I went to buy blank videotapes in a van with Christian VideoNet emblazoned on both sides. Immediately I came out of the van, an Indian man engaged me in friendly conversation.  Soon he was talking to me about “Our Lord.” 

 My immediate reaction was: “Which Lord is this man talking about? What makes him think that my Lord is his Lord?”  My thinking was that, whatever Lord this friendly Indian man was talking about; it cannot be my Lord Jesus Christ. 

My new Indian friend kept on chatting and he was smiling curiously at me.  And then it hit me. When I think Indian, I think Hindu.  But this Indian man was not a Hindu. That was what he had been trying to communicate to me.  This Indian man was a Christian.

Forgive me for having such a one-track mind.  On an earlier occasion, I had met another Indian man.  He was not Christian, but I soon got the impression that he was in the marketplace for a new religion. 

He did not wait for me to witness to him.  Seeing the sign on the van, he wanted me to tell him about Christianity.  But then he had some vital questions he wanted cleared up right at the beginning. 

 “Your religion,” he asked, “does it allow you to drink alcohol?” 

“Yes,” I replied expansively, “we even drink wine in church.” 

“Wonderful, wonderful,” said my Indian friend, brightening up.  Then he asked: “How many gods do you have?” 

I was a bit slow on the uptake and did not quite understand what he meant. 

“What do you mean how many gods do I have?” I asked incredulously. 

“Yes, yes.” The man replied, without any hint of mischief.  “How many gods do you have?” 

“I have only one God,” I said marvelling at him. 

And then I understood why.  He was shopping for another god.  This man was quite simply a “god collector.” 

“Only one?” he asked in disbelief.  “You have only one God?” 

“Well, yes,” I replied, now defensive.  “I have only one God.” 

The man shook his head in a way that said eloquently: “Forget it.”  What is the point of a religion where you only have one God?  That is simply too risky.  What if he happens to be busy at any given time? 

Dear reader, how many gods do you have?  Do you even know all of them?  I know what you will say to me: “How can I have any other God?  I am a Christian.”  But if the possibility of having other gods did not exist, do you think that God would tell us not to have any other gods before him? 

The truth is that many of us Christians have other gods before God.  Many of us don’t even realise that we serve other gods.  But our predicament is similar to that of the biblical nation of Israel:

 They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods– according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away. (2 Kings 17:33).

He is the God who took us out of the land of Egypt.  He parted the Red Sea and we walked through on dry ground.  600 Egyptian chariots and horses chased us when God delivered us from Egypt and Pharaoh.  And yet all of them ended up at the bottom of the Red Sea.  So why would we trust in the same horses and chariots which brought the Egyptians to grief after such a glorious experience?  Why indeed!

The message should be clear.  God saves by faith alone.  He who has Jesus has all the protection he needs.  He does not need chariots and horses.

I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. (Hosea 1:7).

Nevertheless, the Bible records that Solomon had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen.

 My nephew had some vital questions to ask me. 

“Uncle Femi,” he said, “does God not like his children to save money?” 

 He had been having some difficulty with the Holy Spirit.  Every time he built up a tidy nest egg, the Lord would bring a project to wipe it all off.  He was becoming frustrated.  He did not seem to have any money put away for the rainy day. 

“God does not like his children to rely on money,” I told him.  “He wants his children to depend solely on him.” 

You can put burglar-proofing on your door but don’t rely on it.  They can be cut like paper.  You can buy life insurance policies, but don’t put your hope in them.  The insurance company itself can collapse.  Definitely, you can not have a godfather.  Neither can you have a sugar daddy.  And you can never go to Egypt for help (Isaiah 31:1). 

So tell me please how can we fight Goliath if we have no weapons?  Don’t even bother putting on the armour of Saul.  The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.  How would we kill Goliath?  Not by power or by might but by My Spirit says the Lord. 

How would I pay my school fees?  How would I meet my life partner?  How would I get my promotion?  Not by power or by might.

But faith is a big problem for most Christians.  It is so unreal.  We want a God that we can see: one we can touch.  And so we make a calf and say this is the God that brought us out of Egypt.  But we just made the calf, so how can it be God?  Or, we want a king like everyone else.  But is God not our king?  No.  We want a king that is flesh and blood.

And so we not only weary men, we weary God as well.  We provoke the Holy One of Israel to anger.  God says: “Samuel, tell them what a king will do to them. Tell them that a king will sell them and their children into slavery.” 

But we are not impressed. It does not matter. We still want a king. Everybody has one, and we would like to be like everybody else. 

The man who looks unto the hills is the man who does not know God. The man who looks unto the hills is the man who does not know where his help is going to come from. He has many gods and he has so many helpers.  Therefore, he is unsure which of them would be so kind as to help him at any given time. Some of them may be busy; or otherwise engaged.  But the man that has God knows that his salvation comes from the only true God.   

Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly, in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. (Jeremiah 3:23).

Even the Psalmist who was initially looking to the hills soon realised the error of his ways:

My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (Psalms 121:2).

Not from the Lord who is the Governor of Central Bank.  Not from the Lord who is Managing Director of First Bank.  But from the Lord of all Lords and the King of Kings.  The Lord who made heaven and earth. CONTINUED.

The Manufacturers Power Development Company Limited, a firm founded under the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, has said that current energy costs in the country are unsustainable for manufacturing firms, especially those receiving electricity in the Band A category.

To tackle this, the firm revealed that it now provides 10 companies with sustainable energy solutions as part of its effort to bridge the energy gap nationwide.

The acting Managing Director of MPDCL, Oweh Mba-Sam, who disclosed this in Lagos, said working with the 10 companies was the first stage of a broader project aimed at reducing power costs and enhancing energy efficiency for manufacturers.

“If you are on Band A, you know what the cost of power is. Then if you are manufacturing and you are on Band A, you are in serious trouble. And the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria cannot have a power company while members are groaning with Band A,” Mba-Sam asserted, highlighting the urgent need for alternative solutions.

He revealed the MPDCL is leading an initiative to encourage manufacturers to embrace renewable energy, particularly solar to tackle the energy challenge.

The company said it is advocating a “Power as a Service” model, which allows manufacturers to install energy equipment at no initial capital cost, with companies only required to pay an agreed tariff lower than current grid rates.

“You sign it, and it is installed for you and will be there for 20 years or 15 years depending on the agreement,” Mba-Sam explained.

This model, he added, is critical in helping companies avoid the exorbitant costs associated with getting power from the national grid.

The first phase of the MPDCL project already supports ten companies, each receiving a minimum of 1 MW, representing about 10 MW in total.

Mba-Sam explained that MPDCL’s goal is to systematically bridge Nigeria’s energy gap, aiming to expand the model to more companies across the country.

“The strongest challenging point is finance. Once you get finance, you can do almost everything you want to do. So first we sought finance offshore as single digits. Right now we have 10 companies on our list with a minimum of 1 MW per company. That’s a lot. That’s about 10 MW of the line.

“Our idea is to continue this process until we see the gap start closing until it evaporates,” he added.

President of MAN, Francis Meshioye, further emphasised that the MPDCL’s efforts align with the broader goals of the upcoming Manufacturers Energy Security Summit scheduled for November 19-21 in Lagos.

Meshioye disclosed the summit will bring together industry leaders, policymakers, and energy experts to discuss sustainable energy solutions for industrial growth.

“It is important that we address these challenges frontally,” Meshioye said, noting that the summit will serve as a platform for collaboration between public and private stakeholders.

“By addressing energy security, we can unlock the full potential of our industries,” he added.

Meshioye also called for government support in the form of policy frameworks that can ease access to renewable energy and support energy infrastructure development.

He noted that with Nigeria’s energy supply remaining unreliable and costly, these issues have posed barriers to the competitiveness and growth of local industries.

The summit will focus on various topics, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, and smart manufacturing, with speakers from across the globe expected to share insights on best practices and emerging technologies.

MAN said it will continue to call for government intervention regarding the tariffs which rose by 250 per cent following the Federal Government’s policy to increase tariffs for Band A customers from N68/kWh to approximately N224–N225/kWh.

Punch

Canada has announced that it will no longer automatically grant 10-year multiple-entry visas to tourists.

The new guidelines, released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), empower immigration officers to issue visas with shorter durations based on individual assessments, moving away from a default extended validity period.

According to the IRCC, the change is part of a broader strategy to manage temporary immigration levels, address housing shortages, and control the rising cost of living.

Under this revised policy, frequent visitors to Canada may face increased application costs and shorter-term visas, potentially affecting those who regularly travel for work or leisure.

Previous Policy

Previously, Canada offered two types of tourist visas: multiple-entry and single-entry.

All applicants were automatically considered for a multiple-entry visa, allowing multiple visits over a period of up to 10 years or until one month before the passport’s expiration date.

Single-entry visas, which allowed only one entry into Canada, were reserved for specific situations, such as official visits or single-event participation.

What’s New?

With the updated guidance, maximum-validity multiple-entry visas are no longer standard.

Immigration officers now have greater discretion in determining whether to issue a single-entry or multiple-entry visa and will assess each application individually.

This approach allows for varied durations tailored to the specific needs of travelers.

“Guidance has been updated to indicate that multiple-entry visas issued to maximum validity are no longer considered to be the standard document. Officers may exercise their judgment in deciding whether to issue a single or multiple-entry visa and in determining the validity period,” the IRCC stated.

Visa Application Costs

The application fee for a Canadian visitor visa remains CAD 100 per person, with no cost difference between single-entry and multiple-entry visas.

Broader Immigration Strategy

This visa policy adjustment aligns with Canada’s recent initiatives to balance immigration levels and address infrastructure challenges.

Other measures include lowering the target for permanent resident admissions from 500,000 to 395,000 in 2025, with further reductions planned for 2026 and 2027.

Canada’s new approach reflects a cautious strategy to manage immigration sustainably, aiming to adapt to the country’s evolving economic and social needs.

Vanguard

Franklin Nwadialo, a newly elected chairman of Ogbaru LGA in Anambra state, has been arrested in Texas, United States (US), for allegedly running a $3.3 million romance scam.

The US department of justice said in a statement that Nwadialo is facing a 14-count charge and risks a 20-year sentence if found guilty.

The federal bureau of investigation (FBI) reportedly arrested the 40-year-old LGA chairman on arrival in Texas.

He would be transferred to the Western District of Washington for arraignment.

“According to the indictment, Nwadialo used various versions of the name ‘Giovanni’ when he met his victims online on websites such as Match, Zoosk, and Christian Café,” the statement reads.

“Nwadialo used false images for his profile and typically told the victims that he was in the military and deployed overseas so he could not meet the victims in person.

“Using these personas, Nwadialo invented many reasons he needed the victims to send him money.

“In one such case in 2020, he indicated he had been fined by the military for revealing his location to the victim. He asked the victim to help him pay the $150,000 fine. In all, that victim was defrauded of at least $2.4 million.”

The US department of justice cited another instance where the accused contacted a second victim in 2019 to help move funds from US accounts to accounts controlled by him and his co-schemers.

“In this instance, Nwadialo represented that he needed the help moving money in connection with his father’s death. The victim transferred at least $330,000 to the accounts controlled by the defendant,” the department stated.

“A third victim was defrauded by Nwadialo when he told her that he was investing money for her.

“He claimed that a check she received from another victim was proceeds from her investments, and he had her “reinvest” the money in a specific cryptocurrency account that he controlled. The victim transferred at least $270,000 at Nwadialo’s direction.

“Finally, in August 2020, Nwadialo defrauded another victim who he met on an online dating site and caused this victim to transfer at least $310,000 by claiming he needed financial assistance, including help paying for his father’s funeral or his son’s school tuition.

“The 14 counts of wire fraud relate to the communications with Nwadialo and the wiring of funds from victims to the defendant and his co-schemers.”

The case is being prosecuted by Sok Jiang, an assistant United States attorney.

The Cable

After Hamas rejection of hostage deal, US asked Qatar to expel the group

The U.S. has told Qatar that the presence of Hamas in Doha is no longer acceptable in the weeks since the Palestinian militant group rejected the latest proposal to achieve a ceasefire and a hostage deal, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday.

The tiny Gulf state Qatar, alongside the U.S. and Egypt, has played a major role in rounds of so-far fruitless talks to broker a ceasefire to the year-long war in Gaza. The latest round of talks in mid-October failed to produce a deal, with Hamas rejecting a short-term ceasefire proposal.

"After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should no longer be welcome in the capitals of any American partner. We made that clear to Qatar following Hamas's rejection weeks ago of another hostage release proposal," the senior official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Qatar then made the demand to Hamas leaders about 10 days ago, the official said. Washington has been in touch with Qatar over when to close the group's political office, and it told Doha that now was the time.

Three Hamas officials denied Qatar had told Hamas leaders they were no longer welcome in the country. The spokesperson for Qatar's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was unclear if the Qataris provided a specific deadline to the Hamas leaders to leave the country.

President Joe Biden's administration has been preparing to make a final push to end Israeli assaults in Gaza and Lebanon. Republican Donald Trump's election this week as the next U.S. president has significantly diminished Biden's leverage during his last weeks in office.

In previous rounds of ceasefire talks, disagreements over new demands that Israel introduced about future military presence in Gaza obstructed a deal, even after Hamas accepted a version of a ceasefire proposal that Biden unveiled in May.

Hamas at the time viewed Israel as having moved the goal post for a deal "last-minute," and worried any concessions it made would be met by more demands, a source close to the talks told Reuters in August.

Last November, this negotiation track in Doha led to a seven-day truce in Gaza, permitting the release of dozens of hostages held there in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Humanitarian aid also flowed into the shattered coastal strip but hostilities swiftly resumed and have continued ever since.

"END HOSPITALITY TO HAMAS"

Qatar, an influential Gulf state designated as a major non-NATO ally by Washington, has hosted Hamas' political leaders since 2012 as part of an agreement with the U.S.

Following last year's Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which Hamas killed 1,200 people and abducted 250 others, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told leaders in Qatar and elsewhere in the region that there could be "no more business as usual" with Hamas.

Qataris told Blinken they were open to reconsidering the presence of Hamas in the country when the time comes.

Israel's retaliatory strikes on the Gaza Strip killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, reduced the enclave to a wasteland and unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe.

Doha has come under criticism from U.S. lawmakers over its ties with the group.

On Friday, 14 Republican U.S. senators wrote a letter to the Department of State asking Washington to immediately freeze the assets of Hamas officials living in Qatar, extradite several senior Hamas officials living in Qatar and ask Qatar "to end its hospitality to Hamas’ senior leadership."

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said repeatedly over the last year that the Hamas office exists in Doha to allow negotiations with the group and that as long as the channel remained useful Qatar would allow the Hamas office to remain open.

It is unclear how many Hamas officials live in Doha, but they include several leaders touted as possible replacements for leader Yahya Sinwar, whom Israeli forces killed in Gaza last month.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Biden allows deployment of US military ‘contractors’ to Ukraine – media

The administration of outgoing President Joe Biden has lifted a de facto ban on deploying US defense contractors in Ukraine to repair American-made armaments, Reuters and CNN reported on Friday, citing anonymous Pentagon officials.

This reversal of previous US policy comes just as vocal Ukraine conflict skeptic Donald Trump won the popular vote and secured his second term in the White House. While it is unclear whether Trump would have continued the prior policy, he has repeatedly promised not to put American lives at risk and to rapidly conclude the conflict once in office again.

The potential American presence on the ground will be “small” and located “far” from the front lines, and they are not expected to engage in combat, Reuters wrote on Friday, citing an anonymous US official. As the US and its NATO partners have provided Kiev with increasingly sophisticated American-made armaments, such as F-16 fighter jets and Patriot air defense systems, restrictions have slowed repairs and proven increasingly challenging. Much of the equipment has been damaged beyond repair by Kiev’s own specialists.

The policy change aligns the Pentagon more closely with the US State Department and USAID, which already have contractors in Ukraine, according to another official.

“These contractors will help the Ukrainian Armed Forces rapidly repair and maintain US-provided equipment as needed so it can quickly return to the front lines,” CNN wrote on Friday, citing a defense official. Specifically, F-16 jets and Patriot batteries “require specific technical expertise to maintain,” they said.

Allowing US contractors to work in Ukraine will provide a faster alternative to the current method of transporting equipment to NATO countries like Poland and Romania for repairs, CNN noted.

Meanwhile the risks of being killed by Russian strikes will fall on the companies bidding for the Pentagon contracts.

“Each US contractor, organization, or company will be responsible for the safety and security of their employees and will be required to include risk mitigation plans as part of their bids,” CNN cited a defense official as saying.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that Moscow is aware of the “direct involvement of NATO troops in this conflict.” He pointed out that several high-tech systems the US and its allies have provided to Kiev, such as ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles, require the involvement of Western officers to operate them.

The Russian Defense Ministry regularly reports airstrikes on repair facilities in Ukraine. This week alone, the Russian military carried out at least 38 strikes on Kiev’s military-industrial complex facilities, as well as supporting energy and military infrastructure, according to the latest report on Friday.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Bloggers report Russian forces moving closer to Ukrainian frontline town

Military bloggers on Friday reported that Russian forces were moving closer to capturing a major town on the eastern front in the war in Ukraine as part of their drive westward to capture all of the Donbas region.

Bloggers on both sides reported that Russian forces had entered the village of Sontsivka and were advancing from the northwest on the city of Kurakhove.

Ukrainian authorities made no acknowledgement that the village had fallen into Russian hands, while noting that fighting on the eastern front was heaviest around Kurakhove and Pokrovsk, a major logistics centre to the northwest.

"The Kurakhove direction and the Pokrovsk direction are the most challenging right now," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "The military command and brigade command are working on strengthening positions."

Ukraine's General Staff made no mention of the village, saying that Ukrainian forces had repelled 18 of 32 Russian attacks near Kurakhove and 19 assaults near Pokrovsk.

The popular Ukrainian military blog DeepState showed Sontsivka to be in a grey area, with control uncertain.

A Ukrainian officer, identifying himself as Alex, said Russian troops had penetrated Ukrainian defences and secured a foothold in the village. A Russian blogger, identifying himself as Blue Z Beard, issued a similar report, saying the advance would eventually lead to the encirclement of Kurakhove.

After initially failing to advance on the capital Kyiv after their February 2022 invasion, Russian forces have focused on securing control of Donbas, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Russia now controls about one-fifth of Ukrainian territory. Its military has steadily reported the capture of a string of villages in recent weeks while pushing towards Pokrovsk.

In September, Moscow's forces advanced at their fastest rate since March 2022, according to open source data, despite Ukraine seizing a part of Russia's southern Kursk region.

RT/Reuters

“If they go about solving the problem this way, how many more problems will they have created by the time they are through” -James Baldwin, 1924-1987, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p201, available online.

By any objective measure known to adults globally, what we have on our hands with regard to fuel problem is a fiasco. You cannot ask any of those in control of our fate in this regard a straight question and receive a reliable answer. Two Presidents, the Minister of Petroleum, the Minister of State for Petroleum, the Minister of Finance, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the Debt Management Office, DMO, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Aliko Dangote, all the regulatory commissions and agencies of government. The conspiracy of falsehood started since the Dangote Refinery was nearing, but still far from, completion in March 2023.

As many Nigerian observers will recollect, President Buhari commissioned the Dangote Refinery using the language that gave the impression that fuel production would start within a few months. We now know the truth. Buhari and Dangote just wanted the former President to be the one to have his name on the refinery plaque instead of his successor. Among the promises made or implied were the following: The refinery would end fuel scarcity and queues at filling stations; it would crash the price of petrol which was about N180 per litre at the time and create 150,000 jobs-directly or indirectly. The impression was also given that Nigeria’s four refineries would be resuscitated to complement the Dangote Refinery supply; and, government would no longer dictate fuel price. It all sounded great then; but my Fellow Nigerians have failed to understand one abiding truth.

“Every government is run by liars; and nothing they say should be believed” – I. F. Stone, 1907-1989, VBQ p80.

Of all the entries in my book of quotations, this I perhaps the one most frequently used; and for easily demonstrable reasons. In Nigeria and elsewhere in the world, the totally honest politician is almost impossible to find. Since politicians run for office, the electorate in every country is condemned to choosing between all the available dissemblers running for office. That, however, is in even a so-called democracy. In totalitarian regimes, the people are destined to accepting the falsehood published by their captors. Nigerian politicians are not the worst by any means; in fact they are better than those in Cameroon or Afghanistan. When it comes to peddling untruths, they are ranking amateurs. That is why what they say is so often easy to disprove – as in the issue of petroleum resources and fuel. Everything that was said by virtually everybody in government and the private sector providers had turned out to be false.

WAS DANGOTE REFINERY ESTABLISHED TO STOP IMPORTATION?

“I am beginning to wonder how many fools it takes to make the term ‘My Fellow Citizens'” – Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850, in LOST ILLUSIONS.

Most of the 220 million Nigerians alive today are not in any way better than their forefathers. Ask anybody if there was free education in the old Western Region?

And, ninety-nine per cent of the time, the answer would be “yes”. I thought so too until August 1964 when I took my Economics la Course at the university in the US. The lecturer would usually start his first class by telling a story which I will repeat below. A young prince, 12, became king when his father, just 40, suddenly died. Not wanting to make terrible mistakes in governance, the monarch gathered all the leading experts in every field – including economics – and instructed them to summarise the ideas, principles, laws etc in their fields. All returned three months after with truckloads of documents; which overwhelmed the poor youth. He asked for further reductions. They returned with twenty four pages of Executive Summary. Finally, like all those with absolute power; he ordered that the ideas be reduced to one sentence. The economists quickly put their heads together and the leader raised his hand; after being recognised he pronounced: “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” For that matter, there is no such thing as free education, free health service and there should be no free ride on highways. I raised my hand out of ignorance to state categorically that “there is free education in the Western Region of Nigeria, Sir.” Dr Cohen looked up; and said:

“You are the third Nigerian who would repeat that statement in my class. How many more fools are there in your country; who cannot distinguish between ‘free and public education?’ What is practised in Nigeria is public education, just like several countries in the world. The taxpayers are paying for that gimmick.” I would have gladly crawled into a hole if one had opened up. I learnt a simple economic principle the hard way. Later, in the third year, I received another knock on the head to drive home a truth which has escaped many Nigerians today. The professor teaching Business and Economy, when opening the section on ‘Entrepreneurship’, would kick off by announcing that the capitalist investor is motivated primarily by his desire to make as much money as possible.

He does not start a business for any other reason. That is why it was at first amusing, and later alarming, to me when several self-deluded Nigerians, including President Buhari, the CBN Governor, financial/economic analysts and commentators, assumed that the Dangote Refinery was being established to stop fuel importation, to create jobs and to grow the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of Nigeria. Starting with that fallacy, they quickly jumped to the fatal conclusion that Dangote must be given 100 per cent support to achieve his objectives; apparently without regard to the individual and collective interests of “Fellow Nigerians”. Well, the Dangote Refinery is here. Why then are we paying N1, 200/litre for petrol which we fetched for N180/litre before it was established? I must have been one of the few Nigerians who knew right from the beginning that Nigerians were being taken for an unpleasant ride. For reasons I don’t now want to disclose, it is my candid view that the establishment of Dangote Refinery is not the salvation we expected. Most certainly, it will not crash fuel price as expected.

WHERE IS GOVERNMENT IN ALL THESE?

“Leadership is always mysterious. Leadership can be summed up in two words: Intelligence and integrity, or to use two synonyms: Competence and character” – John Brademas, US Congressman, VBQ p125.

Think of anyone in top government positions – Presidency, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, National Assembly, CBN and the Departments and Agencies – who had an official role to play in getting Dangote, the four refineries and Nigerians into this quagmire. Think again of the words – intelligence, integrity, competence and character. Then, ask yourself: Which of these attributes can be applied to any of them? All of a sudden, it becomes clear why our present predicament is inevitable; and the self-delusion, which one of their yes-men call “optimism”, is totally not in the national or personal interest. They should have known that the Dangote Refinery would not alone solve Nigeria’s fuel problems; that the four refineries were septic tanks into which they were throwing public funds without the scantiest hope of returns. Yet, they granted Dangote all sorts of concessions; promoted the idea that, once started, it would crash fuel prices and stop imports. The tissue of lies has been exposed because all lies have an expiry date; and the time is up for these ones.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the GMD-NNPCL promised Nigerians that the Port-Harcourt and Warri refineries would begin fuel supplies by December last year. Ten months after, there has been no fuel from the two.

In July, the National Assembly was told that crude oil production would reach two million barrels per day, mbpd, and Nigeria would be exporting fuel by December. Who, in his right senses, now believes the two? More to the point: Why are they still in office?

Vanguard

A severely sick Chinese man was pushed to a local bank branch on a hospital bed by his family in order to confirm his identity for a money transfer.

A video that has been doing the rounds on Chinese social media shows a woman struggling to push a man on a hospital bed in a Shandong Province bank after being told that the only way to access his account was to confirm his identity in person. Despite explaining to the bank manager that the account holder was hospitalized because of severe health problems, the family was told that the only way to access their account was to bring them there in person. The man was so sick that he could not move on his own, but even evidence of his hospitalization failed to convince the bank staff, so they had no choice but to figure out a way to bring him in for identity confirmation.

The Shandong bank told the family that they could bring the account holder in an ambulance, but the hospital clearly told them that their ambulances were only available for health-related emergencies, and they certainly couldn’t afford a private ambulance, so the only available solution was to just push the hospital bed he was lying in all the way to the bank.

The sick man’s relatives reportedly needed money to pay for his treatment, but ironically, the only way to access that money was to endanger his life by taking him out of the hospital. A young woman believed to be the elderly man’s daughter can be seen struggling to push his hospital bed all the way to a bank clerk’s counter while trying not to hit anything.

The spectacle sparked a heated online debate, with most social media users claiming that the bank could have made an exception based on the evidence of hospitalization presented by the man’s family, and others calling it an embarrassment for Chinese society that such things can occur without any repercussions.

Oddity Central

Globacom, one of Nigeria’s leading telecommunications providers, has appointed telecom veteran Ahmad Farroukh as its new chief executive officer.

According to the telecom provider, the leadership change aims to strengthen the company’s corporate governance and operational performance, aligning with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) recent drive for improved governance standards within the telecom industry.

Farroukh’s extensive experience in African telecommunications positions him as a strong candidate to guide the company through an anticipated restructuring.

Ahmad Farroukh brings over two decades of experience to Globacom. He began his career in 1995 as CEO of Investcom Group, a Lebanon-based telecom entity that was later acquired by MTN Group.

He has held several executive roles, including managing director at MTN Ghana, regional director for West Africa under Investcom, and CEO of MTN Nigeria between 2006 and 2010. After serving as CEO of MTN South Africa in 2014, he led Mobily in Saudi Arabia – Saudi’s second-largest telecom provider – until 2017. Most recently, he served as Group CEO of Smile Communications Nigeria Limited (2019). 

Farroukh’s academic background includes a master’s degree in Business Administration and Accounting from the Lebanese American University, and he is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from New York.

Globacom in a statement said the decision to appoint Farroukh “comes at a critical time as the company faces challenges with its subscriber base.”

“A recent regulatory audit by the NCC uncovered subscriber count discrepancies, which led to a sharp reduction in Globacom’s subscriber count by 69.2 per cent within six months, down from 62.19 million in March to 19.15 million in September.

 “This change underscores the need for strategic reforms to restore confidence and drive growth in a competitive telecom landscape.”

Farroukh’s role will not only involve revitalising Globacom’s subscriber growth but also guiding the telco through structural adjustments.

The company’s move to constitute a board reflects a deeper commitment to fostering robust governance practices, a key aspect emphasised by the NCC.

Daily Trust

The national grid has collapsed for the second time in 72 hours, leaving Nigerians in total blackout.

Data obtained from the Nigerian system operator’s portal showed that the grid recorded zero megawatts (MW) as of Thursday.

TheCable observed that the generation power dropped from 3,743MW at 10am to 2,709MW at 11am.

As of noon, the grid only recorded 3.70MW and 4.10MW at 1pm.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has confirmed the incident.

Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IKEDC) said it is experiencing a system outage affecting its supply.

“Please be informed that we experienced a system outage today 07 November, 2024 at 11:29Hrs affecting supply within our network,” IKEDC said.

“Restoration of supply is ongoing in collaboration with our critical stakeholders.Kindly bear with us.”

On Tuesday, the grid experienced a collapse – the ninth time in 2024.

TCN had blamed a series of lines and generator trippings as the reason for the instability of the grid and a partial disturbance.

On October 17, Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, said the frequent system failure at the national grid is inevitable due to the outdated infrastructure.

Adelabu also said the country will continue to experience grid disturbances until there is a complete overhaul of the system.

The minister said more investment in power infrastructure will prevent future collapses.

The Cable