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JUST IN: APC Tackles Obi

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Text of a press statement released on Tuesday by National Publicity Secretary, All Progressives Congress (APC),Felix Morka, Esq.

PETER OBI, A LOQUACIOUS AND DISRUPTIVE BACKSEAT DRIVER*

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections and former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, has continued, unabashedly, to showcase his obsessive devotion to self promotion against the best interest of Nigeria.

Mr. Obi’s latest statement on the country’s economic situation is an admixture of half truths, blatant distortions and misinformation calculated to mobilize outrage against the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

His warped conclusion that Nigeria’s economic crisis was caused by nine years of APC-led administration is a highly revisionist, dishonest, distorted and deliberately misleading assessment of the country’s economic trajectory in the last decade. He opined, rather mischievously, that no efforts were being made by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to tackle poverty and unemployment in the country.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: Obi, Labour Party Not Involved In ‘EndBadGovernance’ Protest

The facts tell a far more complex and different story. The country’s economic decline began under the watch of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with GDP growth plummeting from 7.98% in 2010 to 2.79% in 2015. And since 2015, the global oil price crash, geopolitical tensions, climate change, global COVID pandemic and rising population have all taken a toll on Nigeria’s economy that is almost entirely dependent on drastically reduced oil export earnings.

The growth recorded during the PDP years was due entirely to high price of crude oil and increased government spending that it supported.

It is noteworthy that between 2007-2014, Nigeria earned $531.2 billion under the PDP, compared to $287.8 billion under APC between 2015-2022. This drastically reduced export earnings under the APC administration was even further stretched thin by the country’s population surge from 184 million in 2015 to 229 million in 2024.

Despite the huge revenues available to it, successive PDP administrations neglected to address underlying structural challenges and distortions in the economy leaving the country vulnerable to economic shocks and volatility. Had the PDP undertaken a sustained programme of economic reform as President Tinubu is currently engaged, Nigeria’s economic situation would be far better than it is today.

But in his selfish political desperation, Obi will never acknowledge the complexity of the causation of our economic challenges but would rather attempt to scapegoat the APC administration for all of the country’s economic ills while turning a blind eye to the bold and thoughtful policy interventions of President Tinubu’s administration.

The administration’s focused and determined efforts to tackle the country’s challenges through diversification, massive infrastructure development, social welfare, agricultural revolution and sustained improvements in national security are certain to accelerate Nigeria’s resurgence, create jobs and lift millions of our people out of poverty.

Quite contrary to Obi’s jaundiced and gloomy analysis, in the last one year alone, the country has attracted over $20 billion into the economy, aside recording an all-time high N6.52 trillion
trade surplus in the first quarter of 2024 marking a positive shift from a long history of trade deficits.

Despite clearing the backlog of the foreign exchange debts owed foreign airlines and other economic actors by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the nation’s foreign reserves has continued to expand, hitting upwards of $34 billion, the highest in recent times. Capital inflow into the country increased by 66.27 percent this year alone.

Notable financial experts and the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report that for the first time in our economic history, the All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) crossed the 100,000 benchmark this year, making the Nigerian Stock Exchange currently about the most profitable capital market in the world with a return on investment (RoI) as high as 22.90 percent.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that the nation’s economy will have a 3.1 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2024, one of the highest projections for any African country.

Initiatives such as the Credit Corps, Students Loan, the newly approved minimum wage, the construction of 700-kilometre Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, and many more are tailor-made by the President Tinubu’s to combat poverty and expand economic opportunities for Nigerians.

Mr. Obi is a loquacious and disruptive backseat driver who has assigned himself an ignoble role of an embittered loser and spoiler. Economic challenges and hardship are a stark reality of most countries of the world today, both developed and developing. It is an existential condition that must be tackled and transformed. This is an arduous task that requires collective patriotic collaboration.

Mr. Obi must know that inflaming passion and mobilizing outrage through false and manipulative narratives are not legitimate tools of opposition politics. Expecting President Tinubu to accomplish total transformation of Nigeria in one year, a feat he failed miserably to accomplish in eight years as Governor of Anambra state, is the height of disgraceful hypocrisy.

President Tinubu remains focused and committed to building lasting blocks of economic prosperity for Nigeria.

 

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Anointing Shouldn’t Hinder You From Being Romantic, Adeboye Urges Couples

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Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has emphasised the importance of romance in marriage alongside spiritual commitments.

In a message shared on his Facebook page, Adeboye disclosed that he and his wife, Foluke, still use affectionate pet names in private, noting that “anointing does not diminish romance.”

He encouraged married couples to nurture intimacy and romance, ensuring their marriages remain vibrant and joyful.

He explained that some pastors avoid romantic activities, believing it distracts from their spiritual focus.

READ MORE: Edo Guber: Obi Fires Last Salvo

Adeboye emphasised that being anointed should not negate the need for romance, drawing an example from the Bible.

He wrote, “The fact that you are a Christian does not in any way take romance out of your marriage. Marriage is the only institution where romance and intimacy are allowed between a man and a woman.

“Some pastors hardly go on dates with their spouses because they consider such a romantic activity as a distraction from their focus on spiritual matters. Some of them don’t even play with their spouses anymore. Beloved, the anointing does not reduce the need for romance in marriage.

“Isaac was an anointed man of God and a successful businessman, yet in Genesis 26:8, the Bible says he was being romantic with his wife.

“And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. Don’t become too rigid in your marriage; don’t have more fun elsewhere without your spouse. Make the times that you and your spouse spend together so much fun that you are always looking forward to seeing each other again. If you are married, remember how you used to talk for long hours with your spouse before you got married and had children; revive that relationship again. Your spouse is still the same fellow you were very fond of, and the things you loved in him or her are still there. Don’t let all the cares of this life distract you from the gems in your spouse.

Adeboye suggested simple acts like writing notes, using pet names, and surprising each other to keep the romance alive.

“Once in a while, compose a poem for your spouse and read it to him or her in a romantic setting. Spice things up with pleasant surprises every now and then. Write a note and put it in his or her bag so that when they get to the office and open their bag, they will see the note and smile. Have a pet name that you call each other behind closed doors.

“Up until today, there is a pet name my wife calls me when we are alone. I equally have a pet name that I call her, and every time I call her by that name, she cannot but smile at me lovingly. When we are alone, we are lovers, not Daddy G.O and Mummy G.O. Your marriage can be like heaven on earth if you and your spouse are deliberate about remaining the lovebirds that you were when you first got married.

“Don’t let the romance die.” he added.

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Energy Analyst, Adeoye Highlights Complexities Of Nigeria’s Petrol Pricing Amid Dangote Refinery Launch

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Energy policy analyst, Adeyemi Adeoye has highlighted the complexities of Nigeria’s petrol pricing following the launch of the Dangote Refinery, stressing the importance of informed dialogue and the critical role of negotiations between private refineries and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd).

He shared his views during an appearance on TVC News on Friday, which was monitored by our correspondent.

Adeoye emphasized that the emotional responses to petrol pricing have diminished since the refinery’s inauguration. “When we take sentiment out of the conversation, then the real talk can begin,” he remarked, advocating for a more rational dialogue about the oil industry.

He clarified that the NNPC Ltd was not serving as a regulator in the current deregulated environment, a point, which he contends remains misunderstood by many.

He explained, “The sentiment and undue emotions surrounding this conversation since the advent of the Dangote Refinery are subsiding. When we take the sentiment out of the conversation, then the real discussion can begin.

“The oil industry has an operational manual; there is a way it functions. We all own the NNPC. Ordinarily, if it is representing the interests of Nigeria, in this deregulated system we have seen, especially since the PIA (Petroleum Industry Act) came into effect. The NNPC is not a regulator.

“This is a point many people still do not understand. If it were a regulator, its role would be to come out in the open, maybe via a press conference, and announce the price at which the government would be selling. But, as we’ve seen, it is still the Dangote Refinery that announces the prices, and we also need to take this into consideration.

“What is happening now is a joint venture. The NNPC is familiar with joint ventures. They have joint ventures all over the upstream sector with different international oil companies operating in Nigeria, and this is what has developed between the Dangote Refinery and the NNPC — it’s a joint venture.

“The NNPC supplies Dangote Refinery with crude oil and, in return, gets refined products for Nigerians. Essentially, this is the ongoing relationship, and that is why negotiation was important. If you observe, you will notice that Dangote Refinery has not announced a price.

“Dangote did not announce a price because they need to negotiate properly, and the NNPC is the chief negotiator in this instance because it supplies the crude oil, just as the government supplies crude to Dangote.

“Dangote is also sourcing crude from Brazil and the U.S., but the NNPC is supplying crude, and on the strength of that, it goes into the negotiation.

“The key takeaway for Nigerians is that the NNPC has announced that Dangote Refinery is free to deal with any marketer on a willing buyer, willing seller basis. However, the negotiation did not start at the price announced by NNPC or Dangote. The negotiation started at a higher price, for very obvious reasons.

“In the United States (US), the average price for gas (petrol) is $3.33 per gallon. If you divide a gallon, which is about 4 liters, you get around N5,279. Breaking it down, that’s about N1,119.75 per liter. So, this is the amount Dangote would have sold it for.

“It wouldn’t have been less than N1,300. If Dangote is allowed to operate purely as a business entity, there is nothing wrong with that. But without negotiations, Nigerians could have been paying no less than N1,300 for fuel because it is an international product.

“Nigerians need to understand that to refine crude oil, you first need to produce crude oil, and producing crude oil involves what is called an oil rig.

“The cheapest oil rig you can get costs around $100,000 to $150,000 per day. So, if you have a marginal field and you are paying $150,000 per day for your crude, you will also have to pay for the vessel to transport it to Dangote.

“Dangote is not going to pay you in Naira; it is going to pay you in dollars. These are all factors that affect the pricing. It is not like other commodities; it is an internationally determined commodity, and the pricing is not something easy to determine.

“That’s why Dangote couldn’t come out to announce pricing immediately. It had to first negotiate with its suppliers, which in this case is the NNPC.” he added

 

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FG Launches Investigation Into Mpape Earthquake Activity

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The Federal Government has embarked on a comprehensive probe into the recent earthquake activity in Mpape, Abuja.

Uche Nnaji, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, reported on Wednesday that a specialized team from the Centre for Geodesy and Geodynamics at the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) is utilizing cutting-edge seismic analysis tools to investigate the tremors.

Data from seismographs indicate that the seismic events included three foreshocks and three aftershocks, with the principal quake occurring at 11:18:37 p.m. It had a magnitude of 3.1 and a depth of 11 km.

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Initial findings suggest that the tremors may be due to the reactivation of local fault lines in Mpape, a region previously affected by similar events, including those in early September 2018.

Nnaji assured the public that NASRDA is diligently monitoring the situation and advised residents to stay composed.

The government is also examining data from seismic and GNSS networks to develop appropriate response strategies.

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