Headline
Fuel Scarcity: Group Seeks Sack Of Mele Kyari, Timipre Sylva
Published
3 years agoon
By
Editor
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations operating under the aegis of Civil Society Coalition for Economic Well-being and Good Governance on Thursday issued a 78-hour ultimatum to President Muhammadu Buhari to end fuel scarcity or face mass protest.
This was contained in a communique issued by the Coalition after a one-day meeting on Wednesday and made available to journalists on Thursday in Abuja.
The communique which was signed by Mr Garba Danjuma Danzi, Chairman, Dr Ayodele Simon Hughes, Secretary-General and two other executives lamented the difficulty faced by Nigerians over lingering fuel scarcity across the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory.
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The groups said, they have appraised the ugly trend of fuel scarcity and noted failures of some chief executives of the government-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Limited as responsible for the endless scarcity of fuel and called for the sack of the Group Managing Director GMD, of NNPL, Mele Abba Kyari.
The Coalition also called for the sack of the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, within 78 hours, failure of which they insisted would form part of the reasons for mass protest.
Part of the communique reads: “The Coalition which comprises 34 organisations have their leaders represented at the meeting. The Coalition noted with sadness difficulty being faced by the citizens occasioned by endless fuel scarcity despite promises by the president Muhammadu Buhari administration to tackle the ugly situation and resolved as follows:
“That the Coalition issues a 78-hour ultimatum for the Federal government to end fuel scarcity by ensuring sufficient Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and gasoline at all retail outlets across the country.
“That the Coalition call on President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Limited (NNPL), Mr Mele Abba Kyari within 78 hours.
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“That the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva be sacked within 78 hours as the Coalition reasonably believed that both officials have failed in their statutory responsibilities, thus, leading to untold hardship on Nigerians.
“That failure on part of the Federal government to take prompt action and put measures in place for availability of fuel and subsequent disappearance of queues, the coalition would mobilise citizens from 36 States of the Federation and FCT to occupy the NNPL towers in the Central Business District, Abuja in protest.”
The communique also called on President Buhari to disband the recently constituted Steering Committee which he made himself Chairman, stressing that he was busy with electioneering campaigns to tackle fuel scarcity.
The group urged Mele Abba Kyari and Timipre Sylva to admit their failures and face sack, given that the NNPL under their watch is the sole importer of fuel.
It continues: “The Coalition urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately disband the 14-member Steering Committee on distribution of Premium Motor Spirit which he appointed himself as Chairman and replace it with an independent committee, given his tight schedule amid electioneering campaigns.
“The CSOs noted that the Nigeria National Petroleum Limited is sole importer of fuel into the country and as privileged officials serving in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the duo of Mele Abba Kyari and Timipre Sylva have not made deliberate effort to tackle the endless embarrassing fuel scarcity in the country.
“That consumers are being exploited by the retailers as most filling stations have adjusted their meters to black market prices. The regulatory body – Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is called upon to ensure strict observance of government-approved depot and retail prices.
READ ALSO: Marketers Predict Six-month Fuel Scarcity, Prices Rise
“The CSOs unanimously resolved that the Federal government should quickly resolve the faceoff between Tanker Drivers and security agents and further take proactive measures to ensure that tanker drivers don’t go on strike so as not to affect the supply chain.
“That the Federal government should constitute a taskforce made up of security and paramilitary agents to patrol the nation’s borders to stop the smuggling of fuel out of the country, even as the domestic consumption has been badly affected leading to scarcity.”
DAILY POST
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Headline
Young Catholics Converge On Rome For Pope Leo’s Vigil
Published
4 hours agoon
August 2, 2025By
Editor
Thousands of young Catholics began assembling Saturday for an evening prayer vigil led by Pope Leo XIV, the culmination of a week-long pilgrimage and a key event in the Jubilee holy year that is expected to draw up to a million people.
The “Jubilee of Youth” — when the Vatican invites Catholics aged 18 to 35 to the seat of the global Church’s power — has seen young pilgrims from around the world flood Rome, waving flags, singing or praying in groups.
It comes nearly three months after Leo, 69, the first American pontiff, began his papacy, and 25 years after the last such massive youth gathering in Rome under Poland’s Pope John Paul II.
On Saturday morning, thousands of young pilgrims had already gathered at the vast open space in Rome’s eastern Tor Vergata neighbourhood where the pope will lead the vigil, the ground already dotted with blankets and mattresses.
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Elsewhere in the Eternal City, numerous groups of young people were seen preparing to set off for the venue.
On the plaza outside the Basilica of St John Lateran, they filled water bottles, applied suncream and checked bags of food and snacks — ready to spend the next 24 hours surrounded by a swarm of people and then sleep under the stars.
Victoria Perez, who carried a Spanish flag, could not contain her excitement at seeing “the Pope up close.
“It’s the first time I’m going to see him, and I can’t wait,” the 21-year-old told AFP, excited to experience the “night of prayers under the stars”.
French pilgrim, Quentin Remaury, 26, said he had been inspired by the late Pope Francis’s rousing message to youth during a 2016 visit to Krakow, Poland.
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“Pope Francis told us to ‘get off your couches,’ and that really gave me a boost,” he said.
– ‘What is his message?’ –
Since the youth jubilee began on Monday, attendees have participated in various Church-planned events throughout the city.
On Friday, approximately 1,000 priests were on hand to take confession at Circus Maximus, one of Rome’s top tourist spots.
Some 200 white gazebos lined the hippodrome where chariot races were once held, and youths lined up to speak to priests in 10 different languages.
Of the many languages heard on the streets of the Italian capital this week, Spanish seemed to dominate. The Vatican has said that more than 146 countries were represented, and it expects up to a million people to attend the vigil.
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The pilgrimage is taking place as economic uncertainty and anxiety over climate change rise among the under-30s, with many saying they were curious to hear the Church’s position on global warming, wars and economic inequalities.
Samarei Semos, 29, said she had travelled three days from her native Belize to get to Rome.
“We are still trying to understand his leadership,” she said of the new pope, adding she hoped he would have a strong say about “third world countries”.
As Parisian student Alice Berry exclaimed, “What does he have to say to us? What is his message for young people?”
– Raising voices –
The youth pilgrimage also comes amid global alarm over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and more than three years of war in Ukraine.
READ ALSO:Pope Leo XIV Outlines A Path For A Modern Church That Follows Francis’ Steps
The Vatican has praised young Catholics who managed to travel to Rome from war-scarred countries, with Pope Leo saying the voices of the world’s youth “will be heard to the end of the earth”.
In an unprecedented move, Leo hosted a mass on Tuesday for Catholic social media influencers, signalling the Vatican’s openness to supporting the Internet-savvy youth.
More than 4,300 volunteers will be working the event to welcome the young pilgrims, along with over 1,000 police, according to organisers.
Roman authorities have tightened security in the city — which has seen an unprecedented number of people, with both tourists and pilgrims inundating the city.
AFP

Ukrainian drone strikes killed three people and wounded two others overnight in western Russia, regional governors said on Saturday.
One woman was killed and two other people were wounded in an attack on an enterprise in Penza, the region’s governor, Oleg Melnichenko, wrote on Telegram.
An elderly man was killed inside a house that caught fire due to falling drone debris in the Samara region, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev posted on Telegram.
In the Rostov region, a guard at an industrial facility was killed after a drone attack and a fire in one of the site’s buildings, acting Rostov governor Yuri Sliusar said.
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“The military repelled a massive air attack during the night,” destroying drones over seven districts, Sliusar posted on Telegram.
Russia’s defence ministry said its air defence systems had destroyed 112 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory — 34 over the Rostov region — in a nearly nine-hour period, from Friday night to Saturday morning.
In Ukraine’s central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, overnight Russian drone attacks left three people wounded, governor Sergiy Lysak wrote on Telegram.
Several buildings, homes and cars were damaged, he said.
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Russian forces have claimed advances in Dnipropetrovsk, recently announcing the capture of two villages there, part of Moscow’s accelerated capture of territory in July, according to AFP’s analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
Kyiv denies any Russian presence in the Dnipropetrovsk area.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire in the more than three-year conflict, said Friday that he wanted peace but that his demands for ending Moscow’s military offensive were “unchanged”.
Those demands include that Ukraine abandon territory and end ambitions to join NATO.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, said only Putin could end the war and renewed his call for a meeting between the two leaders.
“The United States has proposed this. Ukraine has supported it. What is needed is Russia’s readiness,” he wrote on X.
AFP
Headline
Corporation For Public Broadcasting To Shut Down Following Trump’s Funding Cuts
Published
15 hours agoon
August 2, 2025By
Editor
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced on Friday that it will shut down operations, ending over 60 years of public media funding.
The move comes after President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers succeeded in eliminating federal support for the organization.
Trump recently signed a rescissions bill canceling $9 billion in previously approved government spending. Of that amount, $1.1 billion had been allocated to CPB for the next two years.
Trump has long criticized public media as “biased” against conservatives and made repeated efforts to cut its funding.
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“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” said CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison.
“CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care.”
The organization is now focused on helping local PBS and NPR stations—especially those in rural areas—prepare for the resulting budget shortfalls.
Harrison previously warned that some stations could be forced to close entirely.
Larger outlets may survive with help from donors and other revenue streams, but public media leaders say the national network will be severely weakened.
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“The ripple effects of this closure will be felt across every public media organization and, more importantly, in every community across the country that relies on public broadcasting,” said NPR CEO Katherine Maher.
The CPB expects to eliminate most of its 100 staff positions by September 30, when the current funding expires.
A small transition team will remain until January to oversee a “responsible and orderly closeout of operations.”
The shutdown marks a political win for Trump, who has pushed for defunding CPB since the start of his presidency. Earlier this year, he tried to remove three board members, despite lacking legal authority under the 1967 law that created the corporation.
CPB filed a lawsuit to block that attempt, but on Friday, it voluntarily dropped the case—effectively conceding defeat.
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“REPUBLICANS HAVE TRIED DOING THIS FOR 40 YEARS, AND FAILED… BUT NO MORE,” Trump posted on Truth Social, celebrating the bill’s passage through the GOP-controlled House and Senate.
Some advocates had hoped that Congress might still restore funding through the usual budget process.
However, a draft Senate bill released Thursday included no CPB funding—suggesting those hopes are now unlikely to materialize.
Trump and other Republicans argue that defunding CPB is a stand against liberal influence in public broadcasting.
Public media supporters say the move undermines civic life and access to reliable news.
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“The end of CPB is the direct result of the deep and corrupt failure of Congress and the Trump administration to invest in informing the American public,” said Craig Aaron, co-CEO of media advocacy group Free Press.
“They have trashed decades of democracy-building work and will deny many journalists, artists, educators and creators the opportunity to be heard.”
Aaron said he still believes there’s a chance to rebuild publicly funded media from the ground up. He called for a new system “as a bulwark against authoritarianism that meets the civic needs of all our communities.”
Some broadcasters are already mobilizing support. In Boston, GBH put up a sign reading, “Local. Trusted. Defunded.”
“We’re not backing down,” the station said in a fundraising message. “But we can’t do it without you. Donate now to keep public media strong and independent.”
(CNN)
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