A controversy has emerged between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Dangote Refinery over the price of petroleum products, as the newly operational refinery began supplying petrol to the state-owned oil company on Sunday, September 15, 2024.

NNPCL's Chief Spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, stated that the company purchased premium motor spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, from Dangote Refinery at N898 per liter. However, Dangote Refinery swiftly countered this claim, describing it as "misleading and mischievous."

In a statement, Anthony Chiejina, Dangote's Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, urged the public to disregard NNPCL's assertion and await a formal pricing announcement from the government-appointed Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries.

Chiejina emphasized that their current stock of crude was procured in dollars and sold to NNPCL in dollars, resulting in "significant savings" compared to current imports.

Despite Dangote's denial, NNPCL has stood firm on its position. Soneye insisted, "If the price isn't N898, then what is it? We would be happy to receive a discount." He added that the government is not setting fuel prices, as it's a deregulated market where prices are determined by market forces.

The dispute comes in the wake of a recent Federal Executive Council directive for NNPCL to engage local refineries, including Dangote, in naira-based transactions for crude oil sales and refined products. This initiative aims to reduce pressure on the naira and improve fuel availability in Nigeria.

As the controversy unfolds, NNPCL has deployed hundreds of trucks to the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, with loading operations commencing on Sunday. The state-owned company is set to be the sole off-taker of refined petrol from Dangote Refinery, which will then distribute to various marketers.

Both parties agree that this development marks a significant step towards addressing Nigeria's longstanding energy insufficiency. However, the pricing dispute highlights the complexities involved in transitioning to local refining and deregulated fuel pricing in Africa's largest oil-producing nation.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has estimated N950 as the Lagos selling price of petrol sourced from Dangote refinery. This indicates that the selling price at NNPC’s retail stations in other states will be higher as transport costs would be factored in.

The state oil firm disclosed this in an early Monday statement by its spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye.

“Attached to this statement are the estimated pump prices of PMS (obtained from the Dangote Refinery) across NNPC Retail Stations in the country, based on September 2024 pricing,” the statement said.

A PREMIUM TIMES review of the statement shows that NNPC Ltd said it paid Dangote refinery N898.78 per litre for the product, NMDPRA (downstream regulator) fee is N8.99, ‘Inspection fee’ is N0.97, ‘Distribution Cost (Lagos)’ is N15, while ‘Margin’, which can be described as NNPC’s profit on each litre, is N26.48.

“Estimated Pump Price in Lagos” is N950.22, the document states.

The estimated pump price for Lagos at NNPC stations is higher than the current pump price at NNPC stations in the commercial city, which is less than N900. The prices are higher at NNPC retail outlets in other states.

Since NNPC is the sole buyer of petrol from Dangote refinery and is expected to sell the product to other marketers, it indicates that the marketers would buy from the NNPC at about the N950 new price.

Already, many independent marketers across Nigeria sell the product above N1,000 per litre.

Before the commencement of petrol production by the Dangote refinery and its sale to NNPC, which began on Sunday, virtually all of Nigeria’s petrol was imported by the NNPC and then sold to other marketers.

This put a strain on Nigeria’s forex and contributed to the depreciation of the naira.

The petrol import was also not transparent amidst allegations of fraud and importation of substandard products.

In its Monday statement, NNPC suggested that it plans to be transparent about the purchase and sale of petrol sourced from the Dangote refinery.

In the meantime, NNPC would still need to import some petrol to augment the volume produced by the Dangote refinery.

However, the Dangote refinery, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is expected to eventually produce enough petrol for Nigeria’s local consumption.

Oil and gas experts say Nigerians should not expect the price of petrol to be lower just because it is refined in the country, as market forces would still determine the price.

PT

In the heart of Nigeria, where multidimensional poverty tightens its grip on the bellies of over 130 million souls, two creatures have made Aso Rock their lavish haven. The Bat and the Rat—the power couple—perch high above the suffering masses, oblivious to the devastation their extravagance leaves in its wake. The symbolism couldn’t be more apt: the Bat, a sneaky, nocturnal creature with an eye for mischief, and the Rat, a notorious destroyer of things at homes, gnawing away at what little remains of the nation's wealth.

Nigeria is in a state of misery. Hunger stalks the streets like an uninvited guest, while the government tightens the noose on the average Nigerian’s neck with every fiscal policy. Yet, as the people scrape for crumbs, this first family has found a way to scrape the treasury clean—feeding their insatiable appetites for luxury, foreign trips, and mind-boggling opulence.

In just three months, the Rat, wife of Bat, has devoured N701 million from the public treasury to fund her globe-trotting escapades, all in a whirlwind of foreign exchange procurement. From New York to Paris, from Addis Ababa to London, this Rat has left a trail of public funds in her wake. And for what? To represent a constitutionally non-existent office? To parade herself across continents while Nigerian mothers can't feed their children?

This is no ordinary Rat. It is one with a taste for designer wheels and extravagant programs. With N1.5 billion blown on fancy cars for the "Villa" (read: for the Rat and her entourage), and millions more spent on decorating her events, one would think the country has nothing more pressing to spend money on. The same people whose lives she pretends to improve through these programs of questionable impact are the same ones starving in the streets. But no, the Rat must be chauffeured in style while her fellow citizens ride the vehicle of suffering into deeper poverty.

Then there's the Bat. While he may sleep during the day, his nocturnal ventures have not gone unnoticed. His administration has purchased a brand-new $150 million jet to replace the 19-year-old Boeing Business Jet that served four predecessors. Apparently, even though world leaders like Joe Biden still manage just fine with their decades-old planes, this Bat finds it embarrassing to fly anything but the most pristine, gold-plated luxury in the sky.

For a creature that thrives in the darkness, the Bat seems unaware that his gluttonous feasting on national resources is happening in broad daylight. The people eat the rancid fruits of his misrule, from skyrocketing inflation to the unbearable cost of living. The Bat may think he can swoop in and out of view, but the people’s eyes are now wide open. They can see the grotesque priorities of his administration—an administration that treats the treasury like its private buffet while the rest of the country starves.

This is not governance. It is a sick display of contempt, a slap in the face to the people who thought their cries for better leadership would be answered. The Bat and the Rat have instead chosen to live in opulence while the nation they claim to serve withers in despair.

But Nigerians have a choice. They can continue to let these two creatures feast on their resources, or they can begin to fumigate the villa of this infestation. It is time to shine a light into the Bat’s lair, to catch the Rat gnawing at the national wealth, and to demand a leadership that will not treat public office as a personal goldmine.

The Bat and the Rat might think they can fly and scurry away from accountability. But sooner or later, the people will set the traps. And this time, it will be the end of their midnight feasting.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was safe on Sunday after the Secret Service foiled what the FBI called an apparent assassination attempt while he was golfing on his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Secret Service agents spotted and fired on a gunman in bushes near the property line of the golf course, a few hundred yards from where Trump was playing, law enforcement officials said.

The suspect left an AK-47-style assault rifle and other items at the scene and fled in a vehicle but was later arrested.

The apparent attempt on Trump's life came just two months after he was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, sustaining a minor injury to his right ear.

Both incidents highlight the challenges of keeping presidential candidates safe in a hotly contested and polarized campaign with just over seven weeks to go before the Nov. 5 election.

It was not clear if or how the suspect knew Trump was playing golf at the time, but the attempted attack was sure to raise new questions about the level of protection he is given.

CNN, Fox News and The New York Times identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, citing unnamed law enforcement officials. The FBI declined to comment.

Reuters found profiles on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn for a Ryan Routh who appeared to be the man identified as the suspect by those news organizations.

Reuters was not able to confirm these were the suspect's accounts and law enforcement agencies declined to comment, but public access to the Facebook and X profiles was removed hours after the shooting.

The three accounts bearing Routh's name suggest he was an avid supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia. In several of the posts, he appeared to be trying to help recruit soldiers for Ukraine's war effort.

GUN BARREL IN BUSHES

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Secret Service agents saw a rifle barrel poking out from bushes about 400 to 500 yards (365 to 460 meters) away from Trump as they cleared holes of potential threats ahead of his play.

The agents engaged the gunman, firing at least four rounds of ammunition around 1:30 p.m. (1730 GMT).

The gunman then dropped his rifle, and left behind two backpacks and other items, and fled in a black Nissan car. The sheriff said a witness saw the gunman and managed to take photos of his car and license plate before he escaped.

"The Secret Service did exactly what should have been done," Bradshaw said, declining to identify the suspect or provide a possible motive.

After the suspect fled the scene, police sent out an alert to statewide agencies with the information on his vehicle, which led to sheriff’s deputies in neighboring Martin County apprehending the suspect on I-95 about 40 miles (65km) from the golf course.

Fox News presenter Sean Hannity said he'd spoken to both Trump and Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate investor and longtime Trump friend who was on the golf course with him on Sunday.

"They were on the fifth hole. And the way Steve described this, the way the president described it, they both had exactly the same story, which is that they heard pop pop, pop pop," said Hannity. The Secret Service "pounced on the president, covered him", he added.

Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, in an interview with the New York Times, said he had spoken with Trump and the former president expressed gratitude for his Secret Service detail, adding that the president said, "These people are awesome."

In response to a reporter’s question, officials acknowledged that because Trump is not in office, the full golf course was not cordoned off.

"If he was, we would have had the entire golf course surrounded,” Bradshaw said during Sunday's briefing. “Because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.”

Trump sent an email to supporters saying there were "gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!" according to an email seen by Reuters.

The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had been briefed about the incident and were relieved to know that he was safe.

Biden later said he had directed his team to ensure the Secret Service has the resources it needs to ensure Trump's safety, according to a statement released by the White House.

Trump is locked in a tight presidential election race with Harris, who has had a surge in the polls since replacing Biden as the Democratic Party's candidate in July.

"Violence has no place in America," Harris said in an X social media post.

On X in 2020, Routh expressed support for Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and mocked Biden as "sleepy Joe."

Earlier this year, Routh tagged Biden in a post on X: "@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA ...make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose."

Trump's running mate in the presidential election, U.S. Senator JD Vance, said he spoke to Trump after the shooting and that the former president was in good spirits.

Trump was grazed in the right ear and one rallygoer was killed in the gunfire at the Pennsylvania rally on July 13. The gunman, identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.

That was the first shooting of a U.S. president or major party presidential candidate in more than four decades, and the glaring security lapse forced Kimberly Cheatle to resign as Secret Service director under bipartisan congressional pressure.

The Secret Service's new acting director said in August that he was "ashamed" of the security lapse that led to the assassination attempt.

** The 58-year-old man accused of pointing an AK-47 at former President Donald Trump on Sunday afternoon has a prolific arrest record that spans several decades.

Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested shortly after the incident at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. Authorities said Secret Service agents fired at him after seeing the muzzle of his AK-47 pointing through a chain-link fence one hole ahead of where Trump was playing.

Authorities are treating the episode as an apparent assassination attempt on Trump.

A background check on the name given by officials, Ryan Wesley Routh, revealed that he currently lives in Hawaii and has faced dozens of run-ins with police, stretching back to at least the 1990s.

Routh is a native of North Carolina, where his list of arrests includes simple drug possession, driving without a license, expired inspection and operating a vehicle with no insurance. In addition, the Greensboro News & Record reported in 2002 that Routh was arrested after barricading himself in his roofing company's office during a three-hour standoff that followed a traffic stop in which he put his hand on a gun before fleeing.

Routh moved to Hawaii in 2017, records show. He has since launched another construction company in Hawaii that builds simple housing structures for homeless people, according to a LinkedIn page that appears to belong to Routh.  

"This does not appear to be some random guy with an AK-47 walking outside Trump's club," an official said after the Sunday afternoon incident.

News of the incident broke shortly after Trump was safely escorted off of the golf course. 

A Secret Service member spotted the would-be gunman while Trump was playing on the course's fifth hole. Officials say he abandoned an AK-47, a go-pro camera and two backpacks along a chain-link fence that borders the sixth hole of the course. 

Routh fled in an SUV after a member of the Secret Service fired on him, but was soon arrested, according to authorities.

Trump's campaign quickly issued a statement that the 45th president was safe, with Trump following up in a message to supporters that he will "never surrender." 

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson confirmed that the Secret Service opened fire after they saw a man lift an AK-47. The suspect fled in a car, but was quickly apprehended, authorities said.

"There were gunshots in my vicinity but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!" he wrote in a message that was shared on social media

"Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!" he continued. "I will always love you for supporting me. Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again. May God bless you."

Reuters/Fox News

Devastating floods collapsed walls at a jail in Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria early last week, allowing 281 prisoners to escape, prison authorities said on Sunday.

Seven of the escaped inmates have been recaptured in operations by security agencies, Umar Abubakar, spokesperson for the Nigeria Correctional Services said in a statement.

"The floods brought down the walls of the correctional facilities including the Medium Security Custodial Centre, as well as the staff quarters in the city," Abubakar said.

Operations to recapture the remainder of the inmates were underway, he said.

Maiduguri is the capital of Borno state which early last week suffered its worst floods in decades. The flooding began when a dam overflowed following heavy rains, decimating a state-owned zoo and washing crocodiles and snakes into flooded communities.

The flood has killed at least 30 people according to Nigeria’s emergency agency and affected a million others, with hundreds of thousands of people forced into camps for displaced people.

Reuters

Houthi missile reaches central Israel for first time

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a "heavy price" on the Iran-aligned Houthis who control northern Yemen, after they reached central Israel with a missile on Sunday for the first time.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040 km (1270 miles) in just 11 1/2 minutes.

An Israeli military official said the missile was hit by an interceptor and fragmented in the air, rather than being completely destroyed.

Air raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel moments before the impact at around 6:35 a.m. local time (0335 GMT), sending residents running for shelter. Loud booms were heard.

Missile pieces landed in fields and near a railway station. There were no direct casualties, but nine people were lightly hurt while seeking cover. Reuters saw smoke billowing in an open field in central Israel.

At a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the Houthis should have known that Israel would exact a "heavy price" for attacks on Israel.

"Whoever needs a reminder of that is invited to visit the Hodeida port," Netanyahu said, referring to an Israeli retaliatory air strike against Yemen in July for a Houthi drone that hit Tel Aviv.

The Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians, since the Gaza war began with a Hamas attack on Israel in October.

The drone that hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July killed a man and wounded four people. Israeli air strikes in response on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah killed six and wounded 80.

Previously, Houthi missiles have not penetrated deep into Israeli air space, with the only one reported to have hit Israeli territory falling in an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.

Israel should expect more strikes in the future "as we approach the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 operation, including responding to its aggression on the city of Hodeidah," Houthis spokesperson Sarea said.

The deputy head of the Houthi's media office, Nasruddin Amer, said in a post on X on Sunday that the missile had reached Israel after "20 missiles failed to intercept" it, describing it as the "beginning".

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine suffering high losses due to slow arms supplies, says Zelenskiy

Ukrainian troops are suffering high losses because Western arms are arriving too slowly to equip the armed forces properly, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told CNN in an interview aired on Sunday.

Russia has been gaining ground in parts of eastern Ukraine including around Pokrovsk. Capture of the transport hub could enable Moscow to open new lines of attack.

Zelenskiy said the situation in the east was "very tough", adding that half of Ukraine's brigades there were not equipped.

"So you lose a lot of people. You lose people because they are not in armed vehicles ... they don't have artillery, they don't have artillery rounds," said Zelenskiy, speaking in English. CNN said the interview had been conducted on Friday.

Zelenskiy said weapons aid packages promised by the United States and European nations were arriving very slowly.

"We need 14 brigades to be ready. Until now ... from these packages we didn't equip even four," he said.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Saturday said Washington was working on a "substantial" new aid package for Ukraine.

Zelenskiy is due to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden this month and will present a plan for ending the war. The main elements are security and diplomatic support, as well as military and economic aid, he said.

The only thing Russian President Vladimir Putin fears is the reaction of his people if the cost of the war makes them suffer, Zelenskiy said. "Make Ukraine strong, and you will see that he will sit and negotiate".

Zelenskiy will also reiterate to Biden demands for Ukraine to be allowed to use U.S. long-range weapons to strike military targets deep into Russia.

Kyiv needs this permission because Russian jets blasting infrastructure had begun operating up to 500 km (310 miles) from the front lines compared with 150 km earlier, he told CNN.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Three Ukrainian jets shot down – Russian MOD

Russian forces have shot down three Ukrainian fighter jets over the last 24 hours, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

Two Sukhoi Su-27 aircraft operated by Kiev were destroyed by the Russian Aerospace Forces, while Russian air defenses have shot down a Mikoyan MiG-29 plane, the ministry said in its daily update on Sunday.

During the same period, the Russian air defenses also intercepted a US-made HIMARS rocket, four French-made Hammer guided bombs, and 55 drones, it added.

Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces lost more than 2,200 troops along the front line and dozens of units of various equipment, including several US-made M777 towed artillery pieces and British L-119 howitzers.

The production of Su-27s and MiG-29s started in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s, with the fighter jets intended to counter American fourth generation aircraft such as F-15s and F-16s.

In July, Forbes reported, citing Oryx defense analysis data, that Ukraine had some 125 jets including Su-27s, Su-25s, MiG-29s and others when the conflict between Moscow and Kiev escalated in February 2022. Around 90 of those aircraft have been destroyed since then, it added.

A “coalition” of European states, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium, promised to supply Kiev with some 80 F-16s more than a year ago.

Ukraine, which had received fewer than a dozen of the US-designed jets by early August, lost its first F-16 during its maiden combat deployment at the end of the same month. The Western-supplied warplane went down during a Russian missile and drone attack on targets in Kiev, killing one of the country’s most experienced pilots, Aleksey ‘Moonfish’ Mes.

Ukrainian investigators have not yet announced the reasons for the crash. According to media reports, the versions on the table include technical problems, pilot error and friendly fire.

The Russian Defense Ministry did not report shooting down an F-16. Some Russian outlets claimed that the Western plane could have been destroyed on the ground by an Iskander missile during a strike on an airfield in western Ukraine.

In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the use of F-16s in the conflict will make them “a legitimate target” for Russian forces, warning that the planes will be struck even at airfields inside NATO countries if they operate from there.

Reuters/RT

History is endangered in Nigeria and those who research or teach it as their vocation are at risk of extinction. Every opportunity to celebrate or learn from history or historians in a country like this, therefore, is not one to be spurned.

When the Usman Dan Fodiyo University (UDUS) in Sokoto, north-west Nigeria, announced that the latest instalment of its Inaugural Lectures would engage with the universe of history, a coincidence of three factors guaranteed them more than the usual bandwidth reserved for such events.

First, this was advertised as the 50th Inaugural Lecture in what is effectively the 50th year of the university. UDUS began life in 1975 as one of twelve federal universities established by the military in the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War with a mission to disperse the frontiers of enlightenment across the country. Usman Dan Fodiyo after whom it is named was the founder of the Caliphal system and a scholar of some repute.

Second, the subject matter of the Inaugural Lecture had audacity written all over it. The framing was: “The Igbo Factor in the History of Inter-Group Relations and Commerce in Kano.” It departed from the usual preoccupation with academic comfort levels and promised a peek into delicate recesses of the Nigerian narrative.

Third, this was only the second Inaugural Lecture from the History Department of UDUS and the lecturer was a man who had spent over 43 years teaching and researching Nigerian history. He had every right to be taken seriously. Moreover, this was the teacher of Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), no less. Here was an opportunity to find out whether the legend of the INEC chairman as an alchemist of fantasy was a product of nature or nurture.

By the time he stepped up to the podium in Sokoto for his lecture on 5 September, Ahmed Bako was guaranteed an audience like none that he had encountered in nearly four and a half decades as a university teacher. A full auditorium in the university was more than outstripped by the remote audience.

The esteemed lecturer began by acknowledging that his subject matter was one steeped in “extreme prejudice and emotions”, particularly, “in recent years when a lot of stories are being told or rumours being peddled on Igbo Community in different parts of the country.” Far from fidelity to his promise to put matters “in proper perspectives” (sic), the lecturer wasted no time in fulsomely embracing the prejudice.

Growing up, he confessed, he “heard a lot of frightening stories about Igbo as wicked people who killed Sardauna.” On the evidence of his rendition, this tragedy was not the origin of their wickedness; it was proof of it.

According to Bako, the Igbo in Kano are a “diaspora”, which calls into question any claims they may have to Nigerian citizenship. The pioneer Igbo cultural organisation in Kano, the Igbo (State) Union, was both clannish and “extremely militant” and the contemporary pan-Igbo socio-cultural institution, Ohanaeze Nd’Igbo, is a “separatist” organization.

He was only warming up. The Igbo, he theorised, “embarrassed” (sic)education “all with the hope of eventual domination of the country; not necessarily for developing it for the benefit of the nation.” Deploying “ethnic solidarity”, he claimed, the Igbo “gradually marginalized or even displace (sic) large number of Hausa traders.”

Far from an Inaugural Lecture, this read very much like a 21st Century Bill of Attainder. There was hardly a constructive contribution to be gleaned from his study of or occasional interaction with the Igbo. Even the Igbo Union School built entirely form community resources of the Igbo and launched in 1959 was dismissed as “exclusively meant for the Igbo, the school had only 9 non-Igbo students.”

In the absence of any organizing theoretical or philosophical framework, the lecture read like a long-suppressed eruption that finally found an occasion to occur. Its context, sub-text, and texture belied its ostentatious claim early in the text that it was “purely historical not political. It is base (sic) on Archival (sic) and field research.”

Blinkered by prejudice, Bako could not muster the curiosity to interpret his own evidence. Earlier in his lecture, he acknowledged “the colonial residential segregation policy that established different enclaves for migrants”, which effectively binned the Igbo in Kano into an ethnic ghetto in Sabon Gari. He could not have been so bereft of imagination as to be unable to discern it was ethnic discrimination that forced the community to build the Igbo Union School. In striving parents who sought to afford education to their children who may otherwise have missed out on it altogether, all he had the capacity to see was ethnic malevolence.

Bako trotted out hackneyed tropes with a recklessness that dispensed with evidence, authority or comparison. For instance, he claimed that “searching for economic power and dominance make the Igbo to be desperate and aggressive. Desperation is what make (sic) them to not only be disliked by host communities in several of the areas of their dominance in Northern Nigeria but to pushed (sic) some young Igbo into criminal activities.” In support of this claim, he provides neither archival material nor evidence from anthropology, criminology or comparative criminal justice research. It was difficult to believe this was an Inaugural Lecture.

In Bako’s fantastic world, these Igbo are an ethnic group in perpetual conspiracy. In reality, he comes across as projecting his own ethnic self-image onto the Igbo, reflecting at the same time the crisis of a country that cannot make up its mind about this ethnic group. The classic Nigerian tropeabout the Igbo is of an ethnic nationality almost congenitally incapable of unity. In Bako’s world, however, all they do is conspire on the altar of ethnic solidarity and before the god of domination.

Blinded by this, the professor could not imagine alternative explanations outside his conspiratorial theory of Igbo domination. The lecture mentions “Igbo” 427 times and contains 16 references to words “dominate”, “dominance” or “domination” but finds no citation, authority or evidence to support its connection between Igbo and domination.

The only currency it trades in is homogenization. Magically, it deploys “Igbo” as singular, plural, and collective. It’s a sorcerer’s epic.

Bako’s history of Igbo interaction with Kano coincides rather conveniently with the onset colonial urbanisation in Nigeria. The text is too lazy to even speculate as to whether or not there was any interaction before this time. If he had allowed himself to think outside the frame of homogenized Igbo identity, the professor may have realized that different Igbo communities came to education (and to Kano) at different times.

The Onitsha on the banks of the Niger, for instance, were relatively early recipients of Western education. Their neighbours in Obosi came to it a little later and pursued it aggressively not to dominate Nigeria (a notion that was alien to them) but to compete more equitably with the Onitsha. The idea that the Wawa, the Aro, the Ngwa and the Onitsha (all Igbos sub-groups) conspired to head to Kano to pursue domination makes meaning only to someone who is willfully illiterate about Igbo inter-group relations.

In 2012, an evidently unwell Emir Ado Bayero traveled to Enugu to attend the funeral of Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, whose leadership in the Nigerian Civil War has Bako throwing hissy fits. In January 1966, Ojukwu was the Brigade Commander in Kano who saved Bayero’s life and precluded Chukwuma Nzeogwu’s subaltern, Captain Ude, from coup operations in Kano. Ojukwu was himself fluent in Hausa and may indeed also have fathered a child in Kano. None of this merited acknowledgement in Bako’s elevated piece of pitiable hatchetry. The students who endured him for over four decades deserve our thoughts and prayers.

One thing is clear, however, after surviving Bako: the provenance of this current INEC Chairman is settled.

** Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a professor of law, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and can be reached through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Key Takeaways
Dream big and don't try to please everyone. You can chart your own course, challenge the crowd mentality and ignore the status quo.
Hire people who will elevate you and your business, not just those who think exactly like you.
Don't overcomplicate or catastrophize issues. Most problems have simple solutions, but you need to pause to think about it.
You will fail if you seek perfection, because it doesn't exist. Sometimes you have to "just do it." And when you do have to make a decision, live up to your values 100% of the time.

Forty years ago, I started my business, ComPsych, with an idea and $1,000. Fast forward to today, and it's the largest provider of mental health services in the world, serving 78,000 organizations of various sizes from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, helping more than 163 million people across 200 countries.

I often get asked how I did it, and I always come back to my guiding principles for business and life. Here are those seven principles that guided me as I built my company from a startup to what it is today — fulfilling my wildest financial dreams and the commitment to my mission — that can also help you build a lucrative and personally fulfilling business, too.

1. Imagine the unimaginable

It's imperative for entrepreneurs to set their sights not just high, but into the stratosphere. When starting out, don't limit yourself by setting too modest of a vision. "Dream big" sounds like a cliché, but it can also become a self-fulfilling prophecy. History is littered with entrepreneurs that others thought were crazy before they ultimately achieved unimaginable success.

You will of course need to set incremental goals along the way, but throughout your journey as a business owner, remember that the only person who can truly put a cap on your business's potential is you.

2. Commitment vs. committee

One business school trap I see entrepreneurs fall into is spending too much time trying to build consensus. Instead, focus on building commitment to your vision. Why? Because bold ideas often aren't embraced by consensus. I frequently say that reversion to the mean is a compromise for mediocracy: Trying to satisfy everyone often results in your ideas becoming a shell of their original concept. A classic example of a "committee" project is where everyone is heard and no one is happy.

Instead, hire a group of people who believe in you and your unimaginably large vision, and who are inspired by the future and the potential you see.

3. The crowd is usually wrong

Challenging the crowd mentality is not only positive, but essential. If you want to differentiate yourself, why would you do exactly what competitors are doing? My advice: Chart your own course.

When I started my business, everyone else was trying to provide care to every corner of the country through their own disparate offices and internal clinicians, which is impossible to do effectively. I bucked the trend, embracing a nationwide network model. This centralized approach allowed us to offer broader services at a lower pricepoint while decreasing bureaucracy and overhead. We were instantly competitive, and grew rapidly as a result.

Fast forward to today, when online-only tools have become the status quo, and we're still going against the grain as a hybrid provider who offers both digital tools and telehealth services as well as the industry's largest in-person network and comprehensive organizational support services.

4. Hire for elevation

As you grow from a small team (or even a team of one!) to a business with dozens, hundreds or thousands of employees, you'll see how important it is to hire with intention. I believe the people you bring on board make or break your company. Seek out people who will push the business forward.

These people won't all look the same. Some will have a wealth of valuable experience in the field while others will come from different backgrounds. What's most important is that they exemplify the characteristics that are central to your mission and culture. Frankly, I value qualities like intellectual curiosity, tenacity and rigor as much, if not more, than traditional experience because I know those are the type of people who thrive at my company.

5. Be smarter than the problem

Most issues in business have relatively simple answers. We're the ones who overcomplicate them. As humans, we have a tendency to catastrophize. This can lead to a ton of extra work and heartache.

Instead of spinning in circles, I lean on the old Navy axiom, "Keep it simple, stupid." Think simply about what the problem really is (hint: it's usually notwhat everyone is talking about) and how to solve it. This straightforward, thoughtful approach is often not only the most expedient, but also the most effective.

6. Perfection is the enemy of success

While we all strive for excellence, remember that focusing too much on perfection will be to your own detriment. Like the iconic Nike slogan, sometimes you have to "Just do it." There will be opportunities to iterate and improve in the future. In the meantime, work to execute your vision as best you can while recognizing there will literally always be room to grow and improve.

If I waited until everything was perfect, I would not have done most things. Executing quickly but thoughtfully is the key. Over time, you'll hone your instincts, see continuous patterns and learn to trust your gut when it comes to taking decisive action. The biggest thing is to not agonize unnecessarily or become immobilized while you weigh your options. The worst decision you can make is no decision at all.

7. Be bulletproof

I believe integrity, and hence, your reputation, is the most important thing in business and in life. When I say "be bulletproof," that means live your values 100% of the time. This ensures your business never waivers from its mission while building a reputation people trust. It also fosters a culture of accountability and helps insulate you from criticism stemming from hypocrisy.

Nearly 20 years ago, Warren Buffett popularized the notion of the "newspaper test" — the concept that if you wouldn't want something you did published on the front page of a newspaper, then it isn't the right thing to do. It's an easy way to ensure your actions match your words.

These may seem like straightforward concepts, and they are. The challenge comes from implementing them as you navigate unforeseen adversity. It's the rigor and discipline of applying the same set of principles to every situation that will make the difference over time. After 40 years in business, I've come to realize that nothing is insurmountable. With unabashedly large dreams, an unwavering commitment to your vision, confidence to chart your own path, the right people beside you, a bias towards simple, smart action and strong values to guide you, you're likely to succeed in not just business, but in life.

** Chairman and Founder

Richard A. Chaifetz is the founder and chairman of ComPsych, the world’s largest provider of mental health services. He is also the chairman and managing partner of Chaifetz Group, a venture capital and private equity firm, and the owner of the St. Louis Shock of Major League Pickleball.

Entrepreneur

Google, Netflix, Facebook and other foreign companies operating in Nigeria paid N2.55tn in taxes to the Federal Government in the first six months of 2024.

The amount represents an increase of 158.76 per cent from N985.27bn collected in the preceding period of 2023.

The figure includes Company Income Tax and Value Added Tax, collated from data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics.

According to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, CIT is a 30 per cent tax imposed on companies’ profit, and VAT is a 7.5 per cent consumption tax paid when goods are purchased, and services are rendered and borne by the final consumer.

In 2020, the Federal Government had indicated plans to begin tax collection from foreign digital service providers offering services and earning revenue in naira due to its high acceptance by the Nigerian populace.

Some of these service providers, which are video streaming sites, social media platforms, and companies that offer downloads of digital content, are expected to pay digital tax to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, among others, which have been operating without a physical office in Nigeria, offer digital video and advertising services to Nigerians.

Others, like Alibaba and Amazon, generate revenue from Nigeria by processing and transmitting data collected about users in Nigeria, providing goods or services directly or through a digital platform, or offering intermediate services that link suppliers and customers in Nigeria.

Also, in January 2022, the Federal Government disclosed that it would charge offshore companies providing digital services to local customers in Nigeria a six per cent tax on turnover as provided in the 2021 Finance Act.

A breakdown of the reports showed that the companies paid N1.72tn as CIT while N831.47bn was collected as VAT between January and June 2024.

On a quarterly basis, Nigeria’s earnings from CIT increased by 87.2 per cent from N598.13bn in Q1 to N1.12tn in Q2.

Checks by our correspondent also revealed that the amount was the highest sum paid by the companies, contributing more than 45.3 per cent to the N2.4tn collected in the second quarter.

A breakdown of VAT showed that Nigeria earned N435.73bn in Q1 and N395.74 in Q2, marking a reduction of N39.99bn.

On Tuesday, the Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, revealed that the Federal Government’s revenue for the first quarter of 2024 increased to N9.1tn, more than doubling the amount recorded in 2023 without increasing taxes.

Punch