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NNPC Appointment: Court fixes March 28 for judgment on Ararume, President Buhari 

Bilkisu Halilu Pai
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A Federal High Court in Abuja has slated March 28, 2023 to rule or give judgment in the N100billion suit filed by Senator Ifeanyi Ararume against President Muhammadu Buhari challenging the withdrawal of his appointment as non-executive chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company NNPC Limited.

 

Justice Inyang Ekwo, after taking arguments from counsels to Ararume, President Buhari and Corporate Affairs Commission, fixed the date for ruling and possible judgment in the suit.

 

Senator Ararume had dragged President Buhari before the Court praying it to declare his removal as NNPC Chief illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional adding that it is a total breach of Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) law under which NNPCL was incorporated.

 

Apart from asking the court to issue order to return him to office, Ararume also demanded for N100billion as compensation for the damages he suffered nationally and internationally on how his removal was carried.

 

Meanwhile, drama ensued during the Monday’s court session when counsels to NNPC limited, Professor Kayinsola Ajayi and Etigwa Uwa staged a walkout on the Court.

 

Ajayi, a Professor of law and Uwa had appeared before Ekwo to represent the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited NNPC in the suit by Ararume challenging his removal as the Chairman of National oil company.

 

The Professor of law had sought to move three different applications comprising one asking the Court to stay proceedings pending the appeal against the ruling of the Federal High Court delivered on January 11, 2023.

 

Ajayi, after identifying the processes filed by NNPC against the suit, argued that the motion seeking stay of proceedings must be heard separately and ruling delivered by the Judge before any other motion should be entertained.

 

Justice Ekwo however, informed the Senior lawyer to move all the applications together and that he would deliver separate rulings in each of the applications so as to save judicial time of the Court.

 

Counsel to Ararume, Chris Uche (SAN), claimed that the motion for stay of proceeding had not been served on him.

 

However, Professor Ajayi stood his ground to move the application separately and that the Judge must give separate rulings on it one way or the other before any other issue.

 

However, following the decision of the Judge to take all the applications together in line with the provision of the Practice Direction of the Federal High Court, Professor Ajayi and his fellow senior advocate announced their withdrawal from the suit and immediately staged a walkout on the court.

 

During the proceedings, Ararume’s Counsel, Chris Uche, while adopting his final brief of argument, urged the court to invoke the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), to nullify the removal of his client as the Chairman of the NNPC

 

He informed the Court that President Muhammadu Buhari acted outside the law to remove Ararume after incorporating the oil company in his name and was billed for inauguration in the capacity.

 

Counsel to President Buhari, Abubakar Shuaib, prayed the court to dismiss the suit against his client on the grounds that it was statute barred at the time it was instituted.

 

He argued that Ararume’s suit offended Section 2(a) of the Public Officers Act and as such was incompetent.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov visits South Africa

Nnenna Okoronkwo
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Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has landed in South Africa to hold talks with one of his country’s most important allies on a continent divided over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Western attempts to isolate it.

South Africa remains neutral on the Russia’ Ukraine but is a strategic military and trade partner for Moscow.

He is to meet with his counterpart, Naledi Pandor, in the capital Pretoria on Monday in what South African government officials have said is an ordinary visit but deemed insensitive by some opposition parties and the  Ukrainian community.

A spokesman for Pandor’s department said Lavrov arrived in South Africa early in the morning and he expected to hold a joint new conference with Pandor. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government regards South Africa as neutral in the war in Ukraine and has expressed a desire to mediate.

Noring other acts of aggression like the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Even as South Africa has proclaimed impartiality on the conflict and abstained from voting on United Nations resolutions, it has retained close relations with Russia, historically a friend of the governing African National Congress when it was a liberation movement against white minority rule.

Both countries have also been trade partners for years, with Russian exports to Russia reaching $587m in 2020, while Russian exports to South Africa totalled $506m.

The South African military is set to host a joint military exercise with Russia and China on its east coast on February 17 to 27, a move likely to further strain ties with Washington and European countries. It coincides with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year.

But John Steenhuisen, leader of South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), went on a fact-finding mission to Ukraine in May 2022, and has disagreed with his government’s position.

“Russia’s expansion into Africa has been through ‘elite capture’, where pliable leaders are ensnared in long-term patronage schemes,” Steenhuisen claimed. Fifteen African nations are currently involved in Russian-financed nuclear power deals, and many more are locked into Russian security contracts.

 

Al jazeera/ P.A.

Over 2.4m persons affected by 2022 floods in Nigeria- NEMA 

Bilkisu Halilu Pai
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The National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA) in Nigeria has revealed that about 2,430,445 persons were displaced by the 2022 flood disaster that ravaged different parts of the country.

 

The Director General of the Agency, Mustapha Ahmed Habib disclosed this at the opening of a one-week strategic executive course for Nigeria Emergency Management Stakeholders, on Monday in Abuja.

 

He added that the training which would afford the participants to share their experiences, would also provide an opportunity for them to develop holistic approaches to disaster and crises management in the country.

 

“This event is taking place in the immediate aftermath of the devastating 2022 flood disaster which is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria.

 

“Records indicate that 662 persons have lost their lives, 3,174 others have suffered injury and 2, 430, 445 individuals have been displaced by the floods.

 

“Thousands of houses, hectares of farmlands and several critical national assets were destroyed by the raging floods.

 

“NEMA in collaboration with state governments and other partners are currently working assiduously towards the long-term recovery of impacted communities across the nation,” he said.

 

Also speaking, the Director, Human Resource Management, NEMA, Mr. Musa Zakari said the event is apt as it would assist in re-examining new and efficient approach to disaster management.

 

According to him, “Rapid changes in climate has resulted in the increase in the frequency of natural disasters across the nation.

 

“Hence the objective of this seminar is to assist the agency and its critical stakeholders in providing unique international brand of disaster management education, training and simulation that can augment existing senior Officers training provision within the country.”

 

Alhaji Abbas Idriss, Director-General, FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), who spoke on behalf of the participants, appreciated NEMA for organising the training.

Nigerian boxer ‘Scorpion’ records first round Knockout in Japan

Mosunmola Ore
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Nigeria’s Ridwan ‘Scorpion’ Oyekola has continued to dominate headlines in the Japanese boxing circle as he recorded a first round knockout in a boxing show tagged: Okinawa Mayhem held early hours of Sunday where he thrashed Manat Sopato from Thailand.

READ ALSO: Sports Minister Congratulates World Boxing Champion, Oyekola.

According to the official website of the event, which was part of the Mugen Idomu Volume 19 Boxing Show series, Sopato fell twice within 90 seconds of the first round before a a right hand hook-punch from Scorpion in the second minute floored him to signal the end of the much publicised bout.

The victory has catapulted Ridwan ‘Scorpion’ from his within hundred positions to be within first ten in the Super featherweight division in the world according to boxRec.com where all professional boxers are being rated based on their records.

Scorpion who has become the toast of boxing fans in Japan has won all his fights since he relocated to Japan in October 2022 after defeating Daisuke Watanabe, Hikaru Fukunaga and the latest victim Manat Sopatip respectively.

Reacting to the victory, the Secretary of Nigeria Boxing Board of Control (NBBofC), Remi Aboderin has described Oyekola as a product of the result of positive changes that was occasioned by the radical approach of the board which turned the fortune of Nigerian professional boxing around.

 

Nigerian President to attend Dakar conference on Agriculture

Bilkisu Halilu Pai
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President Muhammadu Buhari will depart Lagos for Senegal on Tuesday where he will attend the 2nd edition of Dakar International Conference on Agriculture.

 

The high-level Summit hosted by President Macky Sall of Senegal and the Chairperson of the African Union is holding under the theme “Feeding Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience.”

 

The conference, which seeks to create favourable conditions toward achieving food security in Africa, is convened jointly by the government of Senegal and the African Development Bank.

 

There will also be side meetings to discuss agreements on the delivery of food and agricultural products in some countries, including Nigeria.

 

With Africa accounting for 249 million or a third of the 828 million hungry people in the world, the Summit, to be attended by African Heads of State and Government, Ministers of finance and agriculture, as well as several global development partners, is expected to make commitments on eradicating hunger in Africa by 2030.

 

The President’s delegation is made up of Ministers and top government officials including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, National Security Adviser, Mohammed Babagana Monguno and Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufa’i Abubakar.

 

President Buhari is expected back in the country on Wednesday, January 25.

Nigerian government inaugurates high-level steering committee to eradicate statelessness

Bilkisu Halilu Pai
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The Federal Government of Nigeria has inaugurated a High-Level Steering Committee (HLSC) for the eradication of statelessness in Nigeria and to kickstart the implementation of its five-key priority activities.

The Deputy Director of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Interior, Mr. Afonja Ajibola, made this known in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

According to him, the Minister of Interior and Chairman of the Committee, Rauf Aregbesola, made this known at the inaugural meeting of the HLSC in Abuja.

The minister defined statelessness as an emerging global phenomenon in which a person is not considered or recognised as a national by any nation or state under the operation of its laws.

“It is a human right and it’s also a developmental, peace and security issue which affects the dignity of vulnerable persons.

“It strips the affected person of his or her human rights and portrays stateless persons as worthless.

“This violates the non-discriminatory provision of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.”

According to the minister, Nigeria is a signatory to various international treaties geared towards the eradication of statelessness in the world.

This, he said, was ratified by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari at the Abidjan declaration on statelessness and at the meeting of ECOWAS Heads of State Summit held in Accra on May 19, 2015.

“This led to the approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Sept. 2, 2022, of a National Action Plan (NAP) to eradicate statelessness in Nigeria by 2024 in line with the Global Action Plan on Statelessness.”

Members of the HLSC, which is co-chaired by the ministers of Interior and Humanitarian Affairs include: the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Women Affairs, Justice and Information and Culture.

Present also were the country representatives of development partners such as UNHCR, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women, the Nigerian Immigration Service, represented by the Comptroller-General of Immigration and the Directors-General of National Population Commission.

At the end of the meeting, five Sub-Committees were set up in line with the five priority activities while tasks were delegated to each Sub-Committee.

Thereafter, Chairmen and Secretaries were appointed to drive the activities assigned to each committee.

The five-key priorities of the National Action Plan are research, advocacy sensitisation, preventing childhood statelessness, addressing statelessness caused by transfer of territory, such as areas transferred by virtue of the 2002 judgment of the ICJ.

Consequential Greentree Agreement, eradicating gender and other forms of discrimination in the grant of citizenship and with regards to issuance of documents of identity, protection of stateless persons, migrants and refugees are also part of the priorities.

Aregbesola thanked the members for their valuable contributions and urged them to bear in mind how critical their tasks are.

The minister also reminded them that the nation relied on their collective expertise to bring the scourge of statelessness to an end.

 

NAN

Obasanjo Farms commissions 3m annual cassava plantlets tech in Ogun

Kamila Bello
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Nigeria’s agricultural sector has received a major boost with the commissioning of the new cassava breeding technology (Green House Technology) at the Olusegun Obasanjo Farms, Owiwi in Ewekoro local government area of Southwest Ogun State.

According Kehinde Akinyemi, the Special Assistant on Media to former Nigerian President,  Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the new technology can produce about 3m plantlets of cassava annually.

It places Nigeria, second behind the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), lin Africa to have such new farm technology.

The project; Semi Autotrophic Hydrophonic Facility for Cassava Stem Multipication, under the Technology for African Agric Transformation project is in partnership with the IITA. It was first introduced to the DRC government, of which it had accepted and adopted into practice.

The idea to implement the new cassava green technology in Nigeria was during the visit of the former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to the President of the Central African country, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi in 2022.

At the commissioning ceremony, chief Obasanjo commended the IITA under the leadership of its outgoing Director General, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga for his foresight in bringing the technology to Africa.

The former Nigerian President gave assurances that, “As we can see that it is evolutionary, we are taking the product of research and we are bringing it to commercial to produce for our needs and others.

“This is a technology that can grow cassava and get maximum level. This particular specie can give you 30tons per hectare and that is what we are on with the consultant,” Obasanjo said.

The Executive Director of Obasanjo Farms, Dr Adeyemo Jamiyu extolled the former President for his vision for agriculture, “Baba has at today seen Agriculture as an agric business and what we are witnessing today, is just part of that vision that for an agric business to create wealth and employment, elements of science should be incorporated.

“Baba has linked cassava production with science by his investment in this project to further empower millions of cassava farmers in the country.

“And to have that come to past, there must be that part of Science, which is being incorporated into Agriculture. So today, we are seeing that aspect of the breeding operation in the crop sector with cassava as a point of reference,” Adeyemo said.

At the tour of the facility, guests were shown how pathogen free cassava stems are multiplied and emphasis on its genetic potential as well as its stress free in handling with respect to transportation.

“At full capacity, the screenhouse has the potential to hold about One million plantlets, which is planting materials for 50ha, and this volume can be repeated 2 to 3 times a year. So, this can produce about 3million plantlets annually,” Obasanjo said.

 

 

 

Anambra state government launches tax enforcement task force

Hauwa Abubakar Anaja
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The Anambra state government, southern Nigeria, has launched a tax enforcement task force to ensure adequate compliance to tax remittance in the state.
Unveiling the enforcement team in Awka, the state capital, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Comrade Celestine Anere revealed that the move is in line with Professor Chukwuma Soludo’s vision of ridding the state of touts and illegal revenue collectors.
He also stated that they will help ensure that citizens and organisations pay their taxes as and when due.
Speaking further at the occasion,Comrade Anere noted that the enforcement teams are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the state is livable, healthy and tax compliant.
He encouraged the team to ensure strict compliance to all government policies and guidelines and shun victimisation of any kind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ekweremadu: House minority caucus hails judgment vacating assets forfeiture order 

Bilkisu Halilu Pai
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The Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives applauds the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which vacated the Court’s earlier interim assets forfeiture Order on 40 properties allegedly linked to former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

 

The Caucus commends the Judiciary for its courage in again reinforcing the tenets of fairness and even-handedness in the pursuit of justice as demonstrated in this Judgment.

 

As lawmakers, our Caucus further holds that the Federal High Court has, by this judgement, further strengthened the confidence and trust of the citizens in the Judiciary as the last hope of the common man, particularly in a democratic setting.

 

The Caucus strongly hopes and believes that in all, justice will prevail at the end of the day in Sen. Ekweremadu’s case.

Japan’s Minister of Finance Warns of Precarious Year

Hauwa Abubakar Anaja
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Japan’s finances are becoming increasingly precarious, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki warned on Monday.

 

The warning comes just as markets test whether the central bank can keep interest rates ultra-low, allowing the government to service its debt.

The government has been helped by near-zero bond yields, but bond investors have recently sought to break the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) 0.5% cap on the 10-year bond yield, as inflation runs at 41-year highs, double the central bank’s 2% target.

“Japan’s public finances have increased in severity to an unprecedented degree as we have compiled supplementary budgets to respond to the coronavirus and similar issues,” Suzuki said in a policy speech starting a session of parliament.

 

It is not unusual for the finance minister to refer to Japan’s strained finances.

Despite the country’s growing debt pile, the government remains under pressure to keep the fiscal spigot wide open.

Japan must balance regional security concerns over China, Russia and North Korea, and manage a debt burden more than twice the size of its $5 trillion economy – by far the heaviest burden in the industrialised world.

Market showed little reaction to Suzuki’s speech, in which he explained the details of the coming fiscal year’s state budget worth a record 114.4 trillion yen ($878.9 billion).

Suzuki reiterated the government’s aim to achieve an annual budget surplus – excluding new bond sales and debt-servicing costs – in the fiscal year to March 2026. The government, however, has missed budget-balancing targets for a decade.

 

The Ministry of Finance estimates that every 1-percentage-point rise in interest rates would boost debt service by 3.7 trillion yen to 32.5 trillion yen for the 2025/2026 fiscal year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reuters/Hauwa Abu

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