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Afenifere Berates Northern Elders Over Consensus Candidates

Published

3 years ago

April 25, 2022

The Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere has kicked against the Northern Elders’ purported endorsement of two Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential aspirants as consensus candidates for the 2023 election.
It said that while the leaders have the inalienable rights of choice, the group, however, pointed out that, “the overriding interests of the continued corporate existence of Nigeria requires more reflective statesmanship.”
The group’s General Secretary, Chief Sola Ebiseni, in a statement in Akure, said that it was a plan to execute their northern agenda in the PDP which controls only five of its 19 states.
“The announcement that the Northern Elders have settled for two of the PDP Presidential aspirants as consensus candidates for the 2023 election shows clearly the quagmire of conscience in which these statesmen find themselves in the critical question of moving Nigeria forward.”
Ebiseni, however, declared that “the resolves of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum that the next President of Nigeria, after Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years full term, should be a person of Southern Nigeria origin, in the interest of equity, national sense of belonging and cohesion in national consensus and unity.
“No group or section is greater than Nigeria, and the compelling interest of its corporate existence.”
The statement reads: “We observe that since the issue of succession to the office of the President assumed the front burner in the national discourse, some of the leaders from the north have orchestrated several schemes at keeping the office of the President in Northern Nigeria after the eight years tenure of President Buhari from the zone contrary to the popular and prevailing mood of the nation in favour of the emerging political culture in favour of Southern Nigeria.
“In the opinion of some, Buhari’s Presidency has not met their much-coveted sectional interests.
“In another breadth, they condemned the decision of President Goodluck Jonathan to exercise his constitutional right to seek the maximum second term in office as a deliberate denial of the rotational turn of the North which they vow to recoup as if the Nigerian State is their personal estate.
“At another time, they canvass open contest in vain confidence in the undue advantage which the Nigerian military constitution bestows on a section of the North.
“In their present exercise, it is intriguing that the Northern Elders inconsistently set aside all their vaunted factors in preference for equity.
“In their sermons, they settled for aspirants from the North-Central and North-East against that of the North-West only on the ground of adjudged equity that the zone had produced Presidential candidates and presidents.
“They are deliberately oblivious of the indubitable history of Nigeria that the first executive ruler of Nigeria, Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, August 1957 – January 1966, was from the North-East and specifically Bauchi State and that most of the military Heads of the Nigerian State were of the North-Central origin.
“They are obviously not as perspective as the leader of the Afenifere who has insisted, in spite of the preponderance of aspirants from its zone, that the net of equity be widely cast to fish from the sea that has never produced the ruler in the real sense.
“It beats the imagination that the Northern Elders would fervently seek to execute their northern agenda in the PDP which controls only five of its 19 states.
“The nation weights in the wings to see the outcome of this gerrymandering.
It added that “The abysmal failure of the Buhari administration, accentuated by sectional interests based on this kind of scheming to perpetuate a particular region in power, the boomeranging effect of which now holds Nigeria comatose, should have been enough lesson that the fortunes of any region are not necessarily directly proportional to having its people in power.”

News

Dangote Stops Petrol Sale In Naira, Gives Condition For Resumption

Published

1 hour ago

March 21, 2025

The Tide

Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.

News

Aruna Displaces Assar As Africa’s Top-Ranked Star

Published

3 hours ago

March 21, 2025

The Tide

Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.

News

NSPRI Empowers Agri-preneurs For Independence, Postharvest Loss Reduction

Published

4 hours ago

March 21, 2025

The Tide

The Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) has empowered agri-preneurs with skills to be self-independent and reduce post-harvest losses.

The two-day training was held recently at its Lagos Zonal office on Barikisu Iyede Street, Yaba, Lagos, and centered around post-harvest management, particularly focusing on how to add value to agricultural products such as grains, roots, and tubers.

With a hands-on approach making up a whopping 90 percent of the training, participants got their hands dirty, learning to create value-added products such as bean flour, ground rice, odourless fufu, poundo yam, and flavoured pap.

The training also delved into essential post-harvest management practices and highlighted the importance of packaging in enhancing the value of agricultural goods.

Rounding off the programme, participants were conducted round the NSPRI facility, where participants had the chance to discover even more post-harvest solutions beyond what was covered in the training.

The diverse group of attendees, representing various ages and genders, participated both in person and online.

In his closing remarks, the Executive Director of NSPRI, represented by the Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Shuaeeb Oyewole, expressed heartfelt thanks to the trainees.

He stressed that the skills and knowledge gained during the training could significantly help in reducing agricultural losses, creating job opportunities, and fighting poverty.

He also encouraged everyone to become advocates for post-harvest loss reduction in their communities.

Participants, including Mrs. Olayinka Immanuel, and Mrs. Olubunmi Afolabi, who joined virtually from the United States and Osogbo, Osun State, respectively, expressed gratitude for the training.

Mr. Christopher, a returning participant, commended the training for its focus on practical skills and expressed his eagerness for future sessions.

Everyone left with a commitment to use what they learned to tackle post-harvest losses head-on and to foster entrepreneurship, ultimately contributing to job creation and wealth generation in their communities.