How three-storey building collapsed in Lagos

A three-storey building used as a warehouse for building materials at Orile Iganmu,  Lagos collapsed late on Monday. The building, known as Adem International Shopping Complex, is by the busy Odunade Bus Stop.
Daily Sun learnt that the house collapsed under the weight of toilet water pump machines, which were stored on the middle floor. Our correspondent gathered that about 13 truckloads of the goods were kept in the building without permission from the owners of the building.
The owner of the goods, believed to have caused the sudden collapse of the building, was said to have travelled out of town after he gave instructions that the goods be stored in the building. Mr. Emeka Nzekwe, secretary of the Association of Shop Owners in the complex, said he could not confirm the name of the owner of the goods.
His words: “I cannot say this is his real name for now. All I know is that he loaded the building on the middle floor without telling anybody. And that is the cause of the collapse.
“The house which collapsed belongs to the Association. We would not know the next thing to do until the owner of these goods comes back.”
No life was lost in the incident. It was gathered that some other shop owners who were always available in the building had packed out. Other goods and personal belongings were also destroyed in the collapse.
Meanwhile, the police have cordoned off the entire building.

Culled from The sun

Buhari Okays N413.7bn Bailout for FG, States-Tobi Soniyi and Jaiyeola Andrews

 

Muhammadu Buhari 

•  Directs CBN to package 300bn special intervention fund
•  DMO to restructure N660bn commercial loans 
•  FG, states, LGs to share $1.7bn from ECA
•  Funds to be released this week

 In his resolve to end the lingering crisis of unpaid workers’ salaries in the country, especially in several states of the federation, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a comprehensive relief package designed to salvage the situation.

In addition to the direct cash bailout, the three tiers of government will be sharing $1.7 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), effectively emptying the account meant to shield the economy from exogenous shocks.

Opening up on the assistance to be rendered to the states, a source in the presidency said the president approved a three-pronged relief package that would end the workers’ plight nationwide.

He said this entails: The sharing of about $2.1 billion (N413.7bn) in fresh allocation between the states and the federal government.
“The money is sourced from recent NLNG (Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas) proceeds to the Federation Account, and its release was okayed by the president,” the presidency official explained.

The second measure, he said, is a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-packaged special intervention fund that would offer financing to the states, ranging from between N250 billion and N300 billion.

This would be in the form of soft loans available to states to access for the purposes of solely paying the backlog of salaries, he added.
The third measure is a debt relief programme proposed by the Debt Management Office (DMO) which will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660 billion and extend the tenure of the loans to 15 years, thereby reducing their debt service obligations.

This third option, which was exclusively reported by THISDAY last week, would by extending the commercial loans of the states, make more funds available to the state governments which otherwise would have been removed at source by the banks.

The presidency official noted that the federal government would guarantee the extension of the loans for the benefit of the states.
A central bank official also informed THISDAY that the funds from the NLNG and ECA would be released this week to enable the federal, states and local governments offset the backlog of outstanding salaries immediately.

On the disbursement of funds from the ECA, he revealed that a meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) took place last night and was for the first time attended by the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, in compliance with the directive by Buhari on the bailout plan agreed to at last week’s meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), for the states and federal government.

At the FAAC meeting, Emefiele, the central bank official said, set the conditions precedent for the state Commissioners for Finance that their states would have to meet to access the special intervention fund, which will be disbursed in the form of soft loans to enable them pay outstanding salaries.

The governor was also said to have briefed them of the approval to restructure their commercial lines and his directive to the banks in the country to extend the tenure of the loans to 15 years.

Informed government sources also explained over the weekend that this package, which was considered at the NEC meeting, was designed specifically for workers of the states and federal government.

They explained that Buhari reviewed and approved the package in his bid to intervene and alleviate the sufferings of workers, some of whom have not been paid for over 10 months.

When contacted, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, confirmed that indeed a special package was on the way for the workers.

He added that the president was deeply concerned about the plight of the workers who had been unpaid for many months.

In his speech while inaugurating the NEC last week, President Buhari asked the council, which is a constitutional advisory body to the president, to as a matter of priority consider how to liquidate the unpaid salaries of workers across the country, a situation he observed had brought untold hardship to the workers.

While the $2.1 billion from the NLNG proceeds paid into the Federation Account would be shared among the states using the revenue allocation formula, the CBN will also make available the special intervention fund to states and then negotiate the terms with individual states.
The bailout programme that has now been approved by Buhari is expected to go into effect this week, as the president was said to have directed that the release of the funds should be made this week to assuage the plight of thousands of Nigerian workers in the federal and state governments.

At the NEC meeting, the relief measures were extensively discussed between the state governors and top officials of the federal government including the CBN governor, and permanent secretaries from Ministries of Finance and Petroleum Resources.
Other agencies that were actively involved in the process included the DMO and officials from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

Media reports last month said no fewer than 12 of the 36 states of the federation were facing difficult times, putting the salaries they owed their workers at approximately N110 billion, representing the salaries being owed by governments of 10 of the states of the federation.

They are Osun, Rivers, Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Ondo, Plateau, Benue and Bauchi States.
However, informed sources said the Finance Ministry and the CBN may have pegged the amount needed to settle all the outstanding public workers’ salaries at about N250 billion.

There are also workers in the federal government’s employ whose salaries have been unpaid for months. This package is expected to address those cases also, said sources in the presidency.

In their comments on the bailout package, analysts monday said the measure would boost the disposable income of a good percentage of the Nigerian workers and thereby reflate the economy.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel Nwobia, yesterday disclosed that the absence of ministers would not hinder the running of government.

Briefing State House correspondents after meeting with the president, Nwobia said she was invited to shed light on certain issues in the handover notes submitted to the new administration by her ministry under former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Asked if the absence of ministers would in any way affect the effective coordination of government affairs, Nwobia said: “I don't think it is an issue to bother about since government is a continuum.

“Even if you have political heads there, the engine room of the service are the civil servants and we have continued to do our work.”
Providing insight into her mission to the Presidential Villa and the nation’s finances, she said: “We are basically here to brief the president on the activities of the Ministry of Finance,” adding that “the state of Nigerian finances are okay. Our finances are still okay, though we are still going through the challenges of a reduced revenue stream to government, and this you know obviously is from oil.
“The price of oil that has dropped; it has significantly reduced the revenue stream to government. But we are working at other ways to see how we can shore up the revenue base, so that we will be able to meet our expenditure.”

Commenting on the payment of outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers, Nwobia said: “We did not say that we will not pay subsidy. Like the former minister said, there is a liability on subsidies which is being verified by the CBN and the Budget Office of the Federation.
“The issue had to do with the forex differentials which they were claiming and this committee is looking into it. As soon as it is resolved, we will be able to pay the verified amount.”

Similarly, the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, disclosed that he had been mandated to share the money left in the ECA.
He said there would be a meeting of FAAC “and we are going to distribute as agreed and directed during the NEC meeting last week. And the position was very clear that what we met on the ground is what we are going to distribute”.

On how much was left in the ECA to be shared, Idris said it stood at between $1.6 billion and $1.7 billion.
“That is what we are going to distribute among the three tiers of governments: the federal, state and local governments based on the approved formula,” he said.

On his agenda to shore up the federation’s finances following his appointment, Idris explained that the general message by the president was very clear requiring all office holders to fall in line.

He said: “We shall focus on the prudent management of resources and identify alternative ways of generating revenue, which we are set to do and to manage the meagre resources we found very efficiently and effectively for the betterment of the economy.”

Culled from Thisday

Friends Reunited! Judge Meets Old Pal In Dock

'Oh My Goodness!' Judge & Burglary Suspect Know Each Other From School



A burglary suspect broke down in tears in the dock when the judge recognised him as a former schoolmate and said he had been the "best kid" in school.

Arthur Booth appeared in front of judge Mindy Glazer at Miami-Dade bond court charged with burglary.
Booth, 49, was arrested on Monday after being spotted driving a car that matched the description of one allegedly involved in a robbery and failing to stop after a police officer signalled him to.
A police chase followed, resulting in two accidents before he crashed the car.
He fled on foot but was eventually caught and charged with various offences.
When he was taken into court, the judge looked at him for a moment or two and then asked: "Did you go to Nautilus?"

 

"Oh my goodness," replied Booth several times, at first with smiles and then breaking down in tears.
"I'm sorry to see you here," replied Judge Glazer. "I always wondered what happened to you."

"This was the nicest kid in middle school," she told the court. "He was the best kid in middle school. I used to play football with him, all the kids, and look what has happened."

"What's sad is how old we've become," she continued before finishing the conversation with: "Good luck to you, sir, I hope you are able to come out of this OK and just lead a lawful life."

The judge set Booth's bond at $43,000 (£27,500).

Culled from Skynews

Keep your ambition in your pockets, Buhari tells APC leaders -Ihenacho Nwosu

President Muham­madu Buhari yesterday ad­monished leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) involved in the current crisis rock­ing the party not to allow their ambition to destroy the party.
He said the party lead­ers must learn to tame their ambition and even keep it in their pockets if pos­sible .The President spoke at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held yesterday. The well-attended meeting witnessed some APC members pro­testing outside the party secretariat, chanting songs that nobody should over­ride party supremacy. It was also observed that the party’s national leader, Asi­waju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo did not attend the meeting.
Some of the national leaders in attendance were: Chief Ogbonaya Onu, Chief Tony Momoh, Gov­ernor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state, Ibrahim Gaid­am of Yobe state, Alhaji Bello Masari of Kastina state, Alhaji Aminu Tam­buwal of Sokoto state, Alh. Bello Bagudau of Bauchi state, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state and his Kano state counterpart, Dr Abdul­lahi Ganduje, Governor Jibrilla Bindo of Adamawa and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos. Others include the Senate Presi­dent, Dr Bukola Saraki, and Speaker, House of Repre­sentatives Hon. Yakubu Dogara,
Reminding APC lead­ers of the huge task ahead of them, President Buhari declared that the disaffec­tion among members over the outcome of National Assembly elections must stop. He declared that no member should consider himself as being above the party insisting that the party was supreme.
He words “Please accept the superiority of the party. I cannot confine myself to the cage or Sambisa forest and refuse to participate in NEC or BoT. So I respect, the superiority of the party.”
The president stressed that “Let us as members of the APC no matter our personal dif­ferences get together and use the mandate given to us by this country. This is my personal appeal to you in the name of God. What­ever your personal interest or ambition, please keep it close to your heart and in your pocket. Let APC work, let the system work and let us have a government that will earn the respect of our constituencies.”
The President’s com­ment came as the party’s governors were yesterday mandated to meet warring camps in the National As­sembly leadership crisis to help broker lasting peace . The party also passed a vote of confidence on the leadership of the embattled national chairman of the party Chief John Odigie-oyegun. Reminding APC leaders of the huge task ahead of them, President Buhari declared that the disaffection among mem­bers over the outcome of National Assembly elec­tions must stop .
He said “The elections have come and gone, the APC has won the battle, but lost the war. This is the par­adox of democracy, and we shall see how we can man­age it going forward.
“I have already addressed you through the chairman, through the leadership of the party, through your ex­cellencies, the governors and through our Senators and House of Representa­tives members.
The APC must not dis­appoint its constituency, that’s the nation state. “We have to convince our vari­ous constituencies that we are individually worthy of the sacrifices that they have made. “They stayed awake day and night, travelling all over the country and made sure as a party, we emerged victorious. What subse­quently happened is human, and as human beings we are not perfect, but let our col­lective actions in this party prove that we have won the elections, the battle and we will win the war.
“As for me as a president, I have to clearly understand the constitution of the fed­eral republic of Nigeria, the constitution of APC, and having tried three times and successfully lost three times and successfully ending up at the Supreme Court. I think I have tasted the bit­ter disappointments and the sweetness of success.
“What happened to APC must be given to God al­mighty. The opposition party, has ruled the coun­try for sixteen years, with all the treasuries, literally in their pockets and all the coercing forces under their command, they still meekly conceded defeat.”
Speaking on the for­mation of the party, the President said “I clearly understand the constitution from which INEC was de­veloped with clear terms of reference and one of its important responsibilities is to register political asso­ciations as political parties, and whoever wants to par­ticipate in elective office as a Nigerian must seek a plat­form. That platform is the political party, hence, the superior state of the parties. APC has been damn lucky.
“The way the opposition parties realized, agreed and accepted that the only way through which we can be in the system is for us to come together. The ACN, the ANPP, the CPC, APGA and DPP wanted to come to par­ticipate fully in the nego­tiation, but they have court cases at various levels, and we suspected that if we al­low them to participate ac­tively in the negotiation for merger, their being in court can cause either delay or deny us registration.
“So we persuaded our colleagues in APGA and DPP that please stay out of the negotiation, but when we eventually get the reg­istration, they can join in block or individually.
“Along the line, I as­sure you that nothing is done by impulse in our process to merger. There have been various com­mittees, quite a number of you sitting here have been members of committees ei­ther leading them or being a member and we agreed. At some stage or the earlier stages, we agreed that nine people should form the in­terim committee, that’s the national chairmen of the parties, the secretaries and the treasurers . We thought we have done a wonderful work, so we sent our ap­plication. For the first time in this sixteen or twelve years of my participating actively , I thanked INEC for what they did to us; they sent back our applica­tion and said we must have 25 to 35 people to man­age your interim if you get registration, and they must come from all the geo po­litical zones. Why I thanked INEC in particular was be­cause if it has been bloody minded, they would have kept on raging until it was almost too late for us to get the merger. So they ad­vised us and we sat down, we got I think 35 people to manage us and I here personally, and on behalf of you congratulate Chief Bisi Akande, it’s a pity he is not here, he led the in­terim party with dexterity and integrity. I respect his patriotism. When we got the APC name through the agreement of various com­mittees of the respective parties, we started working from polling units upwards, eventually we ended up in the convention which gave us the leadership of the party.
“After that the election started, and again it started from the bottom top. I have gone to this extent because not all of us here participat­ed in it and for you to reflect and thank the leadership of the party at various stages for going through all this, which is not easy. But God in His infinite mercy has helped by giving us accep­tance. Let us not throw this success to the wind.”He added that “My problem is the constituencies. I thank you very much for listening to me, and I thank the lead­ership across the board, and I appeal to you to please continue to work together.”

Culled from The sun

APC NEC May Be Deadlocked as Ex-Governors, Back Saraki, Dogara-Omololu Ogunmade and Onyebuchi Ezigbo

•   Ex-govs seek Tinubu's ouster from NEC 
•  Oyegun slams his accusers
•  Party may  face legal hurdles if it moves to remove senate leadership

The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) may simply worsen during and after its much anticipated National Executive Council (NEC) meeting friday, as all indications point to likely tough exchanges between various interest groups within the party, in what has been described as political fireworks, which could lead to a stalemate.

This is fuelled by the belief that some former governors, who are members of the party, and a group of Northern stakeholders in the party have resolved to defend the elections of both Senator Bukola Saraki and Hon. Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.

Today's NEC meeting is expected to be attended by President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Speaker and Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Senate Leader, APC state governors, NWC members and APC state chairmen, among others.

Other prominent leaders of the party expected at the meeting are former governor of Lagos State Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Ogbonaya Onu and other leaders.

THISDAY learnt that the former governors of the party met during the week and agreed not only to back the emergence of Saraki and Dogara as the Senate President and Speaker of the House but also to strongly advocate the restructuring of the party along the line of legacy parties.

This decision, THISDAY learnt, was spurred by the perception of the ex-governors as well as some Northern leaders that the protracted crisis in the National Assembly is being orchestrated from only the South-west chapter of the party.
There is the belief that the opposition to the leadership structure in the National Assembly is being championed by Bola Tinubu whose preferred candidates lost out in the struggle for the leadership of the national legislature.

Many suspect that the NEC meeting of friday may seek to remove the elected leadership in the senate, a development which could pose some legal problems to the party given the fact that the senate leadership which has fully crystalised had gone through  the normal legislative processes.

Any form of alteration to the emerged leadership structure can therefore be through impeachment which has to be done by two-thirds members of the senate.

It was further learnt that the former governors, who are vehement in their resolve, have decided to force their way into the venue of the meeting today on the grounds that if a National Leader of the APC, Senator Tinubu, who is also a former governor, is allowed in, there is no reason they should be denied entry into the meeting.

The former governors are also insisting that there is no provision in the constitution of APC which accords recognition to the position of a National Leader with the argument that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

Hence, they said if Tinubu, who is their colleague is allowed in, they also possess the qualification to be part and parcel of the meeting.
However, one of the former APC governors, Dr. Kayode Fayemi who spoke to THISDAY last night denied knowledge of any plot to storm the NEC meeting or move against Tinubu.

"We are not members of NEC and I am not aware of any plan to attend the NEC meeting by former governors in the party. You know there are former governors and there are former governors."

Fayemi noted that it is possible perhaps to allow former governors into the meeting, but only as observers as they have no voting right, asking "so what is the essence?"

He further reasoned that none of the about 15 former governors is likely to do what has been suggested.
In order to achieve their objective, they said they had planned to assemble at the party’s national secretariat with a view to joining the meeting once Tinubu is granted access into the meeting venue.

THISDAY also gathered thursday evening that the party leaders had resolved to uphold the sanctity of the party’s constitution by denying anyone who is not a legal member of the party's NEC access to the meeting.

On their part, northern stakeholders of the party were said to have been aggrieved over insinuations that the South-west chapter of APC was heating up the party with a warning that the National Assembly crisis "was gradually becoming a distraction to the party and could stall its manifesto of change."

The northern stakeholders flayed Chief Bisi Akande over his comment on Monday that the elections of Saraki and Dogara were sponsored by oil barons and that the northern elite were conspiring with Saraki to frustrate the South-west.
They described the allegation "as a failed attempt to pit the North against the South-west and it should be stopped before it does more havoc to APC".

However, governors elected on the platform of APC were scheduled to meet thursday at the Imo Governor’s Lodge in Abuja so as to arrive at an initiative to resolve the current logjam in the National Assembly.

Another source of tension was the allegation of under-hand action levelled against the party's National Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun which has been condemned by many of the stakeholders as false and selfish witch-haunt.

Although many of the party leaders have issued statements stating the contrary, fears and apprehension have indeed gripped many party members over what may likely be the outcome of the NEC meeting.

The party's national chairman, Chief Oyegun, who has been at the centre of the crisis that bedevilled the party in the National Assembly, described the bribery allegation against him as rubbish and an attempt by persons without conscience to smear his long-standing image.

Addressing a group of South-east and South-south Professionals who paid him a solidarity visit thursday, Oyegun urged all the interest groups to accept compromise in the interest of the party and Nigeria generally.

"When they say I'm taking money from a senator, to do what? I am not a senator, I cannot vote, I cannot by being chairman pronounce him as Senate President or Senate Leader so what is he giving me money for? How many people know me personally? It is annoying, it is dirty, it is crude, it is unbecoming and it can only be from people who are totally devoid of conscience at any level of humanity that can do things of that nature.

"There is nothing they have not said about me. But when you ask what has the man done, one of their reports said the present executive cannot win us elections in 2019, Good lord! You've not even finished with 2015, you are talking about 2019.

"The one that annoys me is the attempt to rubbish 75 solid years of a character that I've put together. They said I take gratification, gratification to what purpose? The only people who can say that are the people who don't know my background or history.  I was just over 30 when I started joining teams that were buying aircraft from Holland and Soato in United States. That could not corrupt me. I was on the board of the Railways, NPA and the rest of them, if all these did not make me corrupt, how can I at 76 take money, money from who to do what?

"At 75 years and having occupied various important positions both in government and out of it, I do not have a land in Abuja. If people are devoid of conscience, it should not make me lose sleep," he said.

In a related development, the senator representing Niger east senatorial district, Senator David Umaru, said thursday that the emergence of Saraki as Senate President and Dogara as Speaker of the House of Representatives was a fait accompli, recalling that members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were the majority senators on the floor of the Senate when the election was held on June 9.

“They could have snatched the Senate Presidency from us," he observed.
He also debunked the belief that Senators of Like Minds, the group that is loyal to the Senate President, negotiated away the office of Deputy Senate President to the PDP, adding that the bulk of the senators present in the chamber during the election was from the PDP.
He insisted that the positions of the Senate President and the Speaker were “no longer negotiable even at the NEC meeting. What our party should know is that the outcome of the election could have been devastating”.

He said: "Whether you like it or not, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) represents President Buhari, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is represented by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has the National Chairman, John Oyegun. It therefore follows that Saraki and Dogara represent the New PDP component in the party.

"The New PDP, with five governors, a former vice-president of the country cannot be ignored. At least, equity demands fairness and the elections of Saraki and Dogara represent that fairness."

In the same vein, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Timi Frank, who spoke on African Independent Television (AIT), has urged the party to accept the outcome of the National Assembly elections and move on.

He reasoned that the PDP could have nominated themselves to be Senate President and Deputy Senate President, "and you cannot take that from them".

“We should thank PDP for what they did, for being democratic. They know they are not the ruling party, so they respected themselves by making sure an APC Senate President emerged. They unanimously gave their support to Saraki as we only had about seven or eight APC senators in the Senate as at that time.

"I see no reason anybody should blame Saraki for what has happened. We should be happy that he was there to at least save the situation at that time. If he wasn’t there, the situation could have been different," he said.

Querrying the flop of the APC by swarming to the International Conference Centre (ICC) on the day of the election, Frank said: “The question we should be asking is: Who asked 51 senators to go to the International Conference Centre? What did they go there to do? I don’t know who called for that meeting, as a party man. We should not blame Saraki for becoming Senate President. We should put the blame on the party and whosoever that called that meeting. Has the president come out to tell Nigerians that he called for a meeting and Senator Saraki wasn’t there? Even the president wasn’t at the International Conference Centre. Why did you expect Saraki to be there?
"Everybody is saying the president called (for a meeting). Who gave the directive for the meeting? So, this is the big question, a very critical question we should be asking."

He also denied that there was a trade off between Saraki and the PDP.
“To the best of my knowledge, this is a contest between two political leaders in the same party. Both of them were banking on the support of PDP senators because APC senators alone could not have made them Senate President. What happened was a victory for democracy, a victory for the people. You can’t take it away. The Senate or House (of Representatives) is an independent House. These people decide on what they want. They go for what they are comfortable with," he said.

He therefore urged his party to move beyond the crisis and forge a common front, adding that: “One of the APC senators that was present contested alongside Ekweremadu and lost. Not that they just asked Ekweremadu to be the Deputy Senate President. No! It was live on TV. PDP was more in number, so, they voted for their own. At the end of the day, Ekweremadu emerged as the Deputy President of the Senate”.

Culled from Thisday

Buhari Goes from Nigeria’s Change Champion to ‘Baba Go Slow’

 President Muhammadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari took office a month ago on a wave of hope that he would quickly deal with a deepening economic crisis and an Islamist insurgency in the North. So far, he hasn’t met those expectations.

While Africa’s biggest oil producer has been hit by a 40 per cent fall in petroleum prices in the past year that has slowed economic growth and weakened the currency, Buhari, 72, has delayed naming a cabinet until September. As the momentum of being the first opposition candidate to win power through the ballot box fades, critics are mocking him as a sluggish elderly man, or “Baba Go Slow.”

Buhari has acknowledged the crisis, saying last month that his government is facing severe financial strain, with a treasury that’s “virtually empty,” and his party is calling for patience. Yet his lack of urgency in tackling economic woes could leave Nigeria badly adrift, said John Ashbourne, an economist at Capital Economics in London.

“Every week that Nigeria goes without a cabinet, increases the chance that it will face a dangerous shock -- whether a revenue collapse or a currency crisis. “Leaving the federation without a finance minister would be a questionable choice at the best of times; doing so during a period of economic instability is difficult to explain,” Ashbourne, said by phone.

Nigeria’s currency, twice devalued in the past year in an attempt to cope with lower oil income, has weakened 7.7 per cent against the dollar this year on the interbank market. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that growth will slow to 4.8 per cent this year from 6.1 per cent in 2014. The naira was trading at 198.85 against the US dollar at 2.38p.m. in Lagos.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Index hit its 2015 peak of 35,728.12 on April 2, the day after Buhari was declared the election winner. Since then it has fallen eight per cent.

The cabinet delay won’t please investors, said Alan

Cameron, an economist at Exotix Partners LLP. They’re expecting tighter fiscal policy, a currency devaluation and a greater focus on tax collection after the drop in oil prices, he said.

“There was initially some hope that Buhari would be able to tackle these changes more quickly and with more credibility, but the time line has now been pushed back,” Cameron said by phone from London.

“It’s going to be a difficult pill to swallow for foreign investors,” he added.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned importers from using the foreign-exchange market to buy certain goods as it seeks to stabilise the naira and hold on to external reserves, which are down 16 per cent this year to $29 billion.

“Even what little could have been achieved so far, such as the nomination of ministers, has not been addressed, and there is a sense of inertia,” Folarin Gbadebo-Smith, Managing Director of the Centre for Public Policy Alternatives, a Lagos-based research group, said by phone on Wednesday.

Buhari’s own party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has recognised the growing public disenchantment and pleaded for patience.

“Nigerians are right to demand even a faster pace. Nigerians are right to ask that a government be quickly put in place,” party spokesman Lai Mohammed, told journalist at a June 30 press conference in Lagos, the commercial capital. “All we ask for is a little more patience, a little more understanding,” he added

Buhari is facing a unique situation because his victory over the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, ended 16 years of rule by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his spokesman, Femi Adesina, said.

“This is not a normal changeover, it is from one government to another,” he added.

Buhari, who previously governed Nigeria as military ruler in the 1980s, has moved more quickly in the fight against the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, which has waged a violent six-year campaign in the North-east region.

He ordered the army to move its headquarters from Abuja, the capital, to the North-eastern city of Maiduguri, the scene of some of the worst fighting, and has traveled to neighbouring countries such as Chad and Niger to discuss cross-border military cooperation.

It’s the “one area in which the Buhari administration has hit the ground running,” Mohammed said.

Yet, while troops from Nigeria and Chad have largely dislodged Boko Haram members from its self-declared caliphate in the northeast this year, the insurgents have stepped up hit-and-run attacks.

Buhari will also have to deal with shortcomings in his own army, which Amnesty International said last month should be investigated for war crimes, including unlawful killings. In a step toward meeting his campaign promise to attack corruption that has crippled Nigeria for decades, Buhari disbanded the board of the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporatiion (NNPC) The National Economic Council on Monday set up a four-member panel to probe its accounts.

Even some opposition lawmakers say Buhari needs more time.

“His approach may be different, but I am patient, I will give him some time,” Ben Murray-Bruce, a PDP senator, said in a June 29 interview in Abuja. Where Buhari has come up short is communicating a sense of engagement to the public, said Gbadebo-Smith.

“He doesn’t say anything about anything. The public would be satisfied with signals that say we are doing something about this, we are on top of this,” he said.

•Culled from Bloomberg

Anxiety, tears, as Lagos shuts Ladipo Market-By Ikechukwu Onyewuchi

Auto spare parts traders in shock as the market was shut yesterday PHOTO: CHARLES OKOLO

IT was frustration, anger and tears at the Ladipo Spare Parts Market yesterday as traders scampered to salvage the little wares they could find following the demolition of some of their shops and the eventual shutting of the market by “officials of Mushin local council. The officials claimed that the exercise was to make way for “redevelopment.”
When The Guardian visited the market, the entrance gate was sealed and the roof of the shops demolished, with a banner from the council, which was strapped to the gate, informing the traders that a developer would rebuild the section into an ultra-modern market.
Traders said yesterday morning that they met “hoodlums” vandalising the market with bulldozers escorted by policemen and SARS operatives. Others, who were visibly devastated, shed tears uncontrollably, saying that there was no prior notice from the authorities to vacate their shops for a redevelopment.
Grieving over their loss, they cursed that this was not what they bargained for while casting their votes earlier in the year. Some said they have just paid their rents, the most recent being two days ago.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the market, Kanayo Okonkwo, said there was no notice to prepare the traders beforehand, adding, “as it stands, we are in raining season. If it rains, it will spoil all our goods. That would take us back to square one.
“They didn’t tell us anything. I don’t know where they want us to go. We don’t have other shops. Assuming they gave us some kind of notice, we would know what to do, we came today to sell but found the a lock on the gate.” He added: “We want to know why they vandalised a section of the market.
If they have any issue within themselves, let them sort it out. We came here to look for daily bread, not to disturb anybody. If they really planned to develop the market, they should have at least informed us. “The governor of Lagos State should come to our aid. If they want us to leave, we will do that. But they should do what is right.”

Culled from The Guardian