Connect with us

Economy

No possibility of election postponement —INEC

Published

on

Nigerians submit 9,777 requests to INEC for additional polling units in the country – Prof. Yakubu

…As 3 investors begin talks with AMCON to acquire Aero Contractors***

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commissioner, Prof Mahmod Yakubu, says there is no possibility that the 2019 general elections will be postponed.

Yakubu said this in an interview on Osasu Show posted on the show’s You Tube Channel.

He said, “I cannot see any possibility of a postponement. We started this a long time ago; we have gone ahead with preparations. INEC is not even contemplating the possibility of a postponement.”

He  said the commission had contacted  the National Youth Service Corps  to release corps members for elections.

Yakubu added, “We are liaising with the NYSC for ad hoc workers  to be used for the elections, and where there are shortfalls, the commission has a very clear policy: we will make up the difference by using students of federal tertiary institutions.

“Unless the number is exhausted and there is still a shortfall, we will then go to the state tertiary institutions.”

He  said  the commission had replaced  over 62,000 ballot boxes, which were either damaged or destroyed.

Yakubu also said  the electoral body  had procured an  additional 200,000 ballot boxes for the presidential election.

He said, “We needed to replace 27,000 smart card readers after the stress tests on the ones used in the 2015 general elections. We have changed the batteries, the SIM cards and the memory  cards.”

Yakubu said the introduction of technology had made it impossible for any party to win an election by a wide margin.

He said the Permanent Voter Cards and the smart card readers had been able to tackle ballot  rigging, hence  the Ekiti and Osun governorship polls last year were tightly contested.

The INEC boss said, “Between 2015 and November  2018, we conducted elections in  195 constituencies, the largest number of offseason elections.

“The turnout varied from a little over 50 per cent in Katsina to as low as 2.9 per cent in Ifako/Ijaye in Lagos and 3.4 per cent in Eti Osa state constituency in Lagos.

“I think  because elections in Nigeria have progressively and incrementally improved, there is no possibility now that you will have the kind of margins that we used to experience in our elections before the introduction of technology, basically the PVC and the smart card reader.

“The elections in terms of outcomes and  votes are becoming more international. You can see the outcomes of the elections are becoming more and more competitive and closer to the kind of results we see even in advanced democracies.”

Yakubu said the commission was ready for the general  elections.

In the meantime, three investors are in talks with the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria to acquire Aero Contractor, our correspondent has learnt.

It was gathered that the airline had attracted 19 investors since it was acquired in 2016 and the number had been narrowed down to six and later three.

An industry source said on Sunday that the investors had met with the AMCON on the possibility of acquiring the airline.

The Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Capt. Ado Sanusi, who confirmed the information, said the investors were looking at all the assets of the airline including its maintenance, repair and overhaul facility.

“There are so many investors that have come forward. They are looking at all the core assets,” he said.

The source, however, stated that the contrary had been the case with Arik Air, which was taken over by AMCON in 2017.

According to the source, Arik has not attracted any known investors except a Chinese company that indicated interest in March 2017, one month after the airline went into receivership.

The Chinese firm was said to have commenced talks with the former management of the airline, but had to allegedly withdraw when it learnt of the airline’s debt profile.

It was gathered that the Chinese investors went ahead to invest in African World Airlines, a Ghana-based airline.

“Since AMCON took over Arik Air in 2017, only Chinese investors indicated interest in the airline and that was one month after the government agency took over. It will be difficult to sell Arik because of the heavy debt burden and the ownership structure,” the source said.

“But, it is not the same with Aero where 19 investors indicated interest and these have been reviewed down to six and recently to three. Those Chinese investors that initially indicated interest in Arik Air have invested in AWA and they aim to take over the West African market with time,” the source added.

An aviation expert and the Chief Executive Officer of Selective Securities International Limited, Mr Ayo Obilana, said that the lack of transparency, due diligence and policy summersaults on the part of the government would make it difficult for the nation’s aviation industry to attract willing investors.

Obilana said the government needed to show sincerity of purpose as well as consistency in its policies to change the poor perception that investors had.

“In Nigeria, government policies change and because of this, a lot of people are very reluctant to put their money in such an economy,” he said.

Punch

Economy

PETROL: ‘Be Wary Of Substandard Product Dumping’, Dangote Refinery Tells Nigerians

Published

on

PETROL: 'Be Wary Of Substandard Product Dumping', Dangote Refinery Tells Nigerians

…Says citizens’ health and vehicle longevity are seriously at risk!

The Dangote Refinery on Sunday warned that Nigerians may soon begin to buy substandard petrol, without much concern for either the citizen’s health or the longevity of their vehicles, except care is taken to prevent low products dumping by those open to connive with certain international traders.

The Group’s image maker and spokesman, Anthony Chiejina gave the warning, saying the group was constrained to raise the alarm, despite its desire to refrain from engaging in any media fights.

“We have lately refrained from engaging in media fights but we are constrained to respond to the recent misinformation being circulated by IPMAN, PETROAN, and other associations. 

“Both organisations claim that they can import PMS at lower prices than what is being sold by the Dangote Refinery. We benchmark our prices against international prices and we believe our prices are competitive relative to the price of imports”, Chiejina stated, stressing that the issue on ground was not about being able to land relatively cheaper petrol on ground, but the quality of such products.

“If anyone claims they can land PMS at a price cheaper than what we are selling, then they are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low-quality products into the country, without concern for the health of Nigerians or the longevity of their vehicles. Unfortunately, the regulator (NMDPRA) does not even have laboratory facilities which can be used to detect substandard products when imported into the country.

“Post deregulation, NNPC set the pace by selling PNS to domestic marketers at N971 per litre for sale into ships and at N990 for sale into trucks. This set the benchmark for our pricing and we have even gone lower to sell at N960 per litre for sale into ships while maintaining N990 per litre for sale into trucks.

“In good faith, and the interest of the country, we commenced sales at these prices without clarity on the exchange rate that we will use to pay for the crude purchased.

“At the same time, an international trading company has recently hired a depot facility next to the Dangote Refinery, intending to use it to blend substandard products that will be dumped into the market to compete with Dangote Refinery’s higher quality production.

“This is detrimental to the growth of domestic refining in Nigeria. We should point out that it is not unusual for countries to protect their domestic industries to provide jobs and grow the economy. For example, the US and Europe have had to impose high tariffs on EVs and microchips to protect their domestic industries.

“While we continue with our determination to provide affordable, good quality, domestically refined petroleum products in Nigeria, we call on the public to disregard the deliberate disinformation being circulated by agents of people who prefer for us to continue to export jobs and import poverty”, the Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer further said.

Continue Reading

Economy

YULETIDE Decorations: LASG To Divert Traffic At Ajose Adeogun

Published

on

YULETIDE Decorations,: LASG To Divert Traffic At Ajose Adeogun

The Lagos State Government will divert Traffic, away from a section of Ajose Adeogun Street in Victoria Island, for the mounting of end-of-the-year decoration, for a duration of three weekends starting from Saturday 19th October 2024.

The aforementioned exercise, according to Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi,  will be carried out in three phases with each phase focusing on different sections of the street. 

To this end, the following alternative routes have been mapped out for motorists during the cause of the mounting; 

 During the First Phase which will cover Jubril Martins to Chicken Republic – (Saturday, 19th and Sunday, 20th October 2024)

Traffic inward Eko-Hotel Roundabout will be diverted to the other half (existing section) of Ajose Adeogun Street by VCP Hotel to form contra-flow traffic and exit at Eko-Hotel Roundabout to continue journeys.

Alternatively, Traffic inward to Eko-Hotel Roundabout from VCP Hotel will be diverted through Jubril Martins into Muri Okunola to link Patience Coker and access Ajose Adeogun Street to connect destinations.

During the Second Phase which will cover Molade Okoya Thomas to Mounis Bashorun section – (Saturday, 26th and Sunday, 27th October 2024). 

Traffic inward Ajose Adeogun Street from Eko-Hotel Roundabout will be diverted to a right turn into Molade Okoya Thomas to link Younis Bashorun to access Ajose Adeogun Street to continue journeys. 

During the Third phase of the project spanning 10 meters inward Ajose Adeogun (Saturday, 2nd November, 2024).

Motorists from Adetokunbo Ademola Street will maintain a lane movement for about 10 metres into Ajose Adeogun Street to connect their destinations, while Motorists inward Eko-Hotel Roundabout on Ajose Adeogun Street will maintain a lane movement for about 10 metres into Eko-Hotel Roundabout.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi while imploring Motorists to note the ease of movement plan assured that the State’s Traffic Management Authority will be on ground to manage vehicular activities along the corridor to minimise inconveniences.

The Commissioner therefore advised Motorists to be patient, as the Partial closure is part of the traffic management plans for the commencement of End of Year Decoration of Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, by Zenith Bank PLC.

Continue Reading

Economy

NLC Kicks, Says Petrol Hike Will Further Deepen Poverty, Job Loss

Published

on

NLC kicks, Says Petrol Hike Will Further Deepen Poverty, Jobs Lost

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has kicked against the current petrol price hike, stressing that the latest increase in the pump price of petrol will further deepen poverty as production capacities dip.

The Congress added that the increase would lead to more job loss with multidimensional negative effects, and therefore, demanded its immediate reversal.

NLC’s position is contained in a statement signed by its President, Mr Joe Ajaero on Wednesday in Abuja, titled, “What next after increase in pump price?”.

The labour leader said the previous increases had not produced any good results, rather, people only got poorer.

He said the Congress was dismayed by the latest increase in the pump price of petrol without commensurate capacity of Nigerians or mitigatory measures.

“Even following the logic of market forces, we find it an aberration that a private company (NNPCL) is the one fixing prices and projecting itself as a hegemonic monopoly.

“We challenge the government to go to the drawing board and present us with a blueprint for inclusive economic growth and national development instead of this spasmodic ad hocism and palliative policy.

“It needs no stating the fact that the latest wave of increase has grossly altered the calculations of Nigerians once again at a time they were reluctantly coming to terms with their new realities,” he said.

It would be recalled that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had raised the pump price of petrol by 14.8 per cent to N1,030 per litre from N897 across its retail outlets in the FCT.

Earlier in September, the NNPCL had increased the price of the product from N615 to N897.

Continue Reading

Editor’s Pick

Politics