TheNewsGuru

Tag: People

  • After politicians, people should govern – Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa.

    Governance after independence, was in a sense, chaotic. There was a virtual insurrection in the Middle Belt for which the military carried out annual punitive expeditions.

    Anarchism took over the West with people being roasted alive, and widespread arson. For this, it became known as the ‘Wild, Wild West’ Leaders of the opposition Action Group party were either in prison or on the run.

    Corruption was said to be rife and when there were disputes over the December 1964 general elections, President Nnamdi Azikiwe was put under house arrest for declining to call Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa to form government.

    Such was the general disenchantment that when the January 1966 coup overthrew the civilian administration, the country was thrown into wide jubilation. But within seventeen months, the military plunged the country into a Civil War in which an estimated two million people perished. With the war coming to an end in 1970, the most visionary and resourceful trade unionist in our history, Wahab Omorilewa Goodluck, addressed the people in a rally declaring: “The politicians have ruled and failed, the military is ruling and has failed, it is the turn of workers to rule” He used ‘workers’ in a generic sense to include all those who labour; workers in the formal and informal sectors, farmers, artisans and the poor.

    Given his leadership of large sections of the trade union and his antecedents as a matchless mobiliser, the military regime panicked. It considered his speech incendiary and a call to arms. Goodluck was seized in Lagos and re-appeared in the Kaduna Central Prisons where he spent several months.

    With the curse that was military rule and the subsequent experience of Nigerians under professional politicians, Comrade Goodluck has been proved right many times over.

    The 2019 general elections showed once again, that many politicians do not have faith in either the electoral process nor the people; their primary goals are pecuniary. That the political parties are mere contraptions for electoral purposes and not parties with due paying members.

    The 2019 elections are like shallow graves; you do not need to dig deep to discover the monumental fraud committed by the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC) and its Siamese twin, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP)

    We use mainly academics to run our electoral process with otherwise busy professors spending years organizing elections and sleepless nights to manually move and collate results from polling stations to Abuja; a process a handful of first year IT students can accomplish in a transparent manner if electronic transfer were allowed.

    Electoral work can be overwhelming and damaging to the academic profession. In one instance, a professor of Physics absconded. When a professor flees his electoral post, he has either been compromised and therefore unworthy of his rank, or the amount of fraud he is being made to endorse is so overwhelming that he flees to protect what is left of his honour.

    A lot of electoral infractions were committed under the noses of the electoral managers. For instance, there were cases of thousands of children accredited to vote. In some instances, the children- naturally behaving like kids- became so unruly that electoral officers created separate queues for them. So, were these simply cases of collusion, or the suspension of disbelief in which case the electoral umpires viewed the children as adults? Given the claims that we now have ‘improved’ elections, were these cases reported in the incident forms and why were such votes not cancelled? Of what use were the security services beyond trying to make the children vote in an orderly manner? There are of course a number of videos emerging of electoral officials and other fraudsters thumb printing lots of ballot papers for the two leading parties. So when a friend argued that it was more an allocation process than an electoral one, I could not readily fault him.

    I have also read international Western Observers praising the role of our military in the conduct of the elections, and I ask; are the armed forces involved in conducting elections in their own countries?

    The elections were highly ethnized with cases of voters being attacked and their votes burnt on the suspicion that they might not have voted for anointed candidates. While the religious dimension was not really present, it has surfaced after the elections. A major contestant feels aggrieved and rather than move his supporters into the streets, opts to challenge the elections in the courts. Overnight, hordes of choristers rise, chanting that he should not, because the election results are the will of God; who told them? Who says God has a hand in the democratization of electoral fraud?

    It is incredible that the PDP with its sordid past, put up a strong showing, enough to cast doubts on the victory of the APC. Rather than taunt the PDP, the APC should actually be in reflection; why did so many who just four years ago, were ready to swear in the name of President Muhammadu Buhari, turn their backs on the party? The APC was in 2015, a brand new bus that tore furiously through the electoral roads coasting home to victory; today, even as it claims to be accelerating to the ‘Next Level’ the gear is not really engaging and many of its passengers have jumped off. Those who hope to hike in the APC bus to the 2023 elections, might need alternative plans as its engine might knock before the next general elections.

    Some people are excited that in the race to the Senate, some powerful politicians like Governors Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe, Abiola Ajimobi, the ‘Constituted Authority’ of Oyo State, former Governor Princewill Akpabio and the Senate President Bukola Saraki, fell. Contrary to some analysis that this shows that the electoral system is self-correcting, the simple fact is that this is merely part of the infighting amongst the professional politicians and does not affect the power relations in the country.

    What can alter the power relations in the country is if the Nigerian people who have been abused and exploited by military adventurists and professional politicians for decades, take their destiny in their own hands. This is in our interest and that of our children and future generations.

    A primary step is to build our own organisation which we should fund from our pockets in contrast to the leading political parties that are funded from our national purse or stolen money.

    With that, we can take on the parties of the professional politicians and bring to life, a Pro-People and Pro-Nigeria government. As Wahab Goodluck pointed out fifty years ago, the professional politicians and military have failed, it is the turn of the people to govern. Who is coming with us?

  • It’s heart breaking seeing people leaving their ancestral home for insurgence—NDE boss

    Mr Muhammed Ladan, Director General, National Directorate of Employment, says it is heartbreaking to see Nigerians leaving their ancestral homes because of the activities of Boko Haram.
    Ladan said this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja
    He said that it was saddening that the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) scattered across the country had become refugees in their own country, stressing that it was heart breaking to see such.
    According to him, it’s heart breaking to see people leaving their ancestral home to try to eke a living elsewhere, “but there again, we are very thankful that they survived the onslaught of Boko Haram”.
    He said that President Muhammadu Buhari should be applauded for the initiative through agencies like the NDE to rehabilitate the IDPs.
    He said that the NDE would give the IDPs the required skills they needed to eke a good living and have some dignity.
    Ladan said that the NDE had put smiles on the faces of ordinary Nigerians who were hitherto jobless by providing the necessary skill acquisition.
    The D-G said that most ordinary Nigerians had been neglected in the past by various administrations but chose to look after the elite only.
    According to him, nobody bothers about what happens “and that is why we got to the issue of Boko-Haram and this has given us a lot of IDPs across the nation”.
    He said that most of the victims of Boko Haram were now learning one skill or the other, adding that the government would not abandon them.

  • ‘Consider yourselves a failure if you can’t feed your people’

    The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, on Wednesday said any society that can’t feed its people should be considered a failed society.

    Symington said this at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan during the presentation of a group of young entrepreneurs under the platform of Enable Youth Agriculture programme.

    IITA is providing support for many African youths under the EYA initiative to create a platform where they will be encouraged to choose a career in agriculture.

    About 50 youths who graduated from diverse fields of agricultural disciplines were drawn from Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Congo to take part in the programme. IITA said the programmes began at its Ibadan headquarters in August 2012 and had spread across Africa, bringing under its net vibrant and energetic young people who were trained to become owners and co-owners of independent agribusiness enterprises.

    The US ambassador called on African countries to surmount the challenge of food production, stressing that every nation must encourage its youths to go into agriculture in order to boost food production and achieve food sufficiency.

    While urging the youths to form value chains with other interests, Symington recommended the Ghanaian model of micro-finance where a whole village was transformed by an internally-generated trade interest model of villagers financing themselves from interests they pulled together to finance one another.

    He also urged the youths from different African countries to buy products from one another and put together lessons they learned from themselves in the process of learning the agricultural entrepreneurial skills.

    He said, “You should buy products from each other. You are your own buyers and you should be your own internal buyers. Put together lessons learnt in the process. Each should learn from the mistakes and experiences of the other.

    “You should also learn from the Silicon Valley maxim. In Silicon, they have an expression: ‘If you haven’t failed once, you are not in business.’ You are like Silicon Valley. You will fall; pick yourselves up. Is there anyone who rides a bicycle for the first time without falling down?”

    In his remarks, the Director General of IITA, Dr Nterenya Sanginga, told the ambassador of his effort to convince some Nigerian professors in Missouri, US, to come back to Nigeria and strengthen the agricultural strides being made back home.

    He stated that in the next 30 years, Africa would become the world food basket.

  • Lagos Land Use Charged Act will further impoverish people — Labour

    The United Labour Congress (ULC) has lent its voice to the cries against the new Lagos State Land Use Charge Act saying it would create housing deficit and impoverish the people.

    The president of ULC, Mr Joe Ajaero, who fielded questions from journalists on Tuesday in Lagos, called for the immediate withdrawal of the Act.

    Recall that the new Lagos State Land Use Charge Law on Jan. 28, 2018 replaced that of 2001.

    Gov.ernor Akinwumi Ambode had said that the tax was designed to help the government to generate additional revenue needed to develop the state in the light of increasing demand for urban and rural infrastructure and other expenditure.

    According to Ajaero, the tax is heavily weighted against the poor who do not have their own houses and who depended on the rich for housing.

    He said the Act which raised land use charges payable in the state to between 400 and 500 per cent was hard for the poor.

    The ULC leader said that it would have been appropriate for the state government to improve on the provision on housing deficit before such law was enacted.

    “It is on record that Nigeria suffers housing deficit and Lagos as one of the most urbanised state and has a high deficit.

    “The implication of this is that the supply of housing is short and creates a landlord’s market where the masses have little option in the face of landlord decisions,’’ he said.

    Ajaero said that anything that would raise the cost of providing houses by the landlords would automatically be transferred to the tenants.

    “As soon as it becomes operational, landlords will immediately transfer it to their tenants by raising rents payable on their properties.

    “Lagos is a city built by the people and its sustenance also depends on the people, and in making it a megacity, it should be inclusive for both the rich and the poor,’’ he said.

    The labour leader, however, advised Ambode not to place politics and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) above the people as governance was for the people and not the people for governance.

    He urged the government to take into cognisance the workers and the underprivileged in its actions and policies.

  • Open Grazing Law: Some people are after my life – Ortom cries out

    Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on Friday alleged threats to his life by those opposed to the implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law in the state.

    But he declared that he was unperturbed by such threats.

    Governor Ortom told a delegation of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Makurdi branch at Government House that the law has come to stay and no amount of intimidation would stop the implementation of the policy.

    He asked the people of the state to remain steadfast until impunity is defeated in Nigeria.

    He also stressed that no sacrifice is too big in the struggle to end the reign of terror by Fulani herdsmen in parts of Benue.

    Governor Ortom pleaded with all Benue sons and daughters to forget their political differences and unite to speak with one voice against invasion and occupation of their land which has left many people dead and property worth billions destroyed.

    The Governor expressed the hope that President Buhari would take further steps to stop the killing of innocent people and arrest those behind the genocide, especially leaders of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who had threatened to resist the law.

    Governor Ortom, while appreciating the NBA for the consolatory visit, said he was happy that he had not done the wrong thing by enacting a law that seeks to protect his people, stressing that it was a global best practice and that he and President Muhammadu Buhari also practise ranching.

    Earlier, Chairman NBA Makurdi branch, Mr. Emmanuel Agbakor, said the gruesome killings violate the right to life of Benue citizens as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.

  • Chukwuma-GTBank spat: Judgment of the people! By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon

    As the legalese goes, those seeking equity must come with clean hands, so that in arbitration, they can get justice. This concept of equity has wired the lingering squabbles over loan facilities, judgment debts and alleged falsification of shipping documents between the Chief Executive Officer of Innoson Motors, Chief Innocent Chukwuma and Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank).

    It’s not in my purview to determine who, between the parties, came to equity with (without) clean hands. But from information placed in the public domain, Nigerians could ascertain that, which is reflective of the chain of reactions to last Tuesday’s arrest of Chief Chukwuma by operatives of the EFCC in Enugu.

    Suffice it to say that if you think the madman is all screwball, then let him explain the source of the burning bush: He will point to the spot he ignites a “small” fire, and not the raging inferno. In other words, the fire he sets can’t spread out!

    That’s what’s known as “unintended consequence(s),” which the arrest of Chukwuma has brought upon those that reportedly masterminded the incarceration of the industrialist for over 24 hours, over the dispute that has run the gamut of the Nigerian law courts practically in his favour.

    The EFCC storming of Chukwuma’s home, not only prompted an unprecedented single-day investigation by the Senate, but it has also energized his sympathizers, and concerned Nigerians to call for a run on millions of customers’ accounts with the GTBank.

    Going by media reports, “about N18 billion had been withdrawn and over 2.7 million accounts closed within two days after the (Chukwuma) arrest,” a claim the bank debunked on Thursday on its Facebook page.

    But what’s not in dispute is that following the media buzz on the Chukwuma arrest, and alleged withdrawal and closure of many accounts, GTBank had to file a notice to an obviously alarmed Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday, to explain that all was well with the bank’s operations.

    We hope GTBank will sustain this stand because the SEC is not known for frivolities; it only “summons for explanation” when it views that the activities of any capitalized entity are or about to be in dire straits, such as reportedly happening to the GTBank.

    While the jury is still out, let me err on the side of sentiment in the wake of criticism of people of the South-East, for accusingly trying to localize Chukwuma’s arrest as directed at Ndigbo. The people had reached a breaking point over the harassment and intimidation of their son for close to a decade. Hence, they reacted accordingly. Aren’t other Nigerians pissed off likewise?

    I think there are three (probably a few more) not politically-exposed persons (PEPs) Nigerians, who belong to our so-called Tripod – Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani, Igbo (WAZOBIA) tribes – that should be handled with some kid gloves. They are: Chief Mike Adenuga Jnr. (Yoruba), Alhaji Aliko Dangote (Hausa/Fulani) and Chief Innocent Chukwuma (Igbo).

    What do these gentlemen have in common? Business. They are ‘Business Moguls, Magnates, Tycoons’ – big-time entrepreneurs, with tentacles in varying fields of commerce, manufacturing, transportation, energy, oil and gas, agriculture, finance and banking, telecommunications, aviation, etc.

    The trio individually directly employ tens of thousands of Nigerians, and through deliberate policies have also made Millionaires of many. And the beauty of their modus operandi is being the faces of the New Nigeria that we have been yearning for. Their enterprises are Nigeria-centric: Home grown, Made-in-Nigeria, with local contents. Consider the following:

    * A time was when cement was a very scarce commodity in Nigeria; in the days of its bulk importation in barges, to be repackaged locally into 50kgs. But with Dangote establishing several cement companies in parts of Nigeria, that story is history.

    * The early foreign-owned GSM telecoms services in Nigeria were still virtually for the haves, both in line purchases and call rates. But in came Adenuga’s GLO, the self-styled “Grand Masters of Data,” and its introduction of per seconds billing. Today, Nigeria has one of the fastest growing GSM/Internet/Data penetrations in the world.

    * We are a net importer of automobiles, new and fairly-used. But one man, Chukwuma, with Innoson Motors, is changing that outlook by manufacturing vehicles of all shapes and sizes in Nigeria. He recently unveiled a Made-in-Nigeria Jeep (Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV)), and has signaled the commencement of production of cars in early 2018. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo visited the company a few months ago and, impressed with the production line, promised government’s assistance and patronage of its products.

    So, dealing with such Nigerians, especially in civil matters, shouldn’t be a matter of “The law is no respecter of persons,” or “Everybody is equal before the law.” But we have learned in the Orwellian metaphor that “Some animals are more equal than others.”

    Nonetheless, this is not a matter of law and order, but of common economic sense. The arrest of Chief Innocent Chukwuma is reportedly being felt in the house of GTBank – money allegedly being pulled out could more than double the judgment debts the bank argues paying would liquidate its assets.

    I hope, and pray that GTBank is right: That the said “withdrawals and closures” of accounts are “rumours, innuendoes and false statements that are being spread by mischievous elements, both in the news and on social media.” Otherwise, actions definitely have consequences!

     

    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

  • Dangote makes World 50 Most Influential people’s record

    Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, has been honored for his contribution to increasing local food production and lessen food imports in Nigeria.

    Dangote was among the 50 most influential names honored by Bloomberg for their contribution to humanity at Bloomberg’s Annual Gala Dinner in New York.

    According to Bloomberg, Dangote has been honoured for “his outstanding commitment of over 4 billion dollars to increase Nigeria’s food production capacity.

    He was also commended for focusing on domestic production of sugar and dairy, with 500 million litres of local milk to be produced by 2019.

    Earlier this year. Dangote announced 50 billion dollars plan to invest in renewable energy.

    Represented in New York by the CEO of his Foundation, Dangote was joined by electric car visionary Elon Musk; Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmon; Beatrice Fihn, anti-nuclear weapons advocate and Nobel Peace Laureate.

    Also honoured, were Amazon’s Jeff Bezos; Robert Mueller, special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s potential collusion with Russia and Vitalik Buterin, whose invention of the cryptocurrency Ethereum is revolutionizing the new blockchain craze.

    “What sets The Bloomberg 50 apart from other lists is that each person chosen has demonstrated measurable change over the past year,” Bloomberg Businessweek editor Megan Murphy, said.

  • Exiting recession is meaningless if peoples’ lives do not improve positively – Buhari

     

    …as President receives his Nigerien counterpart, Mahamadou Issoufou in Daura

     

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said he won’t rest on his oars until the ordinary Nigerian on the street feels the positive and economic impact of the nation’s exit from recession.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the President said this while receiving his Nigerien counterpart, President Mahamadou Issoufou who visited him in his home town, Daura, Katsina State on Tuesday.

    “Nigeria is finally out of economic recession,” he said.

    Buhari told newsmen after a closed door meeting with the visiting Issoufou that he was “very happy’’ to hear that the country was finally out of recession.

    In his words: “Certainly I should be happy for what it is worth. I am looking forward to ensuring that the ordinary Nigerian feels the impact.’’

    Buhari commended all the managers of the economy for their hard work and commitment, stressing that more work needed to be done to improve the growth rate.

    “Until coming out of recession translates into meaningful improvement in peoples’ lives, our work cannot be said to be done.’’

    In his remarks, the Nigerien President said he was delighted to see President Buhari in good health.

    He prayed that the almighty God would continue to strengthen him.

    President Issoufou said he used the opportunity of the visit to discuss some bilateral and regional issues with President Buhari.

    He said that the issues included the fight against Boko Haram, the economic challenges in the Lake Chad Basin and other developmental concerns that directly affected the livelihood of the citizens of both countries.

    The Nigerien President was accompanied on the visit by a former Prime Minister, Dr Hamid Algabid, and the President of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of Niger, Moussa Moumouni Djermakoye.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday announced that Nigeria was out of economic recession.

    The NBS said this in a Gross Domestic Product (GPD) Report for Second Quarter 2017 released by the bureau in Abuja.

    The NBS said that the nation’s GDP grew by 0.55 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the quarter, indicating the emergence of the economy from recession.

     

  • Makurdi flood: 110,000 people displaced, over 3,000 houses submerged [Photos]

    The Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has confirmed that over 110,000 people in 24 communities including Makurdi, the state capital, have been displaced by flood in recent months.

    Following heavy rains which began on Sunday, August 27, more houses have been affected by the flood with over 3,000 houses submerged.

    Residents of Nyiman BIPC Housing Estate, who were heavily affected by floods said they are yet to get any form of help from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

    Some residents pushed their cars to safety along Doo Palace road in Achusa while others were salvaging household items into waiting vans for possible relocation from the flood.

    One of the affected residents at the Media Village, Mr George Okoh, said the torrential floods severely hit his home.

    Okoh said, “At about 1.00 am (Wednesday), the rains came heavier and when we woke up this morning, our rooms were completely flooded.”

    “In fact, if not for some neighbours who alerted us, we would have probably drowned in the room and as you can see, the place is deserted and it is a major disaster.

    “I have evacuated my family to a higher ground, they have gone to the family house and they will be there till we find a solution to the flood.”

    At the BIPC Housing Estate, lady Kate Ijogi whose cars were submerged by flood appealed to the government to come to her aid.

    She said, “My house is completely submerged, two of my cars are completely submerged, you can see one out here and the other one is inside the compound.”

    “There was nothing I removed from my house because the water had gone up to the window level when we tried to escape. But I was able to rescue everybody in my house.

    “I’m devastated and confused and I don’t know what to do. No help is coming from anywhere, we have called NEMA and every rescue agency but nobody has responded”.

    On her part, a widow who also lives in the estate lamented the extent of damage the flood had done to the property passed onto the family by her late husband.

    She said, “Government should do something because the flood is becoming too much for us. For someone like me, a widow with five children, we do not have anywhere to stay”.

    “Our properties are still inside because, by the time they woke us up, we were unable to evacuate them. For properties like electronics, you cannot salvage them”.

     

  • Heavy drinking will kill 63,000 people over next five years, doctors warn

    Almost 63,000 people in England will die over the next five years from liver problems linked to heavy drinking unless ministers tackle the scourge of cheap alcohol, doctors are warning.

    Senior members of the medical profession and health charities are urging the government to bring in minimum unit pricing of alcohol and a crackdown on drink advertising to avert what they claim is the “public health crisis” of liver disease deaths.

    Research from some of Britain’s leading academic experts on alcohol has found that alcohol misuse will lead to 62,905 deaths between 2017 and 2022 and cost the NHS £16.74bn to treat.

    Analysis by Sheffield University’s influential Alcohol Research Group predicts that 32,475 of the deaths – the equivalent of 35 a day – will be the result of liver cancer and another 22,519 from alcoholic liver disease.

    They have undertaken the study for the Foundation for Liver Research, an independent group of medical and public health experts who want much tougher measures to limit alcohol harm. Inaction by the government is leading to avoidable loss of life to liver disease, they claim.

    Liver disease is one of Britain’s biggest killers, claiming about 12,000 lives a year in England alone. The number of deaths associated with it has risen by 400% since 1970. It is estimated that 62,000 years of working life are lost every year as a result of it. People who develop serious liver problems also suffer some of the worst health outcomes in Western Europe.

    “Liver disease is a public health crisis that has been steadily unfolding before our eyes for a number of years now and the government will have to take robust action if its main causes – alcohol misuse, obesity and viral hepatitis – are to be controlled,” said Prof Roger Williams, a liver specialist who helped to treat the Manchester United football legend George Best when his problems with alcohol led to him receiving a transplanted liver in 2002.

    Williams added: “Our new report strengthens the argument for intervention by revealing the full and alarming extent of the financial costs associated with inaction in these areas and setting out the economic benefits of addressing these risk factors.”

    Katherine Brown, director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, accused the government of not doing enough to limit alcohol-related harm, given that reducing avoidable deaths from a range of life-threatening conditions is a key target of government health policy.

    “Whilst it is a key government priority to tackle avoidable mortality, we have seen very little action to prevent liver disease, one of the top causes of avoidable deaths. It is tragic that, at a time when there is strong evidence for policies that will reduce avoidable deaths and hospital admissions, especially those related to alcohol, so many families will continue to suffer due to the ill-health or loss of a loved one,” she said.

    “This report shows the enormous financial burden alcohol places on our country. Billions of pounds are spent each year, which has a huge impact on our struggling NHS, police and public services. If this government is serious about tackling the biggest causes of ill-health, safeguarding the vulnerable and protecting public services, it simply has to take action. The evidence is clear: raise the price of the cheapest alcohol to save lives and save money,” she added.

    Andrew Langford, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said the big increase in obesity in recent years was also a key driver behind the rise in the number of liver disease deaths.

    “At the moment, three out of four people with liver conditions are diagnosed as an emergency in a hospital setting. By this time the scope for intervention is both limited and costly. Unless we urgently address this and improve prevention and early detection, the financial burden of liver disease will continue to grow at an alarming rate and the human cost and numbers of deaths will escalate,” he said.

    The Sheffield academics have also produced new calculations showing that, if a 50p minimum unit price for alcohol were introduced in England, within five years it would mean 1,150 fewer deaths due to drink, 74,500 fewer admissions to hospital because of alcohol, a £326m saving to the NHS and a £711m drop in the value of crime caused by alcohol consumption.

    The new study comes as the Supreme Court, the UK’s highest court, on Monday and Tuesday holds the latest round in the long-running legal battle over the Scottish government’s determination to bring in a 50p minimum unit price for alcohol, as it has been trying to do since 2012. The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and others are appealing against the Scottish court of session’s earlier ruling that the policy could be implemented as Holyrood ministers pledged. The SWA and other alcohol industry bodies have challenged the lawfulness of the 2012 legislation in Scotland, which paved the way for it to become the first of the four home nations to bring in minimum pricing. Wales is now following suit, and Northern Ireland has expressed interest in doing the same.

    Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK (AHA), welcomed the Sheffield report’s “clear and compelling new evidence … on the effectiveness of minimum unit pricing [MUP].

    “Previous estimates suggested that in the first year after the introduction of MUP in England, 192 lives would be saved. This latest research suggests that after five years of MUP in England, over 1,000 lives would be saved.

    “As Scotland appears set to introduce minimum pricing, and with Wales on the verge of legislating for MUP, we urge the UK government to take note of this latest evidence, and to legislate for MUP now. Given what we know about the effectiveness of MUP, a failure to act on the part of the government will mean that some of the most vulnerable in society will die unnecessarily,” Gilmore added.

    A Department of Health spokesperson said: “Liver disease can be incredibly damaging and we are committed to tackling the underlying causes. That’s why we moved to tax higher strength beer and cider more than the equivalent lower strength product. We also have a world-leading childhood obesity plan, new guidance on low-risk drinking and a comprehensive free screening programme.”