Headlines
Toll Gates Make Dramatic Return to Nigerian Roads
The federal government has concluded designs for the return of toll plazas on federal roads, Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said.
Mr Fashola disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The minister said that though the government dismantled toll plazas in the past, there was no law abolishing tolls.
“Let me just clarify this impression about toll gates; there is no reason why we cannot toll; there is no reason.
“There was a policy of government to abolish tolls, to dismantle toll plazas, but there is no law that prohibits tolls in Nigeria today.
“We expect to return toll plazas; we have concluded their designs; of what they will look like; what material they will be built with; what new considerations must go into them.
“What we are looking at now and trying to conclude is how the back-end runs and that is important because we want to limit significantly if not totally eliminate cash at the plazas while ensuring that electronic devices that are being used do not impede rapid movement.
“We are also now faced with the need to acquire more land to establish the width of the toll plazas because I believe that we are looking at a 10-lane plaza so that there can be more outlets and then they merge; so we need to acquire more land.’’
He however, said that the expectation that collection of tolls would produce the replacement cost of the road was not accurate.
Mr Fashola said that the traffic toll count that the ministry had done on major highways did not suggest that there was enough vehicular traffic across all routes.
According to him, the two or three heavy routes are Lagos-Ibadan; Abuja-Kano, Abuja-Lokoja.
“In Lagos-Ibadan, the heaviest traffic you will find is between Lagos and Sagamu; about 40,000 vehicles; after Sagamu heading to Ibadan, it drops to about 20,000.
“So, most of it has gone eastwards going towards Ondo, Ore and by the time you get to Benin, the number significantly drops; it ratchets up again at the confluence where they are heading towards the Niger; so you can see that it is not a static 50,000 all the way.
“ Same thing with Abuja-Kano-Zaria; after Kaduna, the traffic significantly drops; it is about 40,000 there too; after Kaduna, it begin to drop by the time you get to Zaria.
“If you have driven on that road before, by the time you are driving between Zaria and Kaduna, you will notice how thin the recurring number of vehicles you meet is and as you begin to head closer between Kaduna and Abuja, the number of vehicles begins to increase.
“I think it is important to have that at the back of our minds; not all roads have that traffic count,’’ he said.
The minister said that government’s move toward the tolls return was not accidental as it was being deliberate and methodical with what it was doing.
(NAN)
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), on Thursday, published a list of 9, 532 alleged land title debtors in Abuja, giving them a two-week ultimatum to settle their outstanding bills.
The list, which includes prominent individuals and government agencies, was published on November 26, with defaulters expected to pay for their certificate of occupancy (C-of- O) within the stipulated timeframe.
Among those listed as defaulters is former Head of State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB), who owes N152 million for a plot of land in Asokoro, a highbrow area in the nation’s capital. IBB, who ruled Nigeria from 1985 to 1993, is not the only high-profile individual on the list.
Other notable defaulters include Samuel Ortom, former governor of Benue, who owes N950,000 for a plot of land in Bazango, and Aminu Tambuwal, senator representing Sokoto south, who owes N18 million for a plot of land in Carraway Dallas.
The FCTA has threatened to revoke the land titles of defaulters who fail to settle their bills within the stipulated timeframe. The administration has urged defaulters to settle their bills by e-payment to the “FCT department of land administration” account.
In addition to individual defaulters, some federal agencies, including the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), the navy, and police, were also named as defaulters.
The Lagos governor’s lodge in Asokoro, the Kaduna state government, and ‘State House Abuja’ were also listed as land title debtors.
This development is not the first time the FCTA has taken steps to recover outstanding debts from landowners. In June this year, the administration set up a committee to recover over N29 billion owed by property owners.
The committee has since identified 430 individuals and organisations as defaulters, with plans to prosecute them.
The FCTA has also partnered with anti-graft agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), to check the activities of land grabbers in the territory.
The Senate has granted approval to the ₦1.77 trillion ($2.2b) loan request of President Bola Tinubu after a voice vote in favor of the request.
The Senate presided by Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, approved the loan after the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts chaired by Senator Wammako Magatarkada (APC, Sokoto North) presented the report of the committee.
The request which was submitted by the President on Tuesday is part of a fresh external borrowing plan to partially finance the N9.7 trillion budget deficit for the 2024 fiscal year.
Tinubu had on Tuesday written to the National Assembly, seeking approval of a fresh N1.767 trillion, the equivalent of $2.209 billion as a new external borrowing plan in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
The fresh loan is expected to stretch the amount spent on debt servicing by the Federal Government. The Central Bank of Nigeria recently said that it cost the Federal Government $3.58 billion to service foreign debt in the first nine months of 2024.
The CBN report on international payment statistics showed that the amount represents a 39.77 per cent increase from the $2.56bn spent during the same period in 2023.
According to the report, while the highest monthly debt servicing payment in 2024 occurred in May, amounting to $854.37m, the highest monthly expenditure in 2023 was $641.70m, recorded in July.
The trend in foreign debt servicing by the CBN highlights the rising cost of debt obligations by Nigeria.
Further breakdown of international debt figures showed that in January 2024, debt servicing costs surged by 398.89 per cent, rising to $560.52m from $112.35m in January 2023. February, however, saw a slight decline of 1.84 per cent, with payments reducing from $288.54m in 2023 to $283.22m in 2024.
March recorded a 31.04 per cent drop in payments, falling to $276.17m from $400.47m in the same period last year. April saw a significant rise of 131.77 per cent, with $215.20m paid in 2024 compared to $92.85m in 2023.
The highest debt servicing payment occurred in May 2024, when $854.37m was spent, reflecting a 286.52 per cent increase compared to $221.05m in May 2023. June, on the other hand, saw a 6.51 per cent decline, with $50.82m paid in 2024, down from $54.36m in 2023.
July 2024 recorded a 15.48 per cent reduction, with payments dropping to $542.50m from $641.70m in July 2023. In August, there was another decline of 9.69 per cent, as $279.95m was paid compared to $309.96m in 2023. However, September 2024 saw a 17.49 per cent increase, with payments rising to $515.81m from $439.06m in the same month last year.
Given rising exchange rates, the data raises concerns about the growing pressure of Nigeria’s foreign debt obligations.
Channels TV
Self acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Simon Ekpa, has been arrested by law enforcement in Finland.
The BBC reports that Ekpa was subsequently sent to prison by the district court of Päijät-Häme for “spreading terrorist propaganda on social media”.
Ekpa was said to have committed the crime in 2021 in Lahti municipality.
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) also arrested four other men over alleged terrorist offences.
A citizen of Finland and Nigeria, Ekpa has described himself as leader of the separatist IPOB group since Nnamdi Kanu’s incarceration.
Finnish police say Ekpa’s activities and social media rhetoric may have fanned the flames of violence in the south-east of Nigeria.
“He carries out these activities from his social media channels, for example,” said Otto Hiltunen, detective chief inspector of the NBI.
In February 2023, Ekpa was arrested by police at his residence in Lahti but was released after hours of questioning.
Using his social media channels, Ekpa had directed Igbos not to participate in Nigeria’s 2023 general election.
In September 2021, the Biafra agitator and secessionist denounced Nigeria and vowed to return the medal he won for the country at the 2003 African Junior Athletics Championships.
