See yourselves as God’s representatives, CJN urges new justices.

See yourselves as God’s representatives, CJN urges new justices.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, on Monday, asked the new justices to see themselves as the representatives of God on earth.

According to him, any judgment given by the justices could only be set aside in heaven.

Ariwoola spoke in Abuja shortly after the swearing-in of the 11 new Supreme Court justices

He also urged the justices to be prepared for criticisms or verbal assaults by litigants who lose cases, adding that as justices of the final court of the land, appellants’ expectations are often very high and infectious.

He said, “See yourselves as the representatives of God on earth because as any judgment given at this level can only be upturned in heaven.

“There is no way you can please human beings, especially litigants. The easiest way to fail in life is by trying to please everyone. The only deity you can fear is the Almighty God. Once your judgment is in consonance with what God expects from you, and is also in accordance with the Constitution, you should consider yourself the happiest and freest person on earth.”

Ariwoola reminded the justices that they would give an account of their stewardship as justices to God one day.

He also cautioned the justices against allowing their ambition to cloud their sense of judgment.

Ariwoola also lamented that it took too long before the court could get its full complement.

He said, “The inability of the Court to meet up the statutory full compliment of 21 Justices had lingered on for too long.

“You are coming to join the Supreme Court Bench at a time when the rank had been grossly depleted to an all-time low of ten Justices for a number of reasons, mainly retirement and deaths.

“Your moral uprightness, integrity, and respect for the constitution and other extant laws in operation must be unwavering and unassailable.”

The newly appointed justices are Jummai Sankey, Chidiebere Uwa, Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, Haruna Simon Tsammani, Moore Aseimo A. Adumein, Obande Festus Ogbuinya, and Stephen Jonah Adah.

Others are Habeeb Adewale O. Abiru, Jamilu Yammama Tukur, Abubakar Sadiq Umar, and Mohammed Baba Idris.

The National Assembly had on December 21, 2023, confirmed the elevation of the justices following President Bola Tinubu’s recommendation.

Oyebanji Unveils N12 billion Economic Relief Programme.

Oyebanji Unveils N12 billion Economic Relief Programme.

….As EKSG moves to support households, formal and informal sectors.

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, has approved a set of carefully designed relief programmes to alleviate the hardship being experienced by the people of the state in the face of the current global economic downturn.

 These programmes include the payment of one month salary arrears to State and Local Government workers totalling over N2.7 billion. With this payment, the Government has cleared the salary arrears owed to State Government workers, and will ensure the arrears owed Local Government workers are cleared this year.

 The Governor also approved an increase of N600 million per month in the subvention of autonomous institutions including the Judiciary and all tertiary institutions. This is to allow the institutions implement the wage award being implemented for State and Local Government workers.

In the same vein, Governor Oyebanji also approved the payment of two months pension arrears owed State and Local Government workers totalling N1.5 billion, as well as N100 million monthly gratuity payment to state pensioners and an increment of the current N50 million monthly gratuity to local Government pensioners to N100 million. (This brings total monthly gratuity payment to N200 million).

The State Government has also committed the sum of N1 billion to improve food production, especially to embark on land preparation, driven by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security’s tractorization subsidy scheme, and an input supply programme to support small scale farmers. Similarly, the Government is also committing a whopping sum of N1.2 billion it recently got as first tranche of the World Bank-financed Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support ( L-PRES) Project to transform the livestock subsector.

The money would be spent on empowering livestock farmers, boosting livestock productivity as well as creating a conducive environment for youths and private sector involvement in livestock businesses. This will include revamping all veterinary clinics across the local government areas and the state veterinary hospital; development of poultry sector across the value chain from production to processing; Feed formulation and artificial insemination (AI) training and support, among others.

 

 Additionally, the State is also launching a N500 million loan programme in partnership with Access Bank to support medium and small scale businesses. This is in addition to N1 billion cooperative fund to provide low interest working capital for cooperatives and members. These programmes will ensure that small scale businesses, a critical part of the State economy, also benefit from the relief programme, and help kick start the economy.

 The final set of the programmes include a continuation of the conditional cash transfer to low income households as well as the CARES programme which among other focuses on livelihood support, labour-intensive support, technology support for small businesses and support for agric produce and for which the sum N3.5 billion is earmarked.

It also include the free bus service for students and workers within Ado-Ekiti and Ikere-Ekiti, which will now be extended to Ekiti State University (EKSU) and other major towns; and the distribution of food items to the 177 wards of the State being coordinated by the Local Government Councils and Community Development Associations.

All these are in addition to ongoing infrastructure projects across the State, boosting power supply to critical areas including connecting the EKSU Campus to the IPP; which will also help lower the cost of logistics- a big driver of commodity prices; the free malaria treatment for elderly citizens and children as well as free delivery for pregnant women at all primary health care centres across the state.

Governor Oyebanji assured the people of the state of his administration’s commitment to the welfare and wellbeing of the citizens, urging them to cooperate with government at the local, state and federal levels as concerted efforts are being made not only to cushion the effect of the economic situation, but to grow the economy in line with the shared prosperity agenda of the administration and the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Obaseki tackles scarcity.

Obaseki tackles scarcity.

The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has said he is taking steps to combat the current hike in food prices in the state.

He urged collaboration and support of all stakeholders to proffer lasting solutions to the incessant price surge and guarantee better welfare for the people of the state.

Obaseki met with relevant stakeholders, including market associations, traders, and farmers’ unions, among others, at the Urhokpota Hall, in Benin City, to chart actionable measures to address the rising cost of living, particularly food prices in the state.

He said, “I called this meeting because of the cost of living in Nigeria as things are hard, especially the prices of food. The people can’t eat anymore and as an administration, we can’t just keep quiet but to act.

“We have called this meeting to see how to solve this problem as trading blames will not lead to any solution to the serious challenges we are facing. All problems have solutions, and we are here to discuss and see how to solve this high price hike challenges facing us.

“You said trade unions are people fixing prices, but I don’t know how they work to achieve that in the market. I want to know how they fix prices. I thought it was demand and supply that controlled the prices.

“If we say unions are the problem then we must look at the unions and their activities and how to control them. We must set up a committee to check and look at the activities that lead to price hike. The committee will help us know if they are doing anything against the law.

“This meeting shows that bad road has a role to play in price increment in our markets. I have been begging the Federal Government to help repair and fix the Ekpoma/Auchi Road since when Babatunde Fashola was Minister for Works but no results till now. I appeal to them to ensure contractors complete the road which has been on for over 30 years. I have approached Dangote and BUA to support us in doing the bad portion of the road because their trucks ply that route.”

Earlier, Solomon Idiogbe, representative of the Edo Civil Society Organisation appealed to the governor to help check the activities of unions across various markets in the state as they significantly contributed to the rising cost of goods and services in Edo.

Edo State Market Women Association Leader, Madam Blackky Ogiamien, commended Obaseki for his administration’s commitment to the welfare of Edo citizens, particularly in the area of security.

Food smuggling: Customs to man 1,500 illegal routes with drones.

Food smuggling: Customs to man 1,500 illegal routes with drones.

In a move to tighten the noose on food smugglers, the Nigeria Customs Service has deployed drones and more operatives to restrict the diversion of foodstuff to neighbouring countries through about 1,500 identified illegal border crossings.

The National Public Relations Officer of Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada, confirmed to The PUNCH on Sunday that the NCS had increased its presence across the borders, including the illegal routes.

The development, he added, was in compliance with the Presidential directive to the security agencies to stop the smuggling of food out of the country as part of decisive measures to stem the food crisis in the country.

Amid the falling value of the naira, traders who deal in grains have been taking grains and other staples to Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroon for higher profits.

But this had driven up the prices of food in Nigeria, resulting in protests by citizens and attacks on food trucks by desperate citizens in some states.

Worried by the situation, President Bola Tinubu directed the National Security Adviser, the Inspector-General of Police and the Director, Department of State Services to go after food hoarders and smugglers.

The government ruled out the importation of food as part of strategies to address the high costs of foodstuffs and the economic hardship troubling the country.

Following the directive, dozens of food trucks leaving the country had been intercepted and sent back.

Giving an update on the measures against food hoarding and smuggling, the NCS spokesman, Maiwada, explained that the deployment of drones was under the Trade Modernisation Project of the Federal Government, noting that the equipment needed for the protection of the borders was being provided through the TMP.

“The deployment of drones and other software is part of our Trade Modernisation Project, which has been concessioned. The TMP was approved by the Federal Government for 20 years. So any development that has to do with what you are asking is part of the contract,” he stated.

In July 2023, it was reported that the NCS was collaborating with the Trade Modernisation Project Limited under a public, private partnership arrangement.

Speaking at the inauguration of the NCS Trade Modernisation Project management office in Abuja at the time, Saleh Ahmadu, chairman of the project, said the TMP would invest a total of $3.2bn in the aforementioned period.

“The project would result in efficiency in NCS’ service delivery. Under the terms of the concession agreement, TMP will invest a total of $3.2bn over a 20-year period, which will generate more than $200bn in revenue for the Federal Government.

“As trade becomes increasingly complicated, the project will equip the NCS with the necessary technology tools and platforms to drive trade harmonisation,” Ahmadu had stated.

Asked about the number of personnel that would be recruited, the Customs spokesperson said, “We have recruited a large number of personnel in the last few years in terms of human resources. And even this year, based on the approved budget, there is going to be the recruitment of more junior staff to be able to effectively manage the border areas. I may not be able to give the exact figure now, but I know that over 2,000 officers have been recruited from 2019 till now.

“In terms of equipment, modernisation, the use of drones and other sophisticated technologies in managing the borders that are contained in our Trade Modernisation Project which is concessioned for 20 years.

“The concession agreement is between the Federal Government and Trade Modernisation Limited. They are providing scanners, software and all necessary technologies required at the seaports, airports and borders.”

On whether the concession was already in place, Maiwada stated that the concessionaires had started working.

“It is in place and they are working assiduously. They have started working and very soon we will see the manifestation of what they are doing,” he stated.

On the deployment of technology to check food smuggling, the chief superintendent of Customs admitted “There is still room for improvement.’’

He added, “However, very soon you are going to see the deployment of Non-intrusive Inspection Technology across our borders. I think they are providing about 74 of them or more. These are to be deployed on the seaports, airports and land borders.”

NIT technologies are force multipliers that enable Customs officers to screen or examine a larger portion of the stream of commercial traffic while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade, cargo and passengers.

They include digital X-ray and vibration monitoring, ultra-high frequency analysis and dynamic contact resistance measurements.

Maiwada had earlier told our correspondent on Saturday that the agency had intercepted food smugglers in Kano, Katsina and Sokoto states.

The agency recently revealed that it intercepted 15 trailers that were fully loaded with food items and were heading out of the country through the Sokoto State border.

Govs, Elumelu, Dangote make Tinubu’s economic advisory panel.

Govs, Elumelu, Dangote make Tinubu’s economic advisory panel.

President Bola Tinubu has created an economic advisory committee comprising the federal government, sub-nationals and the private sector.

This resulted from talks between the President and key stakeholders at the State House, Abuja, on Sunday evening.

The development came as the falling naira exchange rate, rising inflation and other economic headwinds have continued to worsen the cost of living crisis.

Some of the prominent members of the private sector that made the list include the Chairman of United Bank for Africa, Mr. Tony Elumelu, and the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote.

 Speaking at the meeting on behalf of the federal government, Tinubu said the goal “is to provide additional efforts” in stabilising the economy and ensuring the “best economic future” for Nigerians.

He said, “Let’s look at what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong to bring life back to the economy. As I have said many times, the people of this country are only the people we have to please.

“And we are very much concerned from students to mothers and fathers, farmers, the traders and realising that everyone of us will have to fetch water from the same well. We’re looking for additional efforts that’s might help the downtrodden Nigerians and we will provide hope and reassurance that economic recovery is on its way.

“We are not saying that we have all the answers. But we will not be blamed for not trying. We assure Nigerians that we will do our best to get our marshall plan in place and fashion out the best economic future for this country.”

At the meeting, Tinubu discussed food security, job creation and the exchange rate.

Dangote, who was part of the private sector delegation on the committee, said Sunday’s gathering stakeholders the opportunity to clarify the specifics of their roles in President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

He explained, “I think we had a very good meeting. What we discussed is generally about the economy, food security and security of the nation. We discussed everything in detail.

“The economic presidential advisory committee which has been set up…will look at all the issues and address them, coming from job creation and food security.

“So, all these things have been discussed in detail. I can’t give you all the details right now, but we are hopeful and we’re a great nation. We have what it takes to turn around the economy and we’re going to do that.”

Meanwhile, Elumelu noted implementing the decisions made that the gathering “will have propel our economy and help alleviate the poverty in the land, help create employment and help put food on the table of Nigerians.”

The Chairman of the BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, revealed that the committee held frank and exhaustive discussions with the President on the foreign exchange rate.

Citing the recent volatility of the naira against the dollar, Rabiu said, “We discussed on how to bring the foreign exchange rate down because we all know that what is happening as regards the foreign exchange is artificial. It is manipulative and thank God the CBN is doing quite a lot.”

Meanwhile, states have expressed readiness to partner with the federal government’s welfare interventions to alleviate the hardship on Nigerians. They said the advisory committee’s decision would only yield results when execution is prioritised.

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State said, “As a governor, I can assure you that all hands on deck. All governors have resolved to join hands with Mr president to ensure that he provides the necessary intervention to cushion the effect of what we’re going through while we are waiting for the implementation and the evidence of the fiscal and monetary policies already in place.

“In my state and other states, we are bringing in rice, we’re bringing food items and selling at rates that can be obtained before the downslide of the naira. So we are going to be doing all these to bring succour to the common man until we begin to see the evidence of the fiscal and monetary policies.”

On his part, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State said the tripartite committee “will be meeting from time to time to evaluate how things are going and make recommendations to Mr. President and the nation as well.”

The Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, affirmed that the private sector “will play a very significant role” in promulgating workable recommendations to the President on economic matters.

Akeredolu was a prophet, predicted I’d be governor – Aiyedatiwa.

Akeredolu was a prophet, predicted I’d be governor – Aiyedatiwa.

The Ondo State Governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has said he is sure of winning the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress in April and the main election in November this year.

Aiyedatiwa, who became Ondo State governor less than two months ago, said his predecessor, the late former Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, had predicted that he (Aiyedatiwa) would become the next governor of the Sunshine State. He described his late boss as a prophet who foresaw him becoming the next governor.

The governor stated this at a meeting with the officials and the members of the Lucky Aiyedatiwa Campaign Organisation Foot Soldiers in Akure on Saturday.

This was according to a statement on Sunday by the LACO-FS State Director of Information, Mr. Kayode Fasua.

The quoted Aiyedatiwa as saying: “My supporters should continue working and never doubt, as my coming victory in the primary and general elections is the promise of God.

“This (my emergence as governor) is what my late boss, Governor Akeredolu, wanted. A lot of people don’t really know Akeredolu; they don’t know that he was a prophet.

“There was a time after he (Akeredolu) returned from a medical vacation that he told the cabinet members during an executive council meeting that ‘Look, Aiyedatiwa will emerge as the next governor.’”

The governor noted that his ambition to contest for governorship position was beyond the mandate of his joint ticket with the late Akeredolu but a sincere mission to transform Ondo State and uplift the standard of living of the people.

According to the statement, the LACO-FS Convener, Dr. Oladipupo Okeyomi, in his remarks, disclosed that over 250,000 campaigners code-named ‘Foot Soldiers’ had been positioned across the 18 local government areas of Ondo State, to secure victory for Aiyedatiwa in the primary and the major election.

Similarly, the Director-General of the group, Mr. Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, said the group was set to tour all the local government areas starting from this week to mid-March, with Aiyedatiwa leading the campaigns.

Other governorship aspirants on the platform of the APC are a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Mayowa Akinfolarin; a former Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Oladunni Odu; a former Special Adviser to the governor on Health, Prof Francis Faduyile; Chief Olusola Oke, a former Chairman of OSOPADEC, Mr Gbenga Edema, Dr Jimoh Ibrahim, Dr Paul Akintelure.

Weird incident as Sheffield United players fight themselves in defeat at Wolves.

Weird incident as Sheffield United players fight themselves in defeat at Wolves.

English referee Darren Bond speaks with Sheffield United’s English defender #19 Jack Robinson (R) after an incident with his teammate Sheffield United’s Brazilian midfielder #21 Vinicius 

Sheffield United players came to blows among themselves during a 1-0 defeat at Wolves on Sunday that pushed the Blades ever closer to relegation from the Premier League.

Pablo Sarabia’s header earned Gary O’Neil’s men the three points which lifts Wolves up to eighth in the table.

In the aftermath of the goal, a heated argument between Sheffield United pair Vinícius Souza and Jack Robinson descended into pushing.

A VAR check was required before both were allowed to continue in scenes reminiscent of a fight between Newcastle players Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer that saw both sent-off in 2005.

However, the visitors showed the right kind of fight in the second half to push Wolves into a nervy finish.

Chris Wilder’s men were inches away from an equaliser late on when Auston Trusty failed to touch in James McAtee’s dangerous ball across the goal.

But a 19th defeat in 26 league games leaves Sheffield United still rooted to the foot of the table, eight points adrift of safety, and staring an immediate return to the Championship in the face.

A season of struggle was also predicted for Wolves after losing manager Julen Lopetegui just days before the campaign began.

But O’Neil is among the contenders for manager of the year in England as he has instead masterminded a challenge for European competition next season.

Wolves move ahead of Chelsea, Newcastle and West Ham and within one point of seventh-placed Brighton.