The Man Saliu Mustapha

On the surface, Saliu Mustapha is a reputable politician with over two decades of experience in party administration and developmental politics. But beyond that facade is a philanthropist and an accomplished international businessman with interest in real estate and construction. Born on September 25, 1972, into the reputable family of Issa and Maryam Mustapha of Gambari Ward in Ilorin East Local Government Area, Kwara State, Saliu was groomed at an early age to imbibe the core traditional and religious values of discipline, courage, honesty, piety and hardwork upon which the ancient city of Ilorin was built. He has continued to hold on to these values till date in a way that reflects in his daily living. The young Saliu attended St. Bartholomew Primary School, Wusasa, Zaria. He proceeded to Command Secondary School, Kaduna for his post-primary education. For his higher education, Saliu studied Mineral Resources Engineering at the Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna and graduated in flying colours at every score. He is presently running other professional courses in some of Nigeria’s top grade higher institutions of learning. As an undergraduate, Saliu Mustapha developed keen interest in governance and that formed the basis of his evolution into politics. His belief in purposeful and progressive leadership vis-a-vis dedication to public service, brought him on the same ideological paths with the likes of Chief Alexis Aniello, Chief Olu Falae, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, and President Muhammadu Buhari. Specifically, between 2001 – 2002, Saliu was the National Publicity Secretary of the Progressive Liberation Party (PLP) under the leadership of Dr. Ezekiel Ezeogwu. A little further in 2003, Saliu and other likeminds came together to register and form the Progressive Action Congress (PAC), whereat he was returned again as a National Publicity Secretary, an impressive feat for his age and clout as at that time. At about the time President Muhammadu Buhari conceived the idea of coming back into public service as a civilian President, Saliu Mustapha keyed into the vision. Thus, he became a pivotal member of The Buhari Organisation (TBO) and the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) respectively for several years. He was a major member of the Buhari Presidential Campaigns in 2003 when the latter ran under the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). In 2007, instead of sitting in far away Abuja, he decided to go into the political trenches to hold forth for the ANPP in his home state, Kwara State, where he contested as a member of the Federal House of Representatives for Ilorin East and South Federal Constituency. In 2011, Saliu became a foundation NEC member of the Buhari’s newly formed Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) first, as an Ex-Officio, and subsequently as its National Deputy Chairman under the leadership of Prince Tony Momoh (of blessed memory). The CPC would later merge with other legacy parties to forming the All Progressives Congress (APC). Saliu, dogged, dutiful and conscientious, was among the very few that made the historic merger come to reality. In fact, he is reputed to be the signatory to the merger agreement on behalf of the CPC tendency in the coalition. Since then till now, he has remained true to the progressive ideology as a stakeholder of the APC both at his home state and at the national level. He has contributed in no small measure to the sustenance of the party. Amid the accolades and achievements at the national arena, Saliu Mustapha never allowed his giant strides to becloud his sense of duty to the grassroots. This is evident in his much talked about philanthropic activities and interventions in Kwara State, particularly in the areas of educational, health and human capital development programmes. Through his foundation – the Saliu Mustapha Foundation – Saliu has engaged in a wide range of charitable projects in his hometown and beyond, advancing humanitarian causes. On the average, he spends over N100,000,000 (One Hundred Million) Naira in private, hard-earned funds annually to execute various plans and projects of the Foundation, including an annual financial empowerment programme, annual scholarship and educational support services, among others. Politically, he is a force to reckon with in the political firmament of Kwara State. For years, he has nurtured and maintained his SMS political group, a one of its kind political movement that cuts across the 16 Local Government Areas of the state. In 2019, this group would later prove its mettle as it joined forces with other progressives in Kwara state, under the Otoge Rainbow Coalition that heralded a rare political revolution never witnessed before in the history of the state. Ironically, all these happened in spite of his ill-treatment by some forces in the party in the 2019 gubernatorial primaries of the party. That clear case of injustice necessitated the then Adam Oshiomole-led NEC to write a formal Letter of Apology admitting the iniquity against him and apologising for same. Analysts believed that the decision of Mustapha not to litigate his ill-motivated treatment then is the singular reason APC is still standing today in Kwara as a political platform. It was the height of loyalty that he not only refused the temptations to rock the APC boat, he also pulled humongous personal resources in support of all the candidates of the party, and participated very actively in the campaigns during the 2019 General Elections which led to a 100% victory for the party in the state. Saliu Mustapha is very widely respected as a mentor and a pillar of support to thousands of youths in Kwara State and beyond, being a young person himself. He mingles freely with them, supports them and their aspirations from time to time. Mustapha is very widely traveled. He has been to virtually all the continents of the world, either for business or family vacations. He is happily married with kids. He speaks a variety of Nigerian languages; namely Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Okun.

Terrorism Financing: Dozens Arrested In Nationwide Crackdown

Dozens of persons have been arrested by security agents in an ongoing nationwide crackdown on suspected financiers and collaborators of Boko Haram and other... Bandit Rampage By Abdulaziz Abdulaziz Mon Apr 19 2021 Dozens of persons have been arrested by security agents in an ongoing nationwide crackdown on suspected financiers and collaborators of Boko Haram and other criminal groups in Nigeria, Daily Trust reports. This is coming five months after Daily Trust exclusively reported jailing of six Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates over allegations of terrorism financing. Media frenzy over Buhari’s health Don’t succumb to blackmail, MURIC tells Pantami The ongoing inter-agency operation is being led by a top intelligence officer, with an army general leading a task team comprising military personnel and staff from intelligence services. Multiple sources informed Daily Trust that the closely-guarded operation is being coordinated by Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), in collaboration with the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). As part of the operation, billions of naira traced to businesses belonging to persons of interest have been blocked in banks in series of “post no debit” letters sent out to banks by the CBN and NFIU. The apex bank has also lately obtained court orders directing freezing of dozens of accounts flagged for suspicious transactions. While officials expressed hope that the ongoing operation would be a “game-changer” in the lingering fight against Boko Haram insurgents and other criminal gangs, some analysts say the method may not provide the needed elixir as terrorists and bandits operate largely outside the financial system. A security source familiar with the operation confided in our reporter that the operation started last year with massive gathering and analysis of financial intelligence and drawing uplink analysis, leading to initial marking of some 60 businesses and individuals. A source disclosed to Daily Trust that an initial list of 957 suspects comprising bureau de change operators, gold miners and sellers, and other businessmen is being acted upon. Already, according to the source, about 400 persons have been arrested in series of arrests in Kano, Borno, Abuja, Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kaduna and Zamfara. In Kano, a major focus for the operation, traders at the foreign exchange open market in Wapa, Fagge Local Government, were picked up on March 9, 15th and 16th. Prominent among the BDC operators arrested in the state include Baba Usaini, Abubakar Yellow (Amfani), Yusuf Ali Yusuf (Babangida), Ibrahim Shani, Auwal Fagge, and a gold dealer, Muhammad Lawan Sani. Four of the arrested BDC operators were related to two persons jailed in Dubai last year on similar charges. Those arrested are being kept in military and DSS facilities in Abuja and other places, even as their families and lawyers decry the continued detention of the suspects without trial or informing them of their offences. Daily Trust gathered that dozens of businessmen who were netted in were invited to DSS offices and military barracks in their states from where they were cut off from the outside world. Family members who spoke to a Daily Trust reporter said they could not establish the locations where their loved ones were being held as they were neither briefed by officials nor were the suspects allowed to contact their families. The operation was said to have received presidential nod last year, and approval by President Muhammadu Buhari for the exercise to be conducted out of the established bureaucracy. “Because this is economic warfare against the insurgents and other militant groups, the president, when approving the operation directed that the NFIU take the lead as the country’s financial intelligence powerhouse. “With the presidential approval, a task team was composed made up of personally selected senior officers who were deployed under the DIA to carry out the special assignment,” a senior government official told Daily Trust. One official involved in the operation, who however craved for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the operation has recorded immense success with the arrest of key persons with “direct” link to bandits and insurgents. “The main person coordinating the funding ring for Boko Haram is in our custody, he and his closest ally in the business,” he said. According to the source, about 19 BDCs owned by persons with “direct connection with Boko Haram” were uncovered, while over N300 billion was found to have been pumped into the funding of terrorism in the country. The source disclosed that from one person in Borno State and another in Zaria, Kaduna State, over N50 billion were traced in funding to the armed groups. “A number of those arrested have divulged vital information including operational details of bandits and Boko Haram insurgents. But they are being kept to aid further arrests,” he said. According to him, not all the affected businessmen arrested were members of the criminal gangs but many of them were involved in it as a business. Soldiers in the net Daily Trust gathered that when the operation started last year, one of the initial focus was to round up collaborators of Boko Haram insurgents among security agents. “About 20 of them were arrested in Borno and detained. In the course of interrogation they revealed a lot including the identity of some of their civilian collaborators who were also arrested,” a source said. In addition to the initial arrest in the military, Daily Trust gathered that fresh arrests were made of military officers in Borno and other places as part of the expansion phase of the operation. The ongoing operation, Daily Trust gathered is the first phase of activities lined up by the task team to crack the riddle of how Boko Haram, kidnappers and other criminals fund their operations and launder the proceeds. As part of the operation, CBN has upped the ante in tracking suspicious transactions and malpractices leading to mass closure of bank accounts identified as undertaking suspicious transactions. Last week, the bank announced the freezing of 193 corporate and individual bank accounts over allegations of suspicious forex transactions. This is in addition to 138 accounts frozen in February. In a February 24, 2021 memo to commercial banks from the CBN, which was sighted by our reporter, the apex bank directed the banks to “place the accounts of the under listed customers on Post-No-Debit with immediate effect”. The bank did not give reasons for the order. Operators of the accounts, mostly international businessmen decry the sudden measure without fair hearing. Some of the affected traders, Daily Trust gathered, are businessmen who import wares from China. One of them, a Kaduna-based businessman, Alhaji Sani Polo, is said to have over N200 million, including bank loans, trapped in his accounts. Measure may not yield results – Expert An anti-money laundering specialist, Umar Yakubu, told Daily Trust that the ongoing operation maybe applying the wrong medicine for the disease of terrorism financing. According to him, finances for outlawed groups like Boko Haram do not usually come in through the banking system, making it difficult to trace through the use of banks’ Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs). He said the way to crack the financial transactions of criminal elements like insurgents and their collaborators is through informal tracking through “raw, old school investigation technique” which require life time intelligence on people’s lifestyle to identify persons getting rich overnight. Yakubu further explained that the security agencies should tackle the problem by putting more emphasis on the country’s borders, which he described as porous and easy passage for money and other logistics. Family, friends defend suspects Relatives and associates of the arrested businessmen, however, insisted that they were innocent of allegations. “There is no way they will finance or aid anything criminal,” said a businessman in the market, Mohammed Sani. He said because their line of trade involves dealing with all manner of people, it is therefore difficult to know the real background and identify of a customer. Sani urged for a thorough investigation to establish the real truths, especially by establishing if those arrested were conscious of the identity of the persons they were alleged to have helped, or not. Sani Ali Yusuf, whose two brothers and two cousins were among those arrested described the allegations against his siblings as untenable. He said persons engaged in an illegal transaction like terrorism financing are likely to be “few and secretive, not this prominent and so many”. “Most of the people arrested are prominent businessmen at Wapa. I am sure if there will be a thorough investigation, they will find out that this is not true,” he said. “Financing terrorism or even money laundering is not something my brothers engage in. “Of course in their line of business, as I understand it, a criminal may come forth and they deal with him without them knowing. It is like a transporter who is given some goods to transport. If cartons are given to them in the name of fish, he has no way of finding out if indeed it was fish that was inside or something else,” he said. Be fair, speedy in investigation – ABCON President of the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, appealed to the authorities concerned to speed up investigation on the issue in order “for those who are culpable to face the law and the innocent ones to be released”. He said his association supports any measure by the government in fighting illegalities, but asked the authorities to be careful so that those who are innocent do not suffer unnecessarily. He confirmed arrests of a number of the association’s members in places such as Kano, Abuja, Sokoto, Zamfara, Niger and Borno, saying the association was following a “non-confrontational approach” to resolve the issue. “The issue is very dicey that is why we are being careful. It is an issue that started from a foreign country and that is why the presidency took it with all seriousness also.” Gwadabe said efforts by officials of the association to meet the incarcerated members of ABCON was resisted, even after the initial promise of access by the DSS. DSS mum Spokesperson of the DSS, Peter Afunaya, when contacted on Friday, promised to make findings on the issue and revert to our reporter. He, however, did not get back as of the time of filing this report. He did not respond to a text message sent to him to follow up and ignored repeated phone calls thereafter. It’s a military affair – NFIU An official of the NFIU, Sani Tukur, referred Daily Trust to the military saying the agency has no mandate to “arrest or investigate anybody”. I’m unaware – Army spokesperson Spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, Major General Mohammed Yerima, said he was not aware of the arrest of army officers in connection with allegation of collaboration with Boko Haram elements. He also referred the question on the military’s involvement in the operation to the DSS, saying issues to do with arrests on charges of terrorism financing is under the purview of the DSS.

Legislature, judiciary autonomy: Govs oppose Buhari Executive Order 10, back financial autonomy, says Lalong

Friday Olokor • FG can’t force governors to enforce financial autonomy – Plateau gov • NGF plans talks with judiciary workers to end JUSUN’s eight-day strike The Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, on Tuesday said state governors were not opposed to financial autonomy for the judiciary and the legislature. Lalong, who stated this in an interview with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum press corps in Abuja, however, faulted the Executive Order 10, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) signed into law last year. The Plateau State governor, who is also the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, said the Federal Government could not force states to implement financial autonomy for the judiciary and legislature. Lalong said that there were measures that must be taken before the autonomy could be implemented. He added that state governors would meet with the leadership of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria on Wednesday (today) with a view to ending the strike embarked upon by the union. Judiciary workers had on Tuesday last week begun the indefinite nationwide strike in protest against the denial of the judiciary its constitutionally guaranteed financial autonomy which was also affirmed by a Federal High Court in January 2014. Recall that the President last year signed into law, Executive Order No 10 of 2020 cited as “the implementation of financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary Order, 2020.” According to www.thelawcrest.com, a key provision of the Executive Order, “which seeks to enforce financial autonomy of the legislature and judiciary of the states, is the power given to the Accountant-General of the Federation to deduct from the allocations due to a state from the Federation Account, any sums appropriated for the legislature or judiciary of that state which the state fails to release to its legislature or judiciary as the case may be and to pay the funds directly to the state’s legislature or judiciary concerned.” Responding to questions on the public outcry over the ongoing strike by JUSUN allegedly caused by the state governors and the non-implementation of Executive Order 10, Lalong said, “The court did not make any pronouncement on Order 10. The court said there is a law on financial autonomy, so Order 10 and financial autonomy are different. Order 10 is not a law. Financial autonomy is a law. “People don’t understand what Order 10 is. Order 10 is talking about implementation. But for us governors, we are saying no. We are going to do implementation. We don’t need any Order 10 to force us to do implementation. So, we don’t need Order 10. We are only working on the law of implementation because Federal Government cannot tell us how to implement. “We are doing the implementation. So for the judiciary, I’ve explained. I have said it’s perhaps people don’t understand. People have not even read what is Order 10 and the difference between Order 10 and the financial autonomy. We will have a meeting tomorrow. It is (the meeting) about financial autonomy. “It’s not about Order 10. Order 10 of course is sub-judice now. It’s in court. We are not bothered about Order 10. We are talking about the implementation of the financial autonomy law. “I was a speaker. We started it in 1999. Today I’m a governor, and I knew how the governors agreed, and brought in financial autonomy. It was a law, agreed by the governors. “So who is the one that is even crying more than the bereaved? All these things affect us. And, of course, talking today, I’m a lawyer and I would want the judiciary to be autonomous. “I’ve been a legislator. I was a speaker and chairman of speakers’ conference, so I will say that I will want autonomy for them. He said autonomy would strengthen the judiciary and legislature in states. “People are thinking that is about money, it’s not about money. We want all the institutions strengthened; both the judiciary and the legislature,” he stated. While responding to question on why the governors were foot-dragging, Lalong disagreed with the insinuation. He said, “No governor is foot-dragging. Who’s foot-dragging? We were not consulted when the Order came. So when you are talking about implementation, you’re talking about a policy. “There must be processes. For instance, I will tell you that you cannot do financial autonomy, until you have a service commission in place. You must establish a state allocation committee, and all these are steps toward autonomy. “You don’t achieve autonomy in a day. We did it for the National Assembly, and there was no Order 10 for implementation. It took them stages. The Federal Government is aware. Some former members of the National Assembly are today governors. How can they say they don’t want autonomy? He stated that seven governors, who were once members of the National Assembly, fought for financial autonomy for the National Assembly. “So we are saying it’s a process., someone will just come and say Order 10. I’m doing it today, no!” he added. When asked the extent of dialogue on the financial autonomy, he said, “We’ve had very useful dialogue with both the representatives of the judiciary and the state speakers. He said the unions would meet with governors on Wednesday. “Sometimes people don’t know what they are fighting for,” he said. PUNCH.

‘Joining politics without second address will land you in jail’ – Nnamani, Nwodo caution youths.

By Emmanuel Uzodinma Former Senate President, Ken Nnamani and the immediate past president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo have cautioned the youths against joining politics as a carrier without first establishing themselves. Both leaders spoke in Enugu, weekend, during the gala night for 17 finalists of the 2021 Youth Entrepreneurship and Leadership Initiative (YELI). They emphasized the need for what they described as a “second address” for youths who want to engage into politics in Nigeria. They said this was the only way the youths would avoid walking into jail. The leaders stated that most people who veered into politics now see it as a profession and a means to enrich themselves, which had worsened corruption in the country. They said that the change that must be brought to bear in the polity by the youths was to have a means of livelihood before venturing into politics to enable them offer the needed services and avoid being sent to jail as result of looting public resources at the end of their career. The maiden YELI competition which began in February this year with over 900 applicants from the 17 local governments in the Enugu State was aimed at supporting youths between ages of 20 and 35 years who have start-up businesses not less than one year and not more than three years old. The organization mapped out N10 million which it released to the 17 youths to support their businesses. Nnamani, who was the chairman of the occasion, attributed the majority of the problems in the politics in Nigeria to people who have taken it as profession and advised the youths to shun the tendency for the betterment of the society. He said: “Why we engage in politics is to serve the people. But you must aspire to serve when you have a second address in politics, unless you want to end in jail for grabbing resources that do not belong to you. This mentality of grabbing is why we are the way we are. This is something the youths must avoid to make the difference for our country to move forward”. He also urged Nigerian youths to think about studying courses in the higher institutions that are relevant to the future, stressing that some courses offered in Universities are no longer relevant in solving challenges of the country. He stated that the entrepreneurial skills the YELI was impacting on the youths and the financial support to their businesses was what was needed to achieve the needed growth and development following the diminishing job market and urged those who benefited to put them to good use to build a strong future. Nnamani, who praised the Initiator of the YELI project, Dr Dorothy Jeff Nnamani for her entrepreneurial spirit, stated that she had contributed in creating employment and that such a project would soon play the role Silicon valley was playing in America in Nigeria. On his part, Chief Nwodo, stated that changing the idea of making money as quickly as possible among the Nigerian youths was needed to advance the course of the nation. He lamented the decay in the educational system of Nigeria today, and maintained that his generation passed through more bitter experiences than what the Nigerian youths face today. He stated that the only thing that worked in his time was good education which is being denied the present youths. “I walked over three miles away to fetch water, cracked wood for my parents to cook and cooked in the midst of huge smoke coming from the wood. We walked various miles to go to school. We didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy what technology has brought today but in them, we survived. “The only difference is that those who benefited from scholarships and community contributions for their education have found it difficult to invest in the society, they have chosen to train their children abroad and left our educational system to die. I call on them to rescue us from this because it was not the story before now”, he said. He told the youths to always learn from every mistake to engender growth, stressing that courage and convictions were part of every successful story. Earlier, Mrs. Nnamani said the initiative was her way of giving back to the society in view of the growing unemployment and youths restiveness, stressing that ” the youths if well supported, can revive and reignite sustainable businesses that have the potential to promote decent livelihoods, job opportunities and save the world”. Sunday Chinwuike Onah from Nsukka won the grand prize of N2 million, Ugwujide Chinazom from Enugu-East won the second runner up prize of N1 million while Ogbabido Chukwuka won the first runner up prize of N500,000.

Oil pipeline vandalism drops by 37.21% – NNPC

Increases gas supply for power generation By Sebastine Obasi There seems to be silver lining in the horizon as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it has recorded a 37.21 per cent decrease in cases of pipeline vandalism across the country in the month of January 2021. This is contained in the January 2021 edition of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR). The report indicates that a total of 27 pipeline points were vandalized in January 2021 down from the 43 points recorded in December 2020. Specifically, the report noted that the Mosimi Area accounted for 74 per cent of the vandalized points while Kaduna Area and Port Harcourt accounted for the remaining 22 per cent and 4 per cent respectively. However, NNPC stated that it is continuously working in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders to reduce and eventually eliminate the pipeline vandalism menace. To guarantee energy security, the Corporation was said to have also supplied a total of 1.44 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), translating to 46.30 million litres/day, across the country in the period under review. In the Gas sector, a total of 223.55 billion cubic feet (BCF) of natural gas was produced in the month of January 2021, translating to an average daily production of 7,220.22 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD). The 223.55BCF gas production figure also represents a 4.79 per cent increase over output in December 2020. Also, the daily average natural gas supply to gas power plants increased by 2.38 per cent to 836mmscfd, equivalent to power generation of 3,415MW. For the period of January 2020 to January 2021, a total of 2,973.01BCF of gas was produced representing an average daily production of 7,585.78 mmscfd during the period. Period-to-date Production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) contributed about 65.20 per cent, 19.97 per cent and 14.83 per cent respectively to the total national gas production. READ ALSO: NNPC records ₦24.19bn trading surplus in December Report Out of the total gas output in January 2021, a total of 149.24BCF of gas was commercialized consisting of 44.29BCF and 104.95BCF for the domestic and export markets respectively. This translates to a total supply of 1,428.65mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,385.57mmscfd to the export market in the month under review. This indicates that 67.15 per cent of the daily gas output was commercialized while the balance of 32.85 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel, or flared. Gas flare rate was 7.73 per cent for the month under review (i.e. 554.01mmscfd) compared with average gas flare rate of 7.19 per cent (i.e. 539.69mmscfd) for the period of January 2020 to January 2021. The 66th edition of the NNPC MFOR highlights NNPC’s activities for the period of January 2020 to January 2021. It is published in line with the Corporation’s commitment to the tenets of Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence (TAPE). Speaking on the reduction on pipeline vandalism, Lawrence Messi, Analyst at Financial Derivatives Company Limited, stated: that Nigeria has about 5,000 kilometers of pipelines. It is better for government to initiate private – public partnership to stem the tide of vandalism. He explained that government security agencies are overstretched and will not be able to provide adequate security as expected. Vanguard News Nigeria

Our cement price is lower in Nigeria than other countries — Dangote

ON APRIL 13, 2021 By Kenneth Ehigiator INDUSTRY Management of Dangote Cement Plc has said yesterday that the price of its product per bag from the factory was between N2,450 in Obajana and Gboko, and N2,510 in Ibese, inclusive of VAT. The clarification came against the backdrop recent insinuations that the company sells cement in Nigeria at significantly higher prices relative to other countries, particularly Ghana and Zambia. Dangote’s Group Executive Director, Strategy, Portfolio Development & Capital Projects, Devakumar Edwin, who gave the clarification at an interface with journalists in Lagos, revealed that while a bag of cement sells for an equivalent of $5.1, including VAT in Nigeria, it sells for $7.2 in Ghana and $5.95 in Zambia ex-factory, inclusive of all taxes. He said that though the company has direct control over its ex-factory prices, it could control the ultimate price of cement in the market. According to him, it is important to distinguish Dangote’s ex-factory prices from prices at which retailers sell cement in the market. He frowned on intentional misinformation or demarketing allegedly sponsored by some individuals to the effect that Dangote sells its cement at higher prices in Nigeria relative to other African countries at the expense of Nigerians. Devakumar described the allegation as false, misleading, and unfounded, and challenged the media to conduct independent investigation into the price of cement in some other African countries, including Cameroun, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Zambia. ‘’To ensure that we meet local demand, we had to suspend exports from our recently commissioned export terminals, thereby foregoing dollar earnings. ‘’We also had to reactivate our 4.5m ton capacity Gboko Plant which was closed 4 years ago and run it at a higher cost all in a bid to guarantee that we meet demand and keep the price of Cement within control in the country.” “Over the past 15 months, our production costs have gone up significantly. About 50% of our costs are linked to USD so the cost of critical components like: gas, gypsum, bags, and spare parts; has increased significantly due to devaluation of the Naira and VAT increase. ‘’Despite this, DCP has not increased ex-factory prices since December 2019 till date while prices of most other building materials have gone up significantly. ‘’We have only adjusted our transport rates to account for higher costs of diesel, spare parts, tyres, and truck replacement. Still, we charge our customers only N300 – 350 per bag for deliveries within a 1,200km radius. ‘’We have been responsible enough not to even attempt to cash in on the recent rise in demand to increase prices so far’’, Devakumar said.

Nigerian Startup Cally Air Takes Delivery Of Ex-airBaltic Boeing 737 byLinnea AhlgrenApril 12, 2021

The 22-year-old 737-300 was previously operated by airBaltic and arrived in Lagos last week. Photo: Anna Zvereva via Wikimedia Commons Nigerian Startup Cally Air Takes Delivery Of Ex-airBaltic Boeing 737 byLinnea AhlgrenApril 12, 2021 Five years after its intended launch date, Nigerian startup airline Cally Air has taken delivery of its first aircraft. The Boeing 737-300 arrived in Lagos on Tuesday, April 6th. Formerly flying for airBaltic, the 22-year-old jet now registered as 5N-BYR was greeted by a water cannon salute by its new operator. Based in Calabar The aircraft began its journey from Tallinn, Estonia, at 11:46 local time. After a stop at Malta International Airport of just over one hour, it continued towards Nigeria’s financial capital, where it landed at 20:04. Meanwhile, Cally Air will base the aircraft out of its home in Calabar, the capital of Nigeria’s Cross River State. The recent arrival in Nigeria is leased from World Star Aviation (WSA), specializing in mid-to-late life used commercial aircraft. Before making the journey to Lagos, it had been stored at Tallinn Lennart Meri International Airport since November 23rd. However, prior to this, it was withdrawn from use on February 28th, 2020, and later stored at Riga International. Another former airBaltic Boeing 737-300 is set to join the Cally Air fleet soon. Re-registered as 5N-BYQ, the 21-year-old jet is currently stored at Leoš Janáček Airport Ostrava in Czechia, waiting to be ferried south. It also previously operated for airBaltic as YL-BBX, leased from Tokyo Century Corporation. The planes are configured with an all-economy 144 seat cabin. airBaltic also leased the first Cally Air 737, at the time registered as YL-BBR, from WSA. The Baltic carrier leased 15 out of its 20 Boeing 737s. Not anymore, however, as the airline turned into an all-Airbus 220 airline when waving goodbye to its last Boeing aircraft in December last year. Heavy-Call-Sign Cally Air was initially intended to commence operations in 2016 with a Dash-8. Photo: DeHavilland PPP five years in the making The startup airline is a joint venture between the Cross River State Government and DANA Group, one of Nigeria’s leading industrial conglomerates, in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). It was initially founded five years and was meant to commence operations in November 2018 with a De Havilland Dash-8. The state’s government supported the airline as part of a tourism investment strategy. Plans were for Cally Air to operate the Dash-8 from its base in Calabar to major hubs Lagos, Obudu, and the country’s capital of Abuja. A list of planned destinations for the higher capacity 737s is yet to be made public. In good startup company The Nigerian airline startup environment is teeming with activity. Green Africa Airways is set to launch operations this year, and United Nigeria Airlines just received its Air Operators Certificate on February 1st. Just as airBaltic, Green Africa is betting on the Airbus A220 for its operations. In February last year, the airline signed an MoU with Airbus for 50 of the A220-300 in one of the most significant orders for the program, and the largest ever from the African continent. While Cally Air may have more humble beginnings ahead, it is exciting to see where it and the Nigerian commercial aviation market will go as West Africa, and the world begins to emerge on the other side of the crisis.