The appeal by President Muhammadu Buhari to the judiciary to remain neutral in determination of election related cases as the nation draws closer to the 2023 general elections is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Guardian reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has charged the judiciary to remain neutral in determination of election related cases as the nation draws closer to the 2023 general elections.
He said that as the time nears, the significance of the legal profession becomes even more pronounced, considering the vital roles it plays in pre and post-election stages.
“I hope you maintain the position of an honest arbiter,” Buhari said. The President, who assured of his commitment to improvement of the welfare of judges, urged them to always ensure justice.
He said: “A society where justice thrives is one that can be assured of development. For Nigeria to effectively embrace sustainable development, institutions, such as the legal profession, must remain deeply committed towards promoting good governance.”
Buhari spoke in Abuja, yesterday, at the commissioning of the Body of Benchers Complex. Earlier, Chairman of the Body of Benchers, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), called for a more virile and independent judiciary, noting that the Constitution thrives on the doctrine of separation of powers.
He expressed concern over complaints of poor conditions of service by judges across the country. Olanipekun noted that as part of efforts to address the challenge, the Body of Benchers set up a standing committee known as the Body of Benchers Judiciary Advisory Committee, to interface with members of the Bench and take up their concerns and frustrations with appropriate authorities.
He said the committee is also saddled with “the task of comparing packages available to judicial officers in other jurisdictions.”
The newspaper says that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that it will contribute to its quota by providing the Federal Government with data and evidence to help tackle insecurity in the country.
The Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the NBS, Prince Semiu Adeniran, said this on the sidelines of the 45th Annual Statistical Conference in Keffi on Thursday.
According to the report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) the conference has as its theme: ” Security Challenges in Nigeria and Associated Consequences: A Statistical Overview.”
Adeniran said the bureau was working on a new Crime and Security Survey in collaboration with the Nigerian Army,
According to him, the survey is expected to commence in 2023.
“It is going to be a household-based survey where we are going to visit a selected sample of households across the country to ask them about the security situation in their neighbourhood and their environment.
“We have quite some data available on security which we have provided for the Nigerian Army but that data is not national, it is only adopted in the North- East part of the country.
“So, we are planning to have a larger and national survey on crime and security.
“The idea of this initiative is to contribute to the solution of insecurity in the country by providing the government with important information and evidence that can assist in tackling the challenge,” he said.
The Punch reports that Economists have warned that Nigeria’s ailing economy might be worsened as political parties and their candidates begin electoral campaigns for the 2023 general elections.
The economists especially warned that the aftermath of the possible excess liquidity in the system by politicians, occasioned by electioneering, might further increase the inflation rate and lead to a further devaluation of the naira.
The dollar hit N735 in the parallel market on Wednesday, the same day electioneering for the elections officially commenced.
The Electoral Act 2022 has a cap on political donations and expenditure by parties and candidates.
The National Bureau of Statistics had earlier in August 2022 said Nigeria’s headline inflation rate increased to 20.5 per cent from 19.64 per cent in July.
Speaking to The PUNCH in separate interviews, the experts called for stringent measures against money politics in the country, particularly dollarisation of the economy by politicians.
A Professor of Economics at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Sherrifdeen Tella, warned that should politicians release too much cash into the system, there might be dire consequences for the country.
Tella said, “If it is foreign currency, the economy will be awash with a lot of foreign currencies which on the one hand is good. But on the other hand, it is bad because it will cause a lot of inflation. It will further depreciate the naira because people will start changing the foreign currencies to naira that they can spend, and that will cause a further depreciation of the naira. That will result in a higher level of inflation because of the fact that it will lead to a higher cost of production.”
The newspaper says that the monthly shortfall in revenue remittances to the power sector stands at N35bn, the Executive Secretary of the Association of Power Generation Companies, Joy Ogaji, said on Thursday.
This amounts to N420bn yearly.
APGC is the umbrella body of Nigeria’s power generation companies. The Gencos produce electricity which the Transmission Company of Nigeria evacuates to the power distribution companies, known as DisCos, for onward distribution to end users.
Responding to a question raised in a forum on whether Nigeria should build more open cycle gas turbines or combined cycle gas turbines, Ogaji stated that Gencos were ready to construct this if there were enough funds.
Gas turbines, in this term, whether open or combined cycle, are basically machines used for generating electricity.
The APGC executive, however, noted that the power sector was currently suffering a shortfall of about N35bn monthly, indicating that the challenge of funding in the industry was still persistent.
In her response to enquiry, she said, “Most Gencos have this as part of their expansion plan.
“With a current market shortfall of about N35bn monthly, we are not walking our talk. Finance is the lifeblood.”
In his reaction to the conversation, the President, Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, who served in the National Technical Investigative Panel on Power System Collapses/System Stability and Reliability (June 2013), Kunle Olubiyo, asked if the N35bn was for market remittances.
GIK/APA