The 23rd virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the sum of N62.7 billion for the construction of Kano-Dawakin-Tofa-Gwarzo-Dariyo road in Kano State.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who announced this on Wednesday while briefing State House reporters, said the project located in Kano would be executed in 24 months.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, while briefing afterward, said the FEC also approved the sum of N470,263,037 for the procurement, installation, and commissioning of fully dimensional aerodrome and approach simulator at Lagos Airport.

Mohammed, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who presented a memo to the council, said the contract was awarded to Messrs Intelligent Transportation System Limited, an authorized representative of the original manufacturer, Messrs Teofex System of France, with a completion period of six months.

He said the contract became necessary in view of the increase in the number of personnel who had been recruited and trained as air traffic controllers.

“It is important to us to ensure safety in all the 32 aerodromes of the country,” he added.

Mohammed, while also briefing on behalf of the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, said the council ratified Nigeria’s membership of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), thereby beating the December 5, 2020 deadline set for all member-states.

He recalled that Nigeria had on the 7th of July, 2019, signed the AfCTA agreement in Niamey during the 12th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) with effective date fixed for July 2020.

He said the date was postponed to the 1st of January, 2021 because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe.

“All member-states were given up to the 5th of December to ratify the agreement. That is precisely what Nigeria did today.

“The Federal Executive Council approved ratification of the membership of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement. It was ratified and as such, we beat the deadline of the 5th of December. Effectively, we hope that by 1st of January 2021, the agreement will come into force,” he added.

Three lawyers were reported to have been injured, others teargassed in an altercation between Cameroonian lawyers and their police in Bonanjo Court of First Instance, Douala, Littoral region.

According to the information gathered by TheNigerialawyer(TNL), Wednesday, the police used firearms and tear gas on Lawyers who appeared in court in solidarity with their colleagues.

Narrating the ordeal, Human Rights Advocate and Peace Crusader, Tamfu Richard, Esq., said two Lawyers of the Cameroon Bar Association resident in Douala were accused of contempt on a magistrate, attempted corruption, and false pretense.

They were remanded in prison custody on the 9th of November,  2020, at the New Bell Central Prison of Douala on the above said charges.

Yesterday being their first appearance before the Court of First Instance Douala-Bonanjo which was scheduled for hearing lawyers mobilized in large numbers in show of solidarity to their colleagues and filed in an Application for Bail for their colleagues in accordance with the provisions of the Cameroon Criminal Procedure Code.

“After heated submission from the lawyers for the defense and the State prosecutors, the presiding judge in charge of the case adjourned the matter to the 25th of November 2020 for ruling on the Application for Bail that was submitted by the Defense counsel.

“This really irritated more than 300 lawyers present in the Court room who expected a ruling on the spot or at least on short notice.

“Voices in contempt”.

A Chief Magistrate’s Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Wednesday granted bail to six individuals held by the police over their alleged involvement in the #EndSARS protests.

Chief Magistrate Musa Abdulrazaq Eneye, in a ruling, granted each of the six bail at N50,000 with one surety in the like sum.

Eneye said the surety must-have source of income and must submit a recent passport photograph to register of the court.

The six are: Olutosin Adeniji, Yasidu Bashiru, Abdulsalam Zubairu, Kabiru Garzali, Paul Akinwumi and Devour Chomo.

They were arrested in Abuja last week while wearing RevolutionNow T-Shirt during a protest at the National Assembly and were arraigned on November 6, 2020 by the FCT Commissioner of Police on charge of criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly and inciting public disturbances contrary to Section 97 of the Penal Code.

Although the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge, they were however ordered to be remanded at the Suleja correctional centre pending the time their formal application for bail would be heard.

At the mention of the case on Wednesday, defence lawyer, Tope Akinyode argued the bail application and urged the court to admit the defendants on bail on liberal terms.

The prosecution was not represented at the hearing of the bail application, even when the court noted that the police were served.

In his ruling on the bail application, Magistrate Eneye said that the facts deposed to in the affidavit evidence of the defendants were convincing enough to warrant the grant of the bail.

The Chief Magistrate said that court must not refuse bail to punish the defendants while bail condition must not be too excessive so as not to amount to denial of bail.

Before granting the bail, Eneye expressed displeasure over a publication on the arraignment of the defendants last week, noting that what transpired in the open court were twisted and turned upside down on social media.

The Chief Magistrate, who drew the attention of lawyers and litigants to the malicious publication, warned that there are laws guiding procedures in court and that any violation of the rule will lead to contempt of court.

He urged media practitioners to always get their facts accurate in judicial reporting and avoid undue sensationalism and sub-judice in the matter pending before the court so as not to run foul of the law.

Eneye laid emphasis on the freedom of expression as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution but however said that the law was not absolute because, there are guidance that must be followed by anybody or group while expressing themselves.

He said even though dangerous insinuations were made against him on the social media, he has taken the oath of office to perform his job without fear or bias against anybody or group.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) ratified Nigeria’s membership of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement on Wednesday in Abuja.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made this known at the end of the weekly meeting of the Council chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to the Minister, with the ratification, Nigeria has beaten the Dec. 5 deadline set for all countries to ratify their membership of the African Free Trade Area.

He said: “The Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment presented a memo on Wednesday asking the Federal Executive Council to ratify Nigeria’s membership of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA).

“You remember that on the July 7, 2019, Nigeria signed the AfCTA agreement in Niamey during the 12th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union.

“The effective date ought to have been July 2020, but it was postponed to Jan. 1, 2021 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. All member states were given up to Dec. 5 to ratify the agreement.

“That is precisely what Nigeria did today. The Federal Executive Council approved the ratification of the country’s membership of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.

“It was ratified and as such, we beat the deadline of Dec. 5. Effectively, we hope that by Jan. 1, 2021, the agreement will come into force.’’(NAN)

The Senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume, has claimed that an undisclosed repentant Boko Haram member was responsible for the recent attack in Damboa Local Government Area of Borno State, leading to the death of an Army Colonel, D.C Bako.

Mr Ndume made the disclosure on Wednesday while speaking with newsmen shortly after the budget defence session of the Nigerian Army.

According to him, the repentant terrorist gave out information to the insurgents regarding the movement of the colonel.

Mr Ndume, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, therefore, reiterated his objection to the Federal Government’s reintegration plan for the repentant terrorists in the country.

Mr Ndume said: “I am in disagreement with the government on the issue of de-radicalising and reintegrating (Boko Haram repentants). I still maintain that. You can’t be resettling people, pampering them while the war is on.

“The committee is on the same page and I believe many Nigerians are on the same page with this.

“In my village, mallams, not ordinary Muslims but mallams, elders above 60, 75 of them were taken to an abattoir and slaughtered by Boko Haram. Can you imagine that the Nigerian army or the Nigerian government is saying that because these people have gone to repent, or they say they have their hands up, you bring them back and pamper them.

“In addition to that, the recent attack in Damboa was carried out by a repentant giving information as to the movement of the army, the general that was killed was a victim,” he alleged.

No fewer than three million Nigerians, equivalent to one percent of the nation’s population, are currently displaced from their homes, now living in various Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across the country.

However, to fully capture their accurate number and make adequate provisions for their well-being, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the formulation of a National Policy for Digital Identification for Internally Displaced Person.

Disclosing this to State House Correspondents after the week’s FEC meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Executive Council Chambers of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, also informed of the approval by Council for the establishment of the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center.

Speaking of the need for the identification policy for IDPs, the Minister said the FEC considered the fact that providing for the internally displaced, adequately required data, adding that getting registered in the national database of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) is mandated by law.

“As we all know that National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act 2007 has made it mandatory that each citizen must require a National Identity Number, according to the Act’s section 5, and section 27 emphasises that it could be an offence not to acquiring the number.

“Most of us here do not have the number, but they have at least a form of identification, an official one; either driver’s license, passport for travelling and many more, but people in IDP camps do not have that usually, so we come up with a policy that will prioritise providing national identity to people living in IDPs. The policy has been entitled as National Policy for Digital Identification for Internally Displaced Persons.

“This digital ID will support government in knowing the total number of our IDPs, budgetary provision on how to take care of them, national planning with regards to their education, health and many more.

“When it comes to social intervention being provided by the federal government, through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, government will have an up to date record of IDPs; their number, their location and everything and government will reach out to them easily through that database that is going to be domiciled at the National Identity Management Commission.

“Based on the report during the formulation of the policy, we have around three million people living in IDP camps in Nigeria, which is more than 1% of our population. In addition, from the records that we have received in the course of the formulation, there is no single state in the country without IDPs; the highest is in Borno State with 1.4 million and the lowest is Ondo State with 1,024 persons.

“This is a policy that will provide an up-to-date record of them so that government will give them special consideration of resettling them and taking care of them. As we all know, no matter how strong you are, if you fail to take care of the weak ones, then automatically you are also a weak one. This is why we come up with the policy to prioritise them”, he said.

On the approval for the establishment of the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center in Abuja, which is in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Pantami said the programme is schemed to address the challenges of unemployment and citizens employability.

According to him, the programme, which would be run by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), is going to provide training platform for millions of Nigerians in the digital innovation and entrepreneurship interests.

“We came up with this plan to establish a digital innovation and entrepreneurship centre where millions of our citizens are going to be trained as entrepreneurs, particularly in ICT, so that they will be future potential employers rather than being employees.

“This is, somehow, in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they have a programme they call Regional Entrepreneurship Accelerated Programme (REAP), where they support a country or an institution to produce many entrepreneurs in the area of their choice.

“So, our focus, looking at our mandate in the ministry, is on the development of ICT and this centre is going to be managed by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), while the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy is going to provide the policy direction for the centre and to supervise the implementation of the policy. It is going to be completed in three years,” he said.

Meanwhile, the FEC also approved the Electronic National Health Insurance Scheme (e-NHIS), introducing the electronic medical records and management concept.

Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, who disclosed this at the briefing, said “this is necessary because the basic healthcare provision fund as we know is going on stream and will include a large number of people being registered so that we move away from paper management to electronic management.

“The project is being carried out by the NICOMSAT under the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy with their partner which is Galaxy Backbone to an indigenous company who were chosen in preference to a foreign company that was asking for far higher and the benefits for local content are enormous in job creation and also in data security,” he said.

EFCC witness Mrs. Idongetsit Udom a staff of Zenith Bank has told Honourable Justice Aikawa of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos how her bank opened an account in favour of Paul Usoro & Co and made deposit of N300 Million, more than 2 hours before the instruction to open the account came from the Defendant.

Mrs. Udom made the above revelation today at the ongoing trial of the immediate past President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Paul Usoro over alleged money laundering charges brought against him by the EFCC.

Mr. Usoro SAN’s trial is on the allegation that his firm Paul Usoro & Co received professional fees which they ought to have known “forms part of the proceeds of unlawful act” from Akwa Ibom State Government and Governor Udom Emmanuel.

At the resumed hearing, Mrs. Udom who is PW1 confirmed to the court that she lied against the Defendant when she wrote the name of the Defendant as the depositor of the sum of N300m in the account while the Defendant was unaware that the account had been opened.

The lead Counsel for the Defendant, Chief Offiong Offiong SAN while cross examining PW1 asked the following questions:

Q: Exhibit 3 shows that by 4:19pm on 14^th March, 2016 an account was opened in the name of the Defendant in Zenith Bank?

A:        Yes, my lord

Q:        The documentation shows that Cash and Tellers official confirmed receipt of N300m cash, in N1,000 denomination of 600 bundles.

A:        Yes, my lord

Q:        Exhibit 4 shows that the email from the Defendant was received at 6:30pm on the 14^th March, 2016

A:        Yes, my lord

Q:It is that email from the Defendant that represented the first documentary evidence between you and the Defendant?

A:        Yes, my lord

Q:        That email was the one that said “deal with my staff to process account opening”

A:        Yes, my lord

Q:        That means that while the Defendant was thinking about opening an account with your bank, you had opened an account in the Defendant’s name, 2 hours earlier and deposited money into the account?

A:        Yes, my lord

Q:        Did you communicatee this to the Defendant?

A:        No, my lord.

Q:        Who responded to the email?

A:        My Supervisor, Asuquo Itah

Q:        When did he respond?

A:        Response came at 6:57pm

Q:        So, you were only trying to get the Defendant to formalize what you had done?

A:        Yes, my lord

Q:        In your examination in Chief you told this court that as at 14^th of March, 2016, the Defendant was not a customer of Zenith Bank?

A:        Yes, my lord.

Q:        On 14^th March, 2016, you completed exhibit 3.  Who did you write on the column as the depositor of the money?

A:        Paul Usoro & Co

Q:        A depositor is the person who brings the money to the bank right?

A:        Yes, my lord

Q:        So Paul Usoro & Co was not the depositor?

A:        Yes. The money was not brought into the bank by Paul Usoro

Q:        You lied against Paul Usoro & Co on that document

A:        Yes, my lord.

Q:        It was you who deposited the money not the Defendant?

A:        Yes, my lord

Q:        And only you knew where the money came from at the time you deposited it?

A:        Yes, my lord

The witness had earlier told the court that all the document presented by the bank were true. She also informed the court that the bank closes transaction with customers at 4pm.

Recall that Mrs. Idongesit Udom, at the last hearing informed the court that there is no evidence to show that she made a call to the Defendant as she does not have a call log of on her phone. She also told the court that the EFCC never checked her phone to ascertain whether she placed a call to the Defendant or not but insisted that she called the Defendant in respect of the account opening.

On the payment of the sum of N300m into the Defendant’s account, PW1 had confirmed that it is Zenith Bank’s mandatory procedure for every account to have an alert by email. She however informed the court that there was no email from her, nor the bank to the Defendant on the payment of N300m into the Defendant’s account.

Chief Offiong Offiong led about eight lawyers including two SANs for the Defendant while Mr. Buhari appeared for the EFCC.

Case was adjourned to Thursday, 12^th November, 2020 at 10am for continuation of trial.  The 2^nd Prosecution witness PW2, Abdul-Rahman Arabu an operative of the EFCC will continue with his evidence in chief.

…we are not aware of five percent collection fees, says Acting Chairman

The House of Representatives on Wednesday uncovered about N6 billion unspent funds in the coffers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), saying the commission may have gotten too many budgetary releases to the detriment of other agencies.

The Acting Chairman of the Commission, Mohammed Umar had told members of the House Committee on Financial Crimes that, out of about N32 billion budgeted for the commission for the 2020 fiscal year, about N24.99 billion was released by the government, while about N18.23 billion of the released amount has been fully utilized.

Umar however told the Committee that his Commission was not aware of the provision in the 2020 appropriation which granted them five percent of all monies collected by the Commission from recoveries for administrative purposes.

Umar said “total releases as at September 2020 was N24.99 billion representing 70.8 percent of the total appropriation. The release for personnel cost is N21.98 billion, overhead cost, N2.100 billion and capital of N1.36 billion. Out of the total releases, N18.23 billion representing 74.88 percent has been fully utilised.

“A breakdown of the 2020 performance report shows that N24.99 billion was appropriated as personnel cost for the Commission, out of which the sum of N21.397 billion has been released for the payment of salaries and allowances of staff between January and September, while the sum of N17.603 billion has so far been utilised as at the end of September 2020.

“The sum of N3.6 billion was appropriated for the Commission’s overhead cost in 2020 out of which N2.1 billion has been released as at 30th September. The sum of N1.22 billion has so far been utilised.

“Similarly, the sum of N4.09 billion was appropriated for the Commission’s capital budget out of which the sum of N1.638 billion has been released as at the end of September 2020. The procurement process of the 2020 capital project is still ongoing and the funds will be utilised as soon as the procurement process is over.

“N3.6 billion was proposed for overhead cost in 2020 and N2.1 billion released to you, while a total of N1.2 billion was utilised with a balance of N879 million and we are approaching the end of the year. Don’t you think there is a luxurious supply of funds, thereby denying other sectors getting enough money for their operations?

Some members of the Committee however observed that while other agencies of government were facing financial crisis, the EFCC was having huge unspent funds, even as one of the members, Abdulganiyu Olododo (APC, Kwara) insisted that the Commission must be transparent about how it has expended the money released to it.

Olododo said, “we want details of expenditure by the commission saying as one of the agencies respected and feared in the country, they need to be open and accountable in whatever they are doing.”

Other members of the Committee also observed that spending only N17 billion out of the N21 billion released to the Commission for personnel was a clear indication that the commission had more money with fewer personnel to pay.

Members of the committee also expressed concern over the poor release of capital budget to the agency, saying “If you look at your capital budget, you had a budget of about N4 billion and a release of N1.2 billion. This is one of the cardinal problems we have in this country where you have poor releases for capital

“We are almost at the end of the year and what that means is that you are not sure of getting 80 percent of your capital releases. We have to do something to shore up our capital releases because, without capital, we cannot develop.”

Responding to questions on what five percent granted to the Commission and ICPC from their financial recoveries as approved by the National Assembly and contained in the 2020 appropriation, Umar said “I don’t think that has been approved and we have not gotten anything outside the budgetary allocation and subsequent releases to the commission. The issue of five percent is not really approved as far as we are concerned.

However, Hon. Koko insisted that the Commission was entitled to the five percent from its collections, saying “Mr. Chairman, Appropriation is a law and for you to say it is not there, I will ask the Clark to get a copy of the amended appropriation and I will show you. Maybe you are not aware that the National Assembly approved that EFCC and ICPC be given five percent. There is a clause on that. I was the one that raised the motion then which was approved.”

But the EFCC boss also insisted that the commission was not aware of the provision and has never collected any such money apart from its allocation from the budget.

He said, “If you are talking of five percent in terms of monetary recoveries, I am positive that we have never received the five percent.”

Responding to a question from the Committee Chairman, Abdullahi Ibrahim Dutse (APC, Jigawa) on the approval granted the Commission to employ about 420 staff, he said “we were in the process of carrying out the employment before the Covid-19 set in and everything had to be suspended. That is why we have a balance of about N4 billion in our personnel be budget”.

He listed some of the challenges of the Commission to include the need for special courts to try corruption cases, the need to employ more personnel staff promotion as well as “security for our lawyers who complained that some of them are being kidnapped.”

On the poor releases of capital funds by the government, Umar said “that is something that is beyond our control.”

In what appeared to be an attempt to clampdown on #EndSARs promoters, the Corporate Affairs Commission has deregistered a company, Enough is Enough, in error.

The deregistered company, which was registered as a general-purpose firm, bears a similar name to a Civil Society Organisation, Enough is Enough Nigeria, which is actually registered as EiE Project Limited.

The CAC said in a series of tweets on Tuesday that Enough is Enough was deregistered for straying from its original purpose of registration.

The commission added that the company should immediately return its certificate of incorporation

It tweeted, “Based on the provisions of Section 579 (2) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, the Corporate Affairs Commission has cancelled the registration of the business name ‘Enough is Enough BN 2210728’ with immediate effect.

“The above section provides amongst others that the commission has the power to cancel the registration of a Business Name where the name is deceptive or objectionable. The business name ‘Enough is Enough’ which was registered in 2012 to engage in general contracts, sales of sport equipment/promotion deviated from its main objectives over the course of time.

“Consequently, the commission has removed it from its database and advised the proprietors to surrender the certificate earlier issued to them.”

The announcement of the CAC was well received by many of the supporters of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Twitter.

A social media aide to the President, Bashir Ahmad, quoted the CAC’s tweet which was praised by many of the President’s supporters.

But EiE later tweeted a photo of its Certificate of Incorporation which showed that it was appropriately registered by the CAC but only bore a similar name with the company which the commission had deregistered.

It tweeted, “Enough is Enough Nigeria aka EiE Nigeria aka EiE is registered as: The EiE Project Ltd/Gte”. A big thank you to those who have reached out & spoken up for us! A luta continua! Vitória é certa!”

The CAC’s gaffe quickly drew the attention of several Tweeps as they wondered why the Federal Government was taking action against #EndSARS protesters.

Blogger, Japhet Omojuwa, likened the incident to a stray bullet.

“Lol. Stray bullet don catch the wrong organisation. It’s sad though, that we have to fear for the existence of an organisation like EIE. Really just shows you size of the battle ahead for freedom in Nigeria,” Omojuwa tweeted.

A former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, who is a known critic of the regime, said the CAC ought to know better.

“Surely you must know that #EnoughIsEnough is not a business name, though. This is deliberate disinformation. The organisation is duly registered with legal personality under CAMA 1990. A business name doesn’t confer legal personality and de-registration doesn’t happen on Twitter by the way.”

Earlier, EiE had condemned the freezing of accounts owned by #EndSARS protesters. It had tweeted, “The Nigerian government wants us, when faced with official actions with which we disagree, to obey and submit without daring to object.

“Case in view: seizure of passports, freezing of accounts by CBN, continued arrests of #EndSARS protesters, blame game, etc. #EnoughIsEnough.”

EiE, which defines itself as a network of young Nigerians promoting good governance and citizen engagement, has a large social media following with over 260,000 followers on Twitter alone. PUNCH

The Federal Government has confirmed granting Dangote, BUA, and a gas supply company waivers for land exports.

Spokesperson of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), DC Joseph Attah, explained that the three firms were exempted on account of what they produce in other West African countries.

Attah, who doubles as a spokesperson for Operation En-Swift Response, the operational arm coordinating the border closure enforcement, said that “the Presidency, in its magnanimity, has approved the exemption of three companies, Dangote Cement, BUA and a gas supply firm from its border closure restrictions due to what they export to other African countries.

“I cannot remember the name of the gas supply company now, but the company supplies gas to Niger and other West African countries.

“So as of now, these companies will be allowed to export their goods through our land borders to neighbouring countries.”

On whether the goodwill might be extended to others, the image-maker declined specific comments.

According to him, “these three companies have been exempted. On whether the goodwill will be extended to others, I cannot talk on that since I am not in the Presidency. Ours is to carry out policies of government as regards the land border closure policy.”

Dangote Cement and other companies in July 2020 got a concession to export their products with a certain sequence of crossing at Ilela land border in Sokoto State and Ohumbe land border in Ogun State, according to clarifications made by the cement company.

Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Cement, Michel Puchercos, in his presentation, had explained that the company “is continuously focused on exporting cement to West and Central Africa by sea through its export terminals.”

He added that six vessels of clinker were exported in the third quarter of 2020 via Apapa terminal, while plans were on to commission Port Harcourt export terminal before the end of this year.

For the quarter, Dangote Cement exported only 69 kilotonnes of cement via land, compared to 180 kilotonnes it undertook before the closure.

Also reacting to the Bloomberg publication, Group Chief, Branding and Communications, Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, said the report was “misleading and mischievous because it focused only on Dangote Cement as the sole beneficiary of the waiver.”

He said: “Dangote Cement is a publicly-quoted company and complies strictly with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) full disclosure clauses, and we regularly update transparently our transactions to our shareholders and it is disheartening that such honest disclosure is being interpreted negatively.”

However, Managing Director of BUA Cement, Yusuf Binji, said his organisation did not have any blanket approval to export since the Nigerian borders remained closed.

He added that the firm was granted a limited approval to export the product to the “Niger Republic (which is 100 kilometre from our plant), and this was disclosed in our half-year results and presentations to the investing and general public.”

Binji continued: “During the month of June, we received approval for limited export to the Niger Republic from our so-called plant through the Illela border which we carried out successfully. The Nigerian land borders still remain shut.

“So, this was a one-off thing we received, but we hope to get more subsequently during this quarter.

“Regarding the optimisation of the energy mix, we have signed a contract with a company to convert our production facilities in Sokoto for the production of liquefied natural gas.

“This is going to come from Port Harcourt in LNG tankers and we are bidding a re-gasification plant in Sokoto that will convert the liquid back to gas and that will be used in both our power plant and also our kiln.

“The kiln is the furnace that produces our intermediate product called clinker. So these two areas will use LNG in the very near future.”

However, the founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Atedo Peterside, had said that legitimate exporters and importers should be allowed to move their goods across borders.

“Allowing legitimate exporters and importers to move their goods across the border should be a no-brainer,” he had added.