Oduduwa News

Atiku Abubakar has berated President Bola Tinubu’s economic policies, saying the policies creating pains for the poor

This was contained in a statement made available today via his official Twitter handle as read in part:

“The economy’s performance has, in recent weeks and months, been a subject of intense discourse among Nigerian citizens at home and abroad. Nigerians are gravely concerned, and rightly so, that Tinubu’s poor response to Nigeria’s economic challenges is setting the stage for a prolonged and deeper domestic economic crisis.

“His economic policies, drawn from a so-called renewed hope agenda, are ironically dashing hopes, creating pain and causing despair. The private sector is shrinking by the day as small businesses are emasculated and as Multi-National Companies, confused and weary of the economy, leave Nigeria in droves. The intense cost of living pressures has created more misery for the poor in towns and villages. There is HUNGER IN THE LAND as basic commodities, including BREAD, are becoming out of reach for average Nigerians.

“His 2024 budget is a business-as-usual exercise, bereft of concrete ideas and actions that would support Nigeria’s journey toward economic transformation—consisting mainly of wasteful expenditures to cater to a bloated Federal Government. Budget 2024 will not facilitate growth and cannot empower our citizens to earn a living and live a decent life.

“BAT has shown no capacity to deal with the adverse and disastrous impact of the new subsidy regime on the people and businesses and the new foreign exchange policy, which provides for a free-floating exchange rate. His initiatives are literally uninformed, arbitrary, and chaotic. BAT’s palliatives are too mean, pitiable, and contemptuous of the poor. He seems genuinely lost, bewildered, and overwhelmed.

“To mask their failures, BAT and his political appointees are busy blaming his predecessor in office for bequeathing a ‘dead’ economy. This is a familiar game popularised by former President Buhari while in office. It reinforces what we already know: that BAT came into office unprepared.

“Tinubu and his economic management team must swallow their pride, admit their missteps and failures, and follow those who know the terrain. They must act fast before the economy sinks deeper into the abyss.

“The question is, will they”?

School children of Apostolic Faith Group of Schools, Emure-Ekiti, Ekiti State and their teachers, who were recently kidnapped by armed men have been released.

Oduduwa News cannot ascertain at the moment if the victims who regained freedom at about 2.00 am on Sunday were rescued by security operatives or released after payment of ransom.

But the abductors had demanded N100 million for the release of the victims, which was not paid earlier prompting rumours that the kidnappers had threatened to kill the pupils.

The children and their teachers were abducted by the assailants on Monday evening.

Unconfirmed reports emerged on Saturday stating that the victims had been released but the police swiftly debunked the report.

However, in a short video clip being circulated on Sunday morning, the freed pupils and their teachers were sighted sitting on the floor, looking tired.

There is a heavy presence of security operatives and men of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the Saki West State Constituency where INEC is conducting a rerun election.

The rerun election is holding at polling unit 007 Odo Osun and polling unit 019 Ogbalanja in the constituency.

Officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were seen manning the two polling units.

EFCC officials were seen at strategic locations around the polling units nosing for politicians and members of the electorate who might get involved in vote-selling or vote-buying.

Also, men of the Nigerian Army were on patrol in the entire constituency.

The voter registers at polling unit 007 and 019 indicate that a total of 754 and 547 voters respectively are expected to vote at the two polling units.

Presence of agents of the two main contending political parties —- APC and PDP —- were also noticed at the two polling units.

The Lagos state government on Friday, February 2, impounded a sewage evacuation truck and arrested the driver for discharging faeces in the drainage and polluting the environment in Amuwo Odofin Housing Estate, Mile 2.

Disclosing this via his X handle, the state Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunboh Wahab, said the driver has been arraigned and remanded by the magistrate till Tuesday, February 6 for sentencing.

Wahab added that the truck owner will also be arraigned in a criminal prosecution in line with the Lagos State Environmental Management Protection Law 2017 on Tuesday, 6th of February, 2024.

”A sewage evacuation truck was impounded on Friday and the driver arrested by the LSWMO operatives for discharging faeces in the drainage and polluting the environment in Amuwo Odofin Housing Estate, Mile 2

The driver has been arraigned and remanded by the magistrate till Tuesday for sentencing. The truck owner will also be arraigned in a criminal prosecution in line with the Lagos State Environmental Management Protection Law 2017 on Tuesday, 6th of February, 2024.

The State government has reiterated a zero-tolerance to all environmental nuisances across the state.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced an end to the daily Cash Reserve Ratio debits for commercial banks in the country.

The apex bank says it will adopting an updated Cash Reserve Requirement mechanism for Nigerian banks.

This was contained in a circular titled ‘Cash Reserve Requirement Framework Implementation Guidelines’ signed by its Acting Director, Banking Supervision Department, Dr Adetona Adedeji, on Friday.

According to the CBN, the move is intended to facilitate banks’ capacity for planning, monitoring, and aligning their records with the apex bank.

The percentage of cash required to be kept in reserves as against the bank’s total deposits is called the Cash Reserve Ratio.

The implementation of the new Cash Reserve Requirement framework will follow a structured process, as outlined by the CBN.

The statement read, “The determination of the segment of deposits subject to sterilisation with the CBN as CRR will follow the processes outlined below:

“Phase 1 – Utilisation of the Incremental Approach: The extant ratios (commercial banks 32.5% and merchant banks 10%) will be applied to increases in the banks’ weekly average adjusted deposits.

“Phase 2 — CRR levy of 50% of the lending shortfall will be enforced for banks that do not meet the minimum Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) as per our correspondence to all banks referenced BSD/DIR/GEN/LAB/12/049 dated September 30, 2019.”

The CBN added that it will provide banks with details of the applied charges and their underlying computation rationale.

In a recent live performance, Nigerian Fuji music legend K1 conveyed the collective frustration and anger of Nigerians to President Bola Tinubu.

The iconic musician, singing in Yoruba, highlighted the challenges faced by the ordinary people, including inadequate power supply and the economic impact of policy decisions.

K1 directly appealed to President Tinubu, urging him to address the citizens’ numerous problems. He emphasized the distress and suffering experienced by Nigerians and criticized those benefiting from the misery of the masses.

“I plead with you to find a solution to the plight of the masses. The citizens are crying and wailing. We’re suffering amid a lack of adequate power supply. How did things get to this point? I implore you to fix these problems.

“We know you to be a philanthropist, but we Nigerians are angry. The people of Nigeria are angry.

“The traders in this country are not happy. Look at what the dollar has become (a reference to the exchange rate),” K1 said.Specifically addressing the rising cases of kidnappings, K1 called on Tinubu to tackle the security issue effectively.

Despite expressing the grievances, K1 encouraged Nigerians to be patient and hopeful, assuring them that Tinubu’s government would overcome the country’s challenges.

The Oyo State Government, on Thursday sealed a new generation Church, located at Golden Estate, Oluyole, Ibadan, the State capital.

The measure was taken by the State Government, against a branch of Christ Life Church in the area, after several unresolved steps taken by the Ministry to mediate among the complainants, residents and the church.

According to the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Hon. Abdulmojeed Mogbonjubola, the State Government was left with no other options, but to seal the church premises to avert preventable escalations of brewing tensions between the residents and the church on Sunday.

Some members of the community had locked the estate gate against members of Christ Life Church, and preventing services to hold.

Hon. Mogbonjubola, declared that the present administration would not fold its arms and allow escalations of any sort.

Officials of the Ministry on receipt of several complaints from next door residents to the Church, over the incessant noise, through official letters and phone calls, visited the area, on Thursday 9th November, 2023.

The team recorded the sound level of the church activities at intervals, starting from praise- worship, with the average reading of Seventy-four (74) DB (daytime), contravening the Extant Environmental Regulations of 2023, Section 58, Paragraph (b) which states that the noise limits for residential areas at daytime must not exceed 65DB.

Hence, it was ascertained with sound measurements that the church constituted noise pollution.

He emphasized that a resolution meeting was held with the parties, in the Ministry’s conference room on 29th November 2023, where the Church refused to sign undertaking letter, with the excuse to get approval from the its Headquarters and report back on Monday 4th December, 2023.

The Ministry frowned at the consistent crisis, which consequently resulted in the sealing of the church.

The Minister for Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, says the Nigerian Government spends N1 billion on Duty Tour Allowance (DTA) and air tickets for Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, officers who travel back and forth from Abuja to Lagos, annually.

Keyamo disclosed this on Thursday in a statement clarifying his ‘N500 million FAAN workers’ DTA’ comment on Channels Television.

According to him, in 2023, FAAN workers spent N493,678,620.37 on DTA and N451,058,950.09 for air tickets.

“When I did my Channels TV interview yesterday, I was not briefed about the amount FAAN spent last year alone on DTA (Duty Tour Allowance) for the principal officers who travelled back and forth from Lagos to Abuja almost daily.

“The amount came up to N493,678,620.37. Aside from the air tickets, which I mentioned amounted to N451,058,950.09.

“So, in total, because of insistence on naming Abuja as the headquarters of FAAN (when there are no offices in Abuja to accommodate all the principal officers), FAAN spent close to N1 billion in one year,” he said.

In a bid to flush out criminal elements especially kidnappers out of the State, a combined team of the POLICE, NSCDC, AMOTEKUN, O.P.C and LOCAL HUNTERS today being 30/01/2024 embarked on a bush combing operation through Oke-Osun, Ikere/Igbo-Okah to the thick forest around Iju/Ikere boundary.

During the Operation, five suspected kidnappers namely- USMAN JELILI, MOHAMMED BANDE, ABUBAKAR ALIU, ISAH ABDULAHI and SULEIMAN ABDULAHI were arrested.

During interogation, the suspects claimed to be herdsmen but it was later discovered that none of them has a cattle and no cattle was found with them in the forest where they were arrested.

The following items were found with them in the forest; Two Motorcycles, one cutlass, one jack knife/ dagger and four phones.