President Muhammadu Buhari will visit China on Monday to sign a loan infrastructure projects deal worth about $2 billion.
Though the exact figure for the loan is yet to be confirmed, the presidency and Chinese foreign affairs ministry confirmed the visit.
Speaking to Reuters, Femi Adesina, the president’s special adviser on media and publicity said: “I can’t tell you how much until the day the loan will be signed.”
“Both countries will also be signing some bilateral agreements to strengthen their relationship, that is all I can say now.”
In February, financial and government sources said the loan could be as high a $2 billion, but officials have not provided an update since then.
Nigeria has said it wants to raise about $5 billion abroad to cover part of its 2016 budget deficit which could be as high as 3 trillion naira ($15 billion).
Buhari is yet to sign the 2016 budget, insisting he would have to go through the budget details – which was sent on Wednesday – ministry by ministry.
Lu Kang, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, had earlier said Buhari would visit China from April 11-15 to sign “cooperation agreements” and attend a business forum.
When Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, visited China in February, a Nigerian government official said, the loan deal she agreed on could be signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The finance minister, in the company of the central bank governor, is scheduled to be in China sometime next week to conclude negotiations on the $2 billion loan,” the official said.
Adeosun had earlier said the country was looking for a loan with about 1.5 percent interest.
“We looked at our debt profile and we recognised that one big problem is interest rate. So, we are going to try and borrow as far as possible externally,” she said at a KPMG forum in Lagos.
“We are borrowing first of all at the cheapest rates. So, multilateral loans are the cheapest.
“If someone offers me 1.5 per cent over 20 years, I think I should take it. So, that is why we are going to the multilateral agencies first and thereafter concessional borrowing and also tap into the Eurobond market.”
Thursday 7 April 2016
Buhari receives 2016 Budget details
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday formally received the details of the 2016 Appropriation Bill from the National Assembly.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, signed and collected the 1,800-page document on behalf of the President.
The document was handed over to Kyari by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang; and the Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Samaila Kawu.
The presentation took place inside the Office of the Chief of Staff.
After the submission, Kyari led Enang and Kawu to the President’s Office where they met briefly.
The three of them emerged from the meeting a few minutes after with Enang still holding on to the document.
Enang later told State House correspondents that with the formal submission, the constitutional procedure would now follow.
He said, “The budget details has been transmitted to His Excellency, Mr. President today, the constitutional process begins thereafter.
“We have transmitted it to the Office of the President and the constitutional process of timing starts.”
Immediately after the brief interview, Enang joined Kyari and Kawu as they walked back to the Chief of Staff’s office.
The Office of the Chief of Staff which serves as interface between Buhari and ministers may be saddled with the responsibility of making the document available for the ministry-by-ministry review which the President said he would ensure is done before he signs the bill.
No more 1st class tickets for ministers, others – FG
Others that would no longer benefit from the first class are chairmen of federal government committees, as well as chairmen and chief executives of parastatals and agencies.
A statement from the Efficiency Unit of the Federal Ministry of Finance made available to Daily Trust yesterday, said all the affected officials would now be restricted to the business class for their local and international travels as against what obtained in the past, where some government officials who should have been on business class, instead travelled first class, while many others travelled business class instead of the economy ticket.
The Efficiency Unit, which is the initiative of the current Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, set up to engender transparency and reduce government’s large expenditure in its negotiation for discounts with local and international airlines, also recommended other measures to the OSGF toward reducing government’s huge expenditure on travels.
The second recommendation bordered on the need to reduce the frequency of travels by ensuring that board and committee events, such as meetings, workshops and conferences in Nigeria are held in locations where the institutions or persons participating are domiciled.
Furthermore, such events should for the most part be held in Nigeria but where that is not possible, the prior approval of the Secretary to the Federal Government should be secured.
“In line with the present administration’s commitment to reform public expenditure, the OSGF accepted the recommendations in full and has accordingly issued a circular recently to effect the changes.
Frozen fish scarcity looms over CBN forex restriction
Frozen fish and other seafood may soon become scarce in markets across the country as a result of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s foreign exchange restrictions for the importers of the items.
Investigations by our correspondent revealed that there had been no importation of the items since February and over 80 per cent of cold rooms, especially in Lagos, had been shut, while about 75 per cent of workers in the sector had been laid off.
It was also learnt that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture had issued permits to importers to bring into the country about 520, 000 metric tonnes of fish this year.
An importer, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the CBN listed fish and other seafood among items not valid for forex from the official interbank market, and requested that importers should raise funds from alternative sources.
The source said the CBN was refusing to sign the ‘Form M’ that would enable the importation of the items.
“Since February, nobody has received ‘Form M’ from the CBN; so, automatically, the allocation is useless. The industry is on the verge of collapse. Fish is not valid for forex and the CBN has also refused to approve the ‘Form M’ after we have sourced our funds from elsewhere,” the source said.
According to findings, almost every frozen fish consumed in the country presently is smuggled through the land borders, as most people, especially retailers, are currently getting their supply from Cotonou, Benin Republic.
Information obtained from the Nigerian Ports Authority’s daily shipping position indicated that between March and April 5, 2016, of all the vessels coming into the country, only one brought in frozen fish into the Lagos port complex; one in Port Harcourt and another one to the Delta port complex.
A cold room owner in the Oshodi area of Lagos, Mrs. Charity Iweala, told our correspondent that many operators in the sector had lost their jobs, while more were expected to lose theirs if the trend continued.
“The situation has worsened; cold rooms are empty and people are losing their jobs because there is no more work for them to do. I was one of the few people that got importation quota but we can’t import; no bank has opened ‘Form M’ for any fish importer for several months now,” she said.
According to Iweala, most of the fish imported into the country are sourced from the wild waters and cannot be bred locally.
It is estimated that the demand for fish in the country is about 2.6 million metric tonnes with a per capita consumption of 13.5kg, while the country currently has a total local fish production estimated to be around 600,000 metric tonnes per annum.
The immediate past Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Akinwumi Adesina, had at the inauguration of the Special Growth Enhancement Support programme, said the importation of fish was not a good business for the country given its huge natural resources.
8 ships laden with petrol expected to arrive Lagos ports On April 7, 2016
Eight ships laden with petrol are expected to arrive Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports in Lagos from April 7 to April 12 to improve the supply of the commodity in the country.
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) stated this in its publication – `Shipping Position’, – on Thursday in Lagos.
The document indicated that 25 other ships containing food items and other goods were being expected at the ports from April 7 to April 26. NPA explained that the expected ships contained buck wheat, soda ash, frozen fish, bulk sugar, general cargoes, diesel, and containers.
The document noted that a ship had arrived, waiting to berth with aviation fuel. 17 other ships are at the ports discharging general cargoes, wheat, ethanol, aviation fuel, crude palm oil, empty containers, salt, aviation fuel and
NERC begs consumers over blackout
According to NERC, the drop in power supply is due to vandalism of critical installations and heavy downpour witnessed in parts of the country recently, adding that the Federal Government was working hard to repair the vandalised gas pipelines.
The commission was, however, not specific as to when power generation and its supply would improve, but was quick to state that there was hope of tangible increase in electricity generation.
The Acting Chief Executive, NERC, Dr. Tony Akah, said these while playing host to a delegation from the International Association of Energy Economics at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja.
The country’s electricity woes worsened on Tuesday as two additional power generating plants were shut down, bringing the total number of plants not generating any megawatts of electricity to 10.
The two shut plants are Shiroro Power Station in Niger State and Sapele II in Delta State.
In his response to a question on the fall in power generation, Akah said, “On the decline in power, as you may know, part of the reasons have to do with the issue of pipeline vandalism and the heavy downpour that happened in the past.
TCN, GENCOs, DISCOs trade blames over electricity crisis
Operators in the electricity value chain – generation, transmission and distribution companies are trading blames over the current power crisis, with each blaming the other for the very poor power supply situation witnessed in the last few weeks.
TCN The crisis came to a climax, last week, when there was a complete system collapse for three hours when not even one megawatt of electricity was generated in the country.
Since the year began, there have been three systems collapse, two complete and one partial, even as there was no word of explanation or admonishment from the Ministry of Power or the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC.
Whereas the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, exonerated itself, saying, “we cannot transmit what has not been generated, the generation companies, GENCOs, blame the weak transmission grid for its inability to carry the quantity generated, while the distribution companies, DISCOs, admit they have had to load-shed due to poor allocations.”
Specifically, a top management staff at Egbin Power Plant, Nigeria’s biggest GENCO, who spoke in confidence, noted that what happened was “ground zero transmission and not generation”. According to him, “what was experienced last week was not a problem from our (GENCO) end but rather from the transmission company, TCN, as we had generated over 3, 766.7megawatt as at March 30.”
But a TCN source, who also pleaded anonymity, said: “The system collapse recorded on March 30, can be attributed to generation companies and not the transmission as widely speculated. “Since the first quarter of this year, we have recorded a total of three systems collapse – two complete and one partial. This is a grand improvement compared to previous years when we could have over 20 systems collapse.
For this development alone, we could say there is a great improvement from our end.” Load shedding Spokesmen for the Eko and Ikeja DISCOs, Mr Godwin Idemudia, and Mr. Felix Ofulue, after admitting to load-shedding, however, said that power supply was gradually gaining strength, even as millions of Nigerians remain in darkness.
According to Idemudia: “We are engaged in serious load-shedding because of the non-availability of energy which has to be rationed based on what we receive. We draw out a time table on how to distribute to everybody.
If we had enough, there would be no need for load shedding.” With regard to improvement in supply he said: “For the past weeks, we have received between 319 and 320 megawatts.
On a good day, we receive 450 megawatts but to make us comfortable we would need about 700 megawatts. For now, we operate on load shedding, which enables us rationalise what we received across our networks. “However, there are maximum demand meters, which are the industrial customers, who pay higher than residential.
In a good business environment the system allows that but that does not mean we would dessert the residential because they are our customers also.” But Ofulue said the situation in Ikeja, which usually receives the highest allocation, is not very encouraging, as the DISCO receives less than 300megawatt.
As a result, he argued, “since we are given this little, we do share equitably across our customers. The problem has always been from the National grid, as the power supplied to us is not enough.” Access restriction Meanwhile, at about 12:00 noon, March 30, the Nigerian System Operator, NSO, unit of the TCN, began to restrict public access to the daily output, from its official output website, www.nsong.org, which indicates power generated and the allocations to the various DISCOs.
TCN The crisis came to a climax, last week, when there was a complete system collapse for three hours when not even one megawatt of electricity was generated in the country.
Since the year began, there have been three systems collapse, two complete and one partial, even as there was no word of explanation or admonishment from the Ministry of Power or the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC.
Whereas the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, exonerated itself, saying, “we cannot transmit what has not been generated, the generation companies, GENCOs, blame the weak transmission grid for its inability to carry the quantity generated, while the distribution companies, DISCOs, admit they have had to load-shed due to poor allocations.”
Specifically, a top management staff at Egbin Power Plant, Nigeria’s biggest GENCO, who spoke in confidence, noted that what happened was “ground zero transmission and not generation”. According to him, “what was experienced last week was not a problem from our (GENCO) end but rather from the transmission company, TCN, as we had generated over 3, 766.7megawatt as at March 30.”
But a TCN source, who also pleaded anonymity, said: “The system collapse recorded on March 30, can be attributed to generation companies and not the transmission as widely speculated. “Since the first quarter of this year, we have recorded a total of three systems collapse – two complete and one partial. This is a grand improvement compared to previous years when we could have over 20 systems collapse.
For this development alone, we could say there is a great improvement from our end.” Load shedding Spokesmen for the Eko and Ikeja DISCOs, Mr Godwin Idemudia, and Mr. Felix Ofulue, after admitting to load-shedding, however, said that power supply was gradually gaining strength, even as millions of Nigerians remain in darkness.
According to Idemudia: “We are engaged in serious load-shedding because of the non-availability of energy which has to be rationed based on what we receive. We draw out a time table on how to distribute to everybody.
If we had enough, there would be no need for load shedding.” With regard to improvement in supply he said: “For the past weeks, we have received between 319 and 320 megawatts.
On a good day, we receive 450 megawatts but to make us comfortable we would need about 700 megawatts. For now, we operate on load shedding, which enables us rationalise what we received across our networks. “However, there are maximum demand meters, which are the industrial customers, who pay higher than residential.
In a good business environment the system allows that but that does not mean we would dessert the residential because they are our customers also.” But Ofulue said the situation in Ikeja, which usually receives the highest allocation, is not very encouraging, as the DISCO receives less than 300megawatt.
As a result, he argued, “since we are given this little, we do share equitably across our customers. The problem has always been from the National grid, as the power supplied to us is not enough.” Access restriction Meanwhile, at about 12:00 noon, March 30, the Nigerian System Operator, NSO, unit of the TCN, began to restrict public access to the daily output, from its official output website, www.nsong.org, which indicates power generated and the allocations to the various DISCOs.
Monday 4 April 2016
Refineries to resume operations this month – NNPC
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, on Sunday said refineries will resume operation for local consumption this month so as to end the lingering fuel scarcity in the country.
Addressing newsmen after inspecting some petrol stations in Abuja, the Group Executive Director/ Chief Operating Officer, COO, NNPC, Downstream, Henry Ikem Obih said all the refineries were at various stages of resumption.
Obih also disclosed that NNPC had taken delivery of four vessels of refined petrol that are at various stages of distribution across the country.
“We are working extremely hard to ensure that we eliminate the queues. What we have seen today is encouraging but we are still not there. We will be there when you go into a couple of filling stations and you are able to buy fuel and drive away. Our refineries will commence refining sometime this month,” he said.
Adesina: Buhari sold his house to get his child forex
Femi Adesina, special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on media and publicity, says the president sold his property to access foreign exchange (forex) for his child’s education.
Adesina, who could not confirm if the president got forex from official sources or the parallel market, said one would have to ask the president himself.
Speaking in an interview with Osasu Igbinedion on The Osasu Show, Adesina said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is experiencing a paucity of forex.
Corroborating Adesina’s stance, the president himself had earlier said in an interview with Al Jazeera that it would henceforth be “tough luck” for those who are (or wish to school abroad) to access forex”.
“Those who can afford foreign education for their children can go ahead but Nigeria cannot afford to allocate foreign exchange to those who decided to train their children outside the country,” he said in March.
Asked if the president could afford the education of his children abroad, Adesina said: “You will need to ask him.”
“Don’t forget that it was in the public domain even before he became president that when one of his children needed to go abroad he had to sell his property; maybe it was his house in Lagos or somewhere,” Adesina said.
“Anybody that wants to train a child abroad must be sure that he or she can afford it. If you can afford it no problem.
“At a time like this when there is paucity of foreign exchange, what the president is simply saying is that central bank may not be able to provide forex but you can always buy your forex at the parallel market if that is what you want.”
Though the CBN has not officially banned the access to forex for education and medical bills, the president has said explicitly that the country cannot afford it.
Adesina, who could not confirm if the president got forex from official sources or the parallel market, said one would have to ask the president himself.
Speaking in an interview with Osasu Igbinedion on The Osasu Show, Adesina said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is experiencing a paucity of forex.
Corroborating Adesina’s stance, the president himself had earlier said in an interview with Al Jazeera that it would henceforth be “tough luck” for those who are (or wish to school abroad) to access forex”.
“Those who can afford foreign education for their children can go ahead but Nigeria cannot afford to allocate foreign exchange to those who decided to train their children outside the country,” he said in March.
Asked if the president could afford the education of his children abroad, Adesina said: “You will need to ask him.”
“Don’t forget that it was in the public domain even before he became president that when one of his children needed to go abroad he had to sell his property; maybe it was his house in Lagos or somewhere,” Adesina said.
“Anybody that wants to train a child abroad must be sure that he or she can afford it. If you can afford it no problem.
“At a time like this when there is paucity of foreign exchange, what the president is simply saying is that central bank may not be able to provide forex but you can always buy your forex at the parallel market if that is what you want.”
Though the CBN has not officially banned the access to forex for education and medical bills, the president has said explicitly that the country cannot afford it.
Petrol subsidy returns, FG to pay N5.8bn in April
With the open market price of premium motor spirit (PMS) rising to N92.34, the federal government has returned to petroleum subsidy, as it insists on retaining the current price.
According to the petroleum product pricing regulation agency (PPPRA), the government will begin to pay N5.84 on every litre of petrol sold from April 1, 2016.
The template also revealed that on every metric tonne of PMS, the federal government will pay a subsidy of at least N7,824.84.
With a consumption level of at least 33 million litres per day, the federal government would pay N5.782 billion on subsidies in April alone – if the template remains unchanged.
Though the federal government never really removed subsidy, it didn’t have to pay it based on the global prices of crude oil in the first quarter of the year.
Farouk Ahmed, immediate past executive secretary of PPPRA, said in February that the FG was saving N13.81 on every litre of PMS sold.
He however added that the money made by the federal government in over-recovery would be saved for a rainy day – to pay petrol subsidy, when the prices spike again.
Assuring that the pump price of petroleum products would not be increased, PPPRA said the pump price of Kerosene, which was not affected by the new template, would also remain unchanged.
In a subsequent statement by Lanre Oladele, head, corporate services at PPPRA, the agency said: “The NNPC has 41.73 per cent of the total allocation, while the rest of the oil Marketing Companies got a total allocation of 58.27 per cent.”
The statement quoted Sotonye Iyoyo, acting executive secretary of PPPRA, that the agency would retain the retail prices of N86.00 for the NNPC and N86.50 for the other marketing companies.
It added that the pump price of Household Kerosene (HHK) would also remain unchanged from what it was in the last quarter.
“Therefore, marketers are advised to ensure that there is no price distortion in their respective retail outlets,” she said.
PPPRA said it would continue to monitor the global oil market performances and make reasonable changes consistent with the newly-adopted price modulation principles.
It urged depot owners to strictly adhere to the prevailing truck-out policy made by the agency, to ensure that petroleum products get to their designated retail outlets nationwide.
The agency warned against hoarding products, saying there are no plans to raise the prices.
“PPPRA is resolutely committed to the sustenance of its reform initiatives, in order to further guarantee adequate supply of products nationwide.
“We therefore assure Nigerians of our total commitment to service delivery, in the quest to deliver on our mandate to the people of Nigeria.”
According to the petroleum product pricing regulation agency (PPPRA), the government will begin to pay N5.84 on every litre of petrol sold from April 1, 2016.
The template also revealed that on every metric tonne of PMS, the federal government will pay a subsidy of at least N7,824.84.
With a consumption level of at least 33 million litres per day, the federal government would pay N5.782 billion on subsidies in April alone – if the template remains unchanged.
Though the federal government never really removed subsidy, it didn’t have to pay it based on the global prices of crude oil in the first quarter of the year.
Farouk Ahmed, immediate past executive secretary of PPPRA, said in February that the FG was saving N13.81 on every litre of PMS sold.
He however added that the money made by the federal government in over-recovery would be saved for a rainy day – to pay petrol subsidy, when the prices spike again.
Assuring that the pump price of petroleum products would not be increased, PPPRA said the pump price of Kerosene, which was not affected by the new template, would also remain unchanged.
In a subsequent statement by Lanre Oladele, head, corporate services at PPPRA, the agency said: “The NNPC has 41.73 per cent of the total allocation, while the rest of the oil Marketing Companies got a total allocation of 58.27 per cent.”
The statement quoted Sotonye Iyoyo, acting executive secretary of PPPRA, that the agency would retain the retail prices of N86.00 for the NNPC and N86.50 for the other marketing companies.
It added that the pump price of Household Kerosene (HHK) would also remain unchanged from what it was in the last quarter.
“Therefore, marketers are advised to ensure that there is no price distortion in their respective retail outlets,” she said.
PPPRA said it would continue to monitor the global oil market performances and make reasonable changes consistent with the newly-adopted price modulation principles.
It urged depot owners to strictly adhere to the prevailing truck-out policy made by the agency, to ensure that petroleum products get to their designated retail outlets nationwide.
The agency warned against hoarding products, saying there are no plans to raise the prices.
“PPPRA is resolutely committed to the sustenance of its reform initiatives, in order to further guarantee adequate supply of products nationwide.
“We therefore assure Nigerians of our total commitment to service delivery, in the quest to deliver on our mandate to the people of Nigeria.”
We won’t increase petrol pump price, says PPPRA
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) says it has no plan to increase the price of petrol in the country.
Lanre Oladele, the agency’s head of corporate services, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.
The statement said the pump price of household kerosene (HHK) would also remain unchanged from what it was in the last quarter.
“The agency will retain the retail prices of N86.00 for the NNPC, and N86.50 for the other marketing companies,” the statement read.
“Therefore, marketers are advised to ensure that there is no price distortion in their respective retail outlets.”
It further added that PPPRA would continue to monitor the global oil market performances and make reasonable changes consistent with the newly-adopted price modulation principles.
PPPRA appealed to depot owners to strictly adhere to the prevailing truck-out policy made by the agency, to ensure that petroleum products got to their designated retail outlets nationwide.
It warned that adequate sanctions awaited any depot-owner found to be hoarding products.
The statement added that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would have 41.73 per cent allocation for supply of premium motor spirit (PMS) in the second quarter.
“The NNPC has 41.73 per cent of the total allocation, while the rest of the oil marketing companies got a total allocation of 58.27 per cent,” the statement read.
“PPPRA is resolutely committed to the sustenance of its reform initiatives, in order to further guarantee adequate supply of products nationwide.
“We therefore assure Nigerians of our total commitment to service delivery, in the quest to deliver on our mandate to the people of Nigeria.”
It urged motorists to desist from panic-buying, saying PPPRA was working hard with other sister-organisations to ensure that the current supply and distribution challenges were resolved within the coming days.
Despite the agency’s statement, the current scarcity of petrol has allowed many filling stations to sell above the official petrol price to as high as N200 per litre, even in Abuja.
Source...thecable.ng
Lanre Oladele, the agency’s head of corporate services, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.
The statement said the pump price of household kerosene (HHK) would also remain unchanged from what it was in the last quarter.
“The agency will retain the retail prices of N86.00 for the NNPC, and N86.50 for the other marketing companies,” the statement read.
“Therefore, marketers are advised to ensure that there is no price distortion in their respective retail outlets.”
It further added that PPPRA would continue to monitor the global oil market performances and make reasonable changes consistent with the newly-adopted price modulation principles.
PPPRA appealed to depot owners to strictly adhere to the prevailing truck-out policy made by the agency, to ensure that petroleum products got to their designated retail outlets nationwide.
It warned that adequate sanctions awaited any depot-owner found to be hoarding products.
The statement added that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would have 41.73 per cent allocation for supply of premium motor spirit (PMS) in the second quarter.
“The NNPC has 41.73 per cent of the total allocation, while the rest of the oil marketing companies got a total allocation of 58.27 per cent,” the statement read.
“PPPRA is resolutely committed to the sustenance of its reform initiatives, in order to further guarantee adequate supply of products nationwide.
“We therefore assure Nigerians of our total commitment to service delivery, in the quest to deliver on our mandate to the people of Nigeria.”
It urged motorists to desist from panic-buying, saying PPPRA was working hard with other sister-organisations to ensure that the current supply and distribution challenges were resolved within the coming days.
Despite the agency’s statement, the current scarcity of petrol has allowed many filling stations to sell above the official petrol price to as high as N200 per litre, even in Abuja.
Source...thecable.ng
10 fuel hawkers arrested in Lagos for causing traffic
No fewer than ten suspected fuel vendors (black market sellers) were on Sunday arrested by the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit for allegedly obstructing traffic in the Oshodi and Ikeja areas of the state.
About eight jerrycans of fuel were also impounded from the suspects.
The arrested suspects who were initially arrested by the task force numbered 25, however after screening, 15 suspects, including 10 fuel hawkers, were reportedly found culpable.
Confirming the arrest, the unit’s spokesman, Adebayo Taofiq, told The Punch that the hawkers were arrested for particularly causing gridlock.
“These hawkers stay around filling stations and they cause gridlock for other road users.
“The Chairman of the task force, SP Olayinka Egebyemi, ordered that there should be vehicular sanity around all filling stations in the state.
“During our operation on Sunday, 25 miscreants, including those hawking fuel by the roadsides around filling stations were arrested. Ten were found guilty.
Source...thecable.ng
About eight jerrycans of fuel were also impounded from the suspects.
The arrested suspects who were initially arrested by the task force numbered 25, however after screening, 15 suspects, including 10 fuel hawkers, were reportedly found culpable.
Confirming the arrest, the unit’s spokesman, Adebayo Taofiq, told The Punch that the hawkers were arrested for particularly causing gridlock.
“These hawkers stay around filling stations and they cause gridlock for other road users.
“The Chairman of the task force, SP Olayinka Egebyemi, ordered that there should be vehicular sanity around all filling stations in the state.
“During our operation on Sunday, 25 miscreants, including those hawking fuel by the roadsides around filling stations were arrested. Ten were found guilty.
Source...thecable.ng
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