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Fuel Subsidy: ‘Suspend Disbursement Of $800m Loan To FG’, SERAP Tells World Bank

Published

12 months ago

May 14, 2023

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the World Bank President Mr David Malpass to use his “good offices to suspend any disbursement of the $800m loan to the Federal Government and to request the incoming administration to provide satisfactory explanations for the loan.”

SERAP urges Mr Malpass and the World Bank “to reopen discussion on the reportedly approved $800m loan with the incoming administration to clarify the details on the rationale and use of the loan because the term of office of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari ends in May 2023.”

The Federal Government in April announced its plan to spend the $800 million loan as ‘part of its subsidy palliatives measures’. Also, last week, President Buhari requested the Senate’s approval for the World Bank loan. It is unclear whether the request to the Senate is for a fresh loan or the one announced in April.

In the letter dated 13 May 2023 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “The World Bank should comply with its own Articles of Agreement in disbursing any loans. The Bank should not sacrifice international standards in the rush to disburse the $800m loan to the government.”

SERAP said: “Suspending any disbursement of the loan to the government would reduce the risks and vulnerability to corruption and mismanagement.”

The letter, read in part: “SERAP is concerned that the government is seeking to spend the loan when it has barely two weeks to leave office and when the project objectives and intended purposes for which the loan is reportedly approved and will be disbursed remain unclear.”

“The government has not satisfactorily explained or justified the need for the loan at this time, especially given the lack of clarity on its use and the crippling debt burden, and the disproportionately negative impact of these retrogressive measures on poor Nigerians.”

“The World Bank cannot close its eyes to these important transparency, accountability and human rights issues.”

“The National Economic Council (NEC) on April 27 reportedly suspended the planned removal of subsidy on petroleum products by the end of the Buhari administration.”

“We would consider the option of pursuing legal action should the World Bank refuse to suspend the disbursement of the loan to the Federal Government and to implement the other recommendations contained in this letter, and we may join the government in any such suit.”

“The crippling debt burden is a human rights issue because when the entire country is burdened by unsustainable debts, there will be little money left to ensure access of poor and vulnerable Nigerians to legally enforceable socio-economic rights.”

“There is also a lack of transparency and accountability in the spending of the loans so far obtained. The details of the projects on which approved loans are spent are often shrouded in secrecy.”

“The Bank has a responsibility to ensure that the Federal Government is transparent and accountable to Nigerians in any discussion to obtain loans, credits or grants from the bank and how it spends any approved loans, credits or grants.”

“The Bank’s power to provide loans is coupled with a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that the spending of such funds by the government meets international standards of transparency and accountability, including those entrenched in article 5 of the UN Convention against Corruption.”

“The World Bank should also seek transparency and accountability commitments if the incoming government decides to use the loan to implement the National Social Safety Net Programme (NASSP) because the spending on the programme has been mostly shrouded in secrecy.”

“Under the programme, the government reportedly plans to transfer the sum of N5,000 per month to 10.2 million poor and low income households for a period of six months.”

“SERAP encourages you and the World Bank to in any future engagements with the incoming government insist on accessing information on the spending by the government on the National Social Safety Net Programme (NASSP) since 2015 and the publication of the details of such spending.”

“Under Article 1 of the World Bank Articles of Agreement, the stated purposes of the Bank include ‘to assist in the reconstruction and development’. The Bank is also to ‘be guided in all its decisions by the purposes.’”

“Under Article 3 section 4(vii) of the World Bank Articles of Agreement, loans made or guaranteed by the Bank ‘shall be for the purpose of specific projects of reconstruction or development.’ Also, under Article 3 section 5(b), the Bank ‘shall make arrangements to ensure that the proceeds of any loan are used only for the purposes for which the loan was granted.’”

“According to our information, the Federal Government of Nigeria recently secured a $800 million loan from the World Bank.”

“The government reportedly plans to spend the loan as part of its ‘subsidy palliatives measures’, and aims to target 50 million vulnerable Nigerians or 10 million households.”

“According to the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s total public debt stock, including external and domestic debts, increased to N46.25 trillion or $103.11 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022.”

News

Dave Umahi Trends Online After ‘Me I No Hear Phone’ Comment On Live TV [VIDEO]

Published

3 hours ago

May 1, 2024

Editor

Minister of Works, Dave Umahi is trending online over his exchange with Arise TV correspondent, Laila Johnson, during a media session today, May 1, on the construction of the Calabar-Lagos coastal lane.

While Laila asked him a question, Umahi interjected by saying “Sister I was raised in the village, me I no dey hear “phoné,” which simply means phonetics.

Responding to this, Laila told the minister that it’s the way she speaks.

When Umahi asked for interpreters, Laila pushed back by saying that he had enough people around him to make him understand what she was saying.

Shortly after the exchange, Umahi responded to Laila’s question by saying they got all the necessary approval to initiate the project.

Video:

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News

86 Rooms Where Tenants Paid N250,000 A Year Found Under Lagos Bridge [VIDEO]

Published

4 hours ago

May 1, 2024

Editor

Lagos State’s Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, on Wednesday said the government discovered 86 partitioned rooms, sized 10×10 and 12×10, under the Dolphin Estate Bridge, Ikoyi, on Lagos Island.

Tenants are said to be paying N250,000 per annum for the makeshift apartment under the bridge.

Wahab shared this information via a post on X.com on Wednesday, along with videos.

He added that the enforcement team of Lagos State’s Ministry of Environment and Water Resources had successfully removed all structures, including a container utilised for various illegal activities, from beneath the Dolphin Estate bridge.

Sharing videos he wrote, “A total number of 86 rooms, partitioned into 10×10 and 12×10, and a container used for different illegal activities were discovered under the Dolphin Estate Bridge.

“They have all been removed by the enforcement team of the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources”

A Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Kunle Rotimi-Akodu, further confirmed the eviction of squatters from beneath the bridge towards Dolphin Estate in Ikoyi over illegal settlement and environmental violations.

Rotimi-Akodu mentioned that 23 individuals were arrested during the eviction, which was carried out by officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps, popularly known as KAI on Tuesday.

He wrote, “Squatters dwelling under the bridge leading from inward Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi were evicted today Tuesday, 30th of April, 2024 by officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps LAGESC (aka KAI).

“These people created their illegal settlement under the bridge, thereby exposing the critical infrastructure to impending destruction. 23 persons have so far been arrested and MoE/KAI will continue to monitor the place. The law will take its course.”

He also confirmed that the bridge has hitherto housed 86 rooms, partitioned into 10×10 and 12×10 with squatters paying an average rent of N250,000 per annum.

“Continuation of the removal of abode under Dolphin bridge. 11 more persons were arrested. It is important to note that wood materials were used to construct the shelters, some occupants used gas cylinders, and some had stored fuel for their generators, these are recipes for disaster,” he added.

Watch video below courtesy The PUNCH

VIDEO: 86 rooms where tenants paid N250,000 a year found under Lagos bridge
Lagos State's Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, on Wednesday said the government discovered 86 partitioned rooms, sized 10×10 and 12×10, under the Dolphin Estate Bridge,… pic.twitter.com/cNq7Q0OuE2
— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) May 1, 2024

News

Ex-policeman Who filmed Wife Having Wex With Her Superior Found Guilty Of Stalking

Published

6 hours ago

May 1, 2024

Editor

An obsessed former police officer who caught his wife having sex with a married colleague in a car park has narrowly avoided jail after being convicted of stalking.

Gavin Harper, 45, found Stephanie Glynn, 40, and her lover Andrew McLullich, 42, outside the hardware store in Birkenhead, Merseyside, UK on February 16, 2021, after secretly placing a tracker on his wife’s car.

He slowly crept up to the vehicle and used his mobile phone to record the lovers, who were naked from the waist down, before allegedly shouting: ‘I’ve got you on film sh***ing my wife.’

The dad-of-two was found guilty of aggravated stalking, including secretly bugging Ms Glynn’s car, listening to her conservations, tracking her movements and taking her phone without permission.

He was also accused of assaulting Mr McLullich, a Merseyside Police Inspector, but was cleared of injuring the officer at Liverpool Crown Court as he claimed he only struck the policeman in self-defence.

Prosecutors said it was Harper’s conviction was the end of the campaign of ‘obsessive, intrusive and unwanted behaviour’ against Ms Glynn from December 2020 to February 2021.

Harper and Ms Glynn met as Merseyside Police officers and were in a six-year relationship before they married in 2018 but she left the family home in December 2020 after she grew close to her work mentor Mr McLullich, an acting inspector at the time and formerly her supervising sergeant.

Giving evidence, Harper said he wanted ‘undeniable proof’ of the affair, which he said Ms Glynn had persistently denied.

His intention was to pass the video to police as evidence of two serving officers having an inappropriate relationship during Covid lockdown restrictions, he said.

On Monday, Judge David Potter sentenced Harper to two years in jail, suspended for two years.

The judge told him he would have faced immediate custody but for the significant effect that imprisonment would have had on his elderly parents and youngest son.

Harper’s lawyers told the court that he would lose his security job if jailed and would be unable to make his mortgage payments. His parents, whom he informally cared for, would ‘not be able to cope’ and his son would have to give up his university studies.

Judge Potter told Harper: “I am sure you became obsessed to the point of criminality in stalking Stephanie Glynn to provide evidence of her affair to weaponise that against her for having that affair, and you also became determined to destroy the career of Andrew McCulloch.

“In that obsession the feelings, embarrassment and pain felt by Stephanie Glynn were collateral damage. You were more concerned about your own feelings and a raging sense of injustice.”

He said the events at Screwfix ‘do no credit to any of the people involved’ and the incident was ‘rash, foolish, selfish and unprofessional’.

Judge Potter went on: “I am sure it has haunted them (Ms Glynn and Mr McLullich) and will continue to haunt them for many years.”

But he said their acts were ‘made worse’ by Harper filming them on his mobile phone.

He said: “It was a further gross example of stalking designed to maximise their humiliation to your advantage. Your conduct was intended to maximise fear or distress.

“You resorted to stalking out of a sense of vengeance for being the victim of an affair. I am sure the distress caused to your victim has been very serious.”

But he added that there was ‘another side’ to the defendant who had no previous convictions, and had suffered mental trauma himself.

Harper had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his Army service in the King’s Regiment and the Royal Military Police – before he joined Merseyside Police in 2001.