Daily Watch – Fuel scarcity mania hits PH, ‘98% of Nigerian industries are foreign-owned’

The Department of State Services (DSS) has alleged that its preliminary investigation established the offences of a logistic supplier, aiding and abetting acts of terrorism against Tukur Mamu. The DSS, in an affidavit in support of its ex-parte motion, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1617/2022 filed before Justice Nkeonye Maha of a Federal High Court, Abuja, also alleged that the investigation established an act of terrorism financing against Mamu, the former terrorists’ negotiator. Also, on Tuesday, Justice Maha granted the motion ex-parte moved by the counsel for the DSS, Ahmed Magaji, seeking an order to detain Mamu for 60 days in the first instance, pending the conclusion of the investigation. The DSS, in the application, had sought “an order enabling the State Security Service/applicant to detain the respondent (Mamu) for a period of sixty (60) days in the first instance, pending the conclusion of investigations.” Mamu is the sole respondent in the suit. In the affidavit in support of the ex-parte motion deposed to by Hamza Pandogari, a legal officer with the DSS, he said it was necessary for Mamu to be detained for 60 days in the first instance, pending the conclusion of investigations of various acts of terrorism against him. Pandogari alleged that Mamu, “the self-acclaimed Kaduna train negotiator exploited the opportunity to perpetrate, aid and abet, as well as render support to both local and international terrorist organisations. “That the defendant (Mamu) has used the cover of his profession as a journalist to aid both local and international terrorist groups.”

Fuel queues have resurfaced in filling stations in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. The scarcity which appears to be artificial began on Monday following the leadership tussle between two factions of the Port Harcourt unit of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN. One of the factions said the loading of products has been halted in private depots in the state and accused the opposing faction of using security agents to disrupt the process. However, the faction of IPMAN led by Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo said the security operatives are only at the depot to maintain law and order. The meeting between the marketers and the Permanent Secretary of the Rivers State Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources on Monday appeared not to have helped the situation. In the meantime, residents of the state have expressed displeasure over the recent fuel scarcity. A resident said he paid ₦350 for a litre of petrol.

The Director General of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim has said about 98 percent of industries operating in Nigeria are owned by foreigners. He made the disclosure on Tuesday while flagging off the 2022 Commemoration of African Day for Technology and Intellectual Property Rights at the Innov8 Hub, in Abuja. Ibrahim, therefore, called on African countries to embrace the culture of innovation for the sustainable economic development of the continent. He stressed the need for all African countries to invest more in research and development to ensure the technological advancement of the continent. Ibrahim said: “More than 90 percent of technology used in Nigeria is imported and there is no way a country can develop with this. Our research institutions are expected to develop research so that we can come up with alternative technology to reduce importation. But even the educational institutions that are to come up with research are not well funded. “We must therefore improve on the funding of research. In fact, about 98 percent of industries operating in Nigeria are foreign-based. Their interest is not to develop our country but to make money and transfer it to their own countries”. He disclosed that Nigeria has started exporting software across Africa, hence there is still a need to bring the industry and academia together.

Africa is losing 5% to 15% of its per capita economic growth due to the effects of climate change and is facing a gaping climate finance shortfall, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB). Africa has been hit disproportionately hard by the fallout from climate change, which has aggravated droughts, flooding and cyclones across the continent in recent years. African nations received around $18.3 billion in climate finance between 2016 and 2019, Kevin Urama, the AfDB’s acting chief economist, said in a statement released on Tuesday. But they are staring down a nearly $1.3 trillion climate finance gap for the 2020 to 2030 period. “These sums reflect how the crisis is,” Urama said. “Investing in climate adaptation in the context of sustainable development is the best way to cope with the impacts of climate change impacts.”