CSU to Hand Tinubu Information & more –31st Aug 2023

Bawo Ni from BA ! This is the Rorshok Nigeria Update from the 31st of August twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Nigeria.

We begin with the drama that has been heating up over President Tinubu’s academic records. Recall that the president said that he graduated from Chicago State University (best known as CSU) in nineteen seventy-nine with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, accounting, and management. Also, you’ll probably remember that there has been a court battle over the presidential election results. Recently, Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (or PDP), filed a court order compelling CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records. Shortly after Atiku’s move, the president also filed a counter-application opposing the request.

On Thursday the 24th, CSU said it would grant Atiku’s request if the court gives a go-ahead but asked the court to only allow the university to grant specific information. As a result, many Nigerians took to social media platforms to accuse the US university of conniving with Tinubu to hide public information, leading to CSU locking its Twitter account on Tuesday the 29th.

It appears that there may be an increase in the price of diesel in the country. On Tuesday the 29th, the Nigeria Customs Service said that it has begun implementing a value-added tax (or VAT) on diesel imported into the country. The development follows the implementation of the new Finance Act which states that a seven percent VAT would be charged on diesel costs. The current price of diesel of about 794 naira per liter (about a dollar) will soar and put more strain on Nigerians who are already feeling the sting of petrol subsidy removal.

Moving on, Cameroon has announced plans to release water from its Lagdo Dam into the Benue River in the coming days. Now, every year when Cameroon opens the dam, Nigeria experiences massive flooding. As a matter of fact, the country experienced its worst flooding in decades last year because of the dam's water release. In a letter to the National Emergency Management Agency (or NEMA) that TheCable, a Nigerian newspaper, released to the public on Sunday the 27th, the ministry of foreign affairs urged NEMA to be prepared and adopt measures to prevent a disaster like the one of twenty twenty-two. Although the minister noted that the Cameroonian authorities will release small amounts of water at a time, he said that the ministry has been collaborating with NEMA and other relevant agencies to minimize the damage.

Speaking of the release of water from the Lagdo Dam, recall that NEMA mentioned that nineteen states would be among the affected regions. On Tuesday the 19th, the Edo state government asked residents living in riverine areas to relocate to higher grounds so as to avoid flooding. Even though the commissioner for information and orientation said that the government has adopted measures to control the possible flooding that will come from Cameroon, he added that the call for relocation was necessary after NEMA tagged the state as a frontline area for flooding.

In other news, Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (or FCT), said that the government will pay nearly 826 million naira (about two million dollars) as compensation to residents who have to move out because of the proposed construction of a second runway at the international airport in Abuja. On Tuesday the 29th, Wike said that the compensation package from the government would also include employment for over twenty people from the affected communities. The minister said that the project would be included in the twenty twenty-four budget of the FCT administration and that a modern health facility would also be built to provide quality healthcare services for residents of the community.

A report allegedly belonging to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (best known as NAFDAC) went viral on social media. According to the report, NAFDAC approved Glucozil, a local herbal medicine for the treatment and cure of diabetes. It also said that Ambrose Alli University in Edo state produced Glucozil and that it had been tested in both humans and animals.

Patients may want to purchase the medicine because it is relatively cheap and the cost of treating diabetes is expensive.

However, NAFDAC warned people against buying the drug.

In a statement on Tuesday the 29th, the NAFDAC director general, said that the herbal medicine certificate had expired and that the agency is yet to re-approve the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of the product because they have health safety concerns.

In a major development, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (best known as TCN) said that the power grid has had uninterrupted stability for over a year. In case you didn’t know, power grid collapses are nearly a monthly occurrence that puts the country into darkness. In fact, in September twenty twenty-two, the national grid collapsed for the eighth time in the year. Moreover, there had been over 200 partial and total electricity grid system collapses from January twenty ten to June twenty twenty-two. On Wednesday the 30th, TCN said that the improvement proves that the country had made remarkable efforts in strengthening its power infrastructure and ensuring a reliable and dependable electricity supply to customers nationwide. TCN also said that the improvement showed that the strategic measures and investments it had taken had worked.

Let’s head back to politics for a bit as there seems to be some upheaval in the New Nigeria Peoples Party (or NNPP). On Tuesday the 29th, the party’s board of trustees announced that it had suspended Rabiu Kwankwaso over alleged anti-party activities. Recall that Kwankwaso was the party’s presidential candidate in the twenty twenty-three presidential elections. According to the board of trustees, the former Kano state governor engaged in political discussions with President Tinubu, Atiku of the PDP, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, without the board’s authorization. The group said that Kwankwaso’s suspension would last for a period of six months and also suspended the national working committee of the party—since the members were selected by Kwankwaso— and appointed new officers.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Navy said that its operatives have seized thirteen sacks of cannabis sativa and arrested a suspect during raids in Lagos. Speaking on Monday the 28th, Adams Aliu, the base commander, said that the operatives found out that the illicit drugs were being smuggled in from Benin Republic and then distributed. Adams said that the total value of items seized was about five million naira (nearly seven thousand dollars) and that the exhibits and the suspect have been handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for further investigation.

Every week, there are new efforts to relieve citizens of the petrol subsidy removal. Recall that last week, we told you how Jigawa was one of the states yet to hand out palliatives. Well, on Wednesday the 30th, the state government said that it has approved nearly four billion naira (about five million dollars) to buy grains that would be distributed to vulnerable persons in the state. The commissioner for information, youths, sports, and culture, also said that 167 million naira (about 217 thousand dollars) has been set aside for the payment of tuition fees of indigenous undergraduate students in various institutions of higher learning.

On a lighter note, Rema keeps breaking records! On Tuesday the 29th, Calm Down, the Nigerian singer’s hit track, became Billboard’s longest-charting US Afrobeats song with fifty-two weeks.The song’s remix which features Selena Gomez also occupies the sixth position on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. In another report, Billboard said Calm Down has climbed to the top spot for the most-heard songs on radio. Recall that the song was also featured on ex-US president Barack Obama’s favorite music of twenty twenty-two. Congratulations to the young superstar who has been receiving international recognition since he shot into the limelight.

We end on a sad note. Taiwo Akinkunmi, the designer of the Nigerian flag, died at the age of eighty-seven on Wednesday the 30th. President Tinubu condoled his family and said that he worked for the greatness of the country, with a generational legacy, and has a place of honor in Nigeria.

And that’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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O dabo!