Varsities engage cats to prevent Lassa fever

The fight against Lassa fever on campuses takes a newer dimension, CHARLES ABAH reports

Authorities of the various universities in the country have deployed various strategies, including the use of cats, in order to prevent an outbreak of Lassa fever on campuses, findings by our correspondents reveal.

From the University of Benin, Edo State; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State; Enugu State University of Science and Technology to the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the race for hunting of rats has taken a new dimension.

Before now, many, particularly animal scientists, did not bother about the danger of co-habiting with rodents, which they considered as part of the ecosystem. For the majority of the students also, provided these rodents did not eat their books and personal belongings, they could afford to allow them to exist on campuses.

But this situation has changed. Both the students and the workers no longer see these common rodents as co-partners. In fact, while some of the institutions employ the conventional approach such as preaching the “gospel” of cleanliness, sensitising students and members of staff to the danger of co-habiting with rats, and fumigation, others use the unorthodox mechanism like purchasing of cats to “de-rat” their campuses.

Even in some schools, students have thrown aboard the idea of indulging in their regular “drinking” of garri pastime.

That the authorities and the students now employ these strategies is not out of place. Rats, especially theNatal multimammate mice (Mastomys natalensis), found in many sub-Saharan Africa, are believed to be the major carrier of Lassa fever or Lassa hemorrhagic fever. And statistics so far show that no fewer than 60 persons have lost their lives to the virus in Nigeria.

From Benin, the authorities of UNIBEN are not giving anything to chance, especially with the reported death of a final-year engineering student. The student was said to be an occupant in Hall Three, one of the hostels on Ugbowo campus of the university.

But the UNIBEN management, through its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Michael Osasuyi, dismissed the speculation about the death of a student of the university.

According to him, there is no truth in the story that a final-year student died of the virus.

Osasuyi, who, however, said the university was carrying out proactive measures to forestall any outbreak in the institution, added that a committee had been set up to sensitise members of staff and students to the dangers of the virus.

He also hinted of plans to “de-rat the university” as part of efforts to check the prevalence of rodents in the community.

Osasuyi added, “The vice-chancellor has mandated the student union to organise sensitisation programmes. Before any outbreak, the university is even proactive. The population of student is much; so, we cannot take chances. It is no news that we have rats everywhere.”

However, it was also learnt that the various hostels had been fortified with cats allegedly provided by the university management to control the number of rats within the community.

But to escape contracting the virus, a 400-level medical student, Eddy Uwughiren, said many students on campus had increased their commitment to personal hygiene.

Uwughiren said, “I know that the school has organised a seminar to enlighten students on Lassa fever. There are school cats that kill the rats. Rats are very common in our hostels but the cats do kill them. For me, I ensure that I cover all my edibles well. It is the same with my roommates; we try to maintain a high level of hygiene.”

The use of cats to prevent an outbreak of the virus is also fashionable in ABU. It was gathered that the authorities, in declaring war on rats, provided cats on hostels, especially on Samaru and Kongo campuses.

The Director, Health Services of the ABU, Dr. Hauwa Nana-Madugu, who confirmed this, however, said the university was free of Lassa fever.

According to her, all the hostels – Amina, Suleiman, Akenzua, Danfo-dio, ICSA/Rammat – have been provided with cats to eliminate all rats.

Besides fumigating and clearing the surroundings, students and members of staff, she said, had been sensitised to the danger of the disease.

She added, “Apart from fumigating the environment, clearing of the bushes and rats’ (reservoir), the various hostels have been provided with cats to attack the rats. The university has no option but to safeguard the lives of the residents of the community.”

But students of UNICAL and the Cross River University of Technology, Calabar, have reduced the consumption of garri with cold water (‘soaking’) due to the fear of the virus.

Though there has not been any reported case of Lassa fever in the state, the authorities of UNICAL have embarked on fumigation of hostels to reduce the number of rats in the institution.

A 400-level Human Anatomy student, Soso Jumbo, said students had been discouraged from consuming garri “soaked” in cold water.

He said, “We constantly get advice from the garri sellers on campus not to soak it the usual way in cold water to avoid contracting the virus. They have advised us to use to the hot water version for now and that is what I do if the need arises.”

Another student, Rosemary Johnson, said the fumigation by the management had reduced the presence of rodents on campus.

A 200-levels student in the Department Visual Arts, CRUTECH, Eme Archibong, said students had jettisoned the idea of “soaking” to avoid contracting Lassa fever.

The UNN management has also embarked on a campaign to sensitise the students to the virus.

Its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Okwun Omaku, said the management embarked on the campaign in order to prevent the outbreak of the disease in the institution.

He said, “We have been sensitising the students, creating awareness on the causes of Lassa fever and ways of preventing it. We did a memo on that and placed it on notice boards.

“Also, the campus radio station, Lion FM, is being used to create the necessary awareness among the students. The message is that they should ensure a clean environment, maintain hygiene and keep food and foodstuffs properly covered.”

But the Director for Public Affairs, ESUTECH, Mr. Ossy Ugwuoti, noted that Lassa fever was not in the state.

However, some of OAU students on Monday described rats at “co-tenants” in their halls of residence.

A student, who lives at Awo Hall, Timothy Okewale, said many students did not consider the presence of rats as a danger to their lives any longer because they had been living with these rodents since they were admitted to the university.

He said, “Rats are still around. They cannot go to anywhere because they get food easily and I think the environment makes them thrive.”

A resident at Mozambique Hall, who identified herself as Tope, agreed with Okewale on the presence of rats in the university.

She said although there had not been any recent fumigation in her hostel, the management placed a notice at the entrance of the hostels, advising students on the preventive measures.

She said, “The hall has not been fumigated since the outbreak of Lassa fever but we have plenty of rats around. Everybody is making efforts to prevent infection.

Students of the university last November embarked on a series of protests against the poor condition of their hostels.

However, the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, said there were no rats in the university. He said the neatness of the campus made it unattractive to rats.

He said, “There are no rats in OAU. The environment is not conducive to them. Rats prefer to live in dirty places where they can hide. That is not the case on our campus. The neatness and cleanliness of the OAU does not make the campus attractive to rats.”

A UNIPORT student, John Nnadum, said that the institution had begun the campaign against Lassa fever since last week, adding that lectures were organised in the institution on how to avoid the disease.

The spokesperson for the university, Dr. William Wodi, confirmed the contribution the authorities were making to prevent the virus on campus.

He added that the university had trained its health workers.

However, a student of the Kenule Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic Bori, Favour Udonkwa, said the institution had not begun any campaign on Lassa fever.

Udonkwa, a Mass Communication student, explained that though it was not long that the polytechnic resumed after a long break, no campaign against Lassa fever was going on in the institution.

The Deputy Registrar/ Head of the Information Unit, UNILAG, Mr. Toyin Adebule, said the authorities were not giving anything to chance. Beyond fumigation and sharing of pamphlets to sensitise members of the community, Adebule added, the authorities had posted all the needed information about the virus on the university’s website.

He said, “Following the bedbug saga, we had fumigated the hostels and other parts of the institution. Since then, we have continued to carry out the exercise to ensure that the environment is habitable. With the strategies put in place by the directorate of works and health services, I do not think the university will be caught napping with regard to Lassa fever.”

Even UI, whose students are on vacation, is putting in place some preventive measures. The UI Director of Health Services, Dr. Femi Akingbola, said the school had taken measures to ensure that no student came to the school with the Lassa fever.

He said the school would also screen the students when they arrived on February 13, adding that the institution needed the support of the Oyo State Government to guide against dumping of refuse by residents of the community outside the campus at the school gate.

SOURCE: Punchng

Barbie Becomes More Reflective of Society With 3 New Body Types

After 57 years, it’s about time Barbie got a makeover! And no, it’s not that she got the latest looks off the runway (although she did get those too) or a new eye shadow, rather the doll has transformed in a way that consumers have been urging — Mattel finally listened. The Barbie of 2016 doesn’t have an unfeasible (literally, not replicable in nature) figure. Instead the plastic toy has morphed to resemble the women and girls who love it: tall, curvy, petite.

On Thursday, Mattel announced Barbie will come in three new body types. While the Barbie that those around the world have loved for decades will still be available, these additional designs will only add to the company’s increasingly diverse offerings, with seven different skin tones, 22 eye colors, and 24 various hairstyles and hair colors to choose from. The El Segundo, Calif., toy company’s latest dolls went on sale onBarbie.com the same morning, and they’ll begin hitting shelves on March 1. But that’s not all! By the end of the year, a total of 33 new dolls will have been rolled out.

These changes come in response to customer demand for dolls that look like them. While strides were made in 2015 — Barbie’s foot was flattened so she wasn’t perpetually prepared to slip into a pair of high heels (it’s hard to run around in stilettos on all her high-powered and important jobs) and a doll version of director Ava Duvernay flew off shelves — sales were still tanking. “We believe we have a responsibility to girls and parents to reflect a broader view of beauty,” Evelyn Mazzocco, senior vice president and global general manager of Barbie, said in a statement.

Initial response to the news was overwhelmingly positive. 

Spokeswoman Michelle Chidoni added that the brand wanted “the product line to be a better reflection of what girls see in the world around them.” It’s about time Barbie provided this, considering there were others in the marketplace filling in the gap. Most notably, artist Nickolay Lamm funded a successful Kickstarter campaign to bring a “normal Barbie” to market with the body of an average 19-year-old woman (add-ons include stickers with birth marks, scars, zits, cellulite, and stretch marks). Additionally, Disney’s Frozen dolls replaced Barbie as the feminist doll of choice. 

According to Time, the company knows the changes are a risk and a design team spent two years reinventing Barbie. It took Mattel months just to select the three words for each figure type. And it then had to translate those into appropriate, inoffensive terms — internationally as well.

Now, all curvy Barbie needs is Dadbod Ken. 

SOURCE: Yahoonews

Health Minister warns pregnant Nigerian women against traveling to Latin America over outbreak of Zika Virus

The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole has warned pregnant Nigerian women against traveling to Latin America over the recent outbreak of a strange viral disease known as Zika which is transmitted by a certain class of Mosquito. The strange disease causes babies to have abnormally small heads and growth difficulties.

The spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Health, Boade Akinola, in a statement released today, said that there is no recorded case of the disease in Nigeria.

“The Honourable Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Folorunso Adewole is intimating Nigerians on the recent outbreak of. Zika virus infection, which was first discovered in Brazil in 2014. The virus is transmitted by a bite of mosquito vector. The manifestation of Zika virus infection include: mild fever, rash (mostly maculo-papular), headaches, joint pain (arthralgia), muscle pain (myalgia), loss of weight (asthenia), and non-purulent conjunctivitis. The virus is also associated with higher risk of congenital malformations in newborn when pregnant women are affected. The disease usually occurs about three (3) to twelve (12) days after the mosquito vector bite. The World Health Organisation has raised a global alert because the disease has affected about 23 countries in Americas especially in Latin America. At the moment, there is no cure or vaccine for Zika virus infection. The federal ministry of health hereby advises a travel restriction especially by pregnant women to Latin America for now until situation improves. In addition, the honourable minister of health has directed Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) to include Zika virus diagnosis as part of ongoing effort to manage Lassa Fever outbreak in the country. Prof Adewole, therefore urges Nigerians to be vigilant and report promptly any case of unexplained fever that is more than 48 hours, especially in those with recent travels to Latin America, to health care professionals. He also enjoined those working at various port of entry into the country to interview anyone coming from any of the Latin American countries for evidence Zika virus symptoms. In conclusion, the minister assures Nigerian that there is no single case of Zika virus infection in the country and there is no need to panic. The federal ministry of health will continue to monitor the situation and update Nigerians of any other developments. Women in Brazil have already been advised not to get pregnant in the next two years"the statement read

Cheap oil is causing a currency crisis in Nigeria. Banning imports is no solution

MORE than 30 years ago, a young general swept to power in the fifth of Nigeria’s military coups since independence in 1960. The country he inherited was a mess: bled dry by pilfering politicians within and hammered by falling oil prices without. Last year that general, Muhammadu Buhari, became president again—this time in a democratic vote. The problems he has inherited are almost identical. So are many of his responses.

In the eight months since Mr Buhari arrived at Aso Rock, the presidential digs, the homicidal jihadists of Boko Haram have been pushed back into the bush along Nigeria’s borders. The government has cracked down on corruption, which had flourished under the previous president, Goodluck Jonathan, an ineffectual buffoon who let politicians and their cronies fill their pockets with impunity. Lai Mohammed, a minister, reckons that just 55 people stole $6.8 billion from the public purse over seven recent years.

Mr Buhari, who—unusually among Nigeria’s political grandees—is said to have just $150,000 and a couple of hundred cattle to his name, abhors such excess. As military ruler he jailed, fired or forced into retirement thousands of bureaucrats whose fingers had been in the till. This time, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested dozens of bigwigs, including a former national security chief accused of diverting $2.2 billion. The EFCC has a poor record of securing convictions; but a single treasury account has been introduced to try to stop civil servants siphoning off cash. And agencies which may not be remitting their fair share to the state are having their books trawled by Kemi Adeosun, the finance minister.

Such measures are doubly important because the economy is swooning along with the oil price. The sticky stuff directly accounts for only 10% of GDP, but for 70% of government revenue and almost all of Nigeria’s foreign earnings.

Oil’s price has fallen by half, to $32 a barrel, in the months since the new government came to power, sending its revenues plummeting. Income for the third quarter of 2015 was almost 30% lower than for the same period the year before, and foreign reserves have dwindled by $9 billion in 18 months. Ordinarily there would be buffers to cushion against such shocks, but Mr Jonathan’s cronies have largely squandered them. Growth was about 3% in 2015, almost half the rate of the year before and barely enough to keep pace with the population. The stockmarket is down by half from its peak in 2014.

Domestic oil producers are feeling the pinch worst. Many borrowed heavily to buy oilfields when crude was worth more than $100 a barrel, and are now struggling to pay the interest on loans, says Kola Karim, the founder of Shoreline Group, a Nigerian conglomerate. This, in turn, threatens to create a banking crisis. About 20% of Nigerian banks’ loans were made to oil and gas producers (along with another 4% to underperforming power companies). Capital cushions are plumper than they were during an earlier banking crisis in 2009; but, even so, bad debts are mounting and banks that are exposed to oil producers may find themselves in trouble. “It wouldn’t surprise me if one or two went down,” says a senior banker in Nigeria.

The government’s response to the crisis has been three-pronged. First, it is trying to stimulate the economy with a mildly expansionary budget. At the same time, it is trying to protect its dwindling hard-currency reserves by blocking imports. Third, it is trying to suppress inflation by keeping the currency, the naira, pegged at 197-199 to the dollar. Only the first of these policies seems likely to work.

The budget, which includes a plan to spend more on badly needed infrastructure, is a step in the right direction. Although government revenues are under pressure from the falling oil price, Mr Buhari hopes to offset that by plugging “leakages” (a polite term for theft) and taxing people and businesses more. That seems reasonable. At 7%, Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio is pitifully low. Every percentage point increase could yield $5 billion of extra cash for the coffers, reckons Kayode Akindele of TIA Capital, an investment firm. Mr Buhari also plans to save some $5 billion-$7 billion a year by ending fuel subsidies—a crucial reform, if he sticks with it. Even so he will be left with a deficit of $15 billion (3% of GDP) that will have to be filled by domestic and foreign borrowing.

Yet his policies on the currency seem likely to stymie that. The central bank has frozen the naira at its current overvalued official rate for almost a year. The various import bans (on everything from soap to ballpoint pens) are supposed to reduce demand for dollars, but have little effect. Businesses that have to import essential supplies to keep their factories running complain that they have been forced into the black market, where the naira currently trades at 300 or more to the dollar. Several local manufacturers have suspended operations. International investors, knowing that the value of their assets could tumble, have slammed on the brakes and some have pulled money out of the country just as their dollars are most needed (see chart).

Nigeria is fortunate in having low levels of public debt (less than 20% of GDP), but it is not helped by high interest rates, which mean that 35% of government revenue goes straight out of the door again to service its borrowings. It would not take much to push it into a debt crisis.

Frustratingly, this crunch is one that Nigeria has been through before—under the then youthful Mr Buhari. Then, as now, he refused to let the market set the value of the currency. Instead he shut out imports, causing the legal import trade to fall by almost 50% and killing much of Nigeria’s nascent industry in the process. Between 1980 and 1990, carmaking fell by almost 90%. Today, as in the 1980s, the president is making a bad situation worse.

SOURCE: The Economist

How I make N300,000 monthly begging in Lagos – Drug Suspect

A suspected drug addict arrested by the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Command has disclosed that he made over N300, 000 monthly from begging in Ikeja.

Kehinde Olatubosun, 56, from Ibadan, Oyo State, was arrested on Saturday night along with 18 other drug addicts at a joint in Ipodo, Ikeja.

A team of Rapid Response Squad Decoy had on Monday night traced a stolen phone to the joint, leading to the arrest of a three-man gang mobile phone thieves, three hard drug peddlers and 13 drug addicts, the police said in a statement on Sunday.

Mr. Olatubosun stated that he made over N10, 000 daily begging at the Mobolaji Bank Anthony Roundabout; beside the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital; Toyin Street; and Opebi.

“All days of the week, I’m always in Mobolaji Bank Anthony Roundabout, Toyin Street roundabout and Opebi. At times, I collaborate with beggars. Whatever we make, we share but I get a larger share,” said the suspect.

“What I do is that, I get LASUTH drug prescription papers. I get it from their waste bin. With this in my hand, I convince motorists, passengers and passersby that I have a relative who is in dire need of money to buy drugs and I show them the prescription papers.

“This is what I have been doing since I was deported from Germany in 2004. Before the deportation, I was working as Electrical Engineer in Bauhusa, Colon, Germany. I was in Germany for 12 years before I was deported.”

Mr. Olatubosun‎ said his deportation from Germany was after he was caught in possession of hard drugs.

“I have four children. Two are in Germany with my wife. One is in Texas, United States and another in Nigeria,” he said.

“Unfortunately, all the money I make from this begging goes into drugs. Day after day, I am always there, seven days a week. I make more money on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I make more than N10,000:00 on weekends.

“As I speak to you, I’m not on drugs but I am experiencing withdrawal symptoms, that is, the effect of not taking drugs for sometimes.”

The suspect said he was at the Ipodo drug joint when the RRS operatives raided the place and added that it was the first time he would be arrested.
“I am praying that RRS release me. I promise I won’t go back to drug again. Where I live presently was given to me by my in-law.”

Another drug suspect, Dada Ajayi, arrested at the drug joint during the police raid, said that addiction had destroyed his life.

“‎I am trying to get over it now; drug has been the cause of my stagnation in life,” said Mr. Ajayi, 48, who said he had been hooked on drugs for over 17 years.

“‎I frequent that joint because I have nowhere to go. I have lived the better part of my life consuming drugs.

“As I talk to you, the remains of my wife is in Ikeja mortuary. She was taken to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja. I was asked to bring N150,000 for surgery but I didn’t have N50,000 on me then. She died in the process.

“Right now, I have lost my family because of my drug addiction. I don’t know where my children are or how to start my life again. I can’t stop going to that drug joint because it is the only place where I get consolation. It is the only place I’m at peace with myself.

“If anybody want to help us, they should arrest the drug barons or dealers. Arresting us won’t solve drug problem because without the sellers there won’t be the takers.

“You arrest the dealers, I mean the merchants, then, you have cut the supply and thus saved us from getting drugs. Without that, we would always find our ways there whenever we are released.”

SOURCE: Premiumtimesng

How President Buhari is hurting Nigeria’s electoral process

Perhaps, because the more  vocal sector of Nigeria’s civil society has been co-opted into the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, Federal Government, there is a creeping danger into Nigeria’s electoral system as President  Muhammad Buhari has serially  refused to obey the provisions of the 1999 Constitution regarding the composition of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the same body that was reformed and structured to deliver an election that ironically brought him to power.  

In the latest in a long series by Sunday Vanguard, it has been discovered that the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, for Kogi State, appointed on December 16, 2010,  and whose  tenure should have ended on December 16, 2015, is still sitting  pretty in office.   Either because of an oversight, or a deliberate base appeal to  primal and  ethane-religious considerations, or both, Hussaini Halilu Pai, is still in office over 39 days after the expiration of his tenure. This, at a time when  the statutory 13-member Commission is not in place, leading to half-baked and sometimes confusing policy statements from INEC.   This report will show the danger in what President Buhari is doing and why men and women of goodwill must guide him appropriately before Nigeria’s electoral system (of which he is a major beneficiary) is sent to the dogs.

Hussaini Halilu Pai, appointed December 16, 2010, and was expected to have finished his tenure by December 16, 2015, is still in office as Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, for Kogi State.   Mind you, that was the state where the controversial governorship election produced an outcome that has confounded even the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.   He hails from the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.   Vanguard’s Boluwaji Obahopo, correspondent in Kogi State, upon inquiry from Kogi State office of INEC last Friday,  confirmed authoritatively that Halilu Pai was still in office operating as REC for Kogi State.

Two others, Dr. Kwanga Godwin M., from Benue State, and Mr. Akinyemi Orebiyi, from Ogun State, who were also appointed on the  same date of December 16, 2010, have since left the employ of INEC and moved on.

The question is, why is President  Muhammad  Buhari still keeping Hallilu Pai in office some 39days since the  expiration of his tenure?

Perhaps, it is traditional with the emerging realities of the modus operandi of Mr. President in his appreciation of the fundamentality of the electoral process as a critical bastion of democracy which is expected to lead to good governance.

But as was the case with Madam Amina Zakari, so it is now with Pai today.   Another question is, what infraction would President Buhari come up with again, in this macabre appreciation of the real essence of obedience to rule of law?

Many and not a few stakeholders in the politically effervescent Kogi State are wondering – particularly INEC staff – that what started in the national headquarters of INEC Abuja where an “acting Chairman” of INEC was unconstitutionally imposed and continued illegally in office even when her tenure ended on the July 21, 2015, and the National Assembly kept quiet, has now been extended to Kogi State that now has an “acting Rec” on account of the unofficial extension of the Kogi State REC’s tenure, perhaps earned, according to stakeholders, from events arising from the recent inconclusive elections in the state.

This special REC, whose conditions for appointment to the office, as clearly indicated in the Constitution, requires clearly defined consecutive steps beginning at the National Council of State and Senate approval. Consequently, not a few tongues have been kept wagging in speculative anxiety over how the political appointee earned the special treatment and the very first of its kind. Inside sources at the INEC headquarters confirmed that the REC had written a hand-over note just as the then “acting chairperson” also claimed that she was not aware of anything as she was driving home when she received a call to continue in office without due process.

No doubt, the failure of Nigerians to rise up against the first unconstitutional retention of a National Commissioner as an “Acting chairperson” of the electoral commission despite the attrition of her tenure of office, has now been taken to the states starting with Kogi.

Insiders in INEC say that what is happening in Kogi with a REC whose tenure had ended but is still staying in office could not have happened under the leadership of Professor Attahiru Jega who could not be ordered by any authority to allow someone whose tenure had ended to remain in office in violation of the five-year tenure.

A senior official of INEC in Abuja revealed further that were it to be under the regime of Jega, a letter of notice would have long been written to the REC to hand-over to the Administrative Secretary but that “right now nobody could be sure of independence of the commission”.

Regrettably, the National Assembly since the inception of this administration, has been silent on the many unconstitutional acts with respect to INEC.

It was pointed out by those who make such allusions that the former “acting Chairperson “ of INEC   Mrs Amina Zakari, worked in legal limbo, because she did not have a constitutionally defined mandate until she was recently re-appointed.

Observers of the electoral arena find such constitutional breaches deeply disturbing because under a very contested political atmosphere, constitutional breaches are grave impeachable offences and can be destabilising for political development. The current government has been plagued by several constitutional missteps regarding INEC, apart from the unguarded removal of an acting   “chairperson” as determined by the autonomous decisions of the Commission, the President then allowed the Commission to function with just seven individulas without the defined constitutional board of 13 members and perpetuated this state of affairs till date, making all actions and decisions of the Commission susceptible to legal challenges.

In the same vein, well over 20 states according to sources in INEC, have no RECs yet to be appointed.

COMPOSITION OF INEC BOARD STILL INCONCLUSIVE

The government’s early constitutional breaches when it had not appointed Attorney General were somewhat attributed to that void but since that office now has a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, as the chief legal officer of the country, how do we explain what is going on now in INEC where seven Nigerians are now running the affairs of a constitutionally provided 13-man board from which a quorum of 5 minimum members can sit to take decisions on election matters.

If section 159 of the constitution   says one third of a full board of 13 – which a Federal High Court had declared to be 5, the question then is, does one third of the current seven INEC commissioners as configured, give us five members?

Therefore, why is it that the AGF is not giving the president an unimpeachable counsel on the implications of such constitutional breaches, particularly in an atmosphere of internal and external political rancour surrounding the APC government.

The APC, which is a merged party with many internal tensions and clear obvious external tension from an opposition party that is struggling to retain its political relevance, cannot afford the luxury of constitutional violations as this is a dangerous weapon in the hands of its opponents.

INEC is one of the areas where the APC government has however continued to portray itself as inelegant in abiding by statutes and regulation.

For instance, it took the spooking reminder of a various editions of Sunday Vanguard and that of a SAN, Barr. Femi Falana, to inform the government that a subsisting court order required INEC to have its full complement of board members in order to legally conduct elections.

However – and embarrassingly so – the government only made minimalist gestures in addressing the matter by appointing an incomplete board to conduct the affairs of the Commission.

And even at that, Sunday Vanguard discovered that there was no proper background check on two of the commissioners in the light of paragraph 14(2) of the constitution.

SOURCE: Vanguardngr

FG Increases Price Of Kerosene To N83 Per Litre

Vanguard reports that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) released its product pricing template on Sunday, January 24, in Abuja.

The agency stated that the N83 per litre price applies only to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). That means that other petrol stations and dealers can sell kerosene higher than the stipulated amount.

It would be noted that the hike in the price of kerosene came at a time when the price of crude oil dropped to record low, with the price of petroleum products dropping significantly in a number of countries.

The PPPRA’s template showed that at N83 per litre, the government will be making a gain of N10.72 on every litre as it puts the expected open market price, which is the landing cost plus total margins at N72.28 per litre. The expected open market price is the prevailing open market rate for the product in Nigeria, after taking certain costs into consideration.

The template put the landing cost of ‎the product at N57.98 per litre, while the total margin was put at N14.30. The retailers’ margin was put at N5 per litre; transporters at N3.05 per litre, and dealers at N1.95 per litre.

It further put the bridging fund at N5.85 per litre; marine transport average at N0.15 and Administrative‎ Charges – N0.15.

According to the PPPRA’s template, the official ex-depot price, which depot owners would sell to marketers, is N68.70 per litre. The official ex-depot price for collection is N73 per litre, while ex-coastal price is N68.02 per litre.