The Outspoken Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, has, on Monday, disclosed that the hardships being experienced by common citizen in the country will continue until 2019.
Source: COLOSAL WASTE: NIGERIANS TO CONTINUE EXPERIENCING HARDSHIPS TILL 2019, FAYOSE REVEALS
A FLEET of new exotic cars is on the way for
the Presidency.
The BMW salon cars for principal officers are
likley to cost N3,630,000,000, going by the
2016 budget for the Presidency. The number
of the cars is not specified.
Besides, N189.1m is voted for tyres for
various vehicles, including the bulletproof and
plain Mercedes Benz cars being used in the
Presidency.
The expenditure on tyres is to cover other
brands of vehicles, including Toyota cars,
trucks, Land Cruiser Sport Utility Vehicles
(SUVs), Prado SUVs, Hilux pick-up vans,
Peugeot 607 and 406 cars, ambulances and
others broadly described as “ utility and
operational vehicles”.
President Muhammadu Buhari will, in the next
fiscal year, likely spend N1,415,706,197 on
both local and international travels and
transportation, as against the N944,672,109
spent in 2015 by him and his predecessor, Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan, on travels and
transportation.
As against this year’s N24.4 billion allocation,
the Presidency, voted N39 billion in the 2016
national budget.
Details of the 2016 budget breakdown for the
Presidency indicate that in place of the N24.
6 million voted for Wildlife Conservation,
including the purchase of exotic animals last
year, N326m is allocated for next year.
Also, acquisition of presidential canteen
materials and kitchen equipment has
increased from N83.1m this year to N89m in
2016.
There is also a marginal increase in the
N11m voted for supply of foodstuff and
catering services in the Vice President’s
office in 2015 to N16.6m.
A breakdown of the 2016 budget for the
Presidency includes: general renovation of
the Guest House (N387m); complete
furnishing of the Guest House (N45m);
purchase of computers (27.5m) and
construction and provision of recreational
facilities (764m).
Recreational materials totalling N12m are to
be procured.
Other expenditures on the Presidency’s
vehicles include N39.8m for the purchase of
an unspecified number of 200 amps, 100
amps and 60 amps Mercedes Benz batteries
for bulletproof vehicles.
Also N30m is to be expended on the
purchase of tool boxes, car jacks, and
diagnostic machines for the Presidency’s
bulletproof cars.
The purchase of C-Caution triangles, fire-
extinguishers and cables is to cost N27m.
While there is no indication of the number or
condition of items procured by the Presidency
in 2015, N114.4m is to be expended on the
upgrade of internet infrastructure in the State
House; N22.5 is to be spent on purchasing
internet servers.
The purchase of what is described as “Active
Devices for State House Network” is to cost
N100m and N35m is to be expended on the
purchase of security appliances and licences,
including computer anti-virus software.
Under the Office of the National Security
Adviser’s N90.3 billion budget for 2016, N8.7
billion is to be expended to develop the
ONSA’s “All-Eye” surveillance project and N9
billion to construct an esoterically-named
“Stravinsky Project”.
The ONSA’s security vote, including funds for
operations, is pegged at N576m.
The Department of State Security Service
(DSS) has N2.2 billion for its 2016 security
vote. The Presidential Air Fleet is to spend
N262.4m on Air Navigation equipment.
Under the 2016 budget, State House
Headquarters is to spend N104.7m on
refreshments and meals. Foodstuff and
catering materials worth N102.9m are to be
supplied.
There is provision for N99m as grants to local
councils.
Other items under the Presidency’s 2016
budget include: N55,670,000 for installation or
budget planning software; N272,646,891 for
Upgrading of mechanical and electrical power
line (underground) supplies to the State
House; N322,421,971 for linking of cable to
drivers’ rest room at Villa Admin and
N213,873,953 for linking of cable from House
No 9 Generator House to the gate.
Others are: N618,604,265 for installation of
electrical lightings & fittings; N191,592,132
for electrical installation of distribution boards
& other cables; N22,861,449 for provision of
stage curtains & electrical drive; N10,416,146
for installations of electrical materials and
luminaries.
Petrol will sell for N86.50 per litre at
filling stations belonging to major and
independent oil marketers, while it would
sell for N86 at all retail stations
belonging to the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from
January 1, 2016, the federal government
has finally announced.
The new price was announced in Abuja
yesterday by the executive secretary of
the Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Farouk
Ahmed.
The minister of state for petroleum, Dr.
Ibe Kachikwu, had on Christmas Day
stated that the pump price of petrol
would sell below N87 a litre following a
price modulation being done.
Consequently, Ahmed explained that the
price difference between NNPC retail
stations and other marketers is due to
the difference in their various arrival
costs, occasioned by the financing
aspect. He said while the arrival cost for
other marketers is N86.29, NNPC’s arrival
cost is N85.93, adding that “the ideal is
to prevent NNPC from profiteering since
it imports at a lower cost.”
According to him, the new pump price
follows a review of the components of
the petroleum products pricing template,
taking into cognisance the current
market trend which was subsequently
approved for implementation by the
minister of state for petroleum.
Ahmed explained that the components of
the pricing template affected by the
review are the traders’ margin, lightering
expenses, Nigerian Port Authority (NPA)
charges, jetty throughput, storage
charges, bridging fund as well as
retailers, transporters and dealers’
margin.
He pointed out that the review of the
template became necessary in order for
it to be sensitive to the price in the
market, noting that the template has
largely been the same since 2007 except
for some minor adjustments, despite
changes in the market components.
The breakdown of the revised prices of
the components in the new template
shows that traders margin have been
reduced from N1.47 per litre to zero
Naira, lightering expenses from N4.07 to
N2.00, NPA charges from N0.77 to
N0.36, Jetty throughput, N0.80 to N0.40
and storage charges, N3.00 to N1.50.
Others are retailers’ margin reviewed
from N4.60 per litre to N5.0 per litre,
transport, N2.99 to N3.05, dealers’
margin, N1.75 to N1.95 and bridging fund
reduced from N5.85 per litre to N4.00
per litre, bringing the ex-depot price per
litre of petrol to N77 down from the
current N77.66.
“All marketers are hereby advised to
adhere strictly to the PPPRA-approved
ex-depot and pump prices as the PPPRA,
in conjunction with relevant government
agencies, shall enforce compliance,”
Ahmed said.
He added that the new prices are not
static but subject to quarterly reviews
depending on the market trend, just as
he revealed that a product advisory
committee will be set up by the minister
of state for petroleum to advise the
PPPRA on price changes.
While noting that 40 million litres daily
national consumption was retained in the
review, he pointed out that the marketers
are aware that the template review had
been on and that the review was
necessary to update some elements in
the pricing which dates back to 2007.
Meanwhile, the NNPC has been granted
78 per cent of the total allocated volume
of three million metric tonnes of petrol
for the first quarter (Q1) of 2016, while
other oil marketers will import the
balance of 22 per cent.
Ahmed said: “In allocating the Q1 2016
import quota to the NNPC and other
marketers, the agency took into
consideration retail outlets ownership,
marketers’ performance of previous
quarterly allocation as well as the
challenges in sourcing foreign exchange.
This measure is to guarantee
uninterrupted fuel supply nationwide.
“Marketers are required to note that
there shall be a mid-quarter review of
performance where volumes of non-
performing marketers shall be withdrawn
and reallocated to performing
marketers.”
He reiterated that the consideration for
participation in future allocations shall be
on the basis of attainment of 100 per
cent performance in Q1, 2016, warning
that any marketer found selling above the
approved price would be excluded from
future participation in product importation
and revocation of licences, amongst
other sanctions.
NLC begins mobilisation against removal
of fuel subsidy
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has
said it will resist any removal of fuel
subsidy through the back door.
The union, in a statement signed by its
general secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson,
reiterated its directive to state councils
and industrial unions to commence the
process of mobilization prior to a
meeting of the national executive
committee to be convened in the New
Year.
“In the past few weeks, we have heard
discordant tunes from government
officials and chieftains of the ruling APC
on what the future portends for the
prices of petroleum products and the
management of the subsidy scheme.
“Party chieftains who supported and
encouraged the massive protests against
subsidy removal in 2012 are now
preaching the inevitability of subsidy
removal!
“The minister of state for petroleum first
announced that, come next year, the
price of petrol will revert to N97 per litre
and that subsidy will be phased out. Two
days, thereafter, he denied this and
stated that what he said was that the
price will operate within a band of N87 to
N97 and that this did not mean removing
the subsidy. The same minister now says
that the price of petrol will now be N85
in January signifying the deregulation of
the sector.
“These vacillations and flip-flops are, in
our view, designed to confuse Nigerians
and pave the way for the deregulation of
petrol prices through the back door. The
fact of the matter is that as long as we
continue to depend on imported refined
products, deregulation and the
abandonment of a subsidy scheme will
unleash hardship on Nigerians.
“In any case, according to our laws, the
determination of the recommended
prices of petroleum products is the
responsibility of the Petroleum Products
Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). By
law, the board of PPPRA is made up of
stakeholders. None of the contradictory
prices the minister is throwing up is a
product of the agency. Indeed, the board
of the PPPRA has not operated for over
two years although we have made
repeated demands for the convening of
the board.”
The urged the government to abide by
the rule of law and constitute and
convene the board of PPPRA without
further delays.
According to the labour centre, such will
enable the agency to examine and agree
on new pricing template based on the
realities of today.
“Any price unilaterally determined and
announced by the minister is in violation
of the law,” he added.
President Muhammadu Buhari will hold
his first Presidential Media Chat today.
This was contained in a statement issued
by his special adviser on media, Femi
Adesina.
According to the statement, in the
course of the programme, which will be
broadcast live on the network services of
the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)
and the Federal Radio Corporation of
Nigeria (FRCN), President Buhari will
answer questions from a panel of
journalists on a broad range of current
national issues.
It said the Presidential Media Chat will
begin at 6pm, adding that other television
and radio stations in the country may
hook up to NTA and FRCN to relay the
programme to their viewers and
listeners.
Ahead of the Benue South senatorial
district re-run election, the immediate
past Senate President, Senator David
Mark has received the endorsement of
the Benue State chapter of the Christian
Association of Nigeria (CAN).
The CAN led by its Benue South
chairman, Reverend Father Emmanuel
Odufu (who led the delegation) on a
solidarity visit to Senator Mark’s Otukpo
country home yesterday, said the
endorsement is the unanimous decision
of their followers.
Reverend Father Odufu told Mark that it
is the consensus of CAN, especially in
Benue South to identify and support him
in the forth-coming re-run.
According to Odufu in a statement issued
by the media aide to Mark, Paul Mumeh:
“For us we are pleased and very
comfortable with you. Your sterling
leadership qualities and record of
achievements speak for you. We stand
by you and we shall be with you all
through”.
The group listed various projects
attracted by Senator Mark to the zone to
include but not limited to the Multi-
Purpose Otobi Water Dam, the Oweto/
Loko Bridge, health centres, schools and
more importantly, the annual scholarship
awards to students.
An unidentified middle age man was
electrocuted at the early hours of Sunday while
trying to steal electric cable at a power supply
installation in Kaduna. The incident happened
at Accra Crescent by LEA Primary School,
Unguwar Rimi. The traditional ruler of teh
area, Dan Iyar Unguwar Rimi, Alhaji
Muhammad Gidado, confirmed the incident.
Gidado said that the corpse of the vandal was
evacuated from the scene by the police from
Unguwar Rimi Division. According to him, the
vandal was unknown to them in the area and
urged law enforcement agencies to step-up
patrol as the community has suffered from the
activities of vandals lately.
Gidado explained that the deceased tried to
steal the 150mm four core up-riser cable at
the distribution sub-station along Accra
Crescent when nemesis caught up with him.
The Head, Corporate Communications of
Kaduna Electric, the operator of Kaduna
Electricity Distribution Company, Mr
Abdulazeez Abdullahi, also confirmed the
incident.
He appealed to customers of the company to
be more vigilant and report suspicious
movement around power supply installations
to the police, especially in the night. Abdullahi
lamented that the activities of these hoodlums
was causing set back to the company’s effort
at providing steady power supply to its
customers.
He warned criminal elements to desist from
damaging or removing power supply
equipment as the consequence could be very
tragic. Meanwhile, the police said it was
investigating the incident with a view to
arresting the collaboartors of the act and
preventing reoccurence.
Gov. Tanko Al-makura of Nasarawa State has
called for the probe of the failure of Mr
Labaran Maku to rescue the Chibok girls as
the supervising Minister of Defence in the last
administration. This is contained in a
statement signed by the Special Assistant to
the governor on Media and Publicity ,Alhaji
Tukur Ahmed, on Sunday in Lafia
The statement said the probe was necessary
in the interest of justice and fairness to the
parents and guardians of the 200 female
students of Government Girls Secondary
School, Chibok in Borno. According to the
governor, the ongoing trial of the accused
persons in the embezzlement of $2.1 billion
meant for arms purchase should not exclude
“those who allegedly collected money in the
name of securing the release of Chibok girls
but never did”.
Al-Makura noted that the investigation will go
a long in revealing “how Maku, as Information
Minister deceived Nigerians on the purported
release of the Chibok girls”. “It was alleged
that the former Minister also collected several
millions of Naira under the guise that they
were negotiating for the release of Chibok girls
from Boko Haram”, he added.
He pointed out that Maku’s recent assurance
that he will speak up on the $2.1bn arms deal
is a ploy to draw public sympathy. The
governor also challenged Maku to explain his
role in the Ombatse and Baba Alakyo Saga
over the killings of 86 security operatives while
he was supervising the federal ministry of
defence.
The statement commended President
Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to defeat Boko
Haram, saying the insurgents are in disarray.
It called on all Nigerians especially the
residents of the North East to support “this
patriotic and honest drive to bring lasting
peace”.
Minister of State for Petroleum Dr. Emmanuel
Ibe-Kachukwu yesterday made some
clarifications about the Petroleum Subsidy
Fund (PSF), otherwise known as petrol
subsidy.
He said that there was no subsidy in the price
of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
Kachikwu, who is also the Group Managing
Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), spoke to
reporters after inspecting the Kaduna Refining
and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) in
Kaduna.
His clarification on the subsidy regime
became necessary following stakeholders’
request, such as the Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC) and the Conference of Nigerian Political
Parties (CNPP) that he provides an
explanation with regards to reports that the
government has deregulated the downstream
petroleum sector and removed petrol subsidy.
Asked to say categorically whether subsidy
has been removed or not since there is no
provision for it in next year’s budget, the
minister said: “Today, there is no subsidy; we
are selling products at N87. In January, we
will look at what the trend is, we will
announce prices. If that is less than N87, we
will announce it and if it is more than that, we
will have to announce it. “
According to him, what really matters is not
availability of subsidy in the budget, but the
consideration of the large amount of money
the government spends on subsidy.
Despite the huge fund, Kachikwu said no one
had been able to account for it due to the
corruption in the management of the fund.
He said : “I don’t want to get caught into this
subsidy or no subsidy; money provided in the
budget or not.
“I think what is critical is two-fold: one is that
the amount that we spent in the past on
providing what you might call monetary
subsidy is huge, we have never been able to
account for it and the amount of corruption
there nobody has been able to account.”
The minister noted that Nigerians were
expending too much energy discussing if the
government should continue to fund the
funding gap called subsidy, which runs into
N1 trillion.
He said he believed that Nigerians were of the
same frame of mind with him that the country
needs to exit the subsidy regime.
His words: “First, let me say that we are
expending too much energy on semantics.
There are two critical issues here; one is,
should the Federal Government continue to
fund the gap that we see, this huge one
trillion naira, and I think everybody is on the
same page that as much as it is we need to
get out of it.”
“Where we have a disagreement is if we get
out of it, should we sell products at certain
price or should you let free markets to roll in
so that you can skyrocket prices?”
Kachikwu recalled that President Muhammadu
Buhari had said that the price of petrol should
remain N87 per litre for now, approved that
the government should review the market and
make the necessary adjustment in line with
the dictates of the market.
The minister said: “The President is very
emphatic on this; he says, for now, he expects
that products should be about N87. He has
also given approval for us to be able to look
at market trends and make adjustments as
need be. So, when you keep asking me if
subsidy has been removed, I ask what is
subsidy?.
“At today’s price, there is no subsidy and that
is why I have gone away from the use of the
word ‘subsidy’ and have continuously said
that I am more on the page of price
modulation. How do we look to fluctuate the
market to reflect market dynamics.”
Kachikwu, disclosing that the government will
continue to modulate prices of domestic petrol
supplies to avert unwholesome profiteering by
marketers, said towards the end of January
2016, he expected that Nigeria would be able
to locally source up to 10 million litres of her
domestic petrol consumption from four of her
refineries in Warri; Port Harcourt and Kaduna.
He, however, said that through the price
modulation mechanism, the government would
continue to monitor price to keep it within a
specified band.
“Happy to have Kaduna back, looking forward
to have Port Harcourt back. Warri is still a bit
far gone but all in all, the more refineries we
can bring on board, the better for the situation
we have ourselves in.”
Speaking on the volume of products he
expects that the refineries would add to the
country’s local consumption, Kachikwu said
although the country would still import
products next year, it would however get up to
10 million litres of petrol from the refineries,
starting from the end of January when repairs
would have been completed on them.
“Kaduna is doing about 1.5 million litres;
hopefully, it will be getting into 2 million very
quickly, once the FCC is working. Port
Harcourt, when it comes back with a
combination of VDU and the FCC, we will
probably be looking at about 5 million litres.
“Ideally, we want to be able to get to about 10
million type capacity out of the about 40 that
we say is the national consumption per day;
that is the trend,” he said.
He added: “If all things were equal, I think the
max cap for Kaduna will be in the 2 to 3
million range, Port Harcourt will probably be 5
and 6 million and Warri, if it comes, will be
another 3 or 4 million. So, Warri is projected
to come back between early and mid-January
and I will say that by the end of January if all
things were working and we do not have any
other complications arising from these aging
plants, we will expect to see 10 million litres.”
EFCC traces N1.450b to four firms
Official says PDP got funds for election
How much of the $2.1 billion arms purchase
cash went into the Ekiti and Osun states
governorship elections?
What role did a former minister play in the
alleged diversion of the funds?
These are some of the questions the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is
battling to answer in its probe of the phoney
arms deals that set the treasury back by
millions of dollars.
The cash was wired into the former minister’s
accounts, the anti-graft agency is believed to
have discovered.
Governorship elections were held in Ekiti (June
2014) and in Osun (August 2014).
But the former minister, one of the leading
lights of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
in the Southwest, has sneaked out of the
country.
It was learnt that he may relocate from his
hideout because it is considered as “unsafe”
for him.
There are fears that if he remains in the
hideout, his extradition for trial would be
easier, a source told The Nation .
The source said: “The huge funds were paid
into the accounts of the ex-Minister for
elections in the two states.
“There are allegations that the funds were not
disbursed as expected because the candidates
had their own campaign funds.
“Although some military and security
personnel were to benefit from the slush funds,
they were also shortchanged.”
Some bankers who managed the accounts
have already given some information to EFCC
investigators.
“But we have discovered that the ex-Minister
has sneaked out of the country. As soon as
we establish his whereabouts, we know what
to do,” the source said.
The Nation could not reach the former
minister last night.
It was gathered that another N1.450billion
fraud had been uncovered by the EFCC
following revelations by one of the accused
persons on trial.
The discovery is contained in the heap of
evidence filed in the court by EFCC for the trial
of 10 suspects.
The money was paid into some accounts
which were submitted by a “former
Accountant-General” whose identity the
suspect in the Office of the National Security
Adviser(ONSA) refused to disclose.
“I could remember the following companies
and account numbers were submitted by the
former Accountant -General which we paid
monies into. Below are the companies and
amounts so far paid: Stellavera Dev Company
(N300m); First Aralac Global Limited(N300m)
; First Aralac Global Limited(N100m);
Damaris Mode(N300m); Stellavera Dev
Company(N200m) and Whese Farms Ltd
(N250m).
“I was directed to pay monies into the above
accounts. I do not know what the monies were
meant for, “ the accused person said.
Meanwhile, a Staff Officer, Account 1, Yazidu
Ibrahim has disclosed that most payments
from the ONSA were meant to pursue the PDP
presidential election.
He claims to have payment vouchers of all
funds remitted to PDP beneficiaries,
companies and contractors.
He made the disclosures in a statement made
to EFCC as a witness.
Ibrahim said: “My duties include recording
financial transactions and to keep custody of
all duplicate copies of financial transactions.
Also to prepare bank reconciliation statements
and to collect statements from all banks.
“The year 2014-2015 transactions were
mainly to support the presidential election of
the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“Those payments to contractors or individuals
by deposit into their accounts were based on
instructions from the DFA. The tellers are
attached to the payment vouchers.
“All payments to contractors are based on
directive from DFA. Sometimes, there is
accompanying document; most times, there is
nothing except account details of
contractors.”
The Nigerian Pigeon 
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