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Uproar As Senate Okays Fresh $800m World Bank Borrowing

Published

2 years ago

July 14, 2023

Editor

Godswill Akpabio, Senate President

…NLC, TUC kick, Experts, stakeholders lampoon palliatives plans, suggest alternatives

The Senate has approved President Bola Tinubu’s request for $800 million borrowing from the World Bank.

The president’s request was in a letter read by Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, at the plenary on Thursday.

Tinubu, in the letter, explained that the loan would be used to scale up the national social safety net programme.

Attached with the request was a decision by the Federal Government to transfer the sum of N8,000 monthly to 12 million poor and low-income households for six months.

He said the money would be transferred directly to identified beneficiaries’ accounts.

The President’s letter stated in part: “Please note that the federal executive council led by President Muhammadu Buhari approved an additional loan facility to the tune of $800 million to be secured from the World Bank for the National Social Safety Net programme, Copy of FEC’s extract attached.

“You may also wish to note that the purpose of the facility is to expand coverage of shock responsive safety net support among the poor and vulnerable Nigerians. This will assist them in coping with basic needs.

“You may further wish to note that under the conditional cash transfer window of the programme, the Federal Government of Nigeria will transfer the sum of N8,000 per month to 12 million poor and low income households for a period of six months, with a multiplier effect on about 60 million individuals.

“In order to guarantee the credibility of the process, digital transfers will be made directly to beneficiaries’ accounts and mobile wallets.

“It is expected that the programme, will stimulate economic activities in the informal sector, and improve nutrition, health, education, and human capital development of beneficiaries’ households.

“Given the above, I wish to invite the Senate to kindly grant approval for the additional loan facility of $800 million to be secured from World Bank for the National Social Safety Net Programme.

“While hoping that this submission will receive expeditious consideration by the Senate, please accept the assurances of my highest regards.”

Senate approves request

Before approving the request yesterday, the Senate went into a closed session at 3. 32pm and came out at 4.41 pm to brainstorm and give the request accelerated passage.

The President’s letter was read during Plenary by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

NLC, TUC kick

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and its counterpart, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, faulted President Tinubu’s plans, saying it runs contrary to the works of the Presidential Technical Committee on the removal of Subsidy.

NLC and TUC argue that it is not only undemocratic but shows that the President is merely setting up the committee as a window dressing for whatever purposes he has set out for himself, stating, “Any palliative payment must be in line with the agreement reached with labour in line with the technical committee meeting.”

Though the President and General Secretary of NLC, Joe Ajaero, and Emma Ugboaja, could not be reached, a senior officer of NLC who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “The issue is whether the President has trust and confidence in the Steering Committee set up or not. If he has a budget already, it means that he already has activities he has planned on his own.

“If he has that, what is the need of the Committees? The action of the President has actually undermined the credibility of his own Committee

“We believe that it is not only undemocratic but shows that the President is merely setting up the committee as a window dressing for whatever purposes he has set out for himself.

“When you also look at what he has planned, to give N8,000 to households for six months which approximates to N48, 000, you ask yourself, can N48,000 address the millions of suffering the government has already inflicted on the poor? Will it make any significant impact in addressing the consequences already being faced by Nigerians? Will the suffering suddenly end after six months?”

On his part, the President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, Festus Osifo, who also doubles as President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, simply said “Any palliative payment must be in line with the agreement reached with labour in line with the technical committee meeting.”

Corroborating, the President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, and TUC’s Deputy President, Dr Tommy Okon, said, “As far as I am concerned it is economic waste. What is N8,000 monthly to 12 million Nigerian households with this hyperinflation and socio-economic challenges?

“How did the government or the president determine those who are to benefit from the data deficit in Nigeria? I think the government should stop this ad-hoc and unsustainable programme.

“What form of poverty alleviation policy implementation strategy is this? Is it not proper to allow the Presidential Committee on Removal of oil Subsidy to conclude its assignment and arrive at a collective agreement with organized labour before embarking on any palliative care distributions? What the government is doing could amount to doing exactly what the previous administration did that yielded no positive impact on the economy and the citizens.”

NASU’s raises concerns

Similarly, General Secretary of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, NASU, Prince Peters Adeyemi, said: “Any effort geared towards the alleviation of the present hardship Nigerians are going through as a result of the President removal of subsidy and the harmonization of the exchange rate markets should be supported.

“However we need to know the criteria to be used in determining those that will benefit from the programme. We hope that this will not be another avenue for a few individuals to divert such money to their private pockets.”

Framework must be inclusive and transparent – CPPE

Also commenting, Director/CEO, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr. Muda Yusuf, said although vulnerable segments of the society deserve palliates, the framework must be inclusive and transparent.

He stated: “The vulnerable segments of the society deserve palliatives to mitigate the pains of recent reforms, especially the surging inflation. But the palliatives framework must be inclusive and transparent.

“We would additionally want to see concessions in taxation and import duties focusing on moderating food prices, energy costs, and transportation costs. Palliatives must go beyond cash transfers. There are serious limitations with regard to data integrity.”

N8,000 per month is an insult on Nigerians — Maritime group

The Maritime Arbitrators Association of Nigeria, MAAN, stated that the move by the Federal Government to pay 12million poor households N8,000 per household monthly is a far cry from the economic realities adding, “It is an insult on Nigerians.”

Speaking to Vanguard on the decision, Vice President of the association, Ms Jean Anishere Chiazor, said that the President has been ill-advised as that amount of money cannot feed a child in one month, talk less a family.

He stated: “N8,000 for 12million households; who identified the poor households; what yardsticks; who is a poor family; what are the requirements to qualify as a poor family entitled to N8,000.

“How much is N8,000 in Pounds or Dollars; What will N8,000 buy in a day for feeding. Start with Garri for the poor, one Olodo is N3,500, that cannot feed a family for a week if they eat Eba every other day. One Olodo of rice, equivalent to a paint bucket is N4,800 if not more because the price is always going up. So that comes to almost N8,000.’’

What can N8,000 do for a family of 4 in a month? —Prof Uwaleke

Reacting to the FG’s palliative, President, Association of Capital Market Academics of Nigeria, ACMAN, Prof Uche Uwaleke, said: “This is rather a sub-optimal option. The government should look in the direction of non-cash palliatives.

“With the current galloping inflation rate (official figures are understated), what can N8,000 do for a family of four in a month? And this is meant for only 12 million families (about 48 million persons, that is, assuming they are adequately targeted and the National Social Register is clean and updated) in a country of over 200 million people.

“The President is equally seeking approval of 800 million US dollars soft loan from the World Bank as part of funds to cushion the impact of the fuel subsidy removal. If we add this N500 billion to the N600 billion (assuming I & E average rate of N750 applied to the World Bank’s facility), that should give N1.1 trillion.

“Consistent with the principle of maximum social benefit in public expenditure, one way, in my view, to ensure this money reaches the grassroots is to divide it by 774 local government areas (LGA) in Nigeria, which translates to about N1.4 billion per local government, and transfer this sum to each Local government.’’

It’s a ploy to settle party members – Adonri

Commenting, David Adonri, Executive Vice Chairman, HIGHCAP Securities Limited, said: “N8,000 monthly as palliative to 12 million out of 130 million very poor Nigerians is immaterial. The policy is economically unwise and I suspect it’s a ploy to settle party members at the grassroot.

“FGN is in financial deficit and needs money desperately to exit its debt trap. This cash transfer is a sign of financial irresponsibility and lack of seriousness.”

No database to identify beneficiaries – Anchor Insurance boss

Reacting to the development, Deputy Managing Director, Technical of Anchor Insurance Plc, Mr. Adebisi Ikuomola inquired how government intends to go about distributing the money.

He said: “How will this money get to the poor Nigerians? Which data is used in fishing out these poor Nigerians?

“To be honest, the real poor Nigerians do not have bank accounts. That takes us back to the first question. Is this a way of adding funds to the elites? I strongly believe in investing that money in human and infrastructural development. I think that will make sure that the poor benefit from it.

“What database do we have of the poor? Who are the poor families identified? What can N8,000 do in battle against hardship presently experienced?”

Channel money to job creation, Nigerians are not lazy – Rights activist

Human rights activist, under the aegis of Ambassador for Peace and Enlightenment Foundation, Prince Saviour Iche, yesterday, said that Nigerians are not lazy people who rely on money palliative to survive but that jobs should be provided with enabling environment for them to earn a living.

Speaking to Vanguard on FG’s decision on subsidy removal palliative, he requested that government should disclose the criteria for selecting 12 million as poor households in a country of over 200 million people.

His words: “The federal government proposal of N8,000 monthly pay to 12 million Nigerian poor households is not feasible. Nigeria is more than 200 million, the question is how would they get these 12 million poor households and what can N8,000 do for these people whom the government claim are poor?

“In Alimosho where I stay, we have more than 10 million people who are poor. The government thinks that Nigerians are fools, it is under the same APC administration under Muhammadu Buhari that Minister of Humanitarian Affairs claimed that they spent billions to feed Nigerian children during the lockdown. The same Buhari administration was giving N500 billion every month to poor Nigerians by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN governor, that money never got to anybody.

“This is just one of their many strategies, this government should go to the market with that N8,000 and see how expensive food items have become in today’s Nigeria. A pet bottle of soft drink is about N200; a paint bucket of garri is about N2,000 and rice is between N2,500 and N3,000. So what do they want to do for poor Nigerian with N8,000?’’
VANGUARD

Headline

Prosecutors Seek 11-year Sentence For Diddy, Citing ‘Lack Of Remorse’

Published

60 minutes ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

Prosecutors urged a federal judge Friday to sentence Sean “Diddy” Combs to more than a decade behind bars for his conviction on two prostitution-related counts, saying the music mogul had shown a lack of remorse.

“This is not a person who has accepted responsibility,” prosecutor Christy Slavik told the New York court at Diddy’s sentencing hearing.

“His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said in arguing for an 11-year prison sentence for the 55-year-old hip-hop innovator. ” “His respect for the law is just lip service.”

Combs’s lawyers have asked the judge for a 14-month sentence, which would effectively be time served.

Slavik said Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami next week in anticipation of a light sentence, which she called “the height of hubris.”

Judge Arun Subramanian for his part said federal sentencing guidelines suggested a prison term of between six and seven years although he has the latitude to impose more or less.

The judge also noted an apparent lack of remorse, saying Combs has “challenged his factual guilt full-throatedly.”

Combs was expected to address the court at the sentencing hearing after submitting a letter to the judge on Thursday pleading for mercy and saying he had “lost my way.”

Following two months of often searing testimony, jurors in July rejected the most serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering against Combs, sparing him the prospect of life in prison.

Combs’s mother and six of his children were in court on Friday and have submitted letters to the judge in his support.

In his plea to the judge, Combs apologised for his conduct, saying he was “scared to death” to be away from his family and vowing he “will never commit a crime again.”

“I lost my way,” he wrote. “I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess.”

Combs’s former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, asked the judge in a letter of her own to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.”

– ‘Humbled and broken’ –

Ventura, the 39-year-old singer known as Cassie, testified for days while heavily pregnant.

She described in wrenching detail physical, emotional and sexual abuse she suffered while in a more than decade-long relationship with Combs.

Ventura and another woman, identified as Jane, said they were coerced into performing so-called “freak-offs”: sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed.

“The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016,” Ventura wrote.

“People watched this footage dozens of times, seeing my body thrown to the ground, my hands over my head, curled into a fetal position to shield me from the worst blows,” she said, noting she has nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis.”

Ventura said she and her family had left the New York area for fear of “retribution” from Combs if he is released.

The defense didn’t deny Combs’s sexual activity but insisted it was consensual.

They also didn’t deny Combs’s years of violence against both romantic partners as well as employees — but they said it didn’t meet the legal threshold for the grave charges he faced.

Jurors took their side.

The conviction on lesser if still serious counts stemmed from a federal statute that makes it illegal to transport people across state lines for prostitution.

Combs has been incarcerated in Brooklyn for more than a year.

He said his time in prison has left him “reborn.”

“I have been humbled and broken to my core,” Combs wrote.
AFP

Headline

Madagascar’s President Denounces ‘Coup Attempt’ As Gen Z Protests Escalate

Published

1 hour ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina condemned on Friday what he said was an attempt to topple his government as fresh protests flared against the political elite and years of misrule.

The poverty-stricken Indian Ocean island has been rocked by near-daily demonstrations called on social media by a movement called “Gen Z”, to which security forces have responded with arrests, tear gas, and bullets.

The protests forced Rajoelina to sack his government on Monday and invite dialogue to restore order.

But that was not enough to placate the anger, and demonstrators have demanded the president’s resignation over his failure to deliver basic services, including water and electricity.

“They have been exploited to provoke a coup,” the 51-year-old said in an online video on Friday in reference to the mostly young protesters.

“What I want to tell you is that some people want to destroy our country,” he said, without naming who he alleged was behind the move.

“Countries and agencies paid for this movement to get me out, not through elections, but for profit to take power like other African countries,” Rajoelina continued in a live video on his Facebook page.

“That’s why I tell you to be very careful,” he said.

He also blamed a “cyberattack” for “mass manipulation”.

– ‘Contempt’ –

The Gen Z movement rejected Rajoelina’s speech as “senseless”, deploring his “contempt” for young people.

“We represent an angry people who can no longer be manipulated,” they said in statements on social media.

They demanded to be “consulted and heard” in the choice of a new premier, and called for an investigation into the police crackdown.

The group, which announced its spokespeople and outlined its motivations the day before, vowed to take “all necessary measures” if the president did not “respond favourably” within 24 hours.

At least 22 people have been killed and hundreds injured since the protests started, according to the United Nations, a toll the government has denied as based on rumours or misinformation.

Protesters mobilised again on Friday in several neighbourhoods of the capital Antananarivo after a 24-hour “strategic” pause.

But the city centre remained under strict gridlock and a heavy security presence.

Police pickups sped through the city centre, AFP journalists saw, and security forces fired tear gas sporadically while shops stayed shut along the capital’s main Independence Avenue.

Students who were demonstrating in the northern coastal city of Mahajanga were also dispersed, according to local media.

In the south, protests were seen in Toliara and Fianarantsoa.

– Strike –

Customs personnel and prison staff unions announced a three-day strike on Friday afternoon, following previous calls for a general strike by several unions, including those representing national water and electricity workers.

In a rare show of unity, the political opposition has also thrown its support behind Gen Z.

The youth-led movement has adopted tactics seen in recent movements in Nepal, Indonesia, and the Philippines, including the use of the pirate skull symbol from the Japanese anime “One Piece”.

The protests, which started on 25 September, are the latest bout of unrest in Madagascar since independence from France in 1960, posing the most significant challenge yet to Rajoelina’s tenure since his 2023 re-election.

Rajoelina said earlier he had met Madagascan religious leaders in a bid to quell the crisis, after seeing diplomats and representatives from the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations.

The former mayor of Antananarivo first came to power in 2009 following a coup sparked by an uprising that ousted former president Marc Ravalomanana.

After not contesting the 2013 election under international pressure, he was voted back into office in 2018 and re-elected in 2023 in contested polls.

Despite its natural resources, Madagascar remains among the world’s poorest countries.

Nearly three-quarters of its population of 32 million were living below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.

Corruption is widespread, with the country ranking 140th out of 180 in Transparency International’s index.

AFP

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White House Threatens Mass Firings Amid Stalled Shutdown Talks

Published

1 day ago

October 2, 2025

Editor

Efforts to swiftly end the US government shutdown collapsed Wednesday as Democrats in Congress went home without resolving a funding stand-off with President Donald Trump and the White House threatened public sector jobs.

Federal funding expired at midnight after Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, prompting agencies to wind down services, while the White House warned of “imminent” firings of public sector workers.

Senate Democrats — who are demanding extended health care subsidies for low-income families — refused to help the majority Republicans approve a House-passed bill that would have reopened the government for several weeks while negotiations continue.

Voting in the Senate is now adjourned until Friday, frustrating hopes for a quick resolution.

Around 750,000 federal employees are expected to be placed on furlough — a kind of enforced leave, with pay withheld until they return to work.

Essential workers, such as the military and border agents, may be forced to work without pay and some will likely miss their checks beginning next week. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association voiced fears for air safety as more than 2,300 members were sent home.

The crisis has higher stakes than previous shutdowns, with Trump racing to enact hard-right policies that include slashing government departments and threatening to turn many of the furloughs into mass firings.

Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters the administration was “working with agencies across the board to identify where cuts can be made… and we believe that layoffs are imminent.”

The Department of Energy announced plans to terminate clean energy projects, all in blue states, according to White House official Russell Vought, who said the slashed funding had been used to advance “the Left’s climate agenda”.

The Department of Transportation also froze nearly $18 billion in federal funding for major infrastructure projects in New York, which Governor Kathy Hochul called “political payback”.

– ‘Ridiculous’ –

Shutdowns are a periodic feature of gridlocked Washington, although this is the first since a record 35-day pause during Trump’s first term in 2019.

They are unpopular because services used by ordinary voters, from national parks to permit applications, become unavailable.

“I think our government needs to learn how to work together for the people and find a way to make things not happen like this,” said Terese Johnston, a 61-year-old retired tour guide visiting Washington from California as the government shut down.

“You compromise. You find ways. So everybody gives a little bit, everybody takes a little bit, and things work.”

Democrats — spurred by grassroots anger over the expiring health care subsidies and Trump’s dismantling of government agencies — have been withholding Senate votes to fund the government as leverage to try and force negotiations.

As the messaging war over the shutdown intensified, Vice President JD Vance took center stage at a White House briefing normally headed by Leavitt to upbraid Democrats over their demands.

“They said to us, ‘we will open the government, but only if you give billions of dollars of funding for health care for illegal aliens.’ That’s a ridiculous proposition,” Vance said in a rare appearance in the briefing room.

US law demands that anyone who presents at a publicly funded emergency room is treated, regardless of their ability to pay. But it bars undocumented immigrants from receiving the health care benefits Democrats are demanding, and the party has not called for a new act of Congress to change that.

– No compromise –

Republicans in the House of Representatives have already passed a stop-gap funding fix to keep federal functions running through late November while a longer-term plan is thrashed out.

But the 100-member Senate does not have the 60 votes required to send it to Trump’s desk, and Democrats say they won’t help unless Republicans compromise on their planned spending cuts — especially in health care.

Senate Republican leaders, who have just one rebel in their own ranks, need eight Democrats to join the majority and rubber-stamp the House-passed bill.

They got three moderates to cross the aisle in an initial vote Tuesday and were hoping to peel off five more as the shutdown chaos starts to bite. But Wednesday’s result went the same way.

Congress is not voting Thursday out of respect for the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday but the Senate returns to work on Friday and may be in session through the weekend.

The House is not due back until next week.

AFP