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As Buhari returns today, Govs devises strategy for direct primary

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Governors from the All Progressives Congress (APC) are strategizing ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s return to the country today, as the battle over the National Assembly’s adoption of direct primaries has been shifted to the presidency. The National Assembly passed the harmonised version of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill last Tuesday. The final draft of the law is expected to be sent to President Buhari for approval tomorrow.

Aside from the approval of direct primary as the sole mode for political parties to select candidates, the parliament also empowered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to determine the procedure for the transmission of election results.

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While governors, especially those who are members of the APC are against the mode of primary, the lawmakers, majority of them members of the ruling party, are pushing for it. It is believed that direct primary, if assented to, would reduce the influence of governors in the selection of candidates of political parties.

The direct primary mode enables all members of a political party to participate in the selection of candidates of the party through polls. On the other hand, the indirect primary, allows party members to elect delegates who in turn elect the party’s candidates on their behalf.

Following the tension in the ruling party over the matter, an emergency tripartite committee meeting, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja last Tuesday.

Read Also:  Boko Haram controls five communities, two local councils in Niger State, the state government laments

Though the presidency, through the Political Adviser to the President, Babafemi Ojudu, said the issue was resolved, sources at the Villa said the matter was still hanging as the two parties maintained their positions.

“We are all waiting for the arrival of the president. It is the president that has the final say on the matter. If he likes it, he would assent to it and if he doesn’t, he would reject it,” one of the sources said.

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State had last week faulted the National Assembly for not providing alternatives to direct primary.

“The only concern is the implication of having only one option. In case an option fails what happens? If for instance, INEC sets a date for election and you can’t shift, what you do. And if circumstances beyond your control arise what do we do?” Bello said at the end of the meeting last week.

read Also:  APC clarifies the Zamfara Ward Congress and warns Senator Marafa

Meanwhile, the Presidency on Monday kept mum on the matter. The two presidential aides on National Assembly, Sen. Babajide Omoworare (Senate) and Hon. Umar El Yakub (House), neither picked their calls nor replied to text messages sent to them on the matter.

The House spokesman, Benjamin Kalu (APC, Abia), had said the clean copy of the bill would be transmitted to the president within seven days of its passage. It was passed on Tuesday.

Nigerian judge, Nyako is partial, must recuse herself from Nnamdi Kanu’s trial, IPOB leader’s lawyer

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coic
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Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lead counsel to detained Indigenous People of Biafra leader Nnamdi Kanu, has moved to have Justice Binta Nyako of a Federal High Court in Abuja recuse herself from his client’s trial.

He also stated that, contrary to reports, the legal team he led did not stage a walkout from the courtroom during Kanu’s trial on November 10 due to the refusal of Department of State Services operatives to allow some of them access into the courtroom.
“My client and by extension, the legal team has no implicit confidence in the court to proceed in this case. So, going forward, we are activating processes to urge my Lord to recuse herself from this case so that the Chief Judge would give a directive to that effect. It is open now even before a layman on the street, it’s clear that she is partial.

Read Also:  APC clarifies the Zamfara Ward Congress and warns Senator Marafa

“So, now let me say this to you; this is a case in which we are representing a race, not Nnamdi Kanu. This is a case involving Igbo’s not Nnamdi Kanu alone we’re representing a race in this case. As sensible as serious as this case may be, it shouldn’t have been treated with this sense of levity,” he said.

It was on November 7 reported that Aloy Ejimakor, Kanu’s counsel, said Kanu’s legal team would take urgent and decisive measures over the arbitrary adjournment of the case.

Taking to his Twitter handle last Wednesday, Ejimakor had described the acts of Justice Nyako at the Wednesday’s trial as a “travesty of Justice”.

He had tweeted, “I’m not happy. The world should not be happy. The judge LOCKED out Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyers & refused us entry into the courtroom. She then arbitrarily adjourned the case to January 19, 2022. This is a travesty of justice. We will surely take urgent & decisive measures.”

It was reported that the trial of Kanu was adjourned to the 19th and 20th of January 2022.

Kanu had alongside his lawyers protested the refusal of the DSS to allow some of his lawyers access into the court, particularly the lawyer from the USA, Bruce Fein.

Read Also:  Boko Haram controls five communities, two local councils in Niger State, the state government laments

Kanu, who was re-arraigned before trial Justice Binta Nyako of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, is facing a seven-count amended treasonable felony charge the Federal Government preferred against him.

The Nigerian government had in the amended charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, which was signed by a team of government lawyers led by the Director, Public Prosecution of the Federation, Mr. M. B. Abubakar, alleged that Kanu had in furtherance of an act of terrorism, issued a deadly threat that anyone that flouted his sit-at-home order should write his or her will.

The Nigerian government alleged that as a result of Kanu’s directive, banks, schools, markets, shopping malls, fuel stations were not opened for businesses, with vehicular movements grounded in the South-East region of the country.

It said the action amounted to an offence contrary to and punishable under 1(2) (b) of the Terrorism Prevention Amendment Act, 2013.

Read Also:  Benue’s days of holocaust will soon be over, Reps aspirant, Agbese, tells new APC members

The Nigerian government equally lined up five witnesses to testify in the matter, including officials of the DSS and one Ronald S. who was identified as the manager of a hotel in Lagos State.

APC clarifies the Zamfara Ward Congress and warns Senator Marafa

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coic
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The All Progressives Congress (APC) has stated that it temporarily halted the activities of the Zamfara Ward Congress Committee due to intelligence reports.
Sen. John Akpanudodehe, National Secretary, APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), explained the situation in an Abuja statement on Monday.
kpanudodehe said this in response to comments made by one of the party’s chieftains in the state in a section of the media.
“Our attention has been drawn to uninformed and misguided remarks by Sen. Kabiru Marafa regarding APC Ward Congresses held in Zamfara on Saturday, Nov. 13,” he said.

Read Also:  Nigeria taking steps to prevent HIV, syphilis transmission from mother to child

“While the APC will not join issues with Sen. Marafa who is supposed to be one of the party’s leaders in Zamfara but chooses to denigrate the party and its leaders, it is important to set the records straight.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the APC received intelligence reports bordering on the security of the Zamfara APC Ward Congress Committee, hence the need to temporarily suspend their activities,” Akpanudodehe said.

This, he said, necessitated the letter of Nov. 5, to the Chairman of the Committee, Alhaji Ibrahim Kabir Masari.

He further explained that after evaluation and consultations, the committee, in a letter dated Nov.10, was okayed to proceed with the conduct of the Zamfara Ward Congresses on Saturday, Nov.13.

According to the APC scribe, Sen. Marafa participated in the exercise.

He added that this had nothing to do with the 21 days notice for the conduct of Wards, Local Government Areas and State Congresses in Zamfara earlier sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which subsists.

Read Also:  Benue’s days of holocaust will soon be over, Reps aspirant, Agbese, tells new APC members

He added that the letter to Alhaji Ibrahim Masari which Sen. Marafa was brandishing was an internal administrative correspondence and was not copied to INEC nor any other agency or persons.

Akpanudodehe said this clarification was necessary to guide Sen. Marafa and his cohorts who seem bent on misleading the party’s teeming members in Zamfara.

“We urge Marafa and his cohorts not to reduce the political issues to a contest of personalities but submit to party supremacy and internal dispute resolution structures adequately provided for by the APC Constitution.

“Anything outside this amounts to insubordination and indiscipline and the APC Constitution is very clear on this,” Akpanudodehe said.

Marafa had described the APC Zamfara Congresses as illegality that should not be regarded.

Read Also: Reviving palm oil exportation by solving the derivation controversy

Alhaji Mamman Mohammed, Director-General, Press and Media Affairs to Gov. Mai Mala Buni, Chairman APC CECPC in a separate statement, however, described Marafa’s comments on the Zamfara APC Congresses as nothing but an empty ranting.

He said Marafa was only complaining now because his camp failed in the congress and lost out, adding that he wouldn’t have been shouting if he had won.

He advised him to approach a competent court of jurisdiction and seek redress if felt aggrieved over congress.

Nigeria taking steps to prevent HIV, syphilis transmission from mother to child

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coic
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The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday that Nigeria has begun using test kits to prevent mother-child HIV/syphilis transmission, with the country planning to distribute four million test kits by 2022.
Dual test kits, which cost less than a dollar, are now available for pregnant women to prevent HIV and syphilis transmission from mother to child, according to the UN health agency.

Thanks to a new partnership between the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), MedAccess, and SD Biosensor, the low cost is possible.

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“Up to today, WHO has prequalified three different dual HIV/syphilis rapid tests and many countries have adopted these recommendations and are introducing the tests, particularly in the African Region.

“WHO estimates that in 2020, major donors and governments had procured more than five million of these tests – and that the number should continue to rise.

“Nigeria, for example, started a pilot programme in 2019 and is now moving toward implementation at the national scale. As the country plans to distribute four million in 2022.

“And yet, despite some important gains, global adoption of dual HIV/syphilis rapid tests in antenatal care is still far from ideal, with only 23 per cent of all countries reporting a national policy,’’ it stated.

Every year, approximately 1.3 million HIV-positive women become pregnant, with just under one million pregnant women contracting syphilis.

Read Also:  FEC approves N8.6 billion for construction of a vaccine laboratory, HIV/AIDS text kits and medical equipment procurement

Despite the availability of affordable diagnostics and treatment, undiagnosed and untreated infections continue to have a negative impact on the lives of many mothers and their children.

Rapid diagnostic tests, according to the WHO, are simple to use and can help to integrate and streamline services. They also make it possible for more countries to eliminate HIV and syphilis transmission from mother to child (EMTCT).

The new pricing is an exciting development for Meg Doherty, Director of WHO Global HIV, Hepatitis, and Sexually Transmitted Disease (STI) Programmes.

“It will help more countries adopt dual HIV/syphilis testing and accelerate progress toward EMTCT for both HIV and syphilis and deliver services for key populations, where both infections are common,” she said.

Read Also:  Boko Haram controls five communities, two local councils in Niger State, the state government laments

Since 2019, WHO has recommended using these tests not only as the first line in antenatal care to help countries eliminate mother-to-child transmission but also as a way to cut costs.

Boko Haram controls five communities, two local councils in Niger State, the state government laments

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coic
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Boko Haram terrorists have been active in at least five communities in the Rafi and Shiroto Local Government Areas of Niger State, according to the state government.

Alhaji Ahmed Matane, the Secretary to the State Government, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday that the insurgents were currently in control of the affected communities.

Kurebe, Farina Kuka, Gussau in Shiroro LGA and Madaka, Hanawanka in Rafi LGAs of the state are among the communities he mentioned.

Read Also:  Wife kills her husband after he caught her with another man in Edo

He explained that the activities of the terrorists had forced many residents of the community to migrate to safer grounds within and outside the state.

According to him, the terrorists are currently moving freely in the affected communities wielding sophisticated and menacing weapons.

He further revealed that the state government has already notified security agencies for proper urgent security measures to ensure the safety of residents.

He said, “We have spent over N2billion on the security agencies in the ongoing fight against banditry, kidnapping and other criminal activities in the last two years.

“We will continue to accord priority attention to the welfare of security personnel deployed to enable them wipe out all those involved in the illegal acts for peace, progress and political stability.

“We equally appeal to residents to volunteer reliable information on movement of bad characters to the nearest security outfits for security action.

Read Also:  Benue’s days of holocaust will soon be over, Reps aspirant, Agbese, tells new APC members

”We have also reached out to traditional and religious leaders as well as stakeholders to mobilize residents to support the effort of the government in the ongoing fight against criminal elements.”

Matane also stated that the state government will not relent in its efforts to address the state’s current security challenges.

Wife kills her husband after he caught her with another man in Edo

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coic
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Abdulateef, a man, was allegedly stabbed to death by his wife after he caught her with another man in their marital home.

The incident occurred around 3 a.m. on Sunday in Jattu, Etsako West LGA of Edo State, when the woman stabbed her husband when he returned home and discovered a man in their bedroom with her.
“The man was living with two wives in his house, but had to rent an apartment for his first wife in a different location to allow peace to reign, while staying with the junior one in the house,” according to a reliable source.

Read Also:  Bandits kill 15 more people in Sokoto

“He used to visit the first wife and spend some nights there, but there had been rumours that another man was visiting the junior wife anytime he was with the senior wife in the rented apartment.”

The source said on the faithful night, Abdulateef came from his first wife’s place and met a man with his junior wife in their bedroom.

“He got hold of the visitor, and in the process, the woman stabbed him twice in the stomach, apparently to pave the way for the alleged lover to flee and make it look like a robbery attack,” the source explained.

“Abdulateef died as a result of his injuries before assistance arrived. The police arrived just in time to save the wife from being murdered by a mob.”

Read Also:  Benue’s days of holocaust will soon be over, Reps aspirant, Agbese, tells new APC members

The woman has been arrested, according to Bello Kongtons, a spokesperson for the state police command.

Bandits kill 15 more people in Sokoto

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coic
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In two separate assaults near the Niger border, heavily armed bandits murdered 15 citizens, according to the governor of Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria.

For years, bandits, or criminal gangs, have terrorized northwest and central Nigeria, attacking and plundering towns, but attacks have increased in frequency in recent months.
Hundreds of gunmen stormed the Illela and Goronyo communities in Sokoto late Sunday, killing 15 people, according to Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

“We lost 12 people in Illela… and three in Goronyo owing to banditry attacks that were carried out last night through this morning,” Tambuwal told legislators in parliament that he will be submitting the budget for the next year.

Read Also:  Anambra APC ‘suspended’ publicity secretary for congratulating Soludo

Nigerian forces have been launching ground and air offensives against bandit camps in Zamfara state, the epicentre of the conflict, since September.

Telecom services were shut down in Zamfara and portions of Kaduna to disrupt gang communication. Bandits escaping military operations in Zamfara have established camps along the Niger border, especially in Sokoto, from where they launch assaults on villages.

Last month, bandits opened fire on a market in Goronyo, killing 43 people. The incident occurred only days after 19 people were slain at a market in Sabon Birni town, where 17 Nigerian soldiers had been killed the month before.

Gangs have increasingly resorted to mass school kidnappings for ransom, according to UNICEF, with 1,400 children abducted this year.

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Despite the fact that the majority of the children were released following negotiations, the UN agency warned in September that more than 200 children were still missing.

Benue’s days of holocaust will soon be over, Reps aspirant, Agbese, tells new APC members

By
Toby
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…Salutes Senator Akume’s Leadership Of Benue APC As One Family

By Emmanuel Audu

As thousands of PDP members announced their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State on Sunday, November 14, 2021, a leading aspirant for the House of Representatives in Benue South 2023, Chief Philip Agbese has declared that the decision of Benue people to join the APC in large number will end the Holocaust under Governor Samuel Ortom and mark a new era of healing and prosperity for Benue State under the All Progressives Congress.

Agbese who is angling to represent the people of Ado/Ogbadibo/Okpokwu federal constituency at the green chamber said Benue APC under the leadership of Senator Dr George Akume is one family in the State and that he was therefore elated that his brothers and sisters, especially the youths of Benue State have found a new voice since the emergence of Comrade Austin Agada as Chairman-elect of the party.

Chief Agbese, the Okanga 1 of Agila who is popularly regarded as the golden voice of Enone opposition politics was represented at the occasion by the Director-General of his campaign organization, Hon Barr Akor Ikwuoche who told the mammoth crowd at the rally to shine their dancing shoes and prepare to celebrate the victories that lie ahead.

He said, with the party’s new leadership in the state, nothing short of 100 % victory awaits APC in the 2023 election.

He paid glowing tributes to Sen Dr George Akume whom he said has kept the party united and strong in the state despite the cruel intimidations, victimization and harassment of APC members by the failed PDP government in the state.

He said with the level of suffering imposed on Benue people by the PDP government under Gov Samuel Ortom, no Benue person would want to hear anything about PDP again in the state.

He promised his continual support and physical presence in the subsequent defection ceremonies that will be held Local in every Local Government across the 23 LGAs of the state thereafter.

Reviving palm oil exportation by solving the derivation controversy

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coic
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Between 1956 and 1967, groundnut was one of Nigeria’s most valuable export crops. There were groundnut pyramids in Kano by 1960; Nigeria was the world’s largest exporter of shelled groundnuts, with a 40% global market share.

Today, Nigeria has a 0% market share. Specifically, groundnut exports fell from 502,000 tons in 1961 to 291.000 tons in 1970 to zero by 1980.

Why did the groundnut pyramid disappear from Nigeria? Sure there was the Aflatoxin contamination that affected the groundnut exports. Why could the Northern region not just fumigate and fix the contamination? Why did it just allow exports of this cash crop to cease?

The story is similar in Palm Oil. In the year 2020, Indonesia made $18.45 billion from exporting palm oil. This is more than the entire 2020 budgets of the states in the South-East, South-South, Lagos, and Ondo combined. A Center for International Forestry research paper dated 2017 and titled “A short history of palm oil in Indonesia,” authored by Alice Baudoin, Pierre-Marie Bosc, Cécile Bessou, and Patrice Levang, states “the African oil palm, Elæis guineensis, originates from West and Central Africa. The first seeds of the oil palm were brought from West Africa by the Dutch and planted in the Bogor Botanical Garden (Java Island) Indonesia in 1848 (Wahid et al. 2004)”.

In 1832, 75% of the global palm oil export came from Nigeria. Between 1961 and 1965, world oil palm production was 1.5 million tons, with Nigeria accounting for 43% of that production. According to a report by PWC, Nigeria ranks behind Malaysia and Indonesia in palm oil output, accounting for less than 2% of the total global market production of 74.08million MT. See Figure 1. They are also crude oil-producing nations; they have crude oil.

Figure 1. Top Palm Oil Producing Countries

Why has agriculture collapsed? Well, everyone says crude oil, but that’s a bit simplistic; why didn’t exports of Palm Oil and Groundnut expand when crude oil prices fell? From 1960 to 1973, crude oil prices were sold below $3 a barrel; see Figure 2 showing crude oil prices. Why did Nigeria not return to exports of palm oil?

Figure 2: Crude oil prices

Figure 3 shows Nigerian crude oil revenues and share of total revenues based on a research paper by Anthony E Akinlo of the Obafemi Awolowo University in 2012. From 1960 to 1970, we can see that crude oil revenues did go up, but to only 26.3% of total revenues.

Figure 3: Share of oil revenues to total revenues

In the same decade, palm oil saw a steep decline in production and exports from Nigeria; See Figure 4, a presentation by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showing a decrease in palm oil output.

Fig 4: Nigeria Palm Oil Exports Fall

To summarize, from 1960 to 1965, Nigerian crude oil revenues to total revenues were zero. By 1970, Nigeria’s crude oil revenues as a share of total revenues jumped to 26%, but crude oil was sold at below $3 a barrel from 1960 to 1972. Also, in the same period, Nigeria’s palm oil exports fell from 167mt to 8mt, same for groundnuts, 502mt in 1961 to 291mt in 1970. By 1975, crude oil share was at 77%, but crude oil prices were $10 on average a barrel.

Crude oil did not eclipse palm oil. Instead, palm oil exports fell, and oil became the most significant contributor to revenues for Nigeria. The Central Bank of Nigeria is quoted as saying, “if Nigeria had maintained its market dominance in the palm oil industry, Nigeria would be earning approximately $20b annually from cultivation and process of palm oil as at today (2019)”.

If palm oil had continued to be exported, Nigeria would have earned from palm oil alone, the equivalent of the 2020 budgets of Lagos, all South East and the South-South States combined.

Crude oil is not the problem; the problem is how Nigeria has structured its fiscal federalism. I explain.

Below is the progression of the fiscal allocation formula.

1953 Sir Louis Chick: The penultimate revenue allocation formula for Nigeria was done by Sir Louis Chick.

Export duties were 50% to the State of origin of export.

1958 Raisman; Commissioner Raisman amended Sir Chick formula.

Export duties were 100% to the State of origin

1963 constitution….

Export duties maintained at 100% of the state of origin

1970 Decree no 13, the Military steps in. the States lose fiscal autonomy, maintain derivation. The Distributable pool was gone

1975, Decree 6: the military further reduced derivation to 20%,

1977, Aboyade Commission. The military created the Federation Account. Derivation abolished. Export duties are now 0% to the State of origin

Thus in 13 years, Nigeria took Regional/States share of export proceeds from 100% to 0%. Look at groundnut exports; they never recovered when States in the North lost the export revenues of agriculture after 1970.

There remains NO incentive for state governments in Nigeria to encourage agriculture. States own the land where the land is commercially farmed. Still, the companies that run commercial agriculture pay Corporate income taxes to the Federal Government (FGN) when the cash crops are exported. The states are left with nothing. The states receive a share of these taxes via Consolidated Revenue Fund, but not according to the derivation principle. During this period that states lost derivation right in the fiscal federalism framework that commercial agriculture crashed in Nigeria.

What did the Federal Government do with crude oil and non-oil export proceeds revenues? The FGN shared it back to the States and Local Government according to a formula. States got on average 32%, Federal 47%, LGAs 15% (*note there are statutory transfers to Ecology, Agric development, etc.)

Export and corporate income taxes remain 0% to states by derivation except for solid minerals like gold. This means states do not retain as revenue to their budgets the export duties on cash crops produced within their states like palm oil. They only get PAYE on worker salaries.

But wait, there is more;

That 31% the FGN shares to states, is it shared equally? No, the sharing formula is called the horizontal revenue allocation formula. The critical sharing heads are:

  1. Equality 45%,
  2. Population 25%, 3.
  3. Landmass 5%. Lets pause here

This means that just being a state in the federation with a high population guarantees 65% of the allocation to states from the federation purse.

The FGN took the mineral and non-oil export earning to a central account, retained 47% of that account, then returned 51% to the States and LGAs but determined it will be shared out based on “equality” and “population”… not derivation, i.e., where the income was generated. Thus all States now focus on their population figure, not agriculture. Population and “equality,” not exports or derivation, determine how states receive revenues from the 51% allocation.

Palm oil, for instance, can be farmed in 24 states in Nigeria, including Kaduna. Specifically in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Delta, Edo, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, Benue Kwara, Kogi, Nassarawa, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, and Kaduna…but why should a state bother incentivizing the planting palm oil? If groundnut export revenues still went to Kano State 100% via derivation, there would still be groundnut pyramids in Kano today. Kano lost the export proceeds funds to FAAC, thus no incentive to support planting groundnuts by the State.

Solution?

Reward what you want to improve; if you wish for safer drivers, you reward drivers with zero car scratches. Unhook states from crude oil-funded FAAC by giving them a derivation share of their export proceeds from their agriculture cash crops. Return the states the fiscal principle of derivation on agricultural exports. That will mean states see a direct relationship between commercial farming and IGR, which will spur agriculture investment. Governors will seek out agriculture investors the same way and vigour they seek out Shoprite Malls.

If States retained even 13% derivation on income taxes and export duties on agricultural produce just as they enjoy with solid minerals, they would see the incentive to attract companies to come to their states and push non-oil exports.

Derivation on agriculture is also fair. All states have land; all states farm, graze or fish. Agriculture is still a significant contributor to Nigeria’s GDP growth, and it still employs millions of Nigerians. A fiscal amendment to give states even 13% export earning can have two massive impacts. In the short term, it makes agriculture attractive, and in the long term, it makes all states fiscally viable.

The problem with agriculture in Nigeria is not crude oil but Nigeria’s faulty fiscal federalism (FAAC).

Anambra APC ‘suspended’ publicity secretary for congratulating Soludo

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coic
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The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State on Sunday suspended its Publicity Secretary, Okelo Madukaife, for congratulating the state governor-elect, Prof. Charles Soludo.

Soludo was declared winner of last week’s governorship election in Anambra by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The APC Chairman in the state, Basil Ejidike, who disclosed this at a media briefing in Awka, said Okelo had no right to speak for the party as he had earlier been suspended for anti-party activities.

He said the publicity secretary was suspended in June for allegedly dragging the APC into disrepute, adding that he has no reason to parade himself as an official of the party in the state.

Ejidike said: “Okelo was suspended in June this year. Someone who was suspended from the party went on air claiming to be making statements on behalf of the party and we feel disturbed. We feel that such a situation should not be allowed.

“If you are not with the party, you are not with it. You cannot be out of the party and still be speaking for the party.

“Since June 2021, Okelo has been raining abuses on APC and its leadership and to put the records straight, he has not been attending meetings and activities of the party.

Read also: Belarus should not use people as weapons, says EU Chief Diplomat

“His suspension followed his indictment for involvement in anti-party activities.

“He has since then been replaced by the State Assistant Publicity Secretary, Mr. Nonso Chinwuba, in line with the constitution of the party.

“The party, therefore, enjoins the general public and the media in particular to desist from dealing with him as agent of APC. As it stands, Okelo Madukaife does not belong to APC.

“We wish to state categorically that as far as the Anambra governorship poll is concerned, we have not congratulated anybody as the party is still studying the situation with a view to approaching the court to challenge the poll.”

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