The Borno State Government said that the 160,000 repentant Boko Haram terrorists can’t return to the bush to continue fighting killings because they swore to an oath with the Quran.

The state’s Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Zuwaira Gambo, disclosed this on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, when she spoke at the public presentation of survivors, victims and deradicalised women of Boko Haram by the UKAID-assisted Maiduguri-based non-governmental organisation, Allamin Foundation.

Gambo, whose ministry oversees the affairs of the ex-combatants and rescued captives, added that of the 160,000 repentant insurgents, 70,000 had been resettled and reintegrated into their communities, punch reported.

Gambo stressed that having sworn by the Quran the ex-terrorists would never return to the bush to rejoin Boko Haram.

The commissioner allayed the growing public fears that the resurgence of terror in the Northeast was being caused by the repentant terrorists reneging on their repentance and trooping back to the bush to pick up arms against the Nigerian state.

“It is completely untrue that the repentant Boko Haram fighters are reneging on their repentance and returning to the bush to continue fighting,” she said.

“Out of the over 160,000 who repented, we have already reintegrated over 70,000 in their home communities, and I can assure you that no one will be missing should we decide to gather all of them for anyone to confirm. We operate a transparent process of their repentance,”

The commissioner said she was sure the repentant insurgent would not return to the trenches, having taken an oath with the Quran.

“We subject each of them to proper oath taking with the Holy Quran that he or she will never return to the bush to fight; and he or she swears with the Holy Quran in the presence of a committee comprising traditional rulers, religious leaders and government officials.

“No repentant Boko Haram dare renege on the oath because he or she knows what it means to swear with the Holy Quran and renege, and he or she knows that he or she dare not return to the bush because he or she knows that death awaits him on arrival; their commanders in the bush will kill him because they would not trust him.”

Gambo said about 75 per cent of the repentant insurgents were originally farmers, who were captured and forced into insurgency.

“They were not real fighters,” she said.

She, however, said the state government would study the entire charters of demand and do everything it could about them.

The charter comprises the demands of the survivors and victims from the government, security agencies, NGOs, the media, traditional and religious leaders, community members and other stakeholders for proper rehabilitation to a prosperous life.

Lagos Island residents who gathered to collect palliatives were given a few strokes of the cane alongside their free food.

Loaves of bread were given out to residents to cushion the effects of the current economic hardships in the country.

During the distribution, as residents queued up for the free bread, things got a bit rowdy and those in charge of the distribution began flogging people.

‘Hey, bread hundred Naira is the reason they are flogging people like this,” a voice is heard saying in the video.

The video was shared by politician and real estate developer Babatunde Gbadamosi.

Gbadamosi, a former Lagos State governorship candidate of the African Democratic Party, wrote: “The scenes you are witnessing in this video happened just a few days ago in Lagos Island.

“Lagos Island is the only LGA where the APC managed to win the highest number of votes allowed to be cast at the last elections.

“It is the headquarters of Yorùbá Ponú in the whole world. The people being beaten into line with canes over a loaf of bread are mostly Yorùbá Ponú APC voters.

“Political Choices have CONSEQUENCES.”

Watch the video below.

The Nigerian Government has issued a two-week notice to about 43 foreign embassies and diplomatic houses in Abuja, the country’s capital city, to pay their ground rents.

An advertorial published by the Federal Capital Territory Administration in the Vanguard Newspaper on Tuesday titled, ‘Re: Final Notice on Payment of Outstanding Ground Rent in the FCT,’, said the total amount of the ground rents owed by the foreign institutions is $5.36 million.

According to the advert, any defaulter is at risk of losing its rent title in Abuja after the expiration of the ultimatum.

It reads: “All allottees, property owners, as well as beneficiaries of the sale of Federal Government Houses in the FCT who could not pay or settle their outstanding ground rents for the year 2023, are hereby advised in their interest to ensure payment within two weeks from the date of this publication, failure of which such titles shall be revoked.”

Some of the institutions affected by this directive are the British High Commission, South African High Commission, the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and the Embassy of Japan.

Others are the Embassy of Thailand, Embassy of the Republic of Togo in Nigeria, Consulate of the Republic of Yemen, Cameroon High Commission, and Zambia High Commission.

A similar directive was given by FCTA to organisations in Abuja last September.

A notice issued signed by the Permanent Secretary in the FCT, Mr Olusade Adesola said property owners were expected to pay their annual rents without in within two weeks after the publication of the notice or they would lose their titles.

A notice issued signed by the Permanent Secretary in the FCT, Mr Olusade Adesola said property owners were expected to pay their annual rents without in within two weeks after the publication of the notice or they would lose their titles.

The notice read: “The Federal Capital Territory Administration hereby reminds the general public, particularly allottees of Land(s) within the FCT, of their obligation to the Administration as stipulated in the covenant terms of the Certificates of Occupancy to wit ‘to pay in advance without demand to the FCTA, the annual ground rent from the first day of January of each year’ and also note that a breach or failure to comply with any or all of the terms stated in the Rights of Occupancy shall be liable to the revocation of the title.

“In this regard, the under-listed public institutions and corporate organizations are requested to come forward and settle their outstanding Ground Rents within two (2) weeks from the date of this publication, failure of which their title(s) shall be revoked.”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the Nigerian government has, through the backdoor, resumed the payment of subsidies on the premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.

Recall that on May 29, 2023, during his swearing-in speech, President Bola Tinubu announced an end to petrol subsidy, triggering a hike in the prices of goods and services in the country.

A few weeks later, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) collapsed the different exchange rate regimes into one, with the value of the naira to the dollar weakening.

As of yesterday, it was N1,499/$1 at the official window and N1,515/$1 at the parallel market.

Over the weekend, the IMF issued a statement on the conclusion of its Executive Board’s Post Financing Assessment with Nigeria, and it expressed concerns that the government had capped the prices of fuel at retail stations.

The global lender advised the administration of President Tinubu to completely stop the payment of subsidies on petrol to free funds to run the government.

However, prominent Nigerians and regional groups had at different times scolded the IMF for what they described as “anti-masses policies”, and called on Nigerian government to explore home grown options that would fix the economy and better the life of the people.

In the past few days, there have been reports of queues returning to petrol stations in major cities in the country, but the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited allayed the fears of consumers, assuring that it has enough to go around.

How petrol prices feared since subsidy removal

After the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023, the pump price changed from N185 per litre to N400 per litre, and then to N568 per litre at NNPC fueling stations, while others currently sell above N600.

The government had said the prices would fluctuate after subsidy removal from time to time but the pump price has maintained a steady rise despite the fact that the price of crude oil in the global market keeps going up and down.

The IMF, in its latest statement at the weekend, said the Tinubu administration has “capped retail fuel and electricity prices” ostensibly to “ease the impact of rapidly rising inflation on living conditions, thus partially reversing the fuel subsidy removal.”

Daily Trust investigation in September revealed that despite the numerous assurances by President Tinubu that the subsidy was gone, the federal government paid N169.4 billion as subsidy in August to keep the pump price at N620 per litre.

A document from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), sighted by one of our reporters, showed that in August 2023, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) paid $275m as dividends to Nigeria via NNPC Limited. NNPC Limited used $220 million (N169.4 billion at N770/$) out of the $275 million to pay for the PMS subsidy. Then NNPC held back $55 million, illegally.

Petrol may sell for over N1000/l due to devaluation

The recent devaluation of the naira at the official forex window which has seen it exchange for N1, 499/$ will likely push pump price of petrol to cross the N1, 000 per litre mark.

A breakdown of the landing cost of petrol before the latest devaluation showed that product cost was N627.82 per litre, finance cost was N11.61, and operations/administrative cost N12.32, bringing the total landing cost to N651.75 per litre with local currency pegged at N900/dollar ceiling.

The amount has seen independent marketers adjust pump price three times between August and December 2023, forcing them to sell between N660 per litre to N670 per litre.

NNPC retail outlets have however continued to sale at N617 per litre.

With the old situation, it is fully suggestive that petrol ought to sell at over N720, and someone, most probably, is paying the price differential.

Therefore, the new exchange rate indicates that prices should to be above N1,000 per litre

Oil Marketers react

Leaders of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria of Nigeria, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, and Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria said there was a need for the federal government to intervene to address the impending crisis.

Speaking recently, the National Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, explained that the price of petrol was now driven by the fluctuations in forex, hence Nigerians should expect a hike soon.

Asked whether oil marketers were considering an increase in petrol price, he replied, “Once there is a slack in the naira against the dollar, there is going to be an effect. The demand and supply of forex is a key factor. We should also understand that it is not only petroleum products that use forex.

“It is simple mathematics, once the dollar is going up, have it in mind that the prices of petroleum products would definitely increase because the products are dollar-driven.”

Also speaking to Daily Trust, the Secretary General of NUPENG, Afolabi Olawale Olufemi said: “Our people are losing confidence in the naira and it is unfortunate. People should stop exploiting the situation because it is not good for anybody.

“We are fortunate that there are positive signs that Dangote refinery is going to start very soon. We should be hopeful and that would help moderate the fluctuations that are expected.”

Speaking on the development, Abiola Rasaq, former Economist and Head, Investor Relation at UBA plc said: “The sharp rise in petroleum price is a reflection of both the full deregulation of the downstream oil & gas sector as well as Naira weakness. Notably, crude oil is a dollarised commodity, hence the notable devaluation of the local currency has direct impact on the Naira-cost of petroleum prices, especially as the subsidy removal meant the retail price has to reflect the true market price of the product. So, it’s a double whammy effect.”

NNPC says no increase in petrol pump price

When Daily Trust reached out to the Chief Corporate Communications Officer, NNPC Ltd, Olufemi Soneye on the likelihood of pump price shifting beyond the current N617 per litre, he said: “We are pleased to confirm that there are no supply issues, and our products remain readily available. The recent tightness experienced in certain areas was due to a brief distribution issue in Lagos, which has since been resolved.”

He said there is no imminent increase in the cost of petrol.

No need for panic buying – Tanker drivers

The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) union has advised Nigerians against panic buying, assuring that there is no shortfall in the distribution of petroleum products.

It gave the advice in a statement yesterday by its National Chairman and Secretary, Lucky Osesua and Humble Power Obinna, respectively.

It asked its members to ignore any threat from the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) not to lift petroleum products from certain depots in the country.

PTD said the alleged plot to remove Osesua, Obinna and Deputy Chairman, Yusuf Garga, had failed.

“There is no shortfall in the distribution of petroleum products across the six geo political zones of the country and PTD, under the legitimate leadership of Comrade Lucky Osesua and his deputy, Comrade Dayyabu Garga, has redoubled its commitment to ensure and guarantee lifting and distribution of petroleum products without encumbrance in observance of its statutory responsibility.

“We equally urge Nigerians and motorists to avoid storing of petrol at home because of the dangers associated with it,” the statement read in part.