General
Fuel Subsidy Removal and the Concept of Change
By Jerome-Mario Utomi
It is common knowledge that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) recently rejected the federal government’s proposed N5,000 for 40 million poor Nigerians when the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly called petrol, is removed.
While describing it as ‘nonsensical’ the argument that the complete surrender of the price of petrol to market forces would normalize the curve of demand and supply as it is being wrongly attributed to the current market realities with cooking gas, diesel and kerosene are very obtuse, the union, according to media reports, warned that the bait by the government to pay 40 million Nigerians N5,000 as a palliative to cushion the effect of the astronomical increase in the price of petrol, is comical.
Essentially, before going ahead to admit the fact that the NLC captured what has been on the minds of Nigerians, there is a need that I add context to the present discourse.
It is public knowledge that prior to the 2015 general election when the word ‘change’ made its way to the nation’s leadership lexicon via our political leaders, who at that time, in the image of their actions, and in their quest for new but personal fields to increase their wealth and wellbeing, redefine the word and lavishly promised Nigerians same, Nigerians have never paid ‘disciplined attention’ to, or hobnobbed/romanced such a word.
Also lamentable is the awareness that without studying the various propositions presented by the change proponents, and failures by well-informed citizens to inform the masses accordingly, politicians persuaded Nigerians to endorse and applaud the lavishly promised ‘change’ without knowing or recognition that it was harmful to their interest.
With the above highlighted and in order not to allow the true meaning/obligation of change in any given society, state or nation, to go with political winds, this piece will further keep issues where they are.
Globally, the concept of change has been a subject of metaphysical discourse and dispute.
As noted by an author, the notion of change is always related to being, the relationship of being and becoming in infinite beings. Whatever change is and is not, it has a past, a present and a future. Change as it were, is a self-evident fact; we experience change.
Hence we can say for certain that change is the primary datum of experience. Everything given to experience is subject to change. Hence, change is a universal phenomenon. Change involves movement from one pole to another. It is a transition of being from one mode of being to another mode of being. To change implies to be different and yet somehow to remain the same. That is, the past mode and the present mode are somehow different and somehow the same.
Second and very fundamental, like so many unpalatable experiences in the past (electricity tariff among others), this piece holds the opinion that engineering change is not the problem but how the government defines/understands the concept of change. This understanding daily reflects in the federal government choices and slanted decisions that today paints our nation with the politics of fear and bankruptcy of ideology, perpetuates poverty and promotes powerlessness, impedes socio-economic development, leaves our democracy down-graded and troubled; visits Nigerians with tears while eroding opportunities for sound policy formulation.
More importantly, aside from the fact that the planned fuel subsidy removal has recently seen the relationship between the government and the governed transcends to a chaotic coexistence, leaving Nigerians as both victims of blasted hope, there are of course more reasons why Nigerians are not particularly happy with such development and can no longer trust the social contract or the framework of rules that governs the state.
Here is my philosophy; recently, life in the estimation of Nigerians who once lived in comfort and loved to stay alive, has become not only a burden but the shout of the ‘good old days’ now rends the nations’ wavelength with the cost of living comparatively high and national security now a problem, our value system which used to be sound has gradually been eroded and people no longer have value for hard work and honesty.
The country is currently the direct opposite of what it used to be. There is uncertainty and collective fears of the future, stemming from state weakness, clientele and indiscriminate repression which have resulted in the emergence of armed responses by marginalized groups and nationalist, ethnic or other populist ideologies.
The situation says something more. Across the board, there exist political and institutional factors: weak state institutions, elite power struggles and political exclusion, breakdown in social contract and corruption, identity politics. Socioeconomic factors such as inequality, exclusion and marginalization, absence or weakening of social cohesion, poverty among others.
Most importantly, with the promised change by the present administration; Nigerians thought that they (FG) will make conscious efforts to enhance primary health care facilities across the country, reduce costs and unnecessary pressure on secondary/tertiary health care facilities.
Personally, I have personally thought that the promised change in 2015 would increase the number of, and improve the quality of all federal government-owned hospitals to world-class standards within five years.
In the area of education, Nigerians are particularly not happy that the present Federal Government is unable to carry out a thorough review of the education sector and tackle the main causes of the sectors’ decline, implement fully and enforce the provisions of the Universal Basic Education Act with emphasis on gender equity in primary and secondary school enrolment while also improving the quality and substance of the schools.
Without a doubt, Nigerians had earlier believed that the present administration would reinstate the now abandoned Teacher Training College to train teachers, make substantial investments in training programmes at all levels of the educational system, re-introduce technical and vocational education nationwide by giving adequate material support to such institutions. They (Nigerians) expected the APC led administration to spend up to the UNESCO budgetary recommendation on the education sector.
Whatever may be the failures, this piece believes that we must as a nation return to where it started from. This is because, despite the validity of the federal government’s present argument, nobody will believe them particularly as Mr President had during a media broadcast on October 1, 2020, insisted that petroleum prices in Nigeria must be adjusted as it makes no sense for oil to be cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia.
Let’s again listen to that remark; we sell now at N161 per litre. A comparison with our neighbours will illustrate the point; Chad which is an oil-producing country charges N362 per litre; Niger, also an oil-producing country sells 1 litre at N346; In Ghana, another oil-producing country, the petroleum pump price is N326 per litre; Further afield, Egypt charges N211 per litre. Saudi Arabia charges N168 per litre. It makes no sense for oil to be cheaper in Nigeria than in Saudi Arabia, Buhari concluded.
No nation, in my view, can become great under a leadership arrangement with such orientation/thinking.
Jerome-Mario Utomi, Programme Coordinator (Media and Public Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), writes from Lagos. He could be reached via [email protected] or 08032725374.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government, the 36 state governments, and the 774 local government councils (LGCs) in the country have share N1.424 trillion from a gross revenue of N2.310 trillion recorded in the month of December 2024.
This was disclosed by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at its December 2024 meeting chaired by the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun.
The funds shared comprised Gross Statutory Revenue, Value-Added Tax (VAT), Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and Exchange Difference (ED), with the sum of N84.780 billion removed for the cost of collection and N801.175 billion allocated for transfers intervention and refunds.
The total revenue distributable for December 2024 was drawn from statutory revenue of N386.124 billion, VAT of N604.872 billion, EMTL of N31.211 billion, and exchange difference of N402.714 billion.
It was disclosed that the federal government received N451.193 billion, the states got N498.498 billion, the local councils shared N361.754 billion, and the oil-producing states were given N113.477 billion as 13 per cent derivation of mineral revenue).
In a communique issued by FAAC after the meeting, it was stated that the gross revenue available from the VAT was N649.561 billion as against N628.973 billion distributed in the preceding month, resulting in an increase of N20.588 billion.
From that amount, the sum of N25.982 billion was allocated for the cost of collection and the sum of N18.707 billion given for transfers, intervention and tefunds.
The remaining N649.561 billion was distributed to the three tiers of government, of which the federal government got N90.731 billion, the states received N302.436 billion and councils got N211.705 billion.
Accordingly, the gross statutory revenue of N1.226 billion received for the month was lower than the sum of N1.827 billion received in the previous month by N6.988 billion.
From the stated amount, the sum of N57.498 billion was allocated for the cost of collection and a total of N782.468 for transfers, intervention and refunds.
The remaining balance of N386.124 billion was distributed as follows to the three tiers of government: federal government got the sum of N167.690 billion, states received N85.055 Billion, the sum of N65.574 billion was allocated to LGCs and N67.806 billion was given to the beneficiary states as 13 per cent derivation.
Also, the sum of N31.211 billion from EMTL was distributed in the period under review, with the central government getting N4.682 billion, the states receiving N15.605 billion, the local councils getting N10.924 billion, and N1.300 billion allocated for cost of collection.
It was further revealed that from the N402.714 billion from exchange difference, the federal government received N188.090 billion, states got N95.402 billion, and the councils got N73.551 billion, while the oil-producing states shared N45.671 billion.
FAAC disclosed that VAT and EMTL increased significantly last month, while oil and gas royalty, CET levies, excise duty, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and Companies Income Tax (CIT) decreased considerably.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), in collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), is finalising plans to introduce a digital farmer registry via the Government 2 People (G2P) card initiative.
The National Identity Number (NIN) enabled card initiative will address the Federal Ministry’s immediate challenges of identity and authentication, required to deliver government services efficiently and accurately, according to a statement jointly issued by Mr Joel Oruche, Director of Information, FMAFS and Mr Kayode Adegoke, NIMC’s spokesperson on Thursday.
The statement added that the programme seeks to address existing barriers to effective government programs, ensuring that aid reaches the right beneficiaries.
The partnership will, “leverage the National Identity Management System to power the Ministry’s farmer registry by the linkage of the NIN and attendant biometric identity data of each farmer to their farmland, as well as all necessary supporting data relating to that farmer, including the size of the holding, type of crops or livestock.”
Connecting the NIN-backed registry to the G2P card will allow for the provision of targeted and ring-fenced aid to the farmers and other recipients of government benefits under the FMAFS programmes.
“The G2P card ecosystem is an initiative that allows for the issuance of NON-enabled cards by Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and enables the use of the card’s frontend by these MDAs for their respective programmes. The key feature of the ecosystem is a biometrics card with multiple wallets that can provide verifiable identification and also process transactions without internet connectivity, allowing the Ministry to support beneficiaries in the most remote locations. The card is unique to each citizen, and every Nigerian and legal resident is eligible to obtain it, banked or unbanked. The G2P card will be owned by and personalised to each MDA that adopts its usage.
“By adopting this card, FMAFS can uniquely identify all farmers, provide multiple agriculture services through the card in a manner that eliminates risks and fraud and also provide end-to-end visibility within the agriculture value chain thus enabling scalability. Agriculture services to be provided through the card include farmer financing, input distribution, farmland mapping linked to identity, extension services monitoring & evaluation and agency banking as well as multiple types of third-party services.
“Within this framework, NIMC will provide the foundational identity ecosystem to FMAFS, who as the owner of both the farmer registry and G2P card scheme will provide government services via the issued G2P cards, tailored to the needs of the farmers supported by the Ministry at the national and sub-national levels.
“The G2P card has a large capacity in-card chip that stores beneficiary identity, know your customer (KYC), picture, and fingerprints. In addition, it has two applets and several wallets dedicated to multiple types of programmes, which provides the flexibility and channels needed for multiple interventions to be implemented against the same unique identity. This flexibility is required to address infrastructure challenges limiting identity verification and digital evidence of beneficiary access when implementing government programmes,” the statement revealed.
The G2P biometric cards will be processed through a bespoke but interoperable biometrics Point of Sale (POS) acceptance device, which requires biometrics to access and operate which will allow the Ministry to better deliver services and programmes in any location regardless of infrastructure challenges.
The card will operate as a digital wallet/ prepaid card and it is tailored for government transactions such as subsidies, loans, welfare disbursement, pensions and other activities carried out by FMAFS.
“With the G2P ecosystem, any programme implemented by the Ministry can now be administered independently and showcased through digitally enabled dashboards displaying key data on how each programme has been efficiently implemented or otherwise,” the statement added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will arraign the Chairman of Honeywell Group, Mr Oba Otudeko, and three other defendants on Monday, January 20, 2025, over an alleged fraud worth about N12.3 billion.
The anti-graft agency on Thursday filed a 13-count criminal charge against the respected businessman and others. They will be brought before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos next week.
Mr Otudeko will be arraigned alongside a former Managing Director of First Bank, Mr Olabisi Onasanya; a former member of the board of directors of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, Mr Soji Akintayo; and a company linked to Mr Otudeko, Anchorage Leisure Ltd.
All four were listed as defendants in the suit filed by an EFCC prosecutor, Mrs Bilkisu Buhari-Bala, on January 16, 2025.
The EFCC alleged the four committed fraud in tranches of N5.2 billion, N6.2 billion, N6.150 billion, N1.5 billion and N500 million, between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos.
In proof of the charge against the defendants, the EFCC intends to call representatives of First Bank, including Mrs Cecelia Majekodunmi, Mr Ola Michael Aderogba, Mr Abiodun Olatunji, Mr Raymond Eze, Mr Abiodun Odunbola and Mr Adeeyo David, all of whom are expected to give evidence of the fraudulent misrepresentation of the defendants and tender relevant documents.
The agency will also rely on the testimonies of representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Stallion Nigeria Limited, and V-tech Dynamics Ltd.
Also included in the EFCC’s list of witnesses are one Ms Farida Abubakar and Ms Adaeze Nwakobi.
Some of the Counts
According to the commission, the offences contravene Section 8(a) of Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and were punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.
Count 1 of the charge says that Chief Oba Otudeko, Stephen Olabisi Onasanya, Soji Akintayo and Anchorage Leisure Limited between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired amongst yourselves to obtain the sum of N12,300,000,000.00 (Twelve Billion, Three Hundred Million Naira Only), from First Bank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for by V- Tech Dynamic Links Limited and Stallion Nigeria Limited, which representation you know to be false, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(a) of Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
In Count 2, it was alleged that the defendants, on or about 26th day of November, 2013 in Lagos, “obtained the sum of N5.2 Billion from First Bank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for by V Tech Dynamic Links Limited which representation you know to be false.”
The 3rd count claims that the defendants, between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos, obtained N6.2 Billion from First Bank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for and disbursed to Stallion Nigeria Limited, which representation you know to be false.”
Count 4 reads, that you, Chief Oba Otudeko, Stephen Olabisi Onasanya, Soji Akintayo and Anchorage Leisure Limited on or about 26th day of November 2013 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court conspired amongst yourselves to use the total sum of N6,150,000,000,.00 (Six Billion, One Hundred and Fifty Million Naira Only.), which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretence and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Sections 18(a), 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.
Count 5 accuses Chief Oba Otudeko, Stephen Olabisi Onasanya, Soji Akintayo and Anchorage Leisure Limited on or about 11th day of December, 2013 in Lagos, procured Honeywell Flour Mills Plc to retain the sum of N1.5 billion, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretence and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(c), 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.
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