Business
Weapons Cache: SSS Produces Three Lebanese In Court
The State Security Service (SSS) yesterday complied with a court order and produced the three Lebanese allegedly involved in the importation of arms into the country.
The SSS brought the suspects ,Mustapha Fawaz, the owner of Amigo Supermarket, Abdallah Tahini and Tala Roda to the court.
On June 11, Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the SSS, the Inspector-General of Police (I-G) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to produce the trio.
The suspects had last week sued the SSS, I-G and AGF challenging their arrest and continued detention.
They also faulted the closure of their business premises by security agents, and demanded a public apology from the SSS, I-G and AGF, to be published in three national dailies.
They are also asking for N50 billion compensation.
At the sitting of the court yesterday, Counsel to the SSS, Mr Cliff Osagie, informed the court that following the court order, the SSS had produced the suspects in court.
“We have complied with the court order My Lord issued on June 11.
“The suspects are in court and in response, we have filed our counter affidavit in this matter,” he said.
He, however, told the court that he filed the counter affidavit and served the papers on the defendant’s Counsel, Mr Robert Clarke (SAN), in the court in the morning.
Cliff apologised to the court for the late filing of court processes on the defendant’s counsel.
Responding, Clarke told the court that the SSS had complied with the court order of June 11 and produced the suspects in court.
He told the court that the counsel to the SSS served him with a copy of the counter affidavit to their motion in court.
“My Lord, in all my years of practice, I have never seen where counsel will serve court papers in court on the day that the court has fixed a case for hearing.
“It is not a tidy way of practice. We would have agreed to go and overlook this, but the counsel on the other side, in his counter affidavit, mentioned some serious depositions.
“We will, therefore, need time within which to look at it and talk with our clients, ” he said.
Clarke told the court that he would need a reasonable time to go through the papers served on him and to prepare his reply.
He urged the court to give an order to the SSS to allow the suspects access to their lawyers at all times.
Clarke also urged the court to order for an accelerated hearing in the suit.
Upon listening to both counsels, Justice Adeniyi ordered that they serve and exchange all court processes before Monday, June 17.
Adeniyi also ordered the SSS, in which custody the suspects have been, to allow them have access to their lawyers at all times.
The judge, then adjourned hearing to June 21, in the suspects’ motion on notice which was dated June 3.
The suspects are praying for an interim order to grant them bail forthwith conditionally or unconditionally,pending the determination of the substantive Motion on Notice in the matter.
They are also praying for an interim order restraining the SSS, I-G and AGF from continued arrest, detention, harassment and intimidation of their families, relations and/or business interests, pending the determination of the substantive motion on notice in the matter.
Some Commercial drivers in Port Harcourt have said that the Federal Government’s N1,350 fuel discount is yet to reduce their daily operating cost.
A cross session of commercial drivers who spoke to The Tide correspondents in Port Harcourt said they are yet to feel the impact of the government discount, adding that most filling stations in the city are even selling above the pump price
A driver Jude Ogbo who operates the mile 1 Rumuokoro axis of Port Harcourt said plies the discount has not reflected in his daily fuel expenses.
“Since the discount was announced, many filling stations still sell at the old price. When you go there, you discover they sell you two litres at the price of one. For now, we have not seen any reduction,”_ he said.
Another commercial driver, Comrade Ishmael Uzeho who operates within the Port Harcourt metropolis, said the discount is not being implemented across the country.
“How has the discount affected us? I will say it has not. Many stations are not working. Only NNPC is working and that is just one person in the whole country. If government really wants to help, let the fuel price go down properly,”_ he said.
Uzeho added that if the price of fuel goes down, transport fares will also go down. He noted that his route fare has remained at N500.
On his part, Mr. Moses Dapa, Supervisor at Sam Jaja Foundation Transport Company, said the company has not increased its fares despite the high cost of fuel.
“We are still running normal price. We charge N2,000 and N5,000 depending on the destination. We will not increase our price. I don’t know about other parks, but for Sam Jaja, we are maintaining normal price,”_ Dapa said.
He appealed to passengers to understand that drivers are not using high fuel price as an excuse to charge excessive fares.
Other drivers who spoke said the federal government should monitor the NNPCL retail stations to ensure that the directive is implemented.
Recalled that The Federal Government in abid to reduce transportation cost in the country had announced a 30-day margin discount at NNPC Retail stations across the country from October 1 to 31,
However investigation revealed that the policy is yet to affect transportation cost in the country.
By; Stephens Sopakriba and Saint Davies
In a press statement released to The Tide’s source on Friday in Abuja, the group said Nigeria had a significant resource advantage due to its vast natural gas reserves.
“At a time when global energy markets face unprecedented volatility and rising operational costs, Nigeria stands on a massive resource advantage with its vast natural gas reserves,” the group said.
Highlighting this potential, Alfa Designs urged the nation to move past complaints over energy costs and aggressively embrace Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as a sustainable engine for economic growth.
While federal policy adjustments have sought to cushion the impact of global energy shocks, industry experts emphasised that long-term relief hinges on a rapid, nationwide transition to gas.
“Transitioning away from expensive traditional petroleum products promises to ease the financial burden on ordinary citizens.
“It will also reposition Nigeria as an attractive industrial hub capable of drawing foreign direct investment and driving job creation,” it said.
To demonstrate the practical feasibility of this transition, the group said it recently partnered with a global Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to lower the entry barriers for commercial drivers.
“By negotiating directly with the manufacturer, we reduced the total cost of acquiring and installing a CNG conversion kit for commercial tricycles (commonly known as Keke NAPEP) from up to N700,000 down to under N450,000.”
The group said this shift offers dramatic immediate financial benefits for local operators, with petrol currently selling at roughly N1,390 per liter.
It said that, in comparison, at a CNG equivalent price of about N98 per liter, a daily commercial driver using 10 liters of fuel reduces its daily energy expenditure from N13,900 to N3,980.
“This represents a daily net savings of N9,920, or more than 71 per cent.
“Over a standard 26-day working month, drivers save over N257,000, allowing them to fully recover the cost of the CNG conversion in less than 46 operational days.”
The company further stated that when scaled nationally, the economic implications are monumental.
“Nigeria consumes approximately 50 million liters of gasoline daily, costing roughly N69.5 billion per day.
“A nationwide 71 per cent reduction in fuel expenditure would generate daily national energy savings of N49.6 billion.
“On an annualised basis, this shift equates to approximately N18.1 trillion, or $13.5 billion, kept within the domestic economy.”
The group added that those recurring national savings would offer a vital mechanism to help address Nigeria’s estimated $2.3 trillion infrastructure deficit.
It said reinvesting those funds into the economy helps eliminate the 30 to 40 per cent operational overhead currently consumed by imported fossil fuels.
“The resulting boost to corporate margins expands the national tax base, generates reliable user-fee revenues to make major transit projects bankable, and creates a self-sustaining financial cycle,” it said.
