Tinubu sworn in as the new president of Nigeria

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bola Tinubu, the former Lagos governor who is credited with helping the city-state increase its revenue base, has been sworn in as Nigeria’s new president.

He took the oath of office from Chief Justice Olukayode Ariwoola in a colourful ceremony on Monday in Abuja, the capital.

Tinubu, 71, succeeds Muhammadu Buhari, who was ineligible to run again after two four-year terms that began in 2015.

The new president, the fifth since the return of democracy in 1999, will have to tackle a struggling economy and widespread insecurity in Africa’s most populous country.

Al Jazeera

President Buhari issues $1.18 bln notes to settle judgment debts

Nigeria has issued debt securities worth $1.18 billion to settle various judgment debts, outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari said in a public letter requesting parliament's approval.

Buhari, who is due on Monday to hand over power to President-elect Bola Tinubu, said his cabinet approved on March 29 the settlement of judgment and general debts owed by government by issuing promissory notes.

Courts generally issue judgment debt to award creditors or debt collectors who are seeking to settle debt disputes.

The judgment debts in the sum of $566.75 million, 98.52 million pounds sterling($124.35 million) and 226.28 billion naira ($491.92 million) were incurred by federal ministries, department and agencies, Buhari said without further details.

Nigeria has been borrowing to fund its budgets under the outgoing administration. The government will issue promissory notes to the debtors which it will pay out from its annual budget spending over time, Buhari said.

The promissory notes "will then be redeemed over time through provisions in the budgets of the Federal Government of Nigeria," Buhari wrote in a letter to Senate President Ahmad Lawan requesting approval. The letter was read in the Senate on Wednesday.

The Senate is expected to approve the measure.

Nigeria's total public debt rose to 46.25 trillion naira ($103.1 billion) in 2022, from 39.56 trillion naira a year earlier, as the government ramped up borrowing to fund its budget deficit amid high global inflation.

($1 = 460.00 naira)

($1 = 0.79 pounds)

By Camillus Eboh, Reuters

Video - Travelers upset over rising cost of flying in Nigeria

Travelers in Nigeria are dealing with the increasing cost of international airfares after the operators raised the rate of exchange three times between the months of March and May 2023. This trend has been linked to the piled-up unrepatriated funds belonging to foreign airlines operating in Nigeria.

CGTN

Seun Kuti released on bail

 

 

 

 

A Nigerian Afrobeat star facing trial on charges of assaulting a police officer will embark on a delayed concert tour after being released on bail, his manager said Wednesday.

Seun Kuti, who was in court on Wednesday, has concerts scheduled in more than a dozen countries but his departure had been on hold because of the trial, his manager Ayo Moses told The Associated Press.

The son of Nigerian musical icon and political agitator Fela Kuti, who himself was serially detained by Nigerian military regimes, Seun Kuti had been held for more than a week after he was caught allegedly assaulting a police officer in Nigeria's economic hub of Lagos.

At Wednesday's court hearing, the presiding judge ruled that it was the public prosecutor – not the police – that had the power to prosecute the musician. The judge then adjourned the case until a further hearing on July 3.

"He is on bail and as a responsible citizen, he will continue to enjoy his rights because he is presumed innocent," Femi Falana, his lawyer, said after the hearing.

Viral videos appeared to show an agitated Kuti shouting and pushing the officer along a major road in Lagos last week. It is still not clear what caused the confrontation, though Kuti alleged the officer in question "tried to kill me and my family."

While he was in detention, the police searched Kuti's house, causing an uproar among some Nigerians and his lawyers. But Benjamin Hundeyin, a spokesperson for the Lagos police, defended the search as necessary and approved by the court.

"In the course of our investigation, we stumbled on certain suspicious things that needed to be proven/disproved beyond reasonable doubt," Hundeyin said without providing further details.

AP

UK special forces operated covertly in Nigeria for 12 years

The British Special Air Service and the European country’s other special forces have operated clandestinely in Nigeria and 18 other nations over the past 12 years, according to a report by a research organisation, known as Action On Gun Violence, AOAV, accentuated by UK Guardian.

It will be recalled that in 2012, a group of SBS commandos attempted and failed to rescue a Briton and an Italian held by an Islamist group in Nigeria.

The British SAS also operated secretly in Algeria, Estonia, France, Oman, Iraq, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Cyprus, Pakistan, Somalia, the Philippines, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen and most recently Sudan.

It gives the impression that the prime minister and defence secretary frequently send personnel of the SAS, Special Boat Service, and Special Reconnaissance Regiment on dangerous operations, usually when Britain is not at war, the Guardian UK reported.

Reacting to this yesterday, a security expert , Major Bone Efoziem, retd, described the action as a breach of Nigeria’s sovereignty as a nation and an indication that the security architecture of the country was near zero. .

He said: “It is an indictment, particularly to the government of the day as at the time the opinion was carried out, for two basic reasons. One, the personnel of an international security agency , came into Nigeria unrecognized; two they carried out these operations bearing arms and ammunitions that were basically prohibited; thirdly they operated within a terrain that is within the confines of a territorial integrity of a nation called Nigeria without being identified.”

Also reacting yesterday, former spokesperson of Nigeria Police Force, CP Emmanuel Ojukwu, retd, said: “Under international law and diplomacy, every country is a sovereign and if the services – military, paramilitary or even the Police of a country want to carry out an operation in another country, there must be prior approval, certification and cooperation with the country they want to carry out such operation.”

If they do not have that permission, it may amount to evasion and the declaration of war against that country , which they can not fight.”

Retired Colonel Gbolwole Majekodunmi of the NDA Regular Course13 , said in his reaction: “Normally, they can’t come in without authorisation of either of the services. If they came in like that and the government was not aware, the implication is grievous.

”Besides, they would have communication gadgets and their internal agents among NGOs working in the north east. It has a grievous implication in the sense that they will know where our military arsenals are located and may use it against us, especially the Francophone countries surrounding us. They may leak it to their colonial masters.” 

Vanguard