As economic downturn persists, the number of unemployed and underemployed persons in Nigeria surged to 22.45 million in the fourth quarter, Q4, 2015, about 9.1percent or 1.75 million, higher than 20.7 million recorded in the third quarter.
Unemployment
In addition, during the period a total number of persons in full time employment (that did any form of work for, at least, 40 hours) decreased by 710,693 when compared to the previous quarter.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, unemployment is the proportion of those in the labour force (not in the entire economic active population, nor the entire Nigerian population) who were actively looking for work but could not find work for at least 20 hours during the reference period, to the total current active labour force population.
Accordingly, you are unemployed if you did absolutely nothing at all or did something but not for up to 20 hours in a week. Underemployment, according to NBS, occurs if you work less than full time hours, which is 40 hours in a week, but work at least 20 hours on average a week and /or if you work full time but are engaged in an activity that underutilises your skills, time and educational qualifications.
The development in the labour sector reflects the landmark declines recorded in key economic indices since last year, with the gross domestic product, GDP, on steady decline hitting a three-year low of 2.1 percent in Q4,2015 while a steady inflationary pressure had pushed the headline rate to 11.4 percent in February.
In its employment report yesterday, NBS also stated that the economically-active population or working age population (persons within ages 15 and 64) has increased to 105.02 million in Q4 2015, from 104.3 million in Q3 2015, representing a 0.68 percent increase over the previous quarter and a 3.2 percent increase, when compared to Q4 2014.
The report also said that in Q4 2015, the labour force population (those within the working age population willing, able and actively looking for work) increased to 76.96 million from 75.94 million in Q3 2015, representing an increase of 1.34 percent in the labour force, during the period.
This means 1.02 million persons in the economically-active population entered the labour force, and NBS stated that this increase was the highest quarterly jump in the labour force population in 2015.
According to the report, the number of underemployed in the labour force (those working but doing menial jobs not commensurate with their qualifications or those not engaged in full time work and merely working for few hours) increased by 1.21 million or 9.16 per cent, resulting in an increase in the underemployment rate to 18.7 percent or 14.42 million persons in Q4 2015, from 17.4 percent or 13.2 million in Q3 2015.
During the same period, the number of unemployed in the labour force, increased by 518,102 persons, resulting in an increase in the national unemployment rate to 10.4 percent in Q4 2015 from 9.9 percent in Q3 2015.
Libya has deported 172 Nigerians due to immigration related offences.
Migrants hold their emergency certificates at the Metiga Airport in the Libyan capital Tripoli on March 11, 2016 ahead of their repatriation to their countries of origin by the Libyan authorities. The formalities for their departure were organised by the Libyan authorities and the mission of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Before embarking, their personal belongings, which were confiscated at the time of their arrest, were returned alongside a boarding pass. / AFP / MAHMUD TURKIA
The deportation came barely four months after about 76 Nigerians were deported from three European countries including United Kingdom.
The Guardian learnt that the affected deportees arrived the Hajj Camp of the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, about 7 a.m. yesterday.
The deportees comprised 166 males and six females and were brought into the country on a chartered flight.
The Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr. Ekpedeme King, confirmed the development.
The deportees were received by various agencies such as the NIS that checked their identities to ascertain their nationalities, the Police and National Agency for Protection and Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
King stated that the deportees were repatriated to the country for allegedly overstaying in Libya and for other immigration offences in the North African country.
“What I can tell you is that some Nigerians were deported yesterday for immigration offences. Most of those brought overstayed in Libya,” he said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday raised the alarm that about $20bn (N3.94tn) was lying idle in different domiciliary accounts of the citizens.
CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele
The Deputy Governor, Financial System Surveillance, CBN, Dr. Joseph Nnana, stated this during a meeting of the Joint Appropriation Committees of the National Assembly with government officials on the 2016 budget.
Nnana said, “Distinguished chairman sir, we have $20bn lying idle in various domiciliary accounts of many customers at the various banks across the country.
“This is part of the reasons why the naira has continued to slide against the US dollar.”
He alleged that some privileged Nigerians were behind the consistent slide in the value of the naira by embarking on dollar speculation to the detriment of the local currency.
The CBN deputy governor, however, expressed the hope that the passage of the 2016 budget would put a stop to the unrestrained drop in the value of the naira.
He said, “The CBN will embark on aggressive liquidity mop-up to enable the naira regain confidence. The CBN will not sit down and watch the consistent fall of the naira. After the passage of the 2016 budget, the naira will begin to bounce back.
“Those who speculate on dollars will have their fingers burnt.”
In her submission, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, told the gathering that the amount in the Treasury Single Account had risen to N2.9tn.
Adeosun explained that the money in the TSA was not meant to fund the budget contrary to a general impression.
She said that the money belonged to different agencies of government, which had the right to access the funds.
Her explanation was against suggestions by the legislators that the Federal Government should use the TSA to fund the 2016 budget amidst liquidity problem arising from the slump in global crude oil prices.
Adeosun said all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government had their monies transferred into the TSA and should have access to them.
She said that the government had commenced the training of its personnel on the operation of the TSA such that any agency of government that needed its share of the funds in the account would not find it difficult accessing it.
The Chairman of the Joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje, asked the executive to consider the postponement of the Special Intervention Programme till next year.
He argued that the implementation of N500bn intervention fund contained in 2016 budget proposals would not be feasible since there were no clear implementation strategies.
Goje said the explanations being offered by government officials about the implementation strategy for the programme were not satisfactory.
He said, “There is no detailed and clear-cut structure being laid down for implementation of this project because what we have in this budget is N300bn recurrent and N200bn capital. We had to push hard yesterday to get some details, which are not convincing. For instance, the explanation we got is that N5,000 will be given to one million Nigerians.
“Who will choose the one million people? What structures do you have in place to make sure that you choose the right people?
“You want to give money to about one million market women or there about, and in my place we do not have many market women; how will you choose the market women to represent all interests? We have not had clear explanations on the numerous issues surrounding the implementation of this programme.
“Even the afternoon school feeding contained in the budget is not feasible, because some students study under non-conducive environment. Will feeding them enhance their learning?”
Goje said while the National Assembly was in support of the programme, implementing it this year might not be feasible.
He, therefore, suggested that the money allocated to it should be added to the allocations for sectors like power, transport and health, while those responsible for its implementation should map out better strategy for it in 2017.
But the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, said the special intervention programme was a political commitment, which the President Muhammadu Buhari administration would not hesitate to fulfil.
He promised to meet with relevant stakeholders to discuss on better strategies for its implementation.
A total 158 Nigerians are waiting to be executed over drugs related offences in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, the Senate said on Tuesday.
Moving a motion tagged: “Nigerians involvement in illicit global drugs trade and increase in domestic drug abuse by Nigerian youth”, Senator Gbenga B. Ashafa (APC, Lagos East) said 120 of persons are in China.
He said 30 are in Malaysia, seven in Indonesia and one in Singapore and that six Nigerians were executed for drugs related offences last year.
He noted that the Malaysian authorities have again issued a strong statement that 40 percent of the foreigners being arrested for drug offences are from Nigeria.
Student disguise
He observed that in their desperation, Nigerians are disguising as “university students”, colluding with drug syndicates to undermine the visa system and gain entrance into Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and other drug traffic routes.
“On getting there, they abandon the education agenda and get busy with their illicit and illegal drug business activities; trading in opiates, cocaine, heroin, cannabis and amphetamines,” he said.
He said that the Federal Government has not swung into strategic action to curb the menace of drug couriers and their sponsors both in and out of Nigeria.
He noted that the incidence of young Nigerians abusing substances including Codeine, Rochephenol, Tramadol, heroin, Cannabis Sativa (Indian Hemp) and even different grades of crack cocaine have become prevalent in across the country.
Traffickers and couriers
He said Nigeria topped the list of the countries involved in drug trafficking and drug use in West Africa’s and also the list of drug couriers arrested in Europe in 2011 and 2012.
Contributing to the motion, Senator Jibrin Barau (APC, Kano North) said the rates at which housewives are abusing drugs are alarming.
“We need to do something about, it has gone beyond youth and now it is very prevalent among married women. Women who are in charge of upbringing of children are now drugs addicts,” he said.
The Senate however urged the Federal Government to restructure and reposition the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to be able to meet the challenges of evasive drug traffickers using Nigerians to traffic drugs.
A Liberian, Daniel Barnney, is being held by the police for allegedly selling his nine-month-old son Emmanuel to a 43-year-old woman, Ekah Richard, for N250,000.
Police Inspector General, Solomon Arase
Barnney, one Pastor Samuel Osavitu and a worker at an orphanage, Alhaji Sunkanmi Adamu, are being quizzed at Festac Police Station over the matter.
Barnney’s Nigerian wife Ijeoma Ndoku raised the alarm over his plan to sell their son and flee to Ghana last month.
The police arrested Barnney at Mile 2 on February 12 and recovered the baby from Richard.
Ndoku said she and Barnney have been quarrelling because she did not allow him to take the baby to his aunt, who she never saw.
She debunked Barnney’s claims of abandoning the child, accusing him of fleeing with the boy on their way to buy groceries.
“It’s a lie! I didn’t abandon my baby. He said he wanted to hand the baby over to his aunt. I said it was okay since his aunt was now in Nigeria. I said it will give me opportunity to look for a job and support the family because he has not been taking care of us.
“For over three months, he has been saying he does not have money to take care of me and my baby but he usually had money to buy drinks and cigarettes. He could not even bring out N150 for me to buy pampers for our baby. Even when I wanted to take the baby to the hospital, I usually went and borrowed money; other times, our neighbours will give me money to cater for the baby.
“He used to get drunk and vomit. When I complained, he would bring out iron rod and hit it on my head. I fell down once, tried to go and open the door, but he dragged me back.
“I didn’t know his plan was to sell our baby. I said I wanted to see his aunt. He said if the aunt knows that I am around, she wouldn’t collect the baby. He asked me if I wanted the baby to die, I said no”, she said.
Ndoku said she learnt of Barnney’s plan to sell their son from his boss.
“She (the boss) told me that Daniel was planning to sell my son for N150,000. She said that Daniel said after selling the baby, he would leave for Ghana. I didn’t believe her.
“The woman said I should come back around 4pm, so that I would hear the story from some of her assistants. I told Daniel’s friend. He doubted the story too, so he followed me.
“It was in his presence that the woman told us everything. She said she became curious and concerned after she noticed Daniel was always with the baby. When she asked, Daniel told her that I abandoned the baby and ran away. She asked for my number, so that she could speak to me, but Daniel refused. That was when she knew Daniel was lying.
“I told her that Daniel told me that the baby was with his aunt. She said that was part of the reason she withheld his salary,” Ndoku said.
Ndoku said on January 29, Barnney called that he was coming to see his son, adding that when he came, their neighbours were happy and advised her to forgive him.
To effect his plan to take away the baby, she said he tricked her that they were going to buy him things.
She said when she alighted from the motorcycle (Okada) that they took to enter a store, Barnney disappeared with the baby.
Barnney, 32, who admitted to have received N250,000 from Richard through Adamu, said the money was given to him to start a business.
He denied selling the baby, claiming that his wife abandoned the child. He said since he could not cater for the boy alone, he took him to an orphanage.
Richard, who claimed that she adopted the child, said she never knew the adoption process was illegal. She said she was advised by the pastor to adopt a child so that God can open her womb.
But Osavitu, who denied conspiring with others to steal the baby, said he was only trying to help Richard and safe the child’s life.
He said: “I have known the orphanage guy for almost nine years. He’s a good man. He’s the manager at the orphanage. I used to go to the orphanage to preach there.”
The Nigerian stock market lost more than N1.63 trillion in January due to profit-taking and currency volatility, statistics from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed on Thursday.
Stock Market
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the drop represented a 16.50 per cent to close at N8.225 trillion from the N9.850 trillion in December.
Also, the All-Share Index decreased by 4726.10 points or 16.50 per cent to close for the month at 23,916.15 against 28,642.25 posted in December.
The volume of shares traded also declined by 5.67 billion shares worth N42.05 billion traded in 67,479 deals from the 7.23 billion shares valued N55.28 billion transacted in 53,414 deals in December.
The decline represented 21.58 per cent.
The Financial Services sector remained the toast of investors during the period, accounting for 3.87 billion shares worth N16.93 billion traded in 27,065 deals.
Mr Ambrose Omordion, Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Consulting Ltd., attributed the downward trend to the lingering instability in the global equity market.
Omordion said the market might oscillate before the end of the month when investors would reposition for companies’ reports for dividend pay outs.
Omordion said that traders and investors should target good companies with sound fundamentals and earning capabilities to pay dividend.
“This is the time to effectively combine technical and fundamental analysis for investment decision,” he said.
Mr Kayode Tinuoye, Head, Research Unit, United Capital Plc, called for increased local investors’ participation in the nation’s bourse to help mitigate the impact of external portfolio shocks.
Tinuoye said the dominance of foreign participation in the market in the past four years led to the capital market negative reaction to the global shocks.
He said that market volatility and sell pressure were driven by capital flight.
He added that there was need for increased local participation to insulate the domestic market from external shocks and currency volatility.
A Nigerian Air Force’s Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has destroyed a logistics base used by members of the Boko Haram Terrorists group, the air force said in a statement Tuesday.
Abubakar Shekau
The UAV was on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission when it came across the gathering of BHTs at Garin Moloma, about one kilometre north of the Sambisa Forest, spokesperson Ayodele Famuyiwa, a group captain, said.
“At the time of the UAV attack, the location, though under surveillance for quite a while, had a large gathering of BHTs and vehicles.
“The multiple explosions and huge fire ball from the location, as can be seen from the enclosed video of the UAV strike, strongly suggests that it may be either an ammunition/fuel storage or weapons/technical workshop.
“This strike is thus a major setback for the Boko Haram Sect, and a major plus for the fight against insurgency by own troops,” the statement said.
The South African Independent Police Investigative Directorate on Saturday opened investigation into the death of a Nigerian allegedly in the custody of its police.
Nigerians in the Durban Point area built barricades with burning tyres and debris.
According to eyewitnesses, the Nigerian national was allegedly suffocated to death by the police in Kempton Park, Johannesburg, South Africa.
This led to a massive protest by some members of the Nigerian community outside a private hospital in Kempton Park.
An unnamed eyewitness alleged that brutality from the South African police in a bid to extort money from them was common.
According to reports monitored on South African news website, eNCA, eyewitnesses said they saw Kempton Park police officers arrest and suffocate the Nigerian. Hundreds of police officers were reported to have used rubber bullets to disperse the angry crowd.
In a video posted online, some of the aggrieved protesters carried placards and chanted songs in solidarity with the deceased Nigerian.
One of the angry protesters claimed he saw the police officer who suffocated the Nigerian. He said, “We need no more black police…. Is that how the whites trained them? As professional police, they are supposed to arrest and take the person to court and allow the law take its course. We need justice in this country. Mandela fought for peace and justice, but the black police are abusing it. Take that from me.”
Police officials, however, claimed that the Nigerian died after he swallowed drugs to evade arrest.
The IPID spokesperson, Robbie Raburabu, was quoted as saying the police could not give details but confirmed that the man died in police custody.
“According to police officers that were involved, the man was in possession of drugs but swallowed them before the officers could arrest him. He was convulsing and the officers rushed him to the nearest hospital to try to save his life but he died inside a police vehicle. The Nigerian community alleged that the police officers suffocated the man,” Raburabu said.
The body of the Nigerian has since been taken for autopsy.
Nigeria’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Abubakar Malami, said in Lagos on Tuesday that judges found to have corruptly enriched themselves would be prosecuted, jailed and would lose to the state any asset they acquired with such stolen funds.
Mr. Malami, who was the special guest at the launch of a report by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) titled, “Go home and sin no more: Corrupt judges escaping from justice in Nigeria”, said judges should be beyond reproach.
“Considering the pivotal role that they play in the administration of justice, it is important to ensure that Nigerian judges, like the proverbial Caesar’s wife, are beyond reproach or even suspicion. Gone are the days when corrupt judges escaped from justice in Nigeria!”
“I can assure you today that in line with the cardinal agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the office of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation shall ensure that every appearance of corruption in the judiciary is dealt among other measures through criminal prosecution and forfeiture to the State of illegally acquired assets,” he said.
The minister was represented at the launch by his senior special assistant, Abiodun Aikomo.
He added that the Buhari administration would not tolerate judicial impunity and would do everything within the law to ensure that judicial accountability in “a corruption-free judiciary which is both independent and impartial”.
“The judiciary’s one and only mandate should be to deliver justice without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. The world over, the rule of law, and separation of powers which are inseparable components of a democratic government, presupposes the existence of an independent and impartial judiciary,” he said.
He said judges found to have been corrupt were removed in the past by the National Judicial Council.
“In reality, on a comparison between the widely reported cases of corruption in the Judiciary vis-à-vis the records of judicial officers who have actually been punished therefore, it would appear as if Nigerian judges enjoy total immunity from prosecution for corruption (and allied offences), whereas judges are not immune from discipline for any misdeed let alone for corruption,” he said.
SERAP executive director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, who welcomed Mr. Malami’s commitment, said corrupt judges are more dangerous to the society than corrupt politicians because a corrupt judiciary denies both victims of corruption and those accused of corruption access to an independent, impartial and fair adjudication process.
Mr. Mumuni explained that the report advocated the prosecution of corrupt judges; referral by the Chief Justice of the Federation and the National Judicial Council of all cases of judicial corruption to appropriate anti-corruption agencies; publication and auditing of spending by the judiciary; public and periodic disclosure of assets by the Chief Justice of Nigeria and all other judges.
The report also recommended that retired judges should be allowed to lead the National Judicial Council to improve its independence; and urgent investigation of allegations of age falsification among judges by the National Judicial Council.
The report also called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to proactively and robustly use their statutory powers to investigate and prosecute judicial corruption and to request from the National Judicial Council files on cases of corrupt judges for prosecution.
Triggerfish Animation Studios has selected four features and four TV series for development from the inaugural Triggerfish Story Lab, established with the support of The Department of Trade and Industry and The Walt Disney Company.
“From misfit Zambian girls who become low-budget superhero-super-spies to a stubborn 12-year-old Kenyan girl who defies tradition by racing camels, from a young South African scientist who accidentally turns her annoying little sister into a new source of electricity to a timid lemming who must defy his nature, these are characters we fell in love with,” says Anthony Silverston, head of development at Triggerfish. “We’re excited by the range of stories, that explore everything from contemporary urban to Afro-futuristic worlds. We’re looking forward to bringing something fresh to the screen.”
The feature films selected into the Story Lab are:
The Camel Racer (Wanuri Kahiu and Nnedi Okorafor – Kenya/Nigeria)
Dropped (Ian Tucker – SA)
Lights (Kay Carmichael – SA)
The Wild Waste (Naseem Hoosen – SA)
The TV series selected into the Story Lab are:
Bru and Boegie (Mike Scott – SA) KC’s Super 4 (Malenga Mulendema – Zambia)
Ninja Princess (Marc Dey and Kelly Dillon – SA)
Wormholes (Lucy Heavens – SA)
The selected storytellers include Nnedi Okorafor, a Nigerian-American World Fantasy Award winning novelist; multi-award-winning Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu; South African YouTube phenomenon Mike Scott, whose music videos for Goldfish have over 12m views; and Lucy Heavens, one of the writers on the breakout South African animation hit Supa Strikas, which is broadcast in 120 countries around the world.
The Story Lab received a whopping 1 378 entries from 30 countries across Africa. 23 features and 14 TV series were shortlisted and developed over a two-week intensive workshop in Cape Town in November 2015 with Orion Ross, Vice President of Content – Animation, Digital and Acquisitions Disney Channels EMEA, and leading Hollywood script consultant Pilar Alessandra, author of The Coffee Break Screenwriter.
“It was impressive to see how much all the projects had improved after the workshop,” says Orion. “Clearly the Story Lab was doing something right, and it must have been incredibly difficult to pick just a few projects to move forward.”
The shortlist was then evaluated by an expert panel that included Peter Lord, the British director of international blockbusters like Chicken Run and The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists; Hollywood writers Kiel Murray (Cars) and Jonathan Roberts (The Lion King); and a panel of development executives from both the London and Los Angeles offices of The Walt Disney Company, as well as South African comedian David Kau, screenwriter Paul Ian Johnson, and Triggerfish’s development team of Anthony Silverston, Wayne Thornley and Raffaella Delle Donne.
“I loved the opportunity to review this material,” says Gary French, Senior Vice-president/Co-head, Production: ABC Studios. “There’s a lot of great talent here.”
Triggerfish had planned to select three projects for film and TV respectively, but increased this to four for each due to the quality of the projects.
“Story Lab exceeded our expectations at every turn, from the number of entries to the quality of the projects to the way they improved dramatically during the two-week intensive with Pilar and Orion,” says Triggerfish CEO Stuart Forrest. “Narrowing it down to eight projects was difficult enough; narrowing it down to six would have been almost impossible.”
The selected storytellers will start the new year with a two-week immersion trip to Disney’s headquarters in Burbank, California, where they will receive mentoring from key studio and television executives.
Triggerfish will be investing up to R44m ($2.8m) over the next three years in The Story Lab. The development process can take a number of years. For each phase of development, Triggerfish will provide financial support, workspace, and expert guidance by internal and international consultants and mentors, as well as a route to market through top-tier relationships with leading Hollywood agency William Morris Endeavor.
Animation has proven to be a successful medium for South African films to travel internationally, with Triggerfish’s films Adventures in Zambezia and Khumba being distributed in over 150 countries and dubbed into over 27 languages.
The naira fell to 257 against the dollar at the parallel market on Thursday. The local currency had traded against the greenback at between 251 and 252 on Wednesday.
N100 note
The naira has been falling since last Wednesday when the Central Bank of Nigeria stopped the sale of foreign exchange to some Bureaux de Change operators for failing to render returns on the utilisation of previous forex purchases.
The exclusion of the BDCs from the weekly forex sale, which continued on Wednesday, has been creating shortage of dollars, causing the greenback to rise at the parallel market.
However, the local currency traded at 198.97 to the dollar at the official interbank market on Thursday. The naira-dollar exchange rate has been moving between 197 and 199 at the official interbank market since February.
The central bank had sold $30.5m to 1,017 BDCs on Wednesday but excluded around 1,801 others from its weekly sale.
“We are in contact with the central bank to resolve issues around the exclusion of some of our members from forex sales and we are expecting a positive response,” the President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators, Mr. Aminu Gwadabe, said while reacting to the development.
The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, on Thursday said at the annual Bankers’ Committee retreat in Lagos that the fall in oil prices had created pressure on the external reserves and the exchange rate.
The on-going protests in the South-East requires creative handling by the federal government, governors of states that comprise the zone and Igbo leaders of thought to avoid unnecessary escalation of the situation. But the arrogant, insensitive, and threatening comments by a few military officers and cowardly hasty condemnation by some prominent Ndigbo are disingenuous, because both sides are trivialising the key issues of marginalisation, exclusion and alienation raised by the Biafran agitators, which lie at the heart of the troublesome unresolved “national question”.
President Buhari
It must be pointed out that President Buhari’s apparent indifference to the concerns of Ndigbo, from the time he was military head of state, through when he was Chairman, Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund to now that he is President, constitutes part of the remote and immediate causes of the renewed agitation for Biafra. It would take a Eureka experience or epiphany for Buhari to change his attitude towards Ndigbo generally. It follows that, on the issue of security and containment of centrifugal ethnic irredentism, there is no noticeable positive change since May 29, 2015.
We now come to the issue of ministerial appointments, which has elicited considerable discussion for quite some time. To begin with, although the President and many Nigerians presume that merger of ministries would save money for the government, there is no conclusive proof to that effect – there is even a report which debunks that presumption. Basically, it is the approved budget that determines the expenditure profile of ministries, which implies that although power, works and housing are now under one ministry, for instance, instead of two or three ministries, budgetary allocation to the bloated new ministry must reflect the critical nature of the sectors under it, which are very capital intensive in nature. Thus, under separate ministries power, and works and housing may get smaller budgetary allocation collectively than now that they are lumped into one ministry.
The delay by President Buhari in constituting his cabinet is uncalled for, judging by the fact that the list, when it was finally made public, is overwhelmingly a roster of politicians with corruption allegations hanging on some of them and individuals who helped APC capture power from the PDP. Consequently, the claim by Garba Shehu that the President was taking his time to select the very best to work with is a shibboleth intended to explain away the prolonged high calibre “wheeling and dealing” by the major power blocks in APC to appropriate instruments of ministerial office as reward for their contributions to Buhari’s victory. Anyway, by nominating ministers without assigning them to ministries prior to screening by the Senate, President Buhari merely repeated the mistake of his predecessors and wasted a wonderful opportunity to improve the quality of legislative screening of the prospective ministers.
I think the President should have inaugurated a positive paradigm shift in ministerial appointment by attaching ministries to the ministerial nominees before sending the list to the Senate. Besides, there is nothing innovative or transformative in the President’s list. Indeed, like every ministerial appointment since the administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Buhari’s choice includes competent professionals and the-not-so-competent with questionable antecedents. Meanwhile, President Buhari should have tried the novel approach of appointing ministers to ministries strictly in tandem with their professional and academic qualifications plus cognate experience, as in the ministries of justice and health invariably headed by a senior lawyer and medical practitioner respectively. Take the case of Babatunde Fashola, an attorney and immediate past governor of Lagos State, who is minister of power, works and housing.
The way I see it, the President’s amalgamation of power, works and housing in one ministry – three critical areas that require specialised technical knowledge and round-the-clock attention – is inappropriate: it constitutes an unnecessary burden for Fashola, which might create unintended problems with serious repercussions for service delivery. Some argue that, because a minister is the political head of a ministry whose major responsibility is to manage personnel and resources in the ministry, there is no advantage in appointing, say, an experienced electrical engineer to head the ministry of power or a geologist with strong academic background and practice in that field as minister of solid minerals, rather than someone whose academic qualifications and professional experience have very little connection with the ministry in question.
Sometimes, instances from established democracies such as the United States and the United Kingdom are paraded to demonstrate that a lawyer can perform well as minister of power or of works and housing. Those who belittle the importance of cognate academic and professional background for enhanced performance in the relevant ministries forget that a seasoned electrical engineer can possess similar managerial skills and emotional intelligence manifested by a lawyer who performed relatively well as minister of power, which implies that the engineer’s firsthand knowledge of technical issues connected to power generation, transmission and distribution is an added advantage for him as minister of power ministry when compared to the lawyer in the same post. In the formulation, evaluation and implementation of policies in science and engineering dominated ministries such as power, works and solid minerals, it is better to appoint someone with academic or professional qualifications and experience directly related to those ministries, especially in countries like Nigeria where institutions and traditions of public service have not advanced to the stage that specialist technical knowledge of the core issues dealt with by the ministries we mentioned above may not matter so much.
At this point, let us begin to harvest our thoughts. On the issue of fighting corruption, probably there is little improvement since President Buhari came into office because his anti-corruption reputation might have prevented some lily-livered public officials from stealing. But there is increasing recognition by the President himself, judging by his lamentations that corrupt judges and lawyers are hampering his war against corruption, that dealing with high calibre corruption cases is a very frustrating herculean task in a ramshackle democratic setting such as ours. In terms of inclusiveness from both the ethnic and gender perspectives, Nigeria has regressed since President Buhari assumed office: there is an unjustifiable lopsidedness in favour of Northerners and men in Buhari’s choice of his inner core of lieutenants. The management of our oil and gas sector is still characterised by mediocrity, financial rascality and cronyism. The security situation has not really improved since Goodluck Jonathan left office, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the December deadline President Buhari stipulated for the liquidation of Boko Haram cannot be met by the gallant Nigerian armed forces.
Of course, defeat of the PDP, albeit in a flawed election, is the best change that has happened since the return to civilian rule in 1999, because it has cut the megalomaniac arrogance of the former ruling party to smithereens. From now onwards, no political party will boast without serious consequences that it would rule the country uninterruptedly for decades come what may. I know that the Buhari government is still settling down, and some of the teething problems of the moment, if tackled with genuine patriotism and creative management of available resources, may be resolved soon. I am fully aware that as a dyed in the wool retired soldier and devout Muslim, it would not be easy for President Buhari to blend his entrenched somewhat inflexible habits of thought with the degree of mental flexibility needed to make our convoluted democratic system work without serious convulsions – he is a tiro or neophyte in democratic governance. To help the President, we must ignore the bunkum and sugary insipidities of sycophants and speak out whenever we have good reasons to believe that the federal government is derailing from its primary function of providing enabling environment for optimum unfolding of our productive powers in work, love and recreation.
ABUJA — The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, yesterday, apologised to Nigerians for the hardship experienced in purchasing petrol, while it also stated that it had entered into a partnership with security agencies in the country to assist in the monitoring of fuel supply across the country.
Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Emmanuel Kachikwu
He said: “We must all make sure that petroleum products get across to Nigerians at the regulated price especially as the yuletide season approaches. We have enough products and we want to plead with the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTDs) not to be involved in the diversion of petroleum products in order to avoid causing untold hardship to motorists.”
Role of the security agencies
Providing insight on the role of the security agencies in curbing product diversion, Managing Director of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, Mrs. Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, said the DSS and EFCC have been mobilized to bring to book any marketer involved in sabotaging the efforts of the Federal Government in making petroleum products available to motorists across the country.
She said: “We have invited the EFCC and DSS to join us in this campaign of monitoring the movement of petroleum products and they have our mandate to sanction any errant marketer. Enough is enough.”
She urged Nigerians and other motorists to desist from panic buying assuring that there are sufficient petroleum products to satisfy local consumption.
Meanwhile, giving breakdown of fuel supplied to petrol stations, the NNPC stated that Suleja, Kaduna, Kano, Minna, Gusau, Mosimi and Satelite depots dispatched 7.398 million litres, 0.937 million litres, 4.4 million litres, 0.444 million litres, 0.939 million litres, 4.351 million litres and 1.937 million litres respectively.
In addition Ore, Ibadan, Gombe, Benin, Warri, Port Harcourt, Aba, Makurdi and Enugu dispatched 0.338 million litres, 0.412 million litres, 3.024 million litres, 0.318 million litres, 0.318 million litres, 3.097 million litres, 0.298 million litres, 0.891 million litres and 1.737 million litres respectively to petrol stations across the country.
ILORIN – The neighbouring Benin Republic has invaded sixteen villages in Okuta, the border town in Baruten local government area of Kwara state, thereby causing serious fear and palpable tension in the affected communities.
In their shrewd determination to annex the Nigerian villages, Vanguard reliably gathered that authorities of Benin Republic have gone ahead to construct Gerdarmes Office(Police station) in the affected Nigerian communities and also hoist the country flag at the affected Nigeria villages.
Vanguard checks revealed that the development negated the boundary delimitation of 1914 between Britain and France which the two countries had respected.
The affected Nigeria villages invaded by the Benin Republic include Ogomne, Bwin, Gandasunon, Kpuru and Woru Wuren Kparu.
Others are Ajuba,1, Ajuba 2, Saka Yeruman Kparu,Monta, Dotin Kparu,Halidun Kparu, Yakubun Kparu, Sonsi,Gunosani, Alhaji Kparu,Yodo Mankparu and Simen Kparu.
The Harrow Crown Court in northwest London, has convicted a British couple who was found guilty of keeping a Nigerian immigrant enslaved for more than two decades.
Damaris Lakin, the Crown Prosecution Service, said on Wednesday in London that Emanuel Edet, 61, and Antan Edet, 58, held their victim captive from the time he was brought to Britain when he was 14 years old.
The prosecutors said the couple was convicted on charges of child cruelty, slavery and assisting in illegal immigration.
He said the couple forced him to work for no pay and threatening him with deportation if he tried to escape.
Lakin said the Edet’s had told the teen when they brought him from Nigeria in 1989 that they would pay him and provide him with an education.
The prosecutors said instead, the victim, now 40, was forced to cook, clean, garden and care for the couple’s children without any pay for up to 17 hours a day.
“He got no education and had only very limited contact with his family and the outside world.
“The couple took his passport, and he had no identity documents, and is forced to eat alone and typically slept on hallway floors,’’ the prosecutors said.
Lakin said the Edets told their captive he would be arrested as an illegal immigrant and deported if he left the house and contacted police.
“He believed this and felt trapped and completely dependent on the Edets.
Lakin said Emanuel and Antan Edet have cruelly robbed the victim of 24 years of his life and they have treated him with complete contempt.
“This was a shocking case of modern day slavery.
The prosecutor said the Edet’s had changed the victim’s name and added him to their family passport as their son when they brought him into Britain.
As part of the worldwide manhunt for suspected terrorists, the Nigerian Immigration Service has deployed an electronic device in the nation’s airports to identify, take a headcount of travellers and aid security agencies to arrest suspected terrorists.
boko Haram and ISIS
The technology, known as Electronic Advance Passenger Information System, is a web-based application that facilitates the collection of electronic manifest information for international travellers, going into or travelling out of the country.
The NIS Public Relations Officer, Ekpedeme King, disclosed this to our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday while responding to enquires on efforts by the service to beef up security in the nation’s borders against the backdrop of the ISIS attacks on Paris on Friday, where no fewer than 128 people were killed.
The eAPIS, which collects and passes electronic manifests, has been in use at international airports in the United States since May, 2009, when all general aviation pilots, conducting international flights departing from or arriving to the United States, were requiries to provide passenger manifest and aircraft information to government agencies.
King told our correspondent on Sunday that the eAPIS would soon be extended to all the land borders across the nation, noting that the system had assisted the immigration service to have a record of people coming in and leaving the country.
He said, “The Nigerian Immigration Service has already deployed technology (in the airports) to prevent infiltration of foreign terrorists.
“We now use a system called Electronic Advance Passenger Information System which has been deployed in all our airports nationwide. We are working to extend the system to all land borders.
“For the illegal routes, especially in the northern part of the country, we have trained 4,000 officers in border patrol duties and 2,000 personnel of the border patrol corps working with the Department of State Services, have been deployed to patrol the illegal routes.”
Asked how many illegal immigrants had been arrested in recent times, King said he did not have the figures, but added that illegal migrants, entering the country through unapproved routes, were usually not allowed to enter the country.
“What we do is when you enter into the country illegally, through the unofficial routes, we send you back; we don’t allow you into the country, and we do this every day, but those that had entered the country through the regular routes without the necessary documentation are deported to their country,” he explained.
The NIS in September, 2015, arrested two accomplices of Ahmed Al Assir, the Lebanese terrorist, who obtained a Nigerian visa in Beruit, Lebanon.
The accomplices were apprehended in Kano and handed over to the National Security Adviser for further investigation.
Assir, who had been on the wanted list of the Lebanese security forces, was arrested at the airport while attempting to board a Cairo, Egypt-bound flight en route Nigeria with a forged Palestinian passport in August.
Assir became one of the most wanted men in Lebanon after his militia went to battle with the Lebanese army in the port city of Sidon in 2013, resulting in the death of 18 soldiers and dozens of his gunmen.
ISIS was reported to have mentioned Nigeria in one of the French attack tweets on Saturday.
The message read, “When you deploy forces in order to control the city of Saladin and dreaming of Mosul, Sinjar, Haul, Tikrit or Huwaijah or dreaming Mayadin or Jarablus or Karmah or Tel Abyad or Al Quaim or Darnah or dream to reclaim wilderness in the interior Nigeria or masters ‘Asy’asy Sinai desert sand, then surely we just want Rome and Paris Insyaallah before Andalusia.”
Also, Nigeria has been rated as the country most worried about the rise of ISIS, according to a chart compiled by Statista, an online statistic portal.
The data shows the countries most worried about the rise of the terror group, whose British militant member, Jihadi John, was believed to have been killed in a US air strike last week.
Police heighten security nationwide
The police and other security agencies have heightened security nationwide following the Friday’s terror attacks on Paris.
Our correspondent gathered that the Force Headquarters had directed zonal police formations and state commands to step up patrol of critical public infrastructure, including public places like shopping malls and worship centres.
It was learnt that the police leadership had instructed their personnel to focus more on intelligence-gathering in order to pre-empt terror plots and other criminal acts.
In the Federal Capital Territory, police patrol teams were observed on Saturday and Sunday at many parts of Abuja engaging in ‘stop and search’ of vehicles and motorists.
The Safer Highway patrol units were also observed along the Umaru Yar’Adua Expressway, Kubwa-Zuba Expressway, Nyanya-Keffi Expressway and other parts of the FCT carrying out random searches on vehicles.
Patrol teams from the FCT Police Command were also active at various street junctions, market areas, including Wuse and Garki Markets, AYA Roundabout and Area 1 Roundabout as well as at residential areas of the city.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, stated that the police had always been alert to their duty of protecting lives and property of the people, adding that the police had deployed personnel in critical areas across the country.
Kolawole added, “The police have deployed its personnel in critical areas in view of the security situation in the country. Our men and officers have been directed to secure critical public infrastructure, lives and property.
“The police are working with other security agencies to protect lives and property nationwide and we want to solicit the support of members of the public to give useful information to the nearest security agency.”
Meanwhile, security experts have said the world should expect more terror attacks that might be in the mould of the Paris carnage.
They observed that unless security agencies collaborated and strengthened their intelligence-gathering capabilities, terror groups like ISIS, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram, would continue to beat security personnel to stage blood-curdling attacks on innocent citizens.
A former Director, Department of State Services, Mike Ejiofor, noted that what the ISIS terrorists did in Paris was not different from what Boko Haram had been doing in Nigeria.
Though Boko Haram had been weakened by the security agencies, the security expert said the sect had been attacking soft targets, stressing that the security forces must not relent in their bombardment of the violent sect.
He said, “It’s (Paris-type attack) been happening here; it calls for vigilance from everyone. Boko Haram has been doing exactly the same thing. The world must condemn it and work together to combat terrorism headlong, we should expect more of this attack globally.
“Though Boko Haram has been pushed to the fringes of Sambisa Forest, it is still carrying out attacks on soft targets; this calls for extra vigilance. People in crowded places need to be careful and security agencies must continue to degrade the capabilities of members of this group until they are vanquished.”
Another security analyst, Ben Okezie, stressed the importance of intelligence gathering to prevent the likes of Paris terror attacks from taking place in the country, adding that security agencies must continue to collaborate to frustrate terror plots.
Okezie stated, “The terrorists are always monitoring security agencies, they have done their research and they know where they want to attack. They monitor their targets and once the security agencies are not alert or distracted, the boys will strike; they don’t have any other job, all they are interested in is to create fear in the mind of the populace and kill the people.
The Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has called on Nigerians to engage in collective nation building rather than “wallow in self-pity.”
According to him, the country has had its fair share of problems.
Governor Oshiomhole
Oshiomhole, who spoke at an event to mark Nigeria’s 55th Independence Anniversary held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin, said as a developing country, Nigeria had experienced challenges of insecurity, violent crimes, unemployment and poverty, all of which he said were prevalent all over the world.
“I do not know of any country on the planet that does not have its own problems. In fact, when you watch the electronic media, you will realise that we are a lot better than many other countries,” the governor said.
He stated that while such problems could slow down continuous development, the determination of a country and its citizens to surmount them and move forward was of great importance.
Oshiomhole also reiterated the need to support President Muhammadu Buhari as part of efforts to sustain the fight against corruption, which he said had hampered the objectives set by Nigeria’s founding fathers.
He said, “We now have a President we can proudly say, ‘That is my President’. Our president has rightly identified the fact that we need to stand in unity to confront corruption and any of those vices that explain the gap between the promise and today’s reality.
“Those who want to chicken out will soon find that what they watch in the electronic media is not all that there is Europe. Across the world, we have people who are homeless. Across the world, we have people who are unemployed. Across the world, there are nations with all sorts of problems, including civil war.
“Today, we celebrate 55, not because we have overgrown hunger, not because we cannot see those who deserve jobs but cannot find them, not because we are happy with the level of poverty and the level of insecurity but because we are confident that, having learnt from our mistakes of the past, we now have a national leadership that is ready to provide an inspiring leadership to address all of those problems.”
In the area of socio-economic development in the state, the governor assured that his administration would continue to sustain its efforts in rural infrastructure programmes aimed at improving lives and forestalling unnecessary migration to urban areas.
He added, “I ask all of us to support the President, have faith in our country, and together, we will build Nigeria to a level and put in place the right socio-economic policy framework that will ensure that the wealth of our nation is reflected in the quality of lives of our people.”
The heir to Longleat, the stately home and seat of the Marquess of Bath in Somerset, England, banned his mother from his wedding and put “security on standby” in case she turned up after she allegedly suggested that marrying his half-Nigerian wife would damage the aristocratic family’s bloodline.
Ceawlin Thynn, 41, whose father is the eccentric Marquess of Bath famed for his harem of “wifelets”, has also claimed he stopped his mother – the Marchioness of Bath – from seeing his son Hon. John Alexander Ladi Thynn in case the boy is “contaminated” by her views.
Ceawlin’s wife Emma McQuiston, 29, is the daughter of Nigerian oil tycoon, Chief Oladipo (Ladi) Jadesimi founder and Executive Chairman of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) company, which partnered with Samsung Heavy Industries of Korea in 2013 to win a multi-million dollar contract for the construction of a Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel for Total Oil’s deep water Egina oil field off Nigeria’s coast.
She will become Britain’s first black marchioness when Ceawlin, who took over running the 10,000-acre estate and safari park in Wiltshire in 2010, inherits his father’s title.
On Sunday, Ceawlin – Viscount Weymouth – alleged that when he told his mother that he planned to marry Emma, she replied: “Are you sure about what you’re doing to 400 years of bloodline?”
He tried to ignore it but when she repeated it he decided he had to tell Emma, who was “devastated”. Ceawlin demanded that his mother, who has lived much of her life with a lover in France, return her wedding invitation and “made it clear that under no circumstances would she be attending”, he said in an interview with the British-based Sunday Times newspaper.
Come the day of the wedding at Longleat in June 2013, he was so worried she might turn up and make a scene he put “security on standby to prevent her from accessing the area”, he told The Sunday Times. “All the doors were manned and various corridors and outdoor areas,” he added.
Emma – Viscountess Weymouth – has previously spoken of racism in the British aristocratic circles in which she now mingles.
She once told Tatler magazine: “There has been some snobbishness, particularly among the much older generation. There’s class and then there’s the racial thing.”
Before her marriage to Lord Bath in 1969, Ceawlin’s mother was Anna Gael (née Gyarmathy), an actress who starred in erotic films such as Therese And Isabelle in which she stripped naked and simulated lesbian sex. She was nicknamed the “Naked Lady of Longleat”. Ceawlin also claimed his mother, 71, who has spent more time at Longleat since the death of her lover in France, now ignores Emma if they bump into each other in the stately home’s grounds.
Emma said: “We’re walking towards each other, and the tension is building. I don’t know what she’s going to say, so I say hello first. And then she goes, ‘Oh sorry, I didn’t recognise you’ and keeps walking.”
Ceawlin also claimed his mother has no contact with his 11-month-old son, saying: “I don’t want him contaminated by that sort of atmosphere and those sort of views.” Coincidentally, she has also apparently been banned from appearing in the forthcoming three-part BBC1 documentary All Change at Longleat, about the aristocratic family and the future of its estate.
In a statement in response to the interview given by Ceawlin and Emma, Lady Bath said she “did not know” she was banned from seeing her grandson, whom she described as “a lovely little chap”.
She said she had promised her children she would tell them what she thought about their “serious partners”, adding: “Then I would never mention it again. That is what I did with my son.”
It is the latest rift to emerge in the family. Lord Bath, 83, fell out with Ceawlin after discovering that he had taken down some of the murals at Longleat House, the family’s 130-room Elizabethan mansion, and refused to turn up to Ceawlin and Emma’s wedding.
A source close to the family said: “Bath family politics are always colourful and difficult. All parties involved are attempting to move on and live normal lives.”
Following the row with his mother two years ago, Ceawlin is still not on speaking terms with the Marchioness and “works hard to avoid her” when she visits Longleat from her home in Paris.
He has also fallen out with his father, the Marquess of Bath, after taking over the reins at the estate in 2010.
Lord Bath – nicknamed “Loins of Longleat” – famously fell out with his son in 2012 when he removed some erotic murals his father had painted for him and his sister when they were children.
Relations between the men were so bad that Lord Bath also missed Ceawlin and Emma’s wedding in 2013.
Three years later and the row flared up once more when Cealwin failed to consult his father about a proposed colour scheme while renovating the house.
In a previous interview with The Mail, Lord Bath sniffed: “I suppose I just have to accept what has happened. But my relationship with Ceawlin will not be the same again.
“I don’t feel inclined to pay any interest in his wedding.” Instead, he and wife Anna went to a different wedding, of a friend in Hampshire.
Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye, a historian who served as Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States, has died in Washington, DC, SaharaReporters just learned.
Mr. Adefuye died at a yet to be disclosed hospital in the US, a source in the US told our correspondent.
Mr. Adefuye was recalled to Nigeria after President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as President. He was still waiting to hand over to a new ambassador when he suddenly died today.
A former professor of history, Mr. Adefuye was in 2010 appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria’s ambassador in the US. An outspoken person and fierce defender of Nigeria, the deceased diplomat tackled critics of Nigeria in the US. He vociferously lobbied against Nigeria’s classification as “a country of interest” in America’s terrorism watch list.
Mr. Adefuye hailed from Ijebu-Igbo in 1947, and studied at the University of Ibadan where he earned his first degree in 1969 as well as a PhD in history in 1973. He also received a Fulbright Fellowship that enabled him to do research work at Columbia University, the University of North Florida, and the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Ambassador Adefuye, who wrote several history texts, taught at the University of Lagos, earning a professorship and heading the History Department 1985 to 1987.
Prior to his appointment to Nigeria’s Embassy in Washington, DC, Mr. Adefuye served as his country’s ambassador to Jamaica (where he was concurrently accredited to Haiti and Belize) from 1987 to 1991. In 1991, he was appointed Nigeria’s Deputy High Commissioner in the U.K., leaving to work for fourteen years as a Deputy Director at the Commonwealth. On leaving the Commonwealth, the former professor accepted a position as an advisor at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Global stock markets yesterday took a major plunge after China suffered its worst trading session in eight years.
Nigeria
An unprecedented collapse in Chinese shares sent tremors through financial markets, triggering the ugliest day of global trading since the depths of the financial crisis eight years ago.
Billions were wiped off indices across the world in a day of frenetic selling, which saw the Shanghai composite suffer an 8.5 per cent decline, its worst one-day performance since 2007. The mass panic, dubbed “Black Monday” by China’s official state news agency, was driven by investors’ dashed hopes that Beijing would inject a fresh round of stimulus into its economy following a series of disappointing data last week.
In Nigeria, after losing N283 billion last week, equities opened this week with a whooping loss of N228 billion in the five-hour trading session. Average decline stood at 2.22 per cent as relatively higher losses by 46 stocks, including the market’s largest stocks, overwhelmed modest gains by nine stocks.
The opening downtrend pushed the negative average year-to-date return at the Nigerian stock market to -15.71 per cent. The negative market position appeared to be increasing, unnerving the more optimistic investors, lowering demand and increasing open-order supply, which has virtually turned the market into a discount window.
Analysts were negative on the market’s outlook in the short-term, although there was almost unanimity on the good prospects of Nigerian equities in the medium to long terms.
“We anticipate another round of bearish trading at tomorrow`s session (today) as there are no catalysts in the horizon to spur positive sentiments. The tumbling in global oil prices at the international markets may also be taking its toll on the market,” SCM Capital, formerly Sterling Capital Markets, stated in a post-trading review.
Aggregate market value of all quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) almost dropped below its psychological N10 trillion position to close at N10.013 trillion as against its opening value of N10.241 trillion, representing a loss of N228 billion or 2.22 per cent.
The All Share Index (ASI), the common value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, shrank to 29,214.13 points as against its opening index of 29,878.33 points, a day-on-day decline of 2.22 per cent.
China’s benchmark index has now lost all of its yearly gains after a relentless ascent that saw its valuation rise to record levels earlier this year. Asian markets crashed on the news, with Japan’s Nikkei closing down 4.5 per cent and entering official “correction” territory. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sanki 5.2 per cent, its steepest sell-off in 30 years.
Emerging markets, most exposed to a waning Chinese economy, saw their currencies continue an abysmal summer rout. Russia’s rouble fell to an all-time low of 70.74 to the dollar, despite desperate attempts by the Kremlin to prop up its value.
Contagion quickly spread west, decimating European indices, which all suffered record post-crisis losses. The FTSE 100 dropped 4.7 per cent, wiping £74 billion off its market capitalisation and capping its worst one-day performance since March 2009.
The index staged a minor rebound, having lost more than £55 billion in the first two hours of morning trading. Britain’s benchmark index has now collapsed by 17 per cent since hitting a high of 7,104 in April and is slipping towards official bear market territory, defined as a 20 per cent decline from its peak.
Europe’s FTSE EuroFirst300 stocks endured a 5.6pc loss that erased €450bn from the continent’s biggest companies. Italian stocks led the falls, down 6pc, while France’s CAC 40 suffered a 5.4pc decline, closing at 4383.46. Germany’s DAX also entered correction territory, bleeding 4.7pc.
“Stock markets are falling apart at the seams,” said Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets.
“There was one point today when there just seemed to be no buyers and markets just went into freefall.”
Fears soon engulfed Wall Street, where the Dow Jones lost 1,000 points, minutes after the opening bell. Pre-market futures trading in the Dow and the S&P 500 had to be suspended as investors became embroiled in a manic sell-off. The Dow later rallied to fall by 2.6 per cent in New York’s afternoon trading.
A key measure of US equity volatility, the CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, shot above the 50 mark for the first time since 2009 before dropping back to 33 as US investors turned their focus back to domestic US issues.
“With those markets closed, it’s now focused more on US fundamentals. The US economy remains relatively strong compared to others around the world,” said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 346.07 points, or 2.10 percent, at 16,113.68. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 47.72 points, or 2.42 percent, at 1,923.17. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 94.91 points, or 2.02 percent, at 4,611.13.
Oil prices also recovered somewhat after plunging to six-and-a-half year lows. Safe-haven US government and German bonds, as well as the yen and the euro, rallied as currency concerns kicked in due to China’s recent currency devaluation.
US crude was last down 3.7 per cent at about $38.95 a barrel after falling as low as $37.75 earlier in the day and Brent was off 4.2 percent at $43.57 after falling as low as $42.51 to take it under January’s lows for the first time. Worries about weaker demand from normally resource-hungry China added to global supply glut concerns.
The S&P’s energy index was the weakest performer with a 2.9 per cent decline in afternoon trading.
With serious doubts emerging about the likelihood of a US interest rate rise this year, the dollar was down 1.5 per cent against other major currencies after falling as much as 2.5 per cent earlier in the day.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 5.4 per cent to a more than three-year low. Tokyo’s Nikkei ended down 4.6 per cent and Australian and Indonesian shares hit two-year troughs.
London’s FTSE 100, with its large number of global miners and oil firms, ended down 4.7 per cent for its 10th straight decline – its worst run since 2003. The MSCI all world stock index was off three per cent.
Mr. Malami, who was the special guest at the launch of a report by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) titled, “Go home and sin no more: Corrupt judges escaping from justice in Nigeria”, said judges should be beyond reproach.
