*Discos get 10-day deadline for meter installation

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday confirmed a THISDAY exclusive report on the September 1 take-off date for the new electricity tariffs regime approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a note titled: “Answers to Frequently Asked Questions,” the regulatory agency clearly stated that the Service-Based Tariff (SBT) regime will now commence from the beginning of next month, adding however that the “poor” would not be affected by the expected increase.

But the review however runs contrary to the National Assembly’s position that there should be no further action on the planned increase until the first quarter of next year.

The lawmakers had argued that the timing was wrong, given that Nigerians are already suffering under the yoke of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, NERC insisted that there will never be a good time for the review, stating that it will ensure that Discos improve on the quality of service as well as a 10-day deadline to install meters for power consumers who pay upfront.

“There will never be a good time to review the tariff. The interest here is to ensure that Nigerians are migrated to a threshold where there will be continuous improvement in the quality of service delivery.

“The proposed serviced-based tariff review which comes into effect by 1st September 2020 will only affect customers that live in areas where their Discos promise to provide them electricity for at least 12 hours.

“The SBT will operate a progressive regime-the customers that receive the highest quality of service (12-24 hours per day) will pay the highest tariff. Customers that receive under 12 hours of service per day will continue paying their current tariff, that is, no increase on September 1,” the regulator noted.

NERC insisted that the SBT is designed to protect the poor, noting that only the wealthy customers in the areas that receive over 12 hours service will experience tariffs increase.

It noted that the service-based tariff will relieve the government of paying electricity subsidy on the rich and allow it to divert scarce resources to more pressing sectors, including education and healthcare.

“The tariff review is only expected to affect less than the richest 25 per cent of the population living in the most prosperous areas of the country. The richest 10 per cent of the population will cover as much as 50 per cent of tariff increase” it added.

NERC reiterated that when the deal with Siemens becomes operational, it will improve the power supply in the country, noting that the World Bank, ministry of finance , budget and national planning as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were working towards an extensive mass metering programme to close the gap by providing as many as 6 million meters .

It said that the service reflective regime is built around the incremental improvement in the quality of supply, stating that depending on the historical supply pattern, customers will observe increased hours of supply as the Discos migrate them to higher service bands . “Ultimately, customers will pay for service commensurate to the number of hours they receive,” NERC maintained.

NERC said that with the improved tariff, incidences of customers contributing to buying poles, transformers and wires will reduce because Discos will embrace their responsibilities in full and respond swiftly to complaints on damaged equipment.

“NERC has developed and communicated clear punitive mechanisms that will be used against Discos if they do not meet their obligations.

“In line with the Meter Asset Provider (MAP), 2018, regulation, there are two options for payment and obtaining meters, instalment payment which attracts a monthly meter service charge and upfront or one-off.

“Customers who elect to be metered under the upfront payment are being metered within a maximum of 10 days. In other cases customers will be advised on when meters will be installed on their premises” the commission said.

NERC said that the days of arbitrary billing will be a thing of the past as customers without meters will be billed as comparable to metered customers in the same area.

“NERC is responsible for meting out punishment to Discos if they do not meet the obligations to customers . The relevant punishment will be communicated through each Disco,” it noted.

The Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Diocese, Ignatius Kaigama yesterday added his voice to that of prominent Christians who have condemned the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020.

He said the federal government’s motive behind CAMA is bad, adding that it should be reviewed to avoid a crisis in the country.

Kaigama spoke in Abuja during his Pallium investiture ceremony by the Antonio Filipazzi Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, Most Rev. Antonio Filipazzi.

On August 7, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari assented to CAMA 2020, which repeals and replaces the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

The controversial Section 839 (1) and (2) provides that religious bodies and non-governmental organisations will be strictly regulated by the Registrar-General of Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and a supervising minister.

The law also wields power to suspend the trustees of an association or a religious body and appoint an interim manager or managers to coordinate its affairs where it reasonably believes that there had been any misconduct or mismanagement, or where the affairs of the association are being run fraudulently or where it is necessary or desirable for the purpose of public interest.

Kaigama said: “Our experts are dealing with the issue of CAMA. It is not something we can just talk about anyhow. This needs careful analysis and we are doing that.

“But on the surface. It doesn’t look as if there is a good intension to it. It doesn’t look that the motive is right. It doesn’t look like enough study was done about the implications of how this law is going to be.

“And now that they know, I hope prudence and wise judgment will lead our authorities to humbly start all over and see how this law does no generate unprecedented problems for our country, and destroy the little peace we have.”

On the killings in some parts of the country, Kaigama said the federal and state governments, including stakeholders must change their approaches in handling security issues across the country.

He also affirmed that there is no political will to tackle the crisis.

“Why should the killings go on for year after year? Why should innocent people sleep in dark places in the villages be killed? And every time we say we are on top of the situation.

“When can we really deal with the situation not just being on top? Southern Kaduna represents many other areas in Nigeria. The minority groups who are suffering all kinds of injustice and unfair treatment revolt when they are pushed to the wall.

“So the government must address fundamental, historical, and justice issues. They know what the problem is but, they lack the political will to deal with these unending killings and this is what is causing this violence. The government must do something.

“Our security agencies must be objective and committed to the common good of all Nigerians”.

An alleged Fake Lawyer, Daji Ojo Elijah was on Wednesday arraigned before a Magistrate court in Ogun State, for alleged Impersonation.

Daji was arrested by the men of Nigeria police for allegedly parading himself as a lawyer and was accused of extorting the sum of N467,000 as a legal fee.

According to the Charge Sheet sighted by TheNigerianLawyer, the alleged fake lawyer committed the alleged offence around February, 2020.

“COUNT I: That you Daji Ojo Elijah “M” on or 24th February and 26th February, 2020 at about 1545hrs at Akute/Ajuwon in Ifo Magisterial District, did unlawfully personating yourself to be a Legal Practitioner (Lawyer) which you are not and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 109  of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006″ the charge reads

Daji Ojo Elijah was also accused of obtaining by false pretense for allegedly collecting the sum of N167, 000.00 from one Akande Samuel, N180, 000.00 from Olalekan Adekoya and  N120, 000.00 from Esther Falowo Afolabi with the purpose of offering legal service to them. The charge reads:

“COUNT II: That you Daji Ojo Elijah “M” on same date, time and place in the aforementioned Magisterial District did fraudulently and unlawfully collected money from the following people: (1.) Akande Samuel ‘M’ One Hundred and Sixty Seven Thousand Naira (N167, 000.00). (2.) Olalekan Adekoya ‘M’ One Hundred and Eighty Thousand Naira (N180, 000.00) and (3.) Esther Falowo Afolabi ‘F’ One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira (N120, 000.00) with the pretence of rendering legal services to them, which you never did, thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 419 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun State of Nigeria, 2006″

TNL recalls that Quit Notice dated 4th of May, 2020, full of poor grammar has gone viral in the media purportedly written by the same lawyer. Many lawyers called for investigation to ascertain if the said Daji Ojo Elijah is truly a lawyer

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Mr. Farouk A. Salim as the new Director-General, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

The appointment, which has a four-year duration, takes effect from September 26, 2020.

The appointment of the new DG was conveyed by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebayo, in a letter dated August 21, 2020.

Salim will replace the current DG of the standards regulatory agency, Mr. Osita Aboloma, whose tenure expires next month.

Separately, Buhari also approved the appointment of Bashir Tijjani Babajo as Executive Director Operations, Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), for a four-year term in the first instance with effect from August 1, 2020 and further renewed the appointment of Philip Ashinze as Executive Director, Finance and Administration for a second and final four-year term with effect from August 1.

Their appointments were conveyed to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono, in a letter with reference number SH/COS/42/3/A/988 and signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.

Congratulating the Executive Directors on their appointments, Nanoni urged them to bring their wealth of experience to bear in their tasks and ensure the continuous implementation of NAIC’s mandate in accordance with extant laws and other subsisting rules and regulations.

In a statement by the Director Information, FMARD, Mrs. Theodore Ogaziechi, the minister further advised the EDs to justify the confidence reposed in them by working with all stakeholders to ensure harmony in the agricultural sector and in support of Buhari’s next level agenda.

NAIC, which is wholly owned by the federal government, is an insurance company set up to specially provide agricultural risks insurance cover to Nigerian farmers.

Kano Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has vowed to sign the warrant of the death sentence passed on 22-year-old Yahaya Sharif-Aminu for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammad.

The Governor, who supports the ruling by Upper Shari’a Court, said he will promptly sign the warrant if Sharif-Aminu does not appeal the sentence.

Sharif-Aminu, a resident of Sharifai quarters in Kano municipal, was sued for “insulting religious creed, contrary to section 382 (b) of Kano State Shari’a Penal Code Law 2000.”

According to the litigation, he committed blasphemy against the prophet in a song he circulated that went viral via WhatsApp in March 2020.

The Shari’a court, presided by Khadi Aliyu Muhammad Kani, found him guilty of the charge and ordered he should be hanged to death.

Ganduje applauded the judgment while speaking at Africa House, Government House Kano, in a ‘Special Meeting’ with Muslim Ulamahs.

Leaders of the Ulamahs, who represented the three major sects of Islam: Izalah, Tijjaniyya and Kadiriyya, unanimously hailed the judgment.

The meeting had in attendance the Commissioner of Police; Director State Security Service (DSS); Representative of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN); Eze of Kano Chief Boniface Ibekwe; Representatives of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA); Representatives of Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria (MULAN) and Comptroller of Kano Correctional Centre.

The Governor said: “What the Court did is absolutely right. And we support it completely. Such kind of irresponsible act, if not because of the state power, nobody could know what would happen in the future.

“The man who did that (blasphemy), confessed to be a follower of a particular Islamic Sect. But the adherents of those Sects rejected him right away.

“So we need to understand the importance of this judgement. We are lucky that scholars maintained that it wasn’t a case for a particular Sect, but rather of one who just decided to derail.

“The state government has accepted the death sentence verdict and the rule of law surrounding the case. I will not waste time in signing the warrant for the execution of the man who blasphemed our Holy Prophet of Islam.”

The accused, however, has the right to appeal which exhausts at the Supreme Court.

The accused, who was sentenced on August 10, had 30 days to appeal.

“Today (Friday), he has 12 days left to file an appeal, failure to which he will be killed,” the Governor stated.

He added: “If he does not appeal within the 30 days, I, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the Executive Governor of Kano, will sign the death warrant.

“If he exhausts his appeal at the Supreme Court, I will not waste a minute to sign the death warrant.”

The prison service said the accused has not appealed the judgment, yet.

No lawyer has also shown up to his defense, it was learnt.

thenigerialawyer

Wole Soyinka, playwright and Nobel laureate, has condemned a bill seeking to regulate water resources in Nigeria.

Rejected in 2018, the national water resources bill 2020 was reintroduced by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in July, and now awaiting passage by the national assembly.

The bill seeks to bring all water resources– both surface and underground, and the banks of the water sources under the control of the federal government through its agencies to be established by the bill.

But reacting, Soyinka called for the deactivation of the bill.

He accused Buhari and his predecessors of lacking in vision and had been unable to solve the country’s least water problems.

“A roundly condemned project blasted out of sight by public outrage one or two years ago, is being exhumed and sneaked back into service by none other than a failed government, and with the consent of a body of people, supposedly elected to serve as custodians of the rights, freedoms and existential exigencies of millions,” he said in a statement.

“This bill – bill on national water resources 2020 is designed to hand Aso Rock ABSOLUTE CONTROL over the nation’s entire water resources, both over and underground.

“The basic facilitator of human existence, water – forget for now all about streams of righteousness! – is to become exclusive to one centralised authority. It will be doled out, allocated through power directives from a desensitised rockery that cannot even boast of the water divining wand of the prophet Moses. If the current presiding genius – and this applies equally to ALL his predecessors without exception – had a structured vision of Nigerian basic entitlements, Nigerians would by now, be able to boast the means of fulfilling even that minimalist item of COVID-19 protocols that call for washing one’s hands under running water! As for potable water, for drinking and cooking, let us not even begin to address such extra-terrestrial undertaking!

“What next for the exclusive list? The rains? I declare myself in full agreement with virtually every pronouncement of alarm, outrage, opprobrium and repudiation that has been heaped upon this bill and its parentage, both at its first outing and since this recent re-emergence. It is time to move beyond denunciations however and embark on practical responses for its formal deactivation and permanent internment.

“Let all retain in their minds that, from the same source that preached the ‘streams of righteousness’ is encountered the promise of ‘no more floods, the fire next time.’ In any case, let the promulgators of this obscenity, high and low, understand that the placid waters they think to control unjustly and grotesquely, will turn to be Martin Luther King’s ‘mighty stream of righteousness’ that will overwhelm and sweep them off their complacent, and increasingly loathsome sectarian, conspiratorial heights.”