President Bola Tinubu has reshuffled his 48-member cabinet, naming seven new ministers, sacking five and reassigning 10 others to new portfolios, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The ministers of finance, defence, national planning and two junior energy ministers all retained their positions.

The reshuffle includes renaming the Ministry of Niger Delta Development to the Ministry of Regional Development, the winding up of the Ministry of Sports, and the merger of the ministries of tourism and arts and culture.

Tinubu's controversial reform push after taking office last year had sparked hope that his administration would be an antidote to mounting economic troubles facing Africa's top energy producer.

But 16 months on, the key planks of his economic overhaul - devaluing the naira and slashing petrol and electricity subsidies - have sent inflation soaring to 32.70%, triggering a cost-of-living crisis.

Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said in the reshuffle, Tinubu appointed new ministers for humanitarian and poverty reduction, trade and investment, labour, livestock development and junior ministers for foreign affairs, education and housing.

The ministers for education, tourism, women affairs, youth development and the junior housing minister were sacked, Onanuga said.

Tinubu's cabinet remains bigger than that of his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari, who had 43 ministers in his second term in office, despite calls by critics to streamline government bureaucracy and trim costs.

Reuters

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says only 58 percent of households in Nigeria are connected to the national grid.

In its ‘Nigeria Residential Energy Demand Side Survey (NREDSS) 2024,’ on Wednesday, unveiled in Abuja, NBS said nine states; Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ekiti, Oyo, Enugu, Kwara, Plateau, Kano, and Sokoto, were selected across the six geo-political zones of the country for the survey.

According to the bureau, households from each state were interviewed, making a total of 8,100 households across urban and rural areas.

NBS said 86.6 percent of households connected to the grid had electricity supply, 85.2 percent of them used an estimated billing system, while 14.8 percent used a pre-paid billing system.

The average monthly expenditure of households on electricity, according to NBS, was estimated at N4,155.8 during the survey period.

In 2024, the national grid has collapsed eight times, with the first recorded on February 4.

The national grid collapsed again on March 28, April 15, July 6, and August 5.

Nigerians experienced another system failure at the grid on October 14,October 15, and October 19.

‘67.8 PERCENT OF HOUSEHOLDS USE FUELWOOD’

The bureau said 67.8 percent of Nigerian households use fuelwood as a source of energy for domestic, agricultural, commercial, cultural, or religious purposes.

NBS added that about 41 percent of the households purchase the fuelwood, while 39 percent collect it themselves.

“While 18.9 per cent of households used other means such as barter, gift, and borrowing,” the bureau said.

“More than half of the fuelwood are cut or collected by households, 55.3 percent were branches, stems, and trees.”

Furthermore, NBS said one in every five households, an average of 22 percent, used charcoal, with 21.6 percent purchasing the product.

The bureau added that 19.4 percent, about one in five households, use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas.

“The average monthly expenditure on LPG was N10,239.7 across the surveyed states,” NBS said.

In addition, NBS advised the government to promote the re-planting of trees, given the wide use of fuelwood. and encourage the use of clean energy such as LPG, wind, and solar.

“This will help to reduce environmental problems such as air pollution, water pollution, climate change, thermal pollution, and solid waste disposal,” it said.

NBS also recommended that the government encourage the establishment of more LPG stations while promoting local production of gas cylinders to lower the end-user’s cost and optimise electricity generation by decentralising the national grid through mini-grids.

The Cable

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a loan of $618 million from a consortium of financiers for the acquisition of six Italian-made M-346 attack jets and ammunition for the Nigerian Air Force. 

This Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this Wednesday while briefing reporters after the council’s meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.  

The Air Force had said that the first three jets are anticipated to arrive by early 2025, with subsequent deliveries expected to continue through mid-2026. 

In recent years, the Federal Government has significantly increased defence and security spending to combat various security threats across the nation, allocating about N3.3 trillion to the defence sector for the 2024 fiscal year. 

Despite some successes, challenges remain as Boko Haram and other armed groups continue to operate in the Northeast and other regions.

FEC also approved contracts of N44.2 billion for the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to procure vehicles and construct residential accommodations.

The council also endorsed the procurement of one million science textbooks for distribution to the 774 local government areas, 104 unity schools, and 122 special schools across the country. 

The construction of digital libraries by the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) in 1,000 schools was also approved.

Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources said the textbooks will be funded through the PTDF’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) initiative.

Daily Trust

Nigeria’s biggest beer maker, Nigerian Breweries, plunged deeper into loss in the nine months to September compared to the same period of last year as the brewer’s net loss soared by more than 161 per cent according to its earnings report issued Wednesday.

A mix of factors ranging from the country’s galloping inflation, exchange rate volatility and accelerating input costs drove the less impressive performance.

“The increase in Net Loss was again significantly influenced by FX loss due to the devaluation of the Naira and high borrowing costs arising from higher interest rates,” the company said in a separate statement.

Net revenue was up by 76.9 per cent at N710.9 billion. Cost of sales more than doubled to N500.1 billion for Nigerian Breweries, 40 per cent of whose input costs comes from imports, making it particularly vulnerable to exchange rate volatility.

Selling and distribution expenses rose to N143.1 billion from N101.6 billion a year ago, with distribution costs jumping by 63.2 per cent.

With the monetary authority in Nigeria weakening the naira by 31 per cent in January, the beverage manufacturer incurred N160.5 billion in net loss on foreign exchange transactions compared to N86.8 billion a year earlier.

Pre-tax loss expanded 159.7 per cent to N203 billion, while after-tax loss scaled up to N149.5 billion from N57.2 billion.

The local unit of Netherlands-based Heineken NV said early last month in response to a PREMIUM TIMES email query that it was looking to its parent company to fully take its allotment from its just concluded rights issue.

The proceeds of the share offering, which targeted N600 billion in fresh capital from existing shareholders, would help clear the foreign currency overdue which threw shareholders fund into negative at half year after liabilities outran assets, Nigerian Breweries said at the time.

“The rights issue will allow the company to strengthen its balance sheet and significantly reduce FX exposure. This is part of the business recovery plan aimed at accelerating a reinstatement of the company’s profitability,” the brewer said in the statement.

Its financial position has much deteriorated in the quarter to September, with shareholders’ fund surging more than fourfold to -N84.5 billion from -N19.5 billion three months earlier.

Nigerian Breweries’ shares have depreciated by more than 22 per cent this year, underperforming the Nigerian Exchange’s Consumer Goods Index, which has returned more than 40 per cent.

The manufacturer of top beverage brands including Gulder, Star Lager, Martina, Amsterdam Malta and Fayrouz this year acquired a majority stake in Distell Wines and Spirits Nigeria Limited, adding spirits, wines and flavoured liquors to its broad range of products.

PT

Israel strikes Damascus, military site near Homs, Syrian defence ministry says

Israel launched strikes on the Syrian capital Damascus and a military site near the western city of Homs on Thursday, the Syrian defence ministry said, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken toured the region pushing for a halt to fighting.

The Israeli strikes targeted the central Damascus neighbourhood of Kafr Sousa and a military site in the Homs countryside, killing one soldier and injuring seven other people, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the strikes caused "material damage", but did not elaborate. Earlier in the day, Syrian state media said explosions were heard in Damascus after Israel struck a residential building in Kafr Sousa.

Israel typically does not comment on specific reports of strikes in Syria.

Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria for years, but it has ramped up raids since last year's Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

On Wednesday, Israeli strikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah said it fired precision guided missiles for the first time at Israeli targets.

The strikes on the edges of Beirut sent thick columns of flames shooting up into the night sky one after the other, shortly after an Israeli military spokesman issued evacuation warnings for the neighbourhood.

Another strike came with no warning, hitting the nearby office of pro-Iran broadcaster Al-Mayadeen, the station said. It said the office had been empty since the conflict began. Lebanon's health ministry said one person was killed and five others, including a child, were wounded.

Hezbollah said in a statement late on Wednesday that it had escalated its attacks on Israel, using "precision missiles" for the first time and launched new types of drones on Israeli targets, without offering further details.

The Israeli military said four projectiles were identified as having been fired from Lebanon, two were intercepted and two fell to the ground.

The intensifying exchanges of fire come as Washington makes a final major push for peace between Israel and Iran-backed groups Hezbollah and Hamas before the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election that could alter U.S. policy.

Blinken, who has travelled to the Middle East regularly during the war, is making his first trip since Israel killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, its most wanted enemy, whose death Washington hopes can provide an impetus for peace.

Washington is also aiming to head off a widening of the conflict in anticipation of Israeli retaliation for an Iranian Oct. 1 missile attack. Blinken said Israel's retaliation should not lead to greater escalation.

CONFLICT SPREADING

But the conflict appeared to be spreading, with new strikes around midday on Wednesday on Tyre, a UNESCO-listed port city in south Lebanon, which also came after Israeli evacuation orders.

Tens of thousands of people have already fled Tyre as Israel steps up its campaign to destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, both close allies of its arch Middle East enemy Iran.

The port is typically bustling - with fishermen, tourists and even U.N. peacekeepers on a break from deployment. Israel's evacuation orders this week have for the first time encompassed swathes of Tyre, right up to its ancient castle.

"We are better off dying with dignity than living on the street," said Batoum Zalghout, 25, who fled the latest evacuation zone for another part of the city. She said she had been already displaced with her two children five times.

The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah command and control centres there, including its southern front headquarters. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

In Gaza, where Israel has intensified an assault on the northern edge of the territory since killing the leader of Hamas last week, health authorities and residents reported 42 people killed in fresh Israeli strikes, most in the north.

Among the dead were Mohammed and Bilal Abu Atwi - a driver for U.N. aid agency UNRWA and his brother - killed in a strike that blasted their U.N.-marked vehicle in Deir al-Balah.

"Our children have become martyrs as they were serving their community and people," their father Marwan said at the hospital where their bodies were laid out in white plastic bags.

The U.S. has written to Israel, giving it 30 days to boost humanitarian aid access in Gaza, which has seen almost daily bombardments, or risk having some US military assistance cut.

Arriving in Lebanon for talks on ending hostilities, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said providing arms to Israel posed a dilemma.

"On the one hand, Israel is attacked every day and not supporting it would mean that people are not (being) protected ... On the other, it is also Germany's responsibility to stand up for international humanitarian law."

Blinken said it was now time for Israel to turn its military victories into "an enduring strategic success", to bring home hostages taken by Hamas and to end the conflict with a clear postwar plan.

Israeli attacks in Lebanon over the past month have killed nearly the entire leadership of Hezbollah, blows without precedent in the four decades of Israel's battles against the group.

In the year since fighters directed by Sinwar rampaged through Israeli towns killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, Israel has laid Gaza to waste to root out Hamas, killing nearly 43,000 Palestinians. The past month's strikes on Lebanon have displaced at least 1.2 million Lebanese.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

US defense chief promises Ukraine what it needs to fight Russia but goes no further

The United States “will get Ukraine what it needs” to fight its war with Russia, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, but he gave no hint that Washington might endorse key planks of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s so-called “victory plan.”

The United States will provide Ukraine with what it requires “to fight for its survival and security,” Austin said in a speech at the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine. He noted that the U.S. has delivered more than $58 billion in security assistance for Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, making it Kyiv’s main backer.

That includes a new $400 million package of military aid that the Biden administration announced Monday, including munitions for rocket systems and artillery, mortar systems and rounds, armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons. It comes just days after the U.S. said it was sending $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine.

But Zelenskyy has asked Ukraine’s Western allies to go a few steps further, notably inviting Ukraine to join NATO and letting it use Western-supplied longer-range missiles to strike military targets deep inside Russian territory. Those steps have met with a lukewarm response.

Ukraine is having difficulty holding back a ferocious Russian campaign along the eastern front that is gradually compelling Kyiv’s forces to give up a series of towns, villages and hamlets. It faces a hard winter after Russia targeted its power grid.

Austin’s remarks were notable for what they did not include — an endorsement of Ukraine being invited into NATO, or any indication the U.S. will support Ukraine becoming more aggressive in its defense with longer-range attacks on Russian soil.

With the U.S. presidential election about two weeks away, U.S. officials are treading carefully. President Joe Biden has balked at measures that might escalate the war and bring a confrontation between NATO and Russia.

Austin said “there is no silver bullet. No single capability will turn the tide. No one system will end Putin’s assault.”

He added: “Make no mistake. The United States does not seek war with Russia.”

“What matters is the way that Ukraine fights back,”Austin told the assembled diplomatic and military personnel at the academy. “What matters is the combined effects of your military capabilities. And what matters is staying focused on what works.”

Zelenskyy said in a Sunday evening video address that his ‘victory plan’ had won the backing of France, Lithuania, Nordic countries and “many other allies” in the European Union, which he didn’t name.

Zelenskyy said he had received “very positive signals from the United States,” but he stopped short of saying he had secured Washington’s blessing for the plan.

Analysts say the U.S. is unlikely to make a decision before the Nov. 5. presidential election.

Russian strikes highlight Ukraine’s need for weapons

The latest Russian strikes on Ukraine, targeting Kyiv, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia, rammed home the urgency for Kyiv officials of clinching guarantees of more support, particularly large amounts of ammunition for the war of attrition the sides are engaged in.

A Russian missile attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia killed two people and injured 15 in the city center and caused huge damage to civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten and more than 30 residential buildings, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.

Russia conducted a ballistic missile strike at Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, injuring five people, city administration head Oleksandr Vilkul wrote on social media.

According to Vilkul, Russia has conducted ballistic missile attacks on Kryvyi Rih for three consecutive days, injuring the total of 21 people and damaging dozens of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.

Machine gunfire and the noise of drones’ engines was also heard in Kyiv’s center throughout the night. Authorities reported minor damages to civilian infrastructure caused by falling drone debris in three districts.

Russia fired three missiles and more than 100 drones at Ukraine overnight from Sunday to Monday, Ukraine’s air force said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan in Ankara on Monday to discuss cooperation between their countries.

According to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, the meeting focused on strengthening strategic relations, defense cooperation and addressing global food security through Black Sea grain shipments from Ukraine that pass through Turkey’′ Bosphorus Strait.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to steer a balanced line in his NATO-member country’s close relations with both Ukraine and Russia. He has previously offered to host a peace summit between the two countries.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian troops liberate Serebryanka, Nikolayevka communities in Donetsk area over past day

Russian forces liberated the settlements of Serebryanka and Nikolayevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday.

"Battlegroup South units liberated the settlement of Serebryanka in the Donetsk People’s Republic as a result of active offensive operations… Battlegroup Center units liberated the settlement of Nikolayevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and kept advancing deep into the enemy’s defenses," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s Battlegroup North inflicts 100 casualties on Ukrainian army in Kharkov Region

Russia’s Battlegroup North inflicted roughly 100 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility in the Kharkov Region over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup North units inflicted casualties in the Kharkov frontline area on formations of the Ukrainian army’s 57th motorized infantry and 92nd air assault brigades in areas near the settlements of Liptsy, Kotovka and Volchansk in the Kharkov Region," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 100 personnel, a 152mm Msta-B howitzer, a 122mm Gvozdika motorized artillery system and a 122mm D-30 howitzer, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicts over 510 casualties on Ukrainian army in past day

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicted more than 510 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup West units improved their tactical position and inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 44th and 60th mechanized, 74th and 77th airmobile, 3rd assault, 125th and 103rd territorial defense brigades near the settlements of Boguslavka, Lozovaya, Zelyony Gai, Novoplatonovka, Podliman and Pershotravnevoye in the Kharkov Region, Terny in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic. They repelled six counterattacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 14th and 63rd mechanized, 1st National Guard and 119th territorial defense brigades," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to more than 510 personnel, four armored combat vehicles, nine motor vehicles, a 155mm Braveheart self-propelled artillery system and two 105mm L119 artillery guns of British manufacture, two US-made 155mm M198 howitzers, a 152mm D-20 howitzer, a 122mm Gvozdika motorized artillery system, two 122mm D-30 howitzers, an Anklav-N electronic warfare station and a Bukovel-AD electronic warfare station, it specified.

Russia’s Battlegroup South strikes nine Ukrainian army brigades over past day

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicted casualties on nine Ukrainian army brigades in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup South units inflicted losses on formations of the Ukrainian army’s 10th mountain assault, 23rd, 54th and 60th mechanized, 5th and 79th air assault, 81st and 46th airmobile and 37th marine infantry brigades near the settlements of Semyonovka, Zvanovka, Vasyukovka, Seversk, Dachnoye, Slavyansk, Chasov Yar and Kurakhovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the ministry said.

Russia’s Battlegroup South inflicts over 800 casualties on Ukrainian army in past day

Russia’s Battlegroup South repulsed two Ukrainian army counterattacks and inflicted more than 800 casualties on enemy troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

Battlegroup South units "repulsed two counterattacks by units of the Ukrainian army’s 56th motorized infantry brigade," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to more than 800 personnel, an armored personnel carrier, 10 motor vehicles, two Polish-made 155mm Krab self-propelled artillery systems, a 152mm Msta-B howitzer, two 152mm D-20 howitzers, two 122mm D-30 howitzers and a US-made 105mm M119 artillery gun, it specified.

In addition, Russian forces destroyed two Anklav-N electronic warfare stations and five field ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army, it said.

Russia’s Battlegroup Center inflicts 450 casualties on Ukrainian army over past day

Russia’s Battlegroup Center repelled 13 Ukrainian army counterattacks and inflicted roughly 450 casualties on enemy troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

Battlegroup Center units "inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 24th and 32nd mechanized, 38th marine infantry and 12th National Guard brigades in areas near the settlements of Leninskoye, Dimitrov, Dzerzhinsk, Sukhoi Yar, Kurakhovka and Shcherbinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic. They repelled 13 counterattacks by formations of the Ukrainian army’s 23rd, 93rd and 100th mechanized, 68th and 152nd jaeger and 5th assault brigades, 49th and 425th assault battalions, 37th marine infantry brigade and Ukraine’s Lyut national police assault brigade," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 450 personnel, two infantry fighting vehicles, a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier, seven armored combat vehicles, including Kozak armored vehicles and US-made HMMWV armored vehicles, two pickup trucks, a 152mm Msta-B howitzer, a 152mm D-20 howitzer, a 122mm Gvozdika motorized artillery system, three 122mm D-30 howitzers and a 100mm Rapira anti-tank gun, it specified.

In addition, Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian warehouse of unmanned aerial vehicles, it said.

Russia’s Battlegroup East inflicts 115 casualties on Ukrainian army over past day

Russia’s Battlegroup East improved its frontline positions and inflicted roughly 115 casualties on Ukrainian troops in its area of responsibility over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Battlegroup East units improved their forward edge positions and inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 58th motorized infantry, 72nd mechanized, 46th airmobile, 110th and 113th territorial defense brigades in areas near the settlements of Dobrovolye, Alekseyevka and Novoukrainka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Temirovka in the Zaporozhye Region," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past 24 hours amounted to 115 personnel, two motor vehicles, a US-made 155mm Paladin self-propelled artillery system, three 155mm M777 howitzers and a 155mm M198 howitzer of US manufacture, it specified.

AP/Tass

Each time another minister of the FCT declares yet another war on the beggars in the nation’s capital, I am reminded of Aminata Sow Fall’s famous novel, The Beggars’ Strike. The plot is built around a government that wants to get beggars off the streets so they can effectively promote tourism. The task of ridding the city of beggars falls on Mour Ndiaye, the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene. He develops interest in the post of the vice-president of the country and consults a marabout who tells him he would need to give charity to beggars so the coveted post could be his. The same man who expelled the beggars not only realises how intricately the moral economy of his Islamic society is interwoven with begging, but he must also negotiate with those same beggars who, by now, had realised the powers they wield even as the so-called dregs of the society.

So, the latest man of power to declare an anti-beggar stance is the chief agbèrò of the Bola Tinubu cabinet, Nyesom Wike. On Tuesday, he lamented that Abuja city was turning “into a beggar city” and that “we have declared a war.” Let us set aside the question of who constitutes the “we” that joined Wike in his declaration of war and ask what his administration intends to do differently from his predecessors who had towed similar paths. He is not the first—and will certainly not be the last—public official who thinks street beggars are an abject nuisance that must be removed by fire by force.

Nigeria is a nation of beggars. We beg everywhere. From the international airports to the streets where uniformed men have mounted their infamous “checkpoints,” begging is routine. People do not just ask for money; they beg for it. Before you can blink an eye, they have given you their bank details to wire them money. It is tempting to think that people beg because they are poor, but then, Nigeria’s leaders too spend the better part of their tenure as beggars. They get into high-priced aircraft to go beg for everything—from money to high-interest loans, foreign aid, foreign investment, attention, and even dignity! Begging is a prerequisite skillset for a leader in this part of the world.

While begging is part of our culture, street beggars are a different beast. According to Wike, “It is embarrassing that people will come in and the first thing they’ll see are just beggars on the road.” Given that beggars are not a strange sight to the average Nigerian, who are the “people” coming into the FCT and whose outsider gaze upon them embarrasses Wike? Let me guess, he must be thinking of his foreign guests for whom the sight of a city overrun with street beggars must be a shocking realization that all the figures of “Nigeria Rising” that government officials peddle around in their search for the precious “foreign investors” to the country must be blatantly false.

Nobody likes beggars, and the mere sight of them stirs visceral impulses. They represent a stubborn reality, the truth of what has not changed despite all pretenses of economic advance and social empowerment. As fully fleshed, living and breathing subjects, they irritatingly embody a material humanity that cannot be subsumed into the data that can be pompously touted as proof of managerial competence. It is the irreducibility of street beggars to mere abstractions that makes the likes of Wike so strongly resolute to get rid of them. Look at the language he uses, “from next week…we will take them out.” I do not think he was planning a massacre, but the choice of words is quite telling.

Before he declared a war on beggars, did he pause to ask why and how they keep pouring into the city, or he is just another public official that thinks even a complex problem can be resolved if one applied enough violence? Wike’s immediate predecessor, Muhammad Bello, once also linked beggars from neighbouring states with security breaches in the FCT. He also directed beggars be sent back to their home states. In 2022, the FCTA reportedly repatriated 150 beggars back to their states. Even though the FCTA said some of the beggars would be camped in some centers to be properly documented, I doubt that they are not back on the streets happily plying their trade in cognito. Nigeria is hardly a country that keeps a viable record of either its citizens or its own activities. It beggars belief that some bureaucrat has a record of those evacuated to check the progress of their efforts at keeping them out of the FCT.

Before Bello was Bala Mohammed, who also once ordered beggars―along with street hawkers and commercial sex workers— to leave the FCT urgently or face immediate arrest, detention, and prosecution. Preceding Bello was Adamu Aliero, who not only vowed to “clean” Abuja within six weeks but even went further to engage Peace Corp members to arrest beggars―and destitutes—and relocate them. Before Bello was Aliyu Modibbo Umar who also removed 395 beggars from Abuja and relocated them back to their respective states. Umar’s predecessor was Nasir El-Rufai who also did his own share of cleaning up the city and ridding it of street beggars.

The thing is, despite efforts by each minister, the beggars never stop streaming into the city. From different interviews with the beggars by journalists, one sees―and understands—why both the able-bodied and the disabled resort to begging. Those who speak range from people who have been poor victims of circumstances of terrorism and banditry, natural disasters, bad governance, and several historical injustices, to the disabled who has resolved to turn their physical condition into a spectacle that can commandeer alms from the guilt-tripped onlooker.

With the multi-dimensional poverty that the T-Pain economy has exacerbated, Wike will soon know that he has not even started to see the cringey sight of humans who must beg before they can eat. It remains to be seen how the will of the armed officials Wike directs to “take them out” can stand against that of a people whose instincts are geared towards survival. I envisage there would be a lot of brutality to get them off the streets, but there will not be enough power to keep them off. The best Abuja people will enjoy will be a moment’s respite.

If there is another way Wike will mirror his fictional counterpart, Mour Ndiaye, it will be through running against moral economy of almsgiving and Islamic culture. As one beggar astutely observed in The Beggars’ Strike, how would the rich and the powerful live if the poor did not beg? “Who would people give alms to, as they have to give alms to someone, religion tells us so?” The beggar’s question was well-reflected. By making themselves into a receptacle of the generosity of the rich—who must regularly offload their conscience somewhere— the beggar also performs a religious duty. Without the poor who have strategically positioned themselves to receive the charity of the rich as religion mandates, the rich would be imperiled. Ethical balance in the society is based and sustained through this interaction.

Wike will eventually realise that the political-religious culture of the city he superintends preponderantly relies on the economy of exchange between social groups divided by a wide class gulf, yet intricately intertwined through an ethical system of religious beliefs. The rich and powerful in Abuja exist because the beggars—frequently trotted out to vote for the vultures who will feast on their destinies for the next four years—exist. If Wike’s peers in Abuja have not succeeded in chasing away those beggars, it is because they realise that even these “dregs of the society” have voting thumbs they can always exploit. The beggars too understand the uneven calibration of power; they know they let them express their nuisance because they have something the rich wants. Wike had better be careful and not yell at them too much. If they go on strike against the APC in 2027, his behind will land painfully on the cold hard shores of Rivers state.

Punch

The current severe economic crisis suffered by millions of Nigerians was caused by series of increase petrol prices and fall in Naira value, and which led to the fall in real wages and general devaluation of life, can be traced to the actions of a few against Nigeria’s economic interests. This continued sabotage of the energy sectors and economy in general shouldn't be trivialized as corruption but economic treason.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan made a distinction between stealing and corruption when he said good accounting systems can reduce outright stealing but corruption is more difficult to curb. We have been inundated and desensitized with reports of corruption since independence, as corruption allegations have even become political tools for regime change. However, it’s often not realized that corruption could become economic treason, if it is against the economic interests of a nation, a crime that should be punished with life sentences, if not death penalty.

It is becoming obvious that the political class is guilty of economic treason that leads to sustained economic downturns and pushes the people deeper and deeper into the poverty trap government after government. Or how do we explain not knowing exactly the volume of crude oil extracted from the production fields? Or the continuing sabotage and non-functioning of the state-owned refineries costing the country a third of its import bill, which instead of tackling with an iron fist, was used as an excuse to withdraw fuel subsidies and floating of the Naira? Or the inability to transmit half of the electricity generated?

In all cases, the beneficiaries of economic sabotage point to historical economic exploiters. The people’s plight of economic exploitation started with slavery, whereby external civilizations set out to economically exploit them by arming detractors to takeover our polities and capture millions of Africans to farm American slave plantations, in order to exploit the “slaves” genetic makeup that resisted insect bites on the plantations and for their skills in planting sugarcane, cotton and tobacco copied derived from their native ecosystem.

After 300 years and disruptive slave revolutions, especially the Haitian Revolution, the enslavers had no choice but to stop their importation of Africans for slavery and started the process of keeping Africans on African soil for economic exploitation. This was achieved by dividing the African continent into plantation nations known as colonies, where Africans were to plant the crops and mine natural resources for the colonial masters’ use, while acting as markets for the colonial produce. This new economic system of colonization that evolved from slavery was eventually challenged in the agitation for independence which most Black African nations got from 1957 to 1967, thereby creating independent nations legally free from colonial rule and economic exploitation. However, not only in Nigeria but all Black nations, though the physical and political chains were loosened, the original economic chains of exploitation remained tight by evolving to other economic exploitative models.

Over sixty years of independence, it can be argued that the political class that evolved from the cohort of colonial administrators, who were trained and indoctrinated to run an exploitative system by the colonists, continues to conspire with foreign interests in the arrested economic development of the new nations. Most Black nations have remained in the colonial economic straitjacket of mono economies geared towards satisfying the needs of foreign powers. They remain entrenched in primary production, of not being able to industrially process their local output, nor diversify their economies to provide income and employment.

To compound the arrested development is the coloniality of knowledge and power sources that actually justifies the dehumanization and enslavement of the peoples. Especially since the late seventies, instead of pushing the right and obvious economic liberating policies, the political classes have been misguided by international financial institutions and their enslaving economic ideologies, whose agenda appears to retain the neocolonies in the exploitative economic system by further pauperizing their people through removal of subsidies and breaking of social contracts, as well as constantly reducing real wages through devaluation and floating of local currencies.

The amount of productive value wiped away by Tinubu's IMF/World Bank policies in the last one years is greater than the amount of productive value taken off the country’s shores during any year of the slavery era, or the amount exploited in any given year during colonization. In the nearly 10 years of APC rule, the value of the Naira has fallen from $1 to N190 to N1,700, cutting real wages and property values tenfold.

On getting to power, former President Muhammadu Buhari claimed that the nation’s coffers had been emptied and used that claim to justify his devaluation of the Naira. Under him, oil production dropped by one million barrels a day, claimed to be stolen, not to mention the lack of any system to accurately account for the crude oil mined by companies from previous Western enslavers and colonizers. Nigeria’s foreign debts soared by 500% from under $10 billion to over $50 billion. Though there is nothing wrong if the debts were used on capital investments in economically empowering infrastructure, but they were squandered on cost of governance.

Regardless of what Buhari and previous governments did, the economic problems could have been easily resolved by the Tinubu administration and not compounded as being witnessed. The problem was tied to the fall in oil revenues that provides 85% of the country’s foreign exchange, which led to the inability to service the debts and furnish the foreign exchange market for its import needs. Instead of removing energy production subsidies and floating the Naira to destroy livelihoods and businesses, the country’s economic interests should have been to stop the theft of crude oil and to cut import bill by half, since 33% of the import bill is due to fuel and oils imports that could be resolved by rejuvenating the moribund refineries, while the 21% due to vehicle importation could be cut by all government tiers using only locally produced cars.

The sabotaging of the refineries for over 20 years, costing $20 billion in unfulfilled repairs over the last ten years, (Dangote Refinery cost $20b) is not mere corruption, but economic treason that should attract death penalty or life imprisonment for those involved, especially since it resulted in national economic deprivations in real wages, productive output and property values that have led to deaths due to poverty. This administration is also culpable of criminal negligence or economic treason since it should have waited for the rejuvenation of the refineries by all means necessary and immediately cut the importation of official cars, but instead embarked on removal of petrol subsidies and floating of the Naira. It is difficult to deny a conspiracy when both the NNPC and private owned oil companies benefit from the continued importation of fuel against the country’s national economic interests.

Another mind boggling energy deficits bordering on economic treason is the electricity sector decline. Around 2012, President Jonathan announced the increased electricity capabilities to 13GW and promised 18 to 24 hours of electricity supply which was witnessed for a few weeks or months, before dropping due to sabotage of gas pipelines. At the time, the Minister of Energy, stated that the government won't be able to fulfill its promises of constant electricity supply due to what he called The Gas Wars. However he didn't identify those carrying out the subversive war of attrition against the country’s energy infrastructure. Some suggested that it was waged by generator importers but it was unlikely that the diverse marketers could unify for such war.

As the 2015 election drew closer, the whole country was in darkness with electricity and fuel shortages until the day Jonathan returned to his hometown. Buhari enjoyed increased electricity supply for a few months until the sabotage of gas pipelines resumed for the remaining of his tenure.

In the USA and UK tampering with energy or communication installations attract long jail sentences since it's tantamount to treasonable economic sabotage. Until Nigeria starts treating such economic sabotage as treason, the country’s political and business elite will keep selling the people out to selfish, corporate and foreign interests like during the slave trade and colonization. They will continue to stymie the country’s economic development and keep it down as a neocolonial state that serves their narrow interests other than those of the people.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the global economic growth rate will stabilise at 3.2 percent in 2024 and 2025, forecasting a slowdown in Nigeria.

Speaking on Tuesday at the launch of the World Economic Outlook report in Washington DC, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the economic counsellor and director of the research department of the IMF, said while inflation came down, the global economy remained resilient.

Gourinchas said the United States is “expected to cool down”, while other advanced economies will rebound.

“Performance in emerging Asia remains robust, despite a slight downward revision for China to 4.8% in 2024. Low-income countries have seen their growth revised downward, some of it because of conflicts and climate shocks,” he said.

Specifically, the IMF report said in emerging markets and developing economies, disruptions to the production and shipping of commodities — especially oil — conflicts, civil unrest, and extreme weather events have led to downward revisions to the outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

“These have been compensated for by upgrades to the forecast for emerging Asia, where surging demand for semiconductors and electronics, driven by significant investments in artificial intelligence, has bolstered growth,” the report reads.

“The latest forecast for global growth five years from now — at 3.1 percent— remains mediocre compared with the prepandemic average. Persistent structural headwinds—such as population aging and weak productivity—are holding back potential growth in many economies.”

NIGERIA’S GROWTH RATE DOWNGRADED TO 2.9 PERCENT

Meanwhile, the lender said Nigeria’s economy is expected to grow at 2.9 percent in 2024.

The projection is a downgrade from 3.1 percent in July and 3.3 percent in April.

Speaking on Nigeria’s growth outlook, Jean-Marc Natal, the division chief of the research department at IMF, linked the country’s projection to issues around insecurity and flooding that have crippled the agricultural sector and oil production.

Although Nigeria’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.19 percent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, the oil sector contributed only 5.7 percent to the total real GDP in Q2 2024.

On August 26, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said Nigeria’s average GDP growth rate has been steadily declining since 2014, reflecting a drop in the economic wellbeing the citizens.

The Cable

The World Bank says more than half of Nigeria’s population lives in poverty.

In its latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU) report titled ‘Staying the course: Progress amid pressing challenges,’ World Bank said about 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty.

The Washington-based institution also said the country needs to create productive jobs to reduce poverty.

“Without jobs, poor Nigerians will not be able to escape poverty. Poverty is high and rising in Nigeria,” the World Bank said. 

“More than half of the population lives in poverty. This partly reflects the modest overall pace of economic growth, which is insufficient to compensate for the erosion of purchasing power brought about by inflation. 

“With growth proving too slow to outpace inflation, poverty has risen sharply. Since 2018, the share of Nigerians living below the national poverty is estimated to have risen sharply from 40.1 per cent to 56.0 per cent.

“Combined with population growth, this means that some 129 million Nigerians are living in poverty. This stark increase partly reflects Nigeria’s beleaguered growth record. Real GDP per capita has not recovered to the level it was at prior to the oil price-induced recession in 2016.

“The Covid-19 pandemic compounded this drop in economic activity. Moreover, growth is failing to outpace inflation: large increases in prices across almost all goods have diminished purchasing power.”

The World Bank also said poverty reflects the non-inclusive structure of growth.

”EMPLOYMENT NOT ENOUGH TO LIFT PEOPLE OUT OF POVERTY’

The World Bank said the best way to share the proceeds of growth is through jobs, however, employment is not enough to lift people out of poverty.

“Even when GDP was expanding more rapidly in the early 2010s, richer households benefited more. Jobs hold the key to sharing the proceeds of growth,” the Bretton Woods institution said.

“However, employment on its own is not enough to lift people out of poverty: Nigeria needs productive jobs, but these are scarce.

“Many jobs are not productive and therefore remunerative enough to afford a life beyond poverty.

“In Nigeria, as in many countries, high employment and high poverty coexist. In-work poverty is common as many jobs do not generate earnings that are high enough to escape poverty. 

“Low incomes are symptomatic of low productivity jobs. Nigeria’s labor market is changing – with employment shifting from agriculture to services – but these changes are not increasing overall productivity and living standards, because many of the new service-sector jobs are in low-productivity sub-sectors like retail and wholesale trade.

“Sustained poverty reduction depends on creating wage jobs through macro-fiscal stability, growth, and private sector development, complemented by building human capital.”

‘MINIMUM WAGE CAN ONLY IMPACT 4.1% OF WORKING-AGE’

On July 18, President Bola Tinubu approved N70,000 as the new minimum wage for workers in the country.

According to the World Bank, the move which aims to improve the livelihoods of Nigeria’s workforce, faces significant limitations in its reach and impact – and has been deemed insufficient.

The institution also cautioned that increasing wages, particularly in the public sector, could place additional strain on Nigeria’s already stretched public finances.

“Initiatives that cover mostly highly-formalized wage workers – including policies on public sector jobs and minimum wage legislation – only reach a small segment of Nigeria’s poor and economically insecure population directly, as they do not have access to these types of jobs,” the report reads.

“Such policies may also be fiscally costly, given the large share of formal public sector workers. 

“Focusing on excluded workers offers a clearer avenue for reducing poverty.”

Similarly, the institution said minimum wage legislation may not directly reach the poorest workers “because they do not hold wage jobs and around a third of private sector wage earners receive less than minimum wage anyway, demonstrating that enforcement is imperfect”. 

The lender said raising minimum wages and public sector pay could also be fiscally costly.

Also, the World Bank urged Nigeria to invest in human capital and infrastructure, eliminate export trade barriers, support access to output markets and manage external migration, including by helping young emigrants reach destination countries that need their skills.

The Cable