Fayose claims Chibok girls are not missing

Ayo Fayose, the governor of Ekiti state, has claimed that the rumour of the abduction of the Chibok girls was mere political fabrication meant to oust ex-president Goodluck Jonathan from the office at all costs. He has accused the federal government of deceiving Nigerians over the alleged missing schoolgirls, supposing that the All Progressives Congress used the situation to defeat Jonathan. Fayose said he viewed with delight the advocacy of Oby Ezekwesili-led Bring Back Our Girls group, which has been pressing for the recovery of the missing girls.

“You can’t get what is not missing,” he stated. Fayose, speaking in Ado Ekiti during a two-day workshop organized by Women Arise for Change Initiative, said: “The cries over missing girls were just a political strategy. What could Boko Haram have used to carry those girls? However, if truly missing, they should be recovered. One thing I know is that what is not missing you cannot get.” “It pains me that some of the human rights activists had gone since the advent of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government. They have lost their voices. Where were they when DSS invaded the Ekiti House of Assembly and arrested a lawmaker and locked him up? “They were flouting court’s orders at will and victimising opposition. It is better we collectively speak up now or we are consumed. 

“In some homes, men had cowed their wives and made them subservient. The wives have no rights to claim or defend. But before you can claim anything, the wives or female in general must be up to the task. You have to be intellectually and socially alert. READ ALSO: Year after election: We’ll judge Buhari after four years, like we did with GEJ – Nigerians “Don’t just, because you are a woman, lose your voice. With this, women shall collectively regain what belongs to them.” 

The girls were abducted in April, 2014 by the Boko Haram sect and had since been declared missing by the federal government. When the Chibok girls were kidnapped, some key Jonathan supporters openly doubted the story, and believed it was part of a grand design by the north to bring down the Jonathan government. Nigerian army recorded a huge success in the Boko Haram war, rescuing many people and resizing all territories from the insurgents. However, despite all the efforts, the Chibok girls remain missing.

Cold war in the villa: Osibanjo may resign over unfulfilled promises; Fashola tipped to replace him

The seemingly cold war that is existing between the president and his vice president is taking another dimension as a very reliable source who is an aide to the vice president claims that the Vice president, Prof Yemi Osibanjo is at the verge of throwing in the towel.

It is no longer news that the vice president has been on the neck of the president, mounting pressure on him to fulfill most of the promises they made to Nigerians during their campaigns. The issue of N5,000 for all unemployed graduates is one case the Osibanjo is hammering on, that it is a matter of integrity for him .

“Apart from being a respected law professor, the vice president is also one of the very senior pastors at the Redeemed Christian Church of God and he sees is integrity as being at stake here if these promises are not kept,” our source concluded. We also reliably gathered that efforts are being made to appeal to him to be patience with Buhari. Meanwhile, top members of the President’s kitchen cabinet are already positioning the current Minister of Works, Housing and Power, Babatunde Fashola to take over as the vice president, if eventually they are not able to convince Osibanjo to remain.

The news of the vice president being isolated and relegated even on some of his statutory responsibilities by some villa mafia group from the north is everywhere and this according to our source is more frustrating and the vice president is worried about the whole situation, and may resign.

French troops accused of 'forcing girls into bestiality' in CAR as rape claims mount against UN peacekeepers

Almost 100 girls in the Central African Republic have said they were sexually abused by international peacekeepers, with three claiming they were tied up and forced to have sex with a dog by a French military commander in 2014.

The United Nations has announced an urgent investigation into allegations of rape and assault, saying reports dated back three years.

A delegation from its “Minusca” mission aiming to stabilise the war-torn country interviewed victims on Saturday, uncovering horrific claims against UN and local forces, as well as troops sent by France.

The results of the investigation have not yet been made public but the Aids-Free World campaign group said sources had passed it details.

A spokesperson said three girls reported that they and a fourth victim, who has since died of an unknown illness, were tied up and undressed at a military camp by a commander from the French “Sangaris” force.

They said they were then forced to have sex with a dog before being given 5,000 Central African Francs (£6) each.

One of the victims said she was called “the Sangaris’ dog” by people in the community after the attack.  

The three surviving girls had sought basic medical treatment, Aids-Free World said.

It is far from the only report of abuse in CAR, where peacekeepers have been accused of raping girls as young as 12.

A report leaked last year included claims that French troops forced refugee children fleeing violence to perform sex acts for food.

Football world in shock as Messi agrees €500m Real Madrid deal

The Barcelona legend will depart Camp Nou this summer after the Spanish champions' greatest rivals activated his €250 million buy-out clause

Lionel Messi has left Barcelona in turmoil by agreeing to join Real Madrid at the end of the season in a record-breaking five-year deal that will be worth around half a billion euros.

The Argentine forward, winner of five Ballon d'Or awards and considered one of the greatest players of all time, will cost Madrid €250m to buy and approximately the same again in agent fees, commissions and wages.

The move was announced directly before Saturday's Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu in what appears to have been a deliberate move to destabilise the Liga leaders.

Messi, who joined Barcelona as a 13-year-old, explained that money was the only factor driving his move.

"With Financial Fair Play, Barcelona could not give me what I wanted and deserved," the 28-year-old said at the pre-match press conference. 

"I recommended they fund my contract by selling the Camp Nou, but for some reason they valued the club more than me.

"When I learned this, I was heartbroken and our relationship was finished.

"A man of my status should have a 2000-metre long mega-yacht, staffed and powered at all times. Like [Roman] Abramovich. The purchase and operating costs alone demand that I take home €50m per year after tax. Minimum. Is that too much to ask?"
However, Goal correspondent Garry McGarry obtained exclusive information hinting at other reasons for the move.

"Gerard Pique kept beating Messi at Fifa," McGarry explained in a series of poorly-worded tweets. "Messi hates to lose and became angered when the club refused to replace Pique's left hand with a pirate's hook.

"That was it for the ‘little dictator’, and he has done the unthinkable."

Sources in Madrid have indicated that Messi has also been offered the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar, "when we get it back after Britain leaves the EU", information which was not confirmed or denied by the Messi camp.

In an official statement released by Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo said he was delighted to welcome Messi aboard and that he was "looking forward to receiving his support from the wing".

Barcelona, meanwhile, continue to be beset by financial difficulties but are expected to replace Messi with Leicester City's Jamie Vardy, who will be mentored by Uruguay star Luis Suarez.

Benin: The Nigerian City that Made the Europeans Jealous

This is the story of a lost medieval city you’ve probably never heard about. Benin City, originally known as Edo, was once the capital of a pre-colonial African empire located in what is now southern Nigeria. The Benin empire was one of the oldest and most highly developed states in west Africa, dating back to the 11th century.

The Guinness Book of Records (1974 edition) described the walls of Benin City and its surrounding kingdom as the world’s largest earthworks carried out prior to the mechanical era. According to estimates by the New Scientist’s Fred Pearce, Benin City’s walls were at one point “four times longer than the Great Wall of China, and consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops”.

Situated on a plain, Benin City was enclosed by massive walls in the south and deep ditches in the north. Beyond the city walls, numerous further walls were erected that separated the surroundings of the capital into around 500 distinct villages.

Pearce writes that these walls “extended for some 16,000 km in all, in a mosaic of more than 500 interconnected settlement boundaries. They covered 6,500 sq km and were all dug by the Edo people … They took an estimated 150 million hours of digging to construct, and are perhaps the largest single archaeological phenomenon on the planet”.

Barely any trace of these walls exist today.

View along a street in the royal quarter of Benin City, 1897. Photograph: The British Museum/Trustees of the British Museum

Benin City was also one of the first cities to have a semblance of street lighting. Huge metal lamps, many feet high, were built and placed around the city, especially near the king’s palace. Fuelled by palm oil, their burning wicks were lit at night to provide illumination for traffic to and from the palace.

When the Portuguese first “discovered” the city in 1485, they were stunned to find this vast kingdom made of hundreds of interlocked cities and villages in the middle of the African jungle. They called it the “Great City of Benin”, at a time when there were hardly any other places in Africathe Europeans acknowledged as a city. Indeed, they classified Benin City as one of the most beautiful and best planned cities in the world.

In 1691, the Portuguese ship captain Lourenco Pinto observed: “Great Benin, where the king resides, is larger than Lisbon; all the streets run straight and as far as the eye can see. The houses are large, especially that of the king, which is richly decorated and has fine columns. The city is wealthy and industrious. It is so well governed that theft is unknown and the people live in such security that they have no doors to their houses.”

In contrast, London at the same time is described by Bruce Holsinger, professor of English at the University of Virginia, as being a city of “thievery, prostitution, murder, bribery and a thriving black market made the medieval city ripe for exploitation by those with a skill for the quick blade or picking a pocket”.

African fractals

Benin City’s planning and design was done according to careful rules of symmetry, proportionality and repetition now known as fractal design. The mathematician Ron Eglash, author of African Fractals – which examines the patterns underpinning architecture, art and design in many parts of Africa – notes that the city and its surrounding villages were purposely laid out to form perfect fractals, with similar shapes repeated in the rooms of each house, and the house itself, and the clusters of houses in the village in mathematically predictable patterns.

As he puts it: “When Europeans first came to Africa, they considered the architecture very disorganised and thus primitive. It never occurred to them that the Africans might have been using a form of mathematics that they hadn’t even discovered yet.”

At the centre of the city stood the king’s court, from which extended 30 very straight, broad streets, each about 120-ft wide. These main streets, which ran at right angles to each other, had underground drainage made of a sunken impluvium with an outlet to carry away storm water. Many narrower side and intersecting streets extended off them. In the middle of the streets were turf on which animals fed.

“Houses are built alongside the streets in good order, the one close to the other,” writes the 17th-century Dutch visitor Olfert Dapper. “Adorned with gables and steps … they are usually broad with long galleries inside, especially so in the case of the houses of the nobility, and divided into many rooms which are separated by walls made of red clay, very well erected.”

Dapper adds that wealthy residents kept these walls “as shiny and smooth by washing and rubbing as any wall in Holland can be made with chalk, and they are like mirrors. The upper storeys are made of the same sort of clay. Moreover, every house is provided with a well for the supply of fresh water”.

Family houses were divided into three sections: the central part was the husband’s quarters, looking towards the road; to the left the wives’ quarters (oderie), and to the right the young men’s quarters (yekogbe).

Daily street life in Benin City might have consisted of large crowds going though even larger streets, with people colourfully dressed – some in white, others in yellow, blue or green – and the city captains acting as judges to resolve lawsuits, moderating debates in the numerous galleries, and arbitrating petty conflicts in the markets.

The early foreign explorers’ descriptions of Benin City portrayed it as a place free of crime and hunger, with large streets and houses kept clean; a city filled with courteous, honest people, and run by a centralised and highly sophisticated bureaucracy.

The city was split into 11 divisions, each a smaller replication of the king’s court, comprising a sprawling series of compounds containing accommodation, workshops and public buildings – interconnected by innumerable doors and passageways, all richly decorated with the art that made Benin famous. The city was literally covered in it.

The exterior walls of the courts and compounds were decorated with horizontal ridge designs (agben) and clay carvings portraying animals, warriors and other symbols of power – the carvings would create contrasting patterns in the strong sunlight. Natural objects (pebbles or pieces of mica) were also pressed into the wet clay, while in the palaces, pillars were covered with bronze plaques illustrating the victories and deeds of former kings and nobles.

At the height of its greatness in the 12th century – well before the start of the European Renaissance – the kings and nobles of Benin City patronised craftsmen and lavished them with gifts and wealth, in return for their depiction of the kings’ and dignitaries’ great exploits in intricate bronze sculptures.

“These works from Benin are equal to the very finest examples of European casting technique,” wrote Professor Felix von Luschan, formerly of the Berlin Ethnological Museum. “Benvenuto Celini could not have cast them better, nor could anyone else before or after him. Technically, these bronzes represent the very highest possible achievement.”

A drawing of Benin City made by a British officer in 1897. Illustration: akg-images

What impressed the first visiting Europeans most was the wealth, artistic beauty and magnificence of the city. Immediately European nations saw the opportunity to develop trade with the wealthy kingdom, importing ivory, palm oil and pepper – and exporting guns. At the beginning of the 16th century, word quickly spread around Europe about the beautiful African city, and new visitors flocked in from all parts of Europe, with ever glowing testimonies, recorded in numerous voyage notes and illustrations.
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Now, however, the great Benin City is lost to history. Its decline began in the 15th century, sparked by internal conflicts linked to the increasing European intrusion and slavery trade at the borders of the Benin empire.

Then in 1897, the city was destroyed by British soldiers – looted, blown up and burnt to the ground. My great grandparents were among the many who fled following the sacking of the city; they were members of the elite corps of the king’s doctors.

Nowadays, while a modern Benin City has risen on the same plain, the ruins of its former, grander namesake are not mentioned in any tourist guidebook to the area. They have not been preserved, nor has a miniature city or touristic replica been made to keep alive the memory of this great ancient city.

A house composed of a courtyard in Obasagbon, known as Chief Enogie Aikoriogie’s house – probably built in the second half of the 19th century – is considered the only vestige that survives from Benin City. The house possesses features that match the horizontally fluted walls, pillars, central impluvium and carved decorations observed in the architecture of ancient Benin.

Curious tourists visiting Edo state in Nigeria are often shown places that might once have been part of the ancient city – but its walls and moats are nowhere to be seen. Perhaps a section of the great city wall, one of the world’s largest man-made monuments, now lies bruised and battered, neglected and forgotten in the Nigerian bush.

A discontented Nigerian puts it this way: “Imagine if this monument was in England, USA, Germany, Canada or India? It would be the most visited place on earth, and a tourist mecca for millions of the world’s people. A money-spinner worth countless billions in annual tourist revenue.”

Instead, if you wish to get a glimpse into the glorious past of the ancient Benin kingdom – and a better understanding of this groundbreaking city – you are better off visiting the Benin Bronze Sculptures section of the British Museum in central London.

Many states want to replicate religious bill, they’ve asked for our copy – El-Rufai

Those presently clamouring against the religious bill proposed by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State may be in for a long drawn battle as the Governor has revealed that many state governments are ready to toe the same path and have asked for a copy of the bill to replicate in their states.
El-Rufai, who made this disclosure yesterday while interacting with select journalists at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House in Kaduna, said the proposed law was sent to the state House of Assembly since October 15, 2015 and was not a new bill as being speculated.

He explained that: “It was first enacted in 1984 during the term of Air Vice Marshal Usman Mua’zu (retd) after the Maitsine uprising in 1982. The then military junta saw the need to regulate preaching in some states in the North. “Many states are ready to do similar thing now. They have asked for the copy of our bill. I will not name the states.”

He went on to debunk claims that he walked out on the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, when he tried to reach an understanding with him on a particular issue, stressing that that the speculation was the handwork of his political detractors. El-Rufai, who maintained that he enjoys an excellent relationship with the Vice-President, insisted that there was never a time he walked out on him, adding that the authors of such stories were mischievous. 

According to him, “I have never attended a meeting where the President and the Vice-President were all in the same room. “I think the only time where the President and the Vice-president were around and I was in attendance was when the National Economic Council, NEC, was inaugurated by Mr President. He (President) came and delivered his address and left.”

CBN Admits Selling Dollar To Aisha Buhari But at The Rate N197 Per Dollar

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has asked politicians to leave it alone to concentrate on its work and avoid dragging it into mudslinging attempts for whatever gain.

Asked to react to the allegation of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, that the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, was involved in round tripping of foreign exchange, the bank’s spokesman, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, told Vanguard that the allegation was, “not only ridiculous but laughable.” He asked politicians to avoid whatever would impact negatively on CBN.

But they rather admitted that they only sold at the rate of 197 and not 185 as alleged by the PDP.

His words: “Politicians should spare this institution from deliberate falsehood because if they destroy the reputation of the institution, the economy suffers. Politicians should please allow us to do our job in the interest of the economy.”

“It was very laughable to say that the CBN sold forex to anyone at N185/$1. The records are there for anyone who is interested to crosscheck. The CBN has not sold the dollar at N185 in recent times. The movement of the exchange rate was N155/$1; N168/ $1; and from there to the current rate of N197/$1.”

Mr. Okoroafor said Nigerians should disregard what he described as “baseless” and “falsehood” that had been trending in the social social media.

The PDP, at its twitter handle, had alleged that Aisha Buhari and her unnamed company had been involved in buying about $22 million from the CBN at the official rates and selling same at the black market.

She has also denied the allegation on her twitter handle and threatened legal actions against the PDP.

She said:

“Be advised, any further attempt to malign the person of the wife of the President will be dealt with according to the law. This is grounds for a lawsuit on defamation of character.

“Making false and unfounded allegations without proof just to incite Nigerians on social media is wrong.”

No Government Can Stop Us From Moving Our Cattle Around Nigeria” – Fulani Herdsmen

The nomadic practice of moving cattle from one place to the other that is common among
Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria has led to violent clashes between the herdsmen and farmers but the end of these confrontations doesn’t seem to be near.

This is because the idea of providing permanent grazing reserves for herdsmen to prevent them from roaming with their cattle from the northern part of the country to the largely agrarian south is not welcomed by some herdsmen who feel their right to movement is going to be infringed.

In a report published by Daily trust, some herdsmen and milk sellers expressed displeasure at the idea of restricting their movement and claimed cattle could not survive restrictions. A herdsman, Muhammadu Tukur said the idea of a permanent reserve will not work.

“It will not work out because we always relocate to where pasture can be found.” Adamu Birniwa who is the secretary of the state chapter of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association said he was aware of the federal government’s plan and that there was plan to educate the herdsmen on the importance and benefit of the grazing reserve. Halilu Alhaji Ya’u who is a herdsman condemned the idea and said it would not work. “If what you are saying becomes reality, it will inconvenience us.”

Alhaji Muhammad Hussaini who is the chairman of the Nasarawa state Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Nigeria said it was a bad idea and an invitation for to trouble. “We have over 35 million Fulani herdsmen in thecountry and stopping their movement with cattle might not be possible.” “If you force a Fulani man not to move with his cattle, you are inviting trouble.”

Hadiza Umar who sells Fura Da Nono rejected the idea and said it might kill her business.

Human Rights group names El-Rufai ‘threat to democracy’

A pro-democracy non-governmental organisation- Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has named the Kaduna State governor Malam Nasir El-Rufai as a major threat to peace and the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria.

 The group has, therefore, called on him to fundamentally amend his leadership style to avoid precipitating civil unrest in Kaduna State.

 HURIWA believes that any social cum religious warfare that is ignited in Kaduna would spread like wild fire across Nigeria.

 Corollary, President Muhammadu Buhari has been asked by HURIWA to quickly put workable measures in place to ameliorate the unprecedented poverty that has widened the gap between the few rich political elite and the millions of severely impoverished Nigerians.

 The Rights group reminded the Federal Government of the economic objectives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as enshrined in Section 16(1) (b) which provides:

 “The State shall, within the context of the ideals and objectives for which provisions are made in this Constitution harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient, a dynamic and self-reliant economy “.

 HURIWA expressed consternation at the level of involvement of young Nigerians in social crimes.

 It also asked government to act decisively to stem the wave of irregular migration by Nigerian youth through the dangerous Mediterranean Sea in search of the elusive greener pastures in the refugees-saturated Western nations of Europe.

 “Government must implement economic policies that would energize the rapid expansion of the manufacturing industry to absorb the millions of young University graduates roaming the streets of urban areas all across Nigeria.

 “We must act now before Nigeria implodes”.

 The Rights organisation through the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf said this in a media statement to commemorate the Easter celebrations.

 It particularly expressed strong worries about the spate of anti-people and anti-religious policies being churned out by the administration of Mr Nasir El-Rufai the governor of Kaduna State.

 It includes the alleged discriminatory demolition of the ancestral settlements of the Gbagyis/Gwaris and houses of the very poorest of the poor.

 HURIWA lampooned Governor El-Rufai over his anti-labour policy as against the Constitutional provisions that guarantees freedom of Associations.

 It also particularly stated that the newly introduced policy of granting licences to religious preachers is absolutely unconstitutional and illegal.

 It states that the 1999 Constitution has clearly stated in Section 10 that government must not make or implement policies that are exclusively targeted at some religious organisations.

 “Is the state authorised to treat one religion as a state religion?” HURIWA asked.

 HURIWA said the proposed illegal religious preachers’ licensing policy would negate the secular nature of Nigeria.

 “It is intended to attack not only the Christian religion but also outlaws the African Traditional Religions. This is absolutely unlawful,” HURIWA submits.

 HURIWA therefore called on the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress [APC] which produced Mr Nasir El-Rufai to call him to order so as to maintain the current atmosphere of peace and tranquility in Kaduna State.

 The group has also called on the Kaduna State House of Assembly not to pass any anti-labour and anti-religious legislations.

 The Rights group said thus:

 “We feel strongly obliged to name the Kaduna State governor as the single most notorious threat against the survival of Nigeria’s Democracy going by the high rate at which his administration is known to have introduced or implemented policies.

 “[They] are grossly anti-people and anti-religious even when the Nigerian Constitution in Section 14 (2) (a) states clearly that ‘Sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all Powers and authority.”

 The Rights group lambasted Governor El-Rufai for specifically targeting the ancestral settlements of the Gbagyis/Gwaris for state imposed illegal demolition order in a manner that clearly violates section 42 (1) of the constitution which provides that:

 “A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community,  Ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion SHALL NOT, by reason only that he is such a person – be subjected either expressly by…”

 “…or on the practical application of any law in force in Nigeria or any Executive or Administrative action of the Government to disabilities or restriction to which citizens of other communities,  Ethnic groups, places of origin,  sex, religion, political opinions are not made subject to”.

 HURIWA said that it is imperative that President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Assembly and the organised civil society community in Nigeria take immediate but transparent and effective measures to call Governor Nasir El-Rufai to order.

 This is because any social or religious crisis that originates in Kaduna State would have widespread implications because of the overwhelming presence of people of diverse Ethno-religious affiliations who cohabit peacefully in Kaduna State.

More Of Your Shops, Churches Will Burn Until You Leave Kano - Northern Youth Tell Igbos In Sabo-Gari

Following the fire that engulfed Sabo-Gari market, Kano in Northern Nigeria which left not less than 4,000 shops mostly owned by Igbos razed, a Nigerian from the Hausa speaking part has sent a strong message to the Igbos who resides and does business in Sabo-Gari, Kano. See his message below...

Fayose Rewards Afolabi Akanni With Car

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has rewarded a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Afolabi Akanni, who was detained for 18 days by the Department of State Services with a car gift.

At a ceremony held at the Jibowu Hall of the governor’s office while hosting the 26-member assembly, the governor again criticised the DSS.

He said the security agency had succeeded in tarnishing its own image by allegedly attempting to coerce members of the assembly to act the script of his detractors, which was to impeach him.

He said, “This House of Assembly is very unique and exemplary. You have refused to be bought over. My detractors have money and influence but Power of God starts where that of men stops. I’m so proud of you.

“You have shown that you can see beyond today. Wealth is not the amount of money in your bank but your level of integrity. You represent and carry yourselves as responsible Nigerians. The Old testament has to give way to the new testament. You are the ‘New testament’ House of Assembly.

“Betrayers will only contribute to the success of the person being betrayed. Those that betrayed us in the first term are no longer relevant today. Many of them even suffered and regretted their actions. Together we stand and I know the House will never divide. I don’t regret standing for those incarcerated. This is an opportunity for us to stand for our tomorrow.

Akanni in appreciation described Fayose as a “great leader and great mentor.”

“He remains a very honest man who also stand by his followers. I was so sure that he will fight my cause while in detention and I was not disappointed.

“The DSS asked me so many questions about the governor and I stood my ground. Governor Fayose is one man that I can never betray because he is my helper and my mentor. He has done a lot for me".

Dollar scarcity: Foreign airlines raise fares by 100%

The lingering foreign exchange scarcity, which has made it difficult for foreign airlines to repatriate their ticket sales proceeds for several months, has forced the carriers to increase their fares by about 100 per cent.

Foreign exchange risk is now a major component of airfares on Nigerian routes, the country managers of top foreign airlines have revealed.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the airlines operating on international routes in the country had increased airfares by as much as 100 per cent as a result of the development.

A survey of all the major Nigerian routes flown by the foreign airlines in the country showed that the cost of return tickets had been increased by between 80 per cent and 120 per cent of the previous fares, depending on the carrier, time of booking and the season.

The survey cuts across Nigeria-North America routes, Nigeria-South Africa route, and Nigeria-Europe routes. Airfares on the Lagos-London, Abuja-London, Lagos-New York, Lagos-Atlanta, Lagos-Houston, and Lagos-Johannesburg routes were examined.

Findings also showed that local airlines operating international flights, especially Arik Air and MedView Airlines, had increased their airfares.

For instance, airfares on the Lagos-London and Abuja-London routes now cost an average of N380,000 for the economy class seat, as against the average of N200,000 a year ago on the British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways. This represents an increase of 111 per cent.

Similarly, on Air France, an economic ticket on the Lagos/Abuja-London routes now goes for about N360,000, while Lufthansa German Airlines charges N380,000. These represent an increase of 80 per cent and 90 per cent, respectively, when compared with an average fare of N200,000 on the routes a year ago.

 A Business Class ticket now goes for as high as N3m as against the N1.5m a year ago on the Lagos-London route.

On the Lagos-Atlanta and Lagos-Houston routes, Delta Airlines and United Airlines, which used to fly Economy Class passengers for between N270,000 and N330,000 some 12 months ago, now render the same service at an average fare of N600,000, depending on the time of booking. This represents an increase of about 100 per cent.

South Africa Airways and Arik Air, which used to fly the Lagos-Johannesburg routes for between N100,000 and N120,000 for the economy class, now fly the route for between N180,000 and N220,000, depending on the time of booking and the season.

The Lagos-Paris route, which used to go for N180,000 on the average, now goes for around N400,000. This represents an increase of 120 per cent.

Operators link the increment in fares to the scarcity of foreign exchange to attend to the operational needs of the carriers and the erosion in the value of the ticket sales proceeds, which are now stuck in banks due to lack of forex to repatriate the funds.

Late last year, the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had unveiled a fiscal policy, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, restricting access to foreign exchange and funds transfer out of the country.

While this has had advantages for some sectors of the economy, foreign airline operators have complained of their inability to repatriate revenue to their operational bases as a result of the new policy.

An official of one the airlines told our correspondent that the carrier had close to N90bn as accumulated earnings in banks, which it had been unable to repatriate.

He said that the airline industry relied heavily on cash to meet its commitments, adding that it was sad that the government was not seeing things this way.

With huge airline revenue in the vaults of the banks, some of the operators nursed fears of being exposed to risks should the pressure on the naira lead to the devaluation of the currency, which could erode the value of the funds by about 35 per cent to 45 per cent.

Following the difficulty in repatriating earnings from Nigeria, some of the airlines initially began restricting cheap  fares  on the Nigerian routes in the last quarter of last year, leading to an indirect hike in fares.

At the time, the effect was felt more on second tier routes from Lagos-London-Atlanta, Lagos-London-New York, Lagos-London-Miami, Lagos-London-São Paulo, Lagos-London-Houston; or Lagos-Frankfurt-New York, Lagos-Frankfurt-Chicago, Lagos-Frankfurt-Los Angeles, and Lagos-Frankfurt-Shanghai.

Citing Nigeria’s slowing economy amid forex scarcity, some international airlines are now contemplating reducing flights to the country or operating smaller capacity aircraft as a short-term measure.

However, following complaints by the airlines, representatives of the International Air Transport Association are said to have pleaded with the CBN Governor, Godwin Emiefele, to intervene in the matter and make dollars available to them.

But the move has yet to yield any positive results.

The foreign airlines also reportedly met with the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, and urged him to look into their case.

A spokesperson for one of the airlines noted that the difficulty in repatriating revenues was affecting aircraft leases and fuelling, stating that the earnings were partly being used for fuel and renewing aircraft leases.

While the situation persists, the effect on air travellers and other businesses that depend so much on air travel has been immense.

A manager with a transport and logistic firm, Mr. Emmanuel Iruobe , said the company had incurred more costs than were provided for in the execution of most contracts this year.

Iruobe urged the government to look into the situation with a view to resolving it in the interest of Nigerians.

On their part, stakeholders in the travel industry under the aegis of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies have faulted the astronomical cost of air tickets by the airlines, especially the foreign carriers.

Describing the situation where taxes that go to the airlines are higher than base fares as unacceptable, the group has petitioned the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Aviation, to caution the foreign airlines over the alleged sharp practices.

The Publicity Secretary, NANTA, Mrs. Ngozi Ngoka, opined that the cumulative effect of taxes and surcharges by airlines also generated a final price to the passenger that could be as much as double the advertised airfare for a short-haul flight.

Another stakeholder, who is the Chief Executive Officer, Gadshire Travels, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, berated the airlines, describing the excuse of forex scarcity and multiple taxes given to increase fares as untenable.

According to him, the arbitrary increment and gap between what is charged in Nigeria and other African countries on the same routes are due to the failure of regulatory authorities to perform their duties.

‘We will sell fuel from Dangote refinery at international price’

Could you give us the update on the Dangote refinery, petrochemical and fertilizer project?
The project currently is under development as we have virtually completed the engineering design. We are now in the process of preparing the ground. It is a very huge complex of about 250,000 hectares there. As you know, it is in the Lekki Free Zone basically on the coastal waters so there is a lot of dredging and clearing that needs to be done. We are clearing the forest, filling up the land and getting it ready for the equipment and machinery that will come. We are also in the process of procuring the various machinery and equipment and getting them to site. We have already started erection of the fertilizer plant, which is part of the complex. We believe that by the end of next year the fertilizer plant should be in operation. The refinery will take longer because it is a much bigger complex. The capacity of the refinery is 650,000 barrels per day. It is about one and half times the capacity of all the Nigerian refineries that exist today.

How many million litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) or petrol will the 650,000 barrels yield?

The output will depend on the crude you use but the output of all the products will be more than sufficient: petrol, kerosene and diesel will be produced in sufficient quantity to meet all the requirements of the domestic economy and to allow for export. This is why we are very proud that by the time this plant is ready, Nigeria will be transformed from an importing country to an exporting country. That plant itself is the largest single refinery plant anywhere in the world.

In addition to the refinery, we are also going to produce some petrochemical products from the same complex. These are polyethylene and polypropylene. 

Looking at the complexity of the industry and the targets you want to achieve, would one be right to say that you are over-ambitious? Don’t you lack the capacity? 
You would be wrong, why don’t we have the capacity? We have the capacity to be the largest producer of cement in Africa. Today we are producing 29,000MT of cement per annum in Nigeria, which is over 60 percent of the total cement capacity in Nigeria. We are the largest sugar refinery and our plant in Apapa is the largest sugar refining plant in the world. If we can do it in sugar and cement, why can’t we do in it petroleum products? 

How prepared are you in terms of the human capacity to drive the project?
Today, human capacity is mobile. If you want the best trained refiners in the world you can bring them, and we are open to bringing the best people we can.  Apart from that, we are also in the process of developing and training our own people. Last Sunday, we sent about 50 young Nigerians to train as refining engineers and technologists. This is the first batch and our plan is that as the plant is progressing we will send more and more until we have all the skilled people that we require. They will not just learn in classes they will also deployed in refineries such as ours in India so they become not just qualified in terms of the knowledge but competent in terms of skills and experiences.

You need more than $14bn dollars to see through these projects. How are you working around the forex challenges?
The total investments in all the projects-the refinery, petrochemical, fertilizer and gas pipelines is currently about $14bn. However, the refinery itself is only a part of this. As with everybody else we apply to the CBN. We apply to get as much as we can from the CBN but where we do not have enough to meet any particular transaction we can also get it from other sources. The financing includes a number of other bank and other investment facilities like loans from institutions both Nigerian and foreign, some of these in foreign exchange. That is how we will generate the forex to meet our requirement. You are absolutely right that there are very serious challenges. We are not getting as much as we can but challenges are part of every opportunity. We have other challenges beside the forex situation but we do not regard it as something that will impede our progress or discourage us.

Have you received any form of waiver from the government for the importation of some of the equipment for the projects?
Whenever there is a policy incentive and we believe we are entitled to that policy incentive, we apply. Let me give you an example. The federal government says if you are investing in any project that is supposed to help develop gas in this country you can apply for some custom duty waiver. Where we see that, we apply. Because the fertilizer plant is a gas related-project, we have applied for custom waiver regarding the fertilizer plant. But we do not and have not applied for any special waiver to ourselves. This is very important to highlight that as a rule we do not apply for a waiver only for ourselves.

As a pioneer investor in a massive refinery project as this, has the National Investment Promotion Council considered you for any form of pioneer status?
There are several other incentives we have applied for. Where we see a policy-approved incentive which is available to anybody who qualifies for it, we apply. If you are in business, incentive is like a tax allowance, it is to encourage you to do what you are doing.

How do you plan to overcome the problem of pipeline vandalism? We understand Dangote has an oil block; do you plan to source your crude from the field?
We are involved in oil exploration and we expect that we will have some of our own crude that we can use but the refinery is designed to use different types of crude so that if we don’t have enough Nigerian crude we can also import. On how we plan to escape vandalism, the arrangement we are making is that our crude is going to come through a subsea pipeline. The chances of anybody going down to vandalize is limited. We are going to even have our own field lay pipelines that will deliver the crude and if we are importing it will come from major vessels that will come close to the refinery and pump the crude . We are not unconscious of this issue. 

If perhaps the Nigerian government puts up the state-owned refineries for sale again, will Dangote still be interested in buying?
This is speculative! If and when the governments put those refineries up for sale, which from all indications they are not going to do soon, we will look at the situation and see if it of interest to us and we will bid. We have bid before; we bought two of them but the transaction was reversed. So, we do not speculate at this stage, we will look at the situation when the opportunity arises and this is pure business. The real issue is that we will not speculate on any federal government-owned refineries.   

The participation of government in fixing fuel price has discouraged investors who have refinery licences. How does Dangote refinery intend to cope with the government still controlling the prices of petroleum products?
One would prefer if it was deregulated so that we know that we are playing in the open market. The key issue is that if I buy crude whether from Nigeria or anybody, I buy at an international price. If I produce product and want to sell, I should sell that product at an international price. So, I would not be affected by the decision of local pricing, it is on that concept that we went into refining. We expect that we would buy our input, especially crude on an international market price and that when we produce products we will sell those products at an international price. The refining industry is a global industry, if you use those international benchmarks you shouldn’t really worry about price.
It is about time Nigeria completely deregulated the downstream industry. The kind of reason that has compelled government to fix petroleum product prices has not been tenable. If it is said it is done because of the ordinary people when you do the study you do not see the ordinary people benefit from it, it is a few people who benefit. This is the best time to deregulate. 

What is your take on the current reforms the present government claims it has activated in the oil and gas industry? 
Part of the current reforms have been on the table for many years. The current reform effort is to remove the impediments to the past that have impeded the value Nigerians drive from it and to make the industry competitive worldwide. Third is to open up the industry so that Nigerians can also participate. Some of them are regulatory; like the PIB some are structural, some are intended to increase the efficiency of the industry. 
My understanding of the reforms announced by the Petroleum Minister (state) is to break up the behemoth NNPC to a semi autonomous company each with a clear pattern and a clear flow of resources going in and out to ensure there are no leakages. 
Whether this will achieve the intended effectively or not?  In some areas, I have some concerns.  It depends to a largest extent.  We haven’t seen the full implementation of the reforms so it would be unfair to make any judgement. But in my view,  unless those independent units are clearly self-accounting and one can see whether these units are actually making profit or loss. If it is making profit and we can see it,then the reform will be valuable, but if on the other hand we are putting them as independent units but still under one umbrella then it may probably not make the purpose. 

Away from petroleum, we have seen dramatic changes in the cement industry but till now your interventions in the sugar sector are not visible. There is the target for Nigeria to be self-sufficient in sugar. What are the challenges there? 
We have been able to influence the cement side both in terms of supply and in terms of pricing because we are fully integrated. We operate from the quarry to the cement bag so we are in control of the full value chain. In sugar we are not yet, we import raw sugar, refine it and then sell as dry sugar. Because we are only refining means that we do not have full control over the price behind the raw sugar. 
Second, the competition in the market is intense but we are changing it. Already we have a small sugar integrated plant in Adamawa. However, part of our plan is expand the sugar plantation from the current 6000 hectares to 150000 hectares that will help us produce sugar, at least, about 1m tons per annum that will enable us also have the kind of impact that we can have in the sugar market. We are in the process of negotiating with other state governments principally for now, Kebbi state. We have developed new acreages in those areas. I am confident that in the next four years we should be able to see change in the sugar industry as well.

There has been a sustained advocacy for the use of cement in road construction. Shouldn’t we be concerned about the quality and cost of this new technology?
What you think are the disadvantages are actually the advantages. 
Based on the current cost of imported asphalt and given the high rate of foreign exchange and given the fact that we are bringing cement prices down, we have established beyond reasonable doubt that for the same length of road and for the same terrain, a concrete road today will cost anything between 15 and 20 percent lower than the equivalent cost of an asphalt road.
Concrete road is less maintenance-intensive than asphalt road. Third,  with limited maintenance, concrete road will last between 25 and 35 years. An asphalt road of the same standard will not last more than 10 to 15 years. It is just that in this country we are so used to the normal black asphalt road. But we have been selling this and I can assure you that in the next two years you will be surprised there will be many concrete roads in this country.