstrates the power of effective communication, especially among romantic couples. 

'Marital conflict mainly occurs when people are ignored by those they value, and this ignorance leads to lower relationship satisfaction and may impact personal well-being. 

'People should be mindful about being present with their loved ones to show they care, and put their phone away.'

The study comes shortly after a study revealed that phubbers are more likely to have certain mental health issues. 

Researchers from the University of University of Oklahoma found depressed people 'phub' their friends more frequently – either in a social situation such as in a pub or a cafe – than those without depression. 

Socially anxious people who might prefer online social interactions to face-to-face communication, also exhibit more phubbing behaviours, the authors say.   

 

Daily Mail

The Putrajaya Roundabout in the administrative capital of Malaysia holds the Guinness record for the world’s largest roundabout. It measures 3.4km in circumference and features 15 entry/exit points.

Located in the heart of Putrajaya, the administrative capital of Malaysia, the Persiaran Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Roundabout, aka Putrajaya Roundabout, is one of the most unusual attractions in the Southeast Asian country. It was designed by renowned Malaysian architect Hijjas Kasturi and inaugurated in 2003. A feat of modern infrastructure engineering, the world’s largest roundabout is built around Istana Melawati, the second-largest palace of Malaysia’s Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Putra Perdana Landmark, and a luxurious five-star hotel. It is also the main access point to Putrajaya’s major attractions, including the prime minister’s green-domed office complex and the city’s enormous mosque.

Measuring over 2 miles (3.4km) in circumference, the Putrajaya Roundabout is humongous by roundabout standards, but because of its elliptical shape and the fact that traffic only flows in one direction, it is a functional roundabout. The same cannot be said about its main rival, a slightly larger roundabout in Trinidad and Tobago’s Port-of-Spain.

Measuring around 2.3 miles (3.7km) in circumference, Queen’s Park Savannah is technically the largest roundabout in the world, but it is yet to be officially recognized as such because of its peculiar shape. This giant roundabout is anything but round. In fact, in order to traverse it, one has to turn no fewer than five 90-degree corners, so even though the traffic has been flowing in one direction since the late 1970s, Queen’s Park Savannah has not been officially recognized as a roundabout.

 

Oddity Central

The death on Wednesday, 20 July, of our friend, compatriot and fellow writer, Kole Omotoso, came to us with a great shock. But in our sadness we give thanks for his life and his work. “We” here refers to the moribund Positive Review-Ibadan Ife Collective.

By a few years, Kole was the oldest among us. He also came to writing as a serious, committed and lifelong project before all of us.

But among us, he was the freest spirit, the most maverick and unpredictable in his positions and actions!

These facts are reflected powerfully and ineluctably in perhaps his two best known and most controversial works, the masterpiece of the hybrid genre of “faction”, Just Before Dawn and Season of Migration to the South, a searing political and intellectual reminiscence on the historic emergence of the Nigerian Diaspora in Africa and the rest of the world.

There are, of course, his other works. And there is his family, the centering, sacramental core of his life: Akin, Pelayo and Yewande, words cannot express our solidarity with you in your loss.

Kole is the first in our group to go, absolutely without our permission and thus in his departure, the free spirit has been true to form. But you were here, Bankole Omotoso, you were here!

Biodun Jeyifo
Yemi Ogunbiyi
John Ohiorhenuan
Femi Osofisan
(For and on behalf of The Positive Review Collective)

The total distributable revenue, available to be shared between the three tiers of the Nigerian government, increased from N786.161 billion in May to about N1.9 trillion in June, over a 100 per cent increase.

The three tiers of the Nigerian government, however, agreed to share less than half of the revenue earned in June among themselves after agreeing to save a large chunk of the revenue, an official has said.

Dele Alake, spokesperson to President Bola Tinubu, said in a statement that the federal government, states and local governments shared N907 billion of the total N1.9 trillion (48 per cent shared) revenue earned in June.

The amount shared in June was still over N100 billion higher than the N786 billion shared between the three tiers of government for May.

Of the almost N1 trillion remaining of the June revenue, Alake said, “N790 billion will be saved, and the rest will be used for statutory deductions.”

The total N786 billion shared for May was after deductions but is still less than half of the distributable revenue for June (N907 billion shared + N790 billion saved).

Alake suggested that saving a large chunk of the June revenue was a way of managing inflation that would have arisen if all the revenue was shared in the aftermath of the recent removal of petrol subsidy.

“The committee also resolved to save a portion of the monthly distributable proceeds to minimize the impact of the increased revenues occasioned by the subsidy removal and exchange rate unification-on money supply, as well as inflation and the exchange rate,” Alake wrote.

Tinubu had on 29 May, during his inauguration, announced the removal of subsidy on petrol which the government was spending almost a trillion naira on monthly.

The removal of the subsidy has caused hardship for many Nigerians with its attendant increase in the prices of goods and services. However, the subsidy removal also led to increased government revenue with total distributable revenue increasing from about N786.161 billion in May to about N1.9 trillion in June as the government earned money that would in the past have been used to subsidize petrol.

Although the government has announced a series of palliatives to cushion the impact of petrol subsidy removal, many Nigerians are still reeling from the policy as petrol prices continue to rise.

In his Thursday statement, Alake said Tinubu also approved “the establishment of the Infrastructure Support Fund (ISF) for the 36 States of the Federation as part of measures to cushion the effects of the petrol subsidy removal on the people.”

“The new Infrastructure fund will enable the states to intervene and invest in the critical areas of Transportation, including farm-to-market road improvements; Agriculture, encompassing livestock and ranching solutions; Health, with a focus on basic healthcare; Education, especially basic education; Power and Water Resources, that will improve economic competitiveness, create jobs and deliver economic prosperity for Nigerians,” the spokesperson wrote.

 

PT

National Economic Council (NEC) presided over by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, has dumped the national social register compiled under Muhammadu Buhari, immediate past president, for lacking credibility.

The council, instead, proposed the implementation of a cash transfer programme for states based on their social registers and a cash reward policy for public servants for six months.

The decision was part of the outcome of the over five hours meeting by members of the council at the State House on Thursday.

Speaking with journalists, Chukwuma Soludo, governor of Anambra, said NEC agreed that states should come up with their own registers using formal and informal means.

He added that all beneficiaries will be easily identified at the subnational level.

“We need to face the problem of the fact that we don’t have a credible register,” he said.

The Anambra governor said NEC deliberated on ways to cushion the impact of the recent removal of the petrol subsidy.

He added that the council agreed on the need for payment of outstanding liabilities of public servants, including pensions and gratuities, to alleviate their hardships.

According to Soludo, the council also agreed that the government will focus on funding micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with single-digit interest rates to support business growth.

In 2016, the federal government established the national social investments programme (NSIP) to “tackle poverty and hunger” across the country.

For the take-off of the programme, the government had directed the immediate release of N25 billion.

For its implementation, a national social register was created, comprising names of vulnerable people and households across the country.

 

The Cable