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  • 2022 budget: We need a sustainable exchange rate to survive in Nigeria -Sen Sekibo

    2022 budget: We need a sustainable exchange rate to survive in Nigeria -Sen Sekibo

    …says if 2016 rate of N197 to a dollar was sustainable 2022 budget would have been $83bn not $39bn

    By Emman Ovuakporie

    Senator George Sekibo on Thursday said Nigeria’s inability to come up with a sustainable exchange rate is one of the major problems confronting the country.

    The Senator representing Rivers East Senatorial District using exchange rates between 2016 and 2019 in his analogy said:

    “If the exchange is N197 as it was in 2016 the budget of N16trn would have been $83bn and not $39b and in the worst case scenario if the exchange rate is N306 as it was in 2019 the budget would have been $53bn.

    He further explained that”Alternatively, today N16trn is equivalent to N7trn plus if it were in 2016 and N12trn plus as is in 2019”.

    “The instability of the exchange rate has been detrimental to huge trillion budget resulting to huge deficit and borrowing to sustain our economy”.

    He advised that for Nigeria to survive”we must develop strong economic policy to stabilise our exchange rate.

    “The instability of the exchange rate has been detrimental to huge trillion budget resulting to huge deficit and borrowing.

  • Wike hosts South South Governors in Rivers

    Wike hosts South South Governors in Rivers

    Governors of the South-South region of the country are meeting in Rivers State.

    The meeting, hosted by Governor Nyesom Wike, is ongoing at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

    Chairman of the South-South Governors’ Forum, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, and his Edo State counterpart, Governor Godwin Obaseki, are part of those at the meeting.

    They arrived around 10:30am and were joined later by the governors of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, and his counterpart from Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel.

    At the time of this report, Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, had yet to arrive for the meeting.

    The meeting is taking place a month before the meeting of the Southern Governors’ Forum, which is also scheduled to take place in Port Harcourt.

    Although the agenda of the South-South governors’ meeting was not disclosed, it is expected to focus on issues bordering on power rotation, the dispute over the Value Added Tax (VAT), as well as the security and economic development of the region.

  • Buhari honours Joe Blankson, hero who drowned after rescuing 13 people from Rivers

    Buhari honours Joe Blankson, hero who drowned after rescuing 13 people from Rivers

    President Muhamadu Buhari has bestowed a posthumous award on a hero, Joe Blankson who save 13 people from drowning but died while attempting to save more people.

    Blankson died on July 28, 2018, while saving others following a boat accident on the Abonnema-Bakana waterway in Rivers State.

    He was survived by his wife and two children. However, on September 30, Buhari presented a posthumous award to his wife and two children.

    Sharing pictures of the event on his verified Facebook page, the president described Blankson as a true Nigerian hero.

    Buhari said, “On Thursday night at the State House, we honoured the memory of Joseph Blankson, a true Nigerian hero, who lost his life while saving others following a boat accident on the Abonnema-Bakana waterway in Rivers State, on July 28, 2018.

    “Blankson successfully rescued 13 persons and tragically drowned while attempting the 14th rescue. He was the sole casualty of the boat accident.”

    The president noted that he presented a presidential special award for bravery and patriotism to the late hero.

    “I presented a posthumous Presidential Special Award for Bravery and Patriotism to his wife, Mercy, and his two children, in recognition of the greatness and heroism of their husband and father.

    “We will continue to celebrate the best of Nigeria and Nigerians, as we work for and look forward to a better, brighter and greater Nigeria,” the president said.

  • VAT controversy: Appeal Court approves Lagos’ request to join Rivers’ suit against FG

    VAT controversy: Appeal Court approves Lagos’ request to join Rivers’ suit against FG

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja has granted a request by the Lagos State Government, seeking to join Rivers State in the appeal filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the FIRS had filed an appeal at the appellate court to challenge the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) by states.

    At the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday, the court granted the request by Lagos and ordered all processes filed to be served on the Attorney-General of the state, Moyosore Onigbanjo.

    The case was later adjourned to October 7 and would be heard at the Appellate Court in Port Harcourt.

    On September 16, the court reserved its ruling on the application after Onigbanjo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), took his application for joinder in the suit.

    He had informed the panel of judges led by Justice Haruna Tsammani that Lagos was entitled to collect VAT, saying the VAT Act was approved by an order of a court, although it had been annulled.

    According to the attorney-general, states that are recognised by the Constitution to collect VAT and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is aware of that fact.

    He added that the principles for joinder of a party, seeking to be joined, must be a necessary party that has shown that its interest, legally and financially, would be affected.

    While Onigbanjo explained that the case of joinder sought was to prevent multiplicity of action, counsel to the Rivers State government and SAN, Ifedayo Adedipe, supported the application by the Lagos State government.

    But counsel to the FIRS and SAN, Mahmoud Magaji, opposed the application for joinder while relying on Section 243 of the Constitution.

    He stated that the Constitution does not support applications for joinder and Lagos State was not a party to the suit at the trial court.

  • VAT war: Oyo approaches court, to join in Rivers’ suit against FG

    VAT war: Oyo approaches court, to join in Rivers’ suit against FG

    The Oyo State Government has asked the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for joinder in the suit instituted by the Rivers State Government against the Attorney-General of the Federation in respect to the bid by the state to take over the collection of the Value Added Tax (VAT) from the Federal Government.

    The suit, instituted by the Attorney-General of Oyo State, Prof. Oyelowo Oyewo, is seeking an order of the Appellate Court to enable Oyo State to join the suit as an interested party.

    This was disclosed in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the state Governor, Taiwo Adisa on Wednesday.
    In the suit, the government of Oyo State is seeking two orders, viz: an order of the honourable court joining the Attorney-General of Oyo State as a respondent on the appeal with suit number FHC/PH/CS/149/2020 and appeal number CA/PH/282/2021, and any other order the Court may deem fit.

    According to the Attorney-General of Oyo State, the government of Oyo State was unaware of the suit between the Attorney-General of Rivers State and the Federal Inland Revenue Service at the Federal High Court until the judgement was delivered.

    Other grounds upon which the application was based include that the decision of the appellate court will affect the collection of VAT by the government of Oyo State, being one of the States which the judgement of the lower court recognised as entitled to collect VAT within its territorial jurisdiction.

    The Oyo State Government also indicated that the applicant (Attorney-General of the State) “represents the interest of the Oyo State government, whose interest in the collection of Value Added Tax within Oyo State will be impacted one way or another by any judgment delivered by this Honourable Court in this Appeal.”

    The grounds claimed by the Oyo State government include that: “the Applicant is a necessary party to this suit being a party who will be bound by the judgment of this Honourable Court in this Appeal.

    “The interests of the Applicant and that of the Respondent, in this case, are similar, being States within the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

    In a 12-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion, which was filed by the Director of Civil Litigation in the chambers of the Hon. Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ministry of Justice, Oyo State, Olatunji Sunday Thomas, the government of Oyo State said that it is in the interest of justice that the Honourable Court grants the application, adding that the joinder would not prejudice the Appellants/Respondents.

    It stated that the state, being one of the 36 states of Nigeria, will be affected by the decision of the Appellate Court, adding that joining the state to the suit already instituted by Rivers State will help to avoid multiplicity of suits by the states against the Federal Government.

    In a motion on notice also attached to the proceedings already filed before the court, Oyo State said it relied on eight grounds and declared that the state is a necessary party to be joined since it has sufficient interest in the outcome of the appeal.

    The state further argued that after going through its processes, the Appellate Court will find that the application is necessary and that it has sufficient interest in the determination of the appeal as one of the states of the Federation.

    It quoted several legal authorities and concluded thus: “we, therefore, urge the honourable court to resolve the sole issue raised in this application in favour of the applicant and hold that the applicant is a proper, desirable and necessary party to be joined in this appeal.

  • BREAKING: Drama as Wike, Akpabio attack each before Buhari in Rivers

    BREAKING: Drama as Wike, Akpabio attack each before Buhari in Rivers

    There was mild drama on Tuesday at an event attended by President Muhammadu Buhari in River State between Governor Nyesom Wike and the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Senator Godswill Akpabio.

    The event TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports was the official inauguration of the Muhammadu Buhari Nigeria Police Protection Unit comprising 68 flats and other facilities built in Port Harcourt, Rivers State by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    Vice President Yemi Osibanjo represented President Buhari at the event which also had in attendance the Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi; the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Usman; Chairman, Senate Committee, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo among others.

    TNG reports that Akpabio stirred the hornet’s nest when he cited the crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the reason why we would not join other party bigwigs to appeal to Wike to defect to the APC.

    Addressing Wike, he said: “I will not join others to lobby you to the APC. We have enough problems in the APC already”.

    The Minister, while later alluding to the encomiums poured on Wike by Tunji-Ojo following his performance in Rivers, however, made a U-turn saying he could only declare Wike a performing Governor if he joined the APC.

    To Wike, he said: “Because you are not yet in APC, I won’t call you a performing Governor. When you come over to the APC, I will call you a performing Governor”.

    But Wike, who spoke immediately after Akpabio, wondered why the Minister turned the inauguration into a political campaign.

    The Governor, juxtaposing the crises in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the APC, said he would not leave “where there is malaria to a place where there is cancer”.

    He said: “I thought we came to inaugurate this project. I didn’t know Akpabio will turn it into a political campaign. I prefer to stay where there is malaria to where there is cancer. Malaria is treatable but cancer at the fourth stage is not treatable. I don’t want to die now”.

    Wike, who refused to acknowledge Akpabio as a Minister in his order of protocol, referred to him as a former Governor.

    He said Akpabio enjoyed the title, uncommon, when he was a Governor under the PDP.

    He said: “Akpabio, you became uncommon Governor under the PDP. You are not uncommon under the APC. Come back to where you became uncommon. Or would you say you are uncommon now as a Minister?”

  • Nobody can play politics without me in Rivers – Magnus

    Nobody can play politics without me in Rivers – Magnus

    Senator Magnus Abe has spoken of his political influence in Rivers State and declared that no one can exclude him from the politics of the opposition All Progressive Congress in the state.

    The former lawmaker representing Rivers South-East senatorial district made this assertion while addressing APC stakeholders in Bera community in Gokana Local Government Area of the state on Monday.

    According to him: “There is nobody in Nigeria, there is nobody in Rivers State, who would say there is no APC in Gokana. Can anybody say that? And you can also see that because of the love that my people have shown to me, because of the love and respect that Ogoni people have shown me, it is now clear to the whole of Nigeria, to the whole of Rivers State that, it would be impossible, I repeat the word impossible, to do the politics of APC here in Rivers State without you and me.”

    Abe further explained that the party “belongs to all of us, no matter your power, money, without the people you cannot do politics, you are the people.”

    Speaking further, he said: “I came here today, to tell you that the National said we should be patient. We have been patient; continue to be patient. Let us wait; when they make their decision, we will know, if they fail to take a decision after everything they have said, they would also explain to you and we’ll know. But, nobody should shake.

    “The voice of the people is the voice of God. Consistently, the people have been clear that what is happening in APC in Rivers State is wrong. Everybody, committee and panel that have looked at the issues objectively, had said that what is happening here is wrong.

    “All we need is those that would have the courage to fix what is wrong so that the party can move on. If that is done, the party will move on, success would be ours.

    “So, remain resolute, don’t shake, don’t fear, anybody that knows where he or she is going would not be afraid when people push you because you know where you are going.”

  • How a boy I fed, clothed arranged for my kidnap in Rivers – Businessman

    How a boy I fed, clothed arranged for my kidnap in Rivers – Businessman

    A businessman, Alex Arthur, has narrated how a boy he fed and clothed contracted a gang to kidnap him in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

    “There is a boy I used to know in my former place of residence. His name is Golden aka Sugar Gold. I met him early last year. He was looking unkempt, although he was old enough to take care of himself.

    “I was helping, clothing, him. I fed him sometimes, showing him love even though he wasn’t related to me. But he was the one, who arranged a gang of criminals to kidnap me.”

    Alex said the incident occurred on September 8, around 10 am, while he was on his way back from the gym.

    He said: “I alighted from my car to open my gate at Iwofe area, two guys approached me. One of them showed me an ID card claiming to be a naval officer and he called my name first, my phone number, my local government area. He called out all my personal information.

    “The other person brought out a gun and asked me to go to the back seat of my car while the other one took charge of my driver’s seat.

    “They drove out of my street and we headed for D/line, where the one driving went into an office, collected some documents and drove to the bank where he performed some transactions.”

    He said one of the assailants held him at gunpoint in the back seat throughout the period.

    “From there, they drove me down to an unknown area in Oyigbo axis, where they kept me briefly and demanded a ransom of N1.5million.

    “After the negotiations, they said I didn’t come up with a reasonable amount of money. They drove me back to my house in Port Harcourt, where they made away with my television set, emptied my fridge, turned my room inside out.

    “They left with the things they collected, which are my car, phone, television set, N128,000, and a huge sum of money from my car and headset.

    “They brought me back the same day. They dropped me at my junction and zoomed off. I think they felt it would be an inconvenience for them to keep me captive. Moreover, they were just two guys.”

    Alex added: “I was scared for my life. They had a six-round loaded pistol pointed to my waist. They threatened to kill me. Those guys are heartless and wicked.”

    He said the two-man gang members were later tracked with the aid of his stolen phone and arrested by the police. He said they confessed that Sugar Gold sent them to kidnap me.

    “I felt heartbroken that someone I was assisting to get on his feet turned around to kill me. His people have been begging me to forgive him. I have forgiven him but he needs to suffer the consequences of his action.”

  • Dakuku urges Gov Wike to urgently reactivate flood control master plan in Rivers

    Dakuku urges Gov Wike to urgently reactivate flood control master plan in Rivers

    The 2015 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Dr Dakuku Peterside has called on Governor Nyesom Wike to urgently reactivate the drainage master plan put in place by his predecessor, Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi.

    Dr Peterside spoke against the terrible flooding being experienced in several parts of Port Harcourt and Rivers state at large.

    He lamented that Rivers people have suffered untold hardship as a result of the flooding, which had long ago been predicted by Nigeria Metrological Agency (NIMET), with the state featuring prominently.

    According to him, former Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s administration had put in place a drainage master plan for the city of Port Harcourt and was already being executed before he left office in 2015 but was however abandoned by Wike for political reasons.

    Peterside, a former commissioner of works in Rivers State, blamed the Wike-led administration for not paying attention to early warning signals from NIMET but rather chose to put the blame on Rivers people who are already suffering from lack of jobs and economic empowerment.

    According to him, “Our people are traumatized, a lot of persons are displaced, we have lost several goods and properties estimated at over N3bn, social and economic life has been disrupted because the state government slept off, our people are suffering.

    “The governor awards projects from his office without going through the due process and the very important Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which has unfortunately led to pain and agony by the people.

    “It is even more shocking that the state government is yet to respond, even if half-heartedly to the cries of the people but has chosen to blame everybody other than itself. A responsive government should by now be engaging and looking for ways out of the crisis.

    “Port Harcourt has never had it this bad and it can only mean that the state’s relevant ministries, departments, and agencies are either incompetent in carrying out their duties or have been starved of necessary funds to function optimally.”

    The former director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) called on the government to immediately mobilize resources of the state to ameliorate the sufferings of the people.

    “With heavy rains expected in coming weeks as predicted by NIMET, it will only be natural that the Rivers state government immediately activate the moribund emergency management agency that can react swiftly to serious situations and arrest whatever difficulty the people may be facing.

     

    “This is the time for the state government to show compassion rather than grandstanding and looking for who to blame for its own ineptitude and maladministration. Our people deserve better than this and it is the responsibility of the government to provide solutions,” he stated.

     

  • Masari tackles Lagos, Rivers, other states demanding direct collection of VAT

    Masari tackles Lagos, Rivers, other states demanding direct collection of VAT

    The Katsina State governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has carpeted his counterparts who are demanding direct collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) by individual states.

    Recall that Rivers and Lagos states recently set in motion, plans to collect VAT directly from companies domiciled in their states.

    However, the move by Rivers has been halted by a Court of Appeal. However, the state government has appealed the ruling at the Supreme Court.

    Masari said both Rivers and Lagos were reliant on populations from other parts of the country to sustain their economy, expressing surprise that the governments of the two states would seek to exclude the rest of the country.

    The Katsina governor made the remarks during an interview session with a national newspaper, Daily Trust.

    His words: “First of all, this issue is before the Court of Appeal for determination, so I will not comment directly on it, but I will give you a scenario.

    “What is Lagos without the rest of Nigeria? The market Lagos is boasting of is dependent on the larger part of the country. Benin Republic has a port, Togo has a port; do they have the population to back up the ports? Without us providing the demand part, what will be Lagos?” Masari said.

    He said all states benefitted from each other in the revenue equation and no one should look down on another because of those configurations.

    “VAT serves them and us. We provide the bulk of the market because without the rest of the states, what is Lagos or Port Harcourt?

    “Any state that thinks it can survive in isolation is joking. We provide the demand that makes Lagos what it is.”