Report: Bad roads, multiple taxes, hindering food transportation in Nigeria

 

A new report by SBM Intelligence, Nigeria’s geopolitical intelligence platform, says food transportation in the country is hindered by bad roads, multiple taxes and harassment by security operatives.

The report published in January is based on information received from farmers and food transporters in seven states including Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Nasarawa, Osun, Katsina, and Benue.

According to the report, farmers have poor access to markets thereby making it difficult to sell harvested products and promote food security in the country.

With 53.3 per cent, bad road ranks top as the major challenge of food transporter while multiple taxes and harassment come second and third with 25 per cent and 21.7 per cent respectively.

“Transporters share similar concerns with farmers with access to market and bad roads making up the most common challenges faced, followed by multiple taxation and harassment,” the report reads.

It noted that food transporters “want the government to fix access roads and provide adequate transportation that is cheap, effective and efficient”.

The report added that an efficient rail system will reduce the cost of transporting farm produce to the markets and improve food security.

“Security remains paramount followed by access to land and irrigation infrastructure. Some of the other factors mentioned were financing and the availability of a sizeable storage where most of their farm products can be stored,” it reads.

“Away from the government, there are business opportunities for investors who would like to take up a dual role of solving the problem of food insecurity and generating profit.

“In addition to these, transporters want some of their unique concerns met, like better roads, as well as put an end to multiple taxation and harassment by officials.

“Apart from good road networks and enhanced security addressed above, they want the multiple taxes paid while transporting goods between states to be stopped or at least reduced. They also want the number of checkpoints on the road to be reduced, so as to stop harassment by security officials and local government officials.”

Nigeria’s inflation rate has continued to accelerate hitting 14.89 per cent year-on-year in November 2020 — the highest level since January 2018 at 15.13 per cent. Food inflation also surged by 18.30 per cent — the highest since January 2018.

- THECABLE

‘It’s problematic’ — Merkel faults Twitter’s ban on Trump

 

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, has objected to the ban on President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, describing it as “problematic.”

According to Bloomberg, Steffen Seibert, her chief spokesman, questioned Twitter’s decision on Trump at a news conference in Berlin on Monday.

He quoted Merkel as stating that lawmakers should set the rules governing free speech and not tech companies.

“The chancellor sees the complete closing down of the account of an elected president as problematic,” Seiber said.

The spokesperson also added that his principal believes that rights like the freedom of speech “can be interfered with, but by law and within the framework defined by the legislature — not according to a corporate decision.”

TheCable had reported how thousands of American protesters loyal to the incumbent US president invaded the Capitol Hill during the process of certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the November 3 presidential election.

The development had immediately provoked backlash globally. It also had many blaming Trump for the five deaths that were recorded due to his Twitter commentaries and his public addresses that allegedly incited the violence.

Social media brands like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter had blocked his accounts to prevent further “incitements”.

The development was also condemned by some world leaders and prominent government officials including Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexican president.

“I don’t like anybody being censored or taking away from the right to post a message on Twitter or Face(book). I don’t agree with that, I don’t accept that,” Obrador had said on Thursday.

“How can you censor someone: ‘Let’s see, I, as the judge of the Holy Inquisition, will punish you because I think what you’re saying is harmful.

“Where is the law, where is the regulation, what are the norms? This is an issue of government, this is not an issue for private companies.”

Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, who re-echoed Merkel and Obrador’s stance, described big tech firms as “one of the threats” to democracy.

Eldee: Banning people on social media over their views is tyranny

On his part, Eldee, a Nigerian rapper, said that it’s “tyranny” to ban people on social media over their views.

He was speaking to his one million fans in a post shared on his Twitter handle in the early hours of Monday.

“Banning someone from a social media platform simply because you don’t agree with their opinions is a classic demonstration of tyranny,” the US-based musician wrote.

Announcing his ban on Trump, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, had said: “Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,”

“His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world.

“The risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.

“Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

- THECABLE

Transfer: Mesut Ozil reveals why he likes Fenerbahce

 

Arsenal midfielder, Mesut Ozil, on Monday. Revealed that he likes Fenerbahce because the Turkish Super Lig giant is like Real Madrid.

Ozil also said that he grew up as a Fenerbahce fan when he was a kid in Germany.

The 32-year-old is very close to moving to Fenerbahce this January transfer window after the door was closed to a return to Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta’s first team at Emirates.

The ex-Germany international was left out of Arsenal’s Premier League and Europa League squads.

Ozil was initially expected to join Fenerbahce on loan for the rest of the season.

That move would have seen Arsenal paying his £350,000-a-week wages before his contract expires at the end of this season, and then he would make the move permanent.

“I grew up as a @Fenerbahce fan as a kid in Germany – every German-Turkish person supports a Turkish team when they grow up in Germany.

“And mine was Fenerbahce. Fenerbahce is like Real Madrid in Spain. The biggest club in the country,” Ozil wrote on Twitter when asked why he has liked Fenerbahçe since he was young and what is the main thing that makes him a Fenerbahce fan.

- DAILY POST

Woman demands husband’s whereabouts after 8 years of arrest by SARS

 

A woman, Rita Okungbowa, on Monday told the Edo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry for Victims of SARS and Related Abuses, how operatives of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad, (SARS), invaded their house eight years ago and whisked her husband away and that his whereabouts has remained unknown to her.

She further told the panel that her husband, a Benin movie director, Prince Osayande Okungbowa, was tagged a kidnapper and whisked away.

She said every effort made to know which of the Correctional facilities he was kept proved abortive, noting that even when she displayed his photograph before other inmates, they all denied seeing anyone like him.

She narrated: “On the 12th day of September, 2012, the SARS came to my own house, and picked my husband, they alleged him to be a kidnapper.

“My mother-in-law and I went to the State Criminal Investigation Department, and immediately I mentioned the name of my husband, they drove us away. They did not allow us to see him.

“The next day, we also came, they did not allow us to also see him. One of the police officers then told us that they have taken him to the court and thereafter, to the prison.

“I asked which of the prison, they said the white house (that is the maximum Correctional Centre at Sapele road), we went there, we did not see him, we went back to the station, but they later referred us to Oko Correctional Centre, and we did not see him there.

“I decided to take a lawyer, and when we got to the station, the OC then asked, who is in charge of the matter, they told us one Sergeant Esezobo was the Investigation Police Officer, IPO.

“When we asked for the Esezobo, they said he has gone to the canteen and we went to the canteen and immediately he saw us, he ran away.

“I have been going to the police station to search for him (my husband) and I have not set my eyes on him for the past eight years and because of that, I decided to approach the panel so that they can help me ask the disbanded SARS where they kept my husband.”

Mrs. Okungbowa pleaded with the panel to compel the SARS to compensate her with N20 million, to enable her give her children a better life.

“The panel should help me to tell them to provide my husband if he is still alive and if he is no more, the panel should compel them to come and settle me.

“They should pay me N20 million because I have been passing through hard times. Look at my two kids, they have not been going to school for a very long time.

“In fact, even house rent, I can’t pay. I sleep in the church, Celestial Church of Christ, that is where I normally stay because there is no money to rent a house.

“I don’t have anything doing, I go out to wash people’s clothes just to survive, is that not painful?

“They should settle me with N20 million so that I can start a good business and to also take my children back to good school,” she said.

- PM  NEWS

Pat Utomi: Why the north is afraid of restructuring

 

Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy, says some politicians in the north are afraid of restructuring because they are uncertain about where it will lead them.

Speaking at a virtual media parley ahead of the ‘Never Again’ conference to mark 51 years after the civil war, Utomi said the north largely relies on the federal government for their share of revenue, which “has made them really unproductive”.

“There is a real crisis in the north that the south does not understand. They are painters of people who hate each other very much; that is the truth of the matter. That is why they are scared of restructuring because they don’t know where it will lead them, and outside of Nigeria, they are formless; there is no north,” he said.

Utomi, however, urged northerners to dismiss such fears, saying restructuring will help them “become productive and move away from the poverty status”.

The professor also announced the second edition of the ‘Never Again’ conference, which he said will feature Matthew Kukah, bishop of Sokoto Catholic diocese, as the keynote addresser, while former President Olusegun Obasanjo will be the special guest of honour.

He added that the conference will be chaired by Ayo Adebanjo, Afenifere leader, and Kalu Idika Kalu, a former finance minister.

“It is recalled that Nigeria fought a bitter and internecine 30-month civil war that left in its wake a sharply divided nation with mutual suspicion, hatred and resentment across racial and regional lines. An estimated one million victims were killed immediately before and during the war,” he said

“The conference will x-ray the issues that led to the civil war and the need for patriots to work together to achieve national cohesion, especially in light of several centrifugal tendencies within the polity.”

- THECABLE

Sex crimes: Cult leader Adnan Oktar jailed for 1,075 years

 

A Turkish Court on Monday sentenced cult leader Adnan Oktar to 1,075 years in prison for sex crimes.

Oktar is the head of cult prosecutors consider a criminal organization.

The 64-year-old and dozens of his followers were arrested in nationwide raids in 2018.

His preaching were controversial, while women he called “kittens” danced around him in the TV studio.

NTV reported that Oktar was found guilty of sexual assault, sexual abuse of minors, fraud and attempted political and military espionage.

The convict told the judge in December that he had close to 1,000 girlfriends.

“I am extraordinarily potent”, Oktar boasted at a hearing.

In October, he said: “There is an overflowing of love in my heart for women. Love is a human quality. It is a quality of a Muslim.”

- DAILY POST

Lagos raises alarm as many civil servants test positive for COVID-19

 

The Lagos State Government has raised the alarm over increasing rate at which civil servants test positive for COVID-19.

Head of Service, Hakeem Muri-Okunola, in a statement said the government was concerned at the increasing rate of COVID-19 positivity among civil servants.

The memo addressed to all Accounting Officers, said they should come up with duty rosters to stem the outbreak of COVID-19 in their respective Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.

He said the roster should be prepared with an officer having to report for duty at most twice a month.

The memo reads: “I wish to note with deep concern the spate at which Officers are testing positive to COVID 19 and hereby enjoins all Accounting Officers to come up with Duty Rosters to stem the outbreak in your respective MDAs.

“The roster should be prepared with an Officer having to report for duty at most (one week) twice a month.

“Please note that this directive is without prejudice to existing directives and only reinforces same which are in effect and compliance abysmal. Be Responsible. Be Responsive. Be Safe.”

- PM NEWS

AMCON: 350 debtors holding on to N3.6 trillion

 

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) says 350 obligors are holding on to debts worth N3.6 trillion out of its total N4.4 trillion exposure.

This was included in a paper presented by Joshua Ikioda, the group head of AMCON enforcement, during a two-day training for federal high court legal assistants and court registrars in Abuja.

Jude Nwauzor, AMCON’s spokesman, said the training was organised by the Fatihu Abba-led Legal Academy to enlighten legal assistants and registrars of the federal high court on AMCON’s mandate.

AMCON was established in July 2010 to help resolve non-performing loans of banks by buying bad loans and recovering such from debtors and their promoters.

Ikioda said the total N4.4 trillion held by AMCON is bigger than the N3.85 trillion capital expenditure budget of the federal government for 2021, the N3.12 trillion for total foreign debt service and personnel cost of N3.7trillion.

He further explained that the huge debt would be enough to capitalise two million micro-businesses in the country with a N2 million cash injection each or 200,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with N20 million per SME.

In his keynote address, Ahmed Kuru (pictured), AMCON chief executive officer, said the judiciary plays an important role in the success of the corporation.

“We are just a government recovery agency saddled with the responsibility of purchasing non-performing loans from banks and ensuring it is paid back using the instrumentality of the law.

“Unfortunately, it did not turn out to be that easy, through the instrumentality of the courts as we encountered a lot of challenges.

“The obligors get wiser by the day, deliberately causing orchestrated legal delays knowing that AMCON has a sunset date. The act was amended in 2015 to address some of the encountered challenges, again obligors got wiser, hence necessitating another amendment in 2019 all with the single objective of recovering the loans bought from banks in order to settle our debt without recourse to taxpayers money.

“Due to the limited lifespan of AMCON, there is a need for a speedy and simplified litigation process.”

Kuru said the loans were so bad that the government had to purchase them to prevent a collapse of the economy.

“AMCON’s mandate is therefore to recover these debts for our common survival to be guaranteed. The rationale behind the AMCON regime is to quickly recover the bad debts within a legal framework that ensures speed without compromising fair hearing,” he explained.

“The directions and the rules have introduced a new culture of expediency in determining AMCON matters at the federal high court. Therefore, it is imperative for you to understand the AMCON spirit, which means speed and efficiency.”

- THECABLE

Resign if you are helpless, Funmi Falana tells Buhari

 

Funmi Falana, human rights lawyer, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to resign if he is unable to provide security for citizens.

Her comment follows the security challenges being faced across the country. 

The lawyer, who is wife of Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), while speaking in Iyin Ekiti, Ekiti state, during her yearly New Year’s celebrations at the orphanage said the government has failed if it cannot protect its citizens.  

“Nigerians are afraid to go out, Nigerians fear for their lives, they are afraid for their security. It is very sad. Nobody ever envisaged that Nigeria will get to a situation like this,” she said.

“There is the need to do something about the security of the citizens. A government that is unable to guarantee the security of the citizens is a failed government, so if they cannot protect the Nigerian people, the governments have failed.

“We are using this opportunity to remind them that it is the constitutional responsibility of the government under chapter two of the constitution to provide security for the people. It is as if they are helpless, if they are helpless, let them resign and let us know that we don’t have a government.” 

She added that her yearly celebration at the orphanage is a way of giving back to the needy in society “because these people really need the expression of our love and also to let them know that they are important in the society”.

- THECABLE

Cristiano Ronaldo becomes football’s joint highest-ever goalscorer

 Juventus forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, has become the joint-highest goalscorer in football history following his late strike against Sassuolo on Sunday.

Ronaldo drilled home to give the Italian champions a 3-1 win.

It takes his career tally to a stunning 759 for club and country.

That meant the Portugal captain joins Josef Bican at the top of the game’s all-time scoring records.

There is no doubt now that Ronaldo will overtake Bican as the game’s most prolific marksman.

Although Pele’s Instagram bio proclaims him as ‘Leading Goal Scorer of All Time (1,283)’, there is still debate over whether all of the Brazil legend’s strikes were in official matches.

Bican played for clubs including Rapid Vienna, Slavia Prague and Dynamo Prague in the 1930s, 40s and early 50s, representing Austria and Czechosovakia at international level.

- DAILY POST

Virgin boss Branson says COVID-19 has killed mum Eve

 

Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic boss announced today that her 96 year-old mum, Eve, has been taken away by COVID-19.

Branson announced his mum’s obituary on Twitter.

“I’m sorry to share that, sadly like a lot of people’s mums and dads right now in these days of Covid, my mum Eve has also passed away.

“Rather than mourn her loss, I wanted to celebrate her wonderful life & the joy she brought to so many”, he wrote.

In a moving tribute at virgin.com, Branson further wrote:

She held on for one last victory, managing to fight off the virus, but had expended all of her energy in the process.

One of my wonderful sisters, Vanessa, and nephew Louis were with her until the end, as were the wonderful nurses who she entertained with tales from her life and much laughter over glasses of whisky.

Rather than mourn her loss, I want to celebrate her wonderful life, her tremendous spirit, the joy she brought to so many, and the love she gave us all.

Mum was 96-years-old, but had the same enthusiasm and energy she had when I was a boy. As for so many of us in these days of Covid, it feels so strange that the person who has always been there for us, with such zest for life, is gone.

My sisters Lindy and Vanessa and I were so lucky to grow up with mum and dad as our parents, instilling values that have lasted a lifetime.

They taught us the importance of hard work, of not taking yourself too seriously, of treating people how you wish to be treated, of entrepreneurship, and so much more. They showed us how family is the most important thing in the world, and surrounded us with love and encouragement.

My mum was a force of nature. She lived many remarkable lives. She took glider lessons disguised as a boy, enlisted in the WRENS during World War II, toured Germany as a ballet dancer after the war, acted on the West End stage and worked as a pioneering air hostess on the treacherous British South American Airways routes.

When I was growing up she was always working a project; she was inventive, fearless, relentless – an entrepreneur before the word existed.

It is no exaggeration to say I owe my career to mum. One day in the late Sixties mum saw a necklace lying on the road near Shamley Green and took it to the police station. After three months nobody had claimed it so the police told her she could keep it. She came up to London, sold the necklace and gave me the money. Without that £100, I could never have started Virgin. We were so sad to lose dad back in 2011, but mum did exactly as he would have wished by continuing to grab life with both hands.

Honestly, it was always more difficult finding time in her diary than mine! Whether she was organising charity polo tournaments, firing the starting pistol to begin the Virgin Strive Challenge or looking after her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, she was always actively helping others.

One of mum’s most brilliant legacies is The Eve Branson Foundation, which she founded to improve the lives of women and young girls in the Atlas Mountains, and provide access to education and health care to those in need.

 PM NEWS

NBS: Internet subscribers grew to 151 million in Q3 2020

 

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the number of Internet subscribers in the country grew to 151.51 million subscribers in the third quarter of 2020.

This is compared to the 143.63 million subscribers recorded in the second quarter.

According to the NBS report on telecoms data for Q2 and Q3 2020 released on Sunday, this represents a 5.48 percent growth quarter-on-quarter.

A total of 205 million voice subscribers were reported to have been active in Q3 2020 compared to 196.24 million subscribers in Q2 2020, representing a 4.59 percent increase.

“MTN has the highest share of subscriptions (both voice and internet). This is closely followed by GLO, Airtel, and emerging markets telecommunications services (EMTS)—9mobile respectively,” the report read.

For states, Lagos had the highest number of subscribers in terms of active voice in Q3 2020 with 25.25 million people, followed by Kano (14.42 million); Ogun (11.82 million); Oyo (10.46 million); and federal capital territory (FCT) with 9.09 million subscribers.

Meanwhile, Bayelsa (1.49 million), Ekiti (1.82 million), Ebonyi (1.83 million), Jigawa (2.58 million), and Gombe (2.65 million) were the states with the least number of active voice subscribers.

Similarly, Lagos state had the highest number of active internet subscribers in Q3 2020 with 19 million people, followed by Kano (10.26 million); Ogun (8.82 million); Oyo (7.95 million); and FCT (6.83 million).

Bayelsa (1.09 million), Ebonyi (1.28 million), Ekiti (1.43 million), Jigawa (1.85 million), and Gombe (1.87 million) had the least number of internet subscribers in Nigeria as at the end of Q3 2O20.

- THECABLE

Suspected bandits sack 12 communities in Chikun, Kaduna

 

A village head in Gwagwada of Chikun LGA of Kaduna State, Mr. Gambo Yusuf said suspected bandits have sacked twelve communities, in addition to millions of Naira worth of property destroyed in Chikun Local Government Area of the State.

Mr. Gambo made the revelations when a Group, Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) alongside civil society group brought relief materials to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Gwagwada village of Chikun LGA.

Mr. Gambo who was visibly shaking while receiving the items on behalf of the IDPs, noted that, most of them paid ransom to the Gunmen from time to time for them to live in the area.

According to him, the villages sacked are: Kadori, Kaduna Katuka, Gofa, Chikun, Sape, Kadiso among other villages.

” In Chikun ward, suspected gunmen have already taken over some villages. Recently, the bandits killed seven of our youths who tried to defend our people.

According to him, residents of the community have been in the IDPs for the last two years, adding that, they are ready to support the security in any way.

” We know the bandits’ hideouts. We can lead security agents to their hideouts, but we cannot go there alone,” he said.

Coordinator of the IDPs camp, Mr. Maji Gbagyi Zanus said the camp has registered over 1,000 persons including women and children who are urgently in need of medical, foodstuffs and other valuables.

- DAILY POST

How first batch of COVID-19 vaccine will be distributed across Nigeria

 The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has released the details of how the first batch of COVID-19 vaccine doses will be distributed across states.

This was disclosed during a webinar organized by NPHCDA tagged “Sensitisation Meeting with Media Gatekeepers on COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction”.

Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the NPHCDA, had said the country will receive 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at the end of January.

Bassey Okposen, programme manager, national emergency routine immunisation coordination centre, NPHCDA, during his presentation at the webinar on Friday, said the vaccines would be administered around the last week of January or early February.

According to Okposen, states with higher percentage of confirmed cases would be given additional doses.

He also noted that frontline health workers would be prioritized, while other batches would be administered to the elderly and vulnerable persons with co-morbidities based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

“We have other sources of vaccine that are non-mRNA like the COVAX vaccine. The country and other stakeholders are working towards how they can get additional vaccines from the other countries like Russia and USA,” Okposen said.

“We want to assure all Nigerians that the vaccine is safe and effective. The vaccine will be introduced in four phases and this is due to the availability and quantity of the vaccine that will come in at any given time. When the vaccine arrives, in the plan, there’s going to be the prioritization of persons to be given the vaccination so as to optimise the available resources and vaccines that will be received and this will be based on global best practices.

“In the first priority, when the limited doses first come in towards the end of this month and early February, will be the frontline health workers like immigration, airport, police and military on essential duties, those working in the labs and other medical practitioners.

“Those states with the higher number of cases will be given additional doses. We’ve mapped out the health workers in each state and locations where these vaccines will be deployed as soon as we receive them. All the states in the country have cases and we need to get the vaccine to them all if we want to achieve herd immunity,” the NPHCDA boss said.

According to the data shared by NPHCDA, Kano, Lagos, Katsina, Kaduna, Bauchi and Oyo will receive more doses for health workers.

The breakdown is as follows: Kano, 3,557; Lagos, 3,131; Katsina, 2,361; Kaduna, 2,074; Bauchi, 1,900; Oyo, 1,848; Rivers, 1,766; Jigawa, 1,712; Niger, 1,558; Ogun, 1,473; Sokoto, 1,468; Benue, 1,423; Borno, 1,416; Anambra, 1,379; Kebbi, 1,361; Zamfara, 1,336; Rivers, 1,306; Imo, 1,267; Ondo, 1,228; Akwa Ibom, 1,161.

Others are: Adamawa, 1,129; Edo, 1,104; Plateau, 1,089; Enugu, 1,088; Osun, 1,032; Kogi, 1,030; Cross River, 1,023; Abia, 955; Gombe, 908; Yobe, 842; Ekiti, 830; Taraba, 830; Kwara, 815; Ebonyi, 747; Bayelsa, 589; FCT, 695; Nasarawa, 661,

The NPHCDA boss also stated that the federal government intends to administer the vaccine to at least 40 per cent of Nigerians in 2021, and another 30 percent in 2022.

Giving conditions for the release of the vaccines, Kubura Daradara, director, logistics and health commodities, NPHCDA, said the federal government will not release the vaccine to states until facilities such as cold chains are in place.

Daradara said the vaccine must be administered within five days of receipt for it to remain potent, and only the states that show commitment would receive the doses when available.

She added that the 100,000 doses would be administered to 50,000 people because each person has to take a second dose 21 days after taking the first.

- PM NEWS