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Friday, 18 August 2023 04:57

ECOWAS, again, vows to restore Niger democracy ‘by all means’

West Africa’s economic bloc is open to talks or a rare military intervention to overturn a coup in Niger, an official said. Democracy will be restored “by all means available,” Abdel-Fatau Musah, the Ecowas commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, said at a high-level regional meeting in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, Thursday. “If push comes to shove we are going into Niger with our own contingent,” he said. Top military officers representing nations of the Economic Community of West African States are meeting over the next two days to discuss possible intervention in Niger, where soldiers overthrew President Mohamed…

Thursday, 17 August 2023 05:03

Tinubu assigns portfolios to Ministers

President Bola Tinubu has appointed Nyesom Wike, former governor of Rivers state, as the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT). Wike is the second southerner to head the FCT after Ajose Adeogun, the only person from the region, who was appointed in 1976. In a list released by Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Tinubu appointed Gboyega Oyetola, former governor of Osun, as the minister of transportation. He also appointed Festus Keyamo as the minister of aviation and aerospace development. The list shows that the Northwest has 10 ministers, while Northeast has six. The…

Thursday, 17 August 2023 05:02

NNPC secures $3bn emergency loan from Afreximbank to help CBN stabilise Naira

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited has secured a $3 billion emergency crude repayment loan to support the naira and stabilise the foreign exchange market. NNPC Limited secured the crude-for-cash funding from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. While the details are still sketchy, it is understood that NNPC will repay the loan with crude oil at an interest rate between eight percent and 11 percent. “NNPC Ltd. and Afrexim Bank have jointly signed a commitment letter and Termsheet for an emergency $3 billion crude oil repayment loan,” NNPC said in a terse statement on Wednesday. “The…

Wednesday, 16 August 2023 03:57

Tinubu dodges ‘Labour’s bullet’, says prices of petrol won’t increase anytime soon

Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on media and publicity, says his principal has promised there will be no further increase in the petrol pump price. Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Ngelale said the proposed strike by the NLC is premature. “The president wishes first to state that it is incumbent upon all stakeholders in the country to hold their peace. We have heard very recently from the organised labour movement in the country with respect to their most recent threat,” he said. “We believe that the threat was premature and that there is a need…

Wednesday, 16 August 2023 03:56

Nigeria’s inflation surges on transport costs, food prices

Nigeria’s inflation rate climbed to a fresh 18-year high on surging transport costs and food prices, adding to pressure on the central bank to raise borrowing costs when it meets next month. Consumer prices rose an annual 24.1% in July, compared with 22.8% in the prior month, according to the data published on the National Bureau of Statistics’ website on Tuesday. Inflation was last at that level in September 2005. The median estimate of seven economists in a Bloomberg survey was 23.6%. Prices rose 2.9% month-on-month. The uptick was broad-based with annual food inflation quickening to 27% in July from…

Wednesday, 16 August 2023 03:55

Naira appreciates against dollar on parallel market operators’ fear of CBN’s promised intervention

The dollar has crashed to between N805 to N790 at the parallel exchange market on Tuesday. It started a steady decline from N925 to N930 that it was exchanged in the morning till around 4:00 pm when news about a possible Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention filtered through to the Bureau De Change (BDC) operators. Recall that the CBN announced plans to take critical decisions to reverse the slide of the naira in the next few days, thereby resulting in significant losses to the speculators. Acting CBN governor, Folashodun Shonubi, dropped the hint on Monday while briefing State House…

Wednesday, 16 August 2023 03:52

If politicians don’t stop being corrupt, they won’t be able to stop the ‘holy war’ of the people - Toyin Falola

A Nigerian academic based in the United States, Toyin Falola, says the political elite in Nigeria must reform the country’s governance to deliver socio-economic prosperity to its citizens. Falola, a renowned professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, said the fallouts of government’s failure to tackle corruption would be uncontrollable. He spoke on Tuesday as the keynote speaker at a national policy dialogue on corruption organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Abuja. Speaking on the topic, ‘Corruption, Social Norms and Behaviour Change in Nigeria,’ the academic recalled the transformative…

Tuesday, 15 August 2023 04:53

NLC threatens indefinite strike if petrol price increases any further

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says it would mobilise its members to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike if the current price of petrol increases. Joe Ajaero, president of the NLC, spoke on Monday at the African Trade Union alliance meeting in Abuja. On Sunday, oil marketers hinted that the pump price of petrol would rise to over N700 per litre if the Naira continues to depreciate against the dollar, especially at the parallel market. Currently, petrol is being sold at N617 per litre in many parts of the country and N577 in Lagos. On several occasions, organised labour had criticised…

Tuesday, 15 August 2023 04:51

Another NAF helicopter crashes in Niger state, second in one month

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says its MI-171 helicopter on a casualty evacuation mission has crashed in Niger state. Edward Gabkwet, spokesperson of NAF, who announced the incident in a statement on Monday, said the helicopter crashed at about 1 pm near Chukuba village in Shiroro LGA of the state. Gabkwet said the aircraft had departed Zungeru Primary School en route to Kaduna, but was later discovered to have crashed near Chukuba village. “A Nigerian Air Force MI-171 Helicopter on a casualty evacuation mission crashed today, 14 August 2023 at about 1.00 pm near Chukuba village in Niger state,” the…

Monday, 14 August 2023 04:32

Petrol to sell for N720 per litre in coming days - Marketers

Oil marketers, on Sunday, indicated that the cost of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, would rise to between N680/litre and N720/litre in the coming weeks should the dollar continue to trade from N910 to N950 at the parallel market. They also hinted that dealers seeking to import PMS were being forced to put the plans on hold due to the scarcity of foreign exchange to import the commodity. The warning came barely one week after the local currency crossed the N900/dollar ceiling, with the naira selling at over 945/dollar at the parallel market on Friday. Oil dealers said the…

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Monday, 14 August 2023 04:30

Tinubu killing Nigerians instead of corruption - Tunde Bakare

Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (formerly Latter Rain Assembly), Tunde Bakare, on Sunday came hard on President Bola Tinubu over the fuel subsidy removal, describing it as “impulsive”. He said poor people were being made to suffer for the corruption of a few powerful people benefiting from the subsidy regime, noting the President should have gone after those individuals, and not “punish” Nigerians. In his state of the nation address titled, “Vice, Virtue and Time: The Three Things That Never Stand Still”, Bakare stated that the removal of subsidy is tantamount to killing Nigerians. In 2012, Bakare…

Monday, 14 August 2023 04:29

They are open to diplomacy, Nigerian Islamic scholars who met Niger military leaders report

Coup leaders in Niger are open to diplomacy to resolve a standoff with West Africa's regional bloc, a group of senior Nigerian Islamic scholars said on Sunday after meeting the junta in Niamey. Their visit comes as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) explores its options to restore civilian rule in Niger, including potential military intervention, following the July 26 ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum - the seventh coup in West and Central Africa in three years. In a sign the bloc is still pushing for a peaceful resolution, ECOWAS chairman and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu approved Saturday's…

Sunday, 13 August 2023 04:34

‘It is finished for Bazoum. There is no one among soldiers still loyal to him’, notable Niger activist says

The only way to avoid conflict in Niger between mutinous soldiers who ousted the president and regional countries threatening an invasion to reinstate him is to recognize the new regime, a rights defender with ties to the junta told The Associated Press. In his first interview with Western media Friday, Insa Garba Saidou, a local activist who assists Niger’s new military rulers with their communications and says he is in direct contact with them, said there will be no dialogue with regional countries until they acknowledge the new head of state. Although Saidou is not an official member of the…

Sunday, 13 August 2023 04:31

Kano residents protest against military invasion of Niger

Some residents of Kano on Saturday protested against any attempt to use military action to restore democratic rule in the Niger Republic as they stormed the streets of the commercial city. The protesters who are mostly residents of the state embarked on the action to show their displeasure and non-support of the planned military invasion of the country. While moving in a procession, they kept chanting, “Nigeriens are our brothers; Nigerians are also our family.” “Niger is ours; we don’t want war; war against Niger is injustice, a plot by the Western forces,” they kept chanting, raising Nigerian and Nigerien…

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