A World Bank report has revealed that the Nigerian Diaspora community remitted $168.33 billion to the country in the past eight years. The remittance was made even as the foreign investments inflow into the country remained unstable during those years caused by a scarcity of foreign currency which has since led to the free fall of the naira. According to data from the World Bank and Budget Office of the Federation, Nigeria’s Diaspora remittances have played a huge contribution in cushioning the adverse effects of foreign exchange scarcity and keeping the country’s forex reserve afloat. In 2022, the World Bank stated that remittances flow to sub-Saharan Africa grew by 5.2 per cent to $53 billion, with Nigeria getting the largest share. The figures from the global bank revealed that between 2015 and 2022, a total of $168.33 billion was sent home by Nigerians in the Diaspora. A breakdown of the figures revealed that in 2015, the Diaspora remittance was $21.2 billion; it plummeted to $19.7 billion in 2016; and rose to $22bn in 2017. It further stated that in 2018, it was $24.31 billion. It soon fell to $23.81 billion in 2019, and the pandemic caused it to fall to $17.21 billion in 2020. It came back stronger to $19.2 billion in 2021 and by 2022 the World Bank estimated that the inflows into the country had reached $20.9 billion. Prior to 2020, Nigeria’s remittance inflows had only fallen below $20 billion once, when it fell to $19.7 billion in 2016. According to the World Bank, Diaspora remittance one of the top sources of non-oil foreign exchange for the country in 2022. It noted that the sustained increase in Diaspora inflows since 2021 has been because of several new policies from the Central Bank of Nigeria. As of April 19, 2023, data from the CBN showed that Nigeria’s forex reserve was $34.43 billion, an 18.4 per cent increase from the $29.07 billion it was in 2015. While Diaspora remittances have helped hugely, the Nigerian Diaspora community recently stated that the current global economic hardship may affect its ability to transfer a lot of funds home.

  No fewer than 17 people have died following the two explosions that hit a Pakistani counterterrorism facility in the country’s northwest region on Monday. The police said the blasts were caused by electrical shorts and not a “terror attack” as initially suggested. The death toll from explosions in the ammunition depot rose to 17 after the occurrence in Kabal town of Swat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, Al-Jazeera said.   The dead were nine policemen, five detainees and three civilians, local police chief Shafiullah Gandapur said. More than 50 people, mostly police officers, were also wounded when the shorts ignited explosions seconds apart, according to Akhtar Hayat, another provincial police officer. Initially, police said the explosions could be an act of “terrorism” but an investigation later concluded that short circuits were the cause, a police statement released on Tuesday said. Nasir Mahmood Satti, a district police chief, also confirmed there was no attack. Police and government officials attended a collective funeral on Tuesday for the officers killed in the blasts. Officials and others attend the funeral prayer of police officers, who were killed in Monday’s explosions in Kabal, a town of Pakistan’s Swat district.

  THERE are indications that the N10 billion additional investments occasioned by the proposed emergence of Nigeria’s Electricity Act could become a mirage, due mainly to some anti-investment provisions in the House of Representatives Electric Power Sector Reform Act, EPSRA. In its version obtained by Vanguard, the House of Representatives imposed some charges, including two per cent on profit of all Renewable Energy Service Companies in Nigeria executing renewable energy projects. There is also five per cent charged on every KWh of energy sold and carbon tax at the rate of 5 per cent on pump price of petroleum products (PMS, AGO, LNG) sold by every Marketer across Nigeria. Commenting on the development, the Chief Executive officer, New Hampshire Capital Limited and the lead consultant on power for the Nigeria Governors Forum, Odion Omonfoman, stated: “The EPSRA Amendment Bill by the House has a number of provisions. “The provisions, in our opinion, would be detrimental to the power sector and curtail further investments in the NESI if passed into law. “These provisions also infringe the constitutional rights of states to make laws for electricity generation, transmission and distribution within their territories. “The amendment bill imposes significant additional costs on a bankrupt electricity market and the companies operating in the electricity sector. “Sadly, the (amendment) bill is so focused on generating revenues for the existing federal agencies in the power sector, it overlooks the unintended consequences and the harm the bill would cause to the power sector, as Nigerians will have to pay higher for electricity. “In our opinion, the EPSRA Amendment Bill by the House prevents State governments from harnessing their hydro resources for small and medium scale renewable hydro-electric power generation within their states.   “The (amendment) bill expands the remit of Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPADEC) to capture small scale hydro-electric plants/activities in all states. “Under the (amendment) bill, small and medium scale hydro-electric power companies operating within a state, would pay a 10% tax on the total revenues generated (see section 77A (2) and (6)). “The proposed 10% tax on their revenues will make small scale hydro-electric power generation within states economically unviable to investors willing to take on the risk of investments in these small scale hydro-electric power projects.” Harmonization required The consultant who called for the harmonisation of the Senate and House versions, stated: “Even though the EPSRA amendment bill has been passed by the House, we call on the Speaker and members of the House to look more closely at the provisions of the EPSRA amendment bill so as not to impose further needless hardships and sufferings on their constituents. “In any event, whatever funding provisions are legislated by the House and Senate in the EPSRA amendment bill must explicitly exclude participants in State Electricity Markets. “By the provisions of the 1999 Constitution under section 13(b) and 14(b), Second schedule, the National Assembly has no powers to make laws for electricity distribution within States. “In this regard, the EPSRA Amendment Bill in section 98A, makes provisions for the ceding and transition of electricity regulations within a State from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to a State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) created by a State electricity law. “This is a provision that require harmonisation between the Senate Electricity Bill and the EPSRA amendment bill. “The Senate Electricity bill should make similar provisions for regulatory transition of successor DisCo operations within a state to the SERC.”

  Popular American singer, R. Kelly has been moved to a prison in North Carolina where he will serve his prison sentence. The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly – was moved on Wednesday of last week from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago to the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina. The Chicago native was sentenced in February to one additional year in prison for his Chicago conviction federal child pornography and child enticement charges, on top of the 30 years he’s already serving for a separate conviction out of New York. In September 2022, a federal jury in Chicago convicted Kelly of six counts accusing him of sexually abusing three women – who testified under the pseudonyms Jane, Pauline, and Nia – on video, while acquitting him of enticement charges involving two other accusers, Tracy and Brittany. The same jury acquitted him of seven other charges, including obstruction of justice, accusing him and two associates of rigging his 2008 child pornography trial in Cook County. Kelly still faces a solicitation of prostitution charge in Minnesota, although that case has stalled as his federal cases took precedence. Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx last month decided to drop sexual abuse and sexual assault indictments against Kelly, noting he was already facing decades in prison, saying her office’s limited resources would be better spent pursuing other sexual assault cases. Kelly, 56, could be eligible for release from prison when he’s a little over 79 years old.

  India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country in the coming week, hitting almost 1.43 billion people, the United Nations said Monday. “By the end of this month, India’s population is expected to reach 1,425,775,850 people, matching and then surpassing the population of mainland China,” the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said. Last week the UN’s annual State of World Population report had said the milestone would come by midyear 2023. India is topping China due to both rapid growth in its own population and a decline in China’s after hitting 1.426 billion last year. Regarded as the world’s most heavily populated country since the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th Century CE, China is expected to decline steadily to around one billion people by the end of this century, according to UN projections.   The China data does not include Taiwan, Hong Kong or Macau. Meanwhile, India’s population “is virtually certain” to continue to grow in the coming decades, according to the United Nations. The median UN projection sees India hitting 1.5 billion by mid-century — though officials stressed it could be much lower or higher. China’s fall is heavily tied to decades of maintaining a strict one-child policy for married couples, which ended in 2016. In addition, its slower growth is attributed to the rising cost of living and the growing number of Chinese women going into the workforce and seeking higher education. Last year, China’s fertility rate fell to one of the lower levels in the world at 1.2 births per woman. For India, which has taken much longer than China to get population growth under control, the fertility rate was 2.0 births per woman, just below the 2.1 replacement level. Yet both countries had about the same level of fertility, just under six births per woman, in 1970, said John Wilmoth, director of the Population Division and the Economic and Social Affairs Department. “It took three and a half decades for India to experience the same fertility reduction that occurred in China over just seven years during the 1970s,” he said. A key reason for the difference was Beijing’s one-child policy; another was India’s lower human capital investment and slower economic growth during the 1970s and 1980s, according to the UN. Wilmoth said that the reason the population report last week said India would surpass China by midyear was that it was using a projection made based on data last year. The projection announced Monday is based on more recent data — though still a projection, Wilmoth stressed. “The precise timing of when this crossover occurs is not known for sure and it will never be known,” he told reporters. Ageing Populations And Jobs Both countries must confront rapidly ageing populations, China more so than India. India faces huge challenges providing electricity, food and housing for its growing population, with many of its massive cities already struggling with water shortages, air and water pollution, and packed slums. Surpassing China shines a spotlight on the challenge facing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide jobs for the millions of young people entering the job market every year. Meanwhile China’s economy is increasingly challenged to fill positions due to its ageing population. Beijing said last week that its national strategy is designed “to actively respond to population ageing, promotes the three-child birth policy and supporting measures, and actively responds to changes in population development.” “China’s demographic dividend has not disappeared. The talent dividend is taking shape, and development momentum remains strong,” said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.

  The World Health Organization (WHO) says the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine given provisional approval by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) still needs to undergo more trials. The trials are to be recommended by WHO. WHO Country Representative to Nigeria Dr Walter Mulombo, during a media parley at the UN House in Abuja on Tuesday, also restated the importance and efficacy of the RTSS vaccine adopted by countries like Ghana and Kenya. As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark World Malaria Day during Africa Vaccines Week and World Immunisation Week, Mulombo also emphasised the need for proper policy funding and education in the efforts to get Nigeria and Africa to zero malaria.   He noted that 96 percent of world deaths and 95 percent of world infections from malaria occurred in Africa, while Nigeria contributed to 79 percent of Africa’s unvaccinated children. Green Light The Federal Government, earlier this month, granted regulatory approval for the R21/Matrix-M developed by scientists at Oxford University. The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration And Control (NAFDAC), Mojisola Adeyeye, said the vaccine is to address the prevention of malaria in children from five months to 36 months of age. He added that Nigeria has the highest prevalence of malaria in the world with over 27 per cent, and the highest number of global malaria deaths of 32 per cent. According to Adeyeye, a full review using the standards of the World Health Organisation was carried out on the vaccine, to ensure its efficacy, safety, and quality. The development comes days after Ghana became the first country to approve the vaccine — which is said to be 80 per cent effective.

  President Joe Biden announced Tuesday he is running for re-election in 2024, plunging at the record age of 80 into a ferocious new White House campaign “to finish the job.” “Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms,” Biden wrote on Twitter, along with a video. “I believe this is ours. That’s why I’m running for re-election as president of the United States. Join us. Let’s finish the job.” After a series of big legislative wins and momentous foreign policy struggles in his first two years in office, Biden has no real challenger from within the Democratic Party. But in a campaign that may result in a rematch of the 2020 election against Donald Trump, he is expected to face constant and fierce scrutiny over his age. The veteran Democrat would be 86 by the end of a second term. Even if a medical exam in February found him “fit” to execute the duties of the presidency, many including in his own voter base believe he is too old. An NBC News poll released over the weekend found that 70 percent of Americans, including 51 percent of Democrats, believe he should not run. Sixty-nine percent of all respondents who said he shouldn’t run cited concerns over his age as a major or minor reason. Biden likes to answer those concerns by saying, “watch me” — meaning that voters should focus on his policy wins at home and his marshaling of an unprecedented Western alliance to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion. Over the next year and a half, Biden will have all the advantages of incumbency, backed by a united party, while Republicans are only just starting a messy primary season. Trump, despite becoming the first former or serving president to be criminally indicted — and facing probes into his attempt to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 election — is the overwhelming Republican frontrunner. On Monday, Trump was quick to pitch in his own criticism of the man who defeated him last time around. “With such a calamitous and failed presidency, it is almost inconceivable that Biden would even think of running for reelection,” he said in a statement. The most likely Republican challenger to the 76-year-old Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, presents a similarly right-wing figure, though starkly younger at 44. – ‘Rebuilding the middle class’ – Biden will underline his foreign policy credentials Tuesday when he meets with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is starting a state visit to the White House. Like in 2020, Biden’s video message framed his election bid as a fight to save American democracy from Trump and increasingly far-right Republicans. However, he also stressed his message of restoring an economy with heavy focus on the manufacturing base and jobs for the middle class. Later Tuesday he was scheduled to deliver an economic address to a union conference being held in Washington. While not a campaign event, the scheduled theme — “how his investing in America agenda is bringing manufacturing back, rebuilding the middle class, and creating good-paying union jobs” — was set to be at the heart of the Democrat’s 2024 message. – Bland but comforting? – Biden’s approval ratings have not topped 50 percent for more than a year and a half. However, he has consistently over-delivered when it matters. Supporters say the Democratic Party’s surprisingly strong performance in 2022 midterm congressional elections validated the Biden brand. And while Biden may seem bland in comparison to Trump, he would bank on his moderate, old fashioned image being the secret weapon needed in an increasingly extreme era. “My dad had an expression,” Biden often says. “‘Joey, don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.’”

  A fresh motion on notice seeking to stop the inauguration of Bola Tinubu as Nigeria’s next President on May 29 has been instituted at the Court of Appeal in Abuja. The suit marked CA/CV/259/2023 was instituted by Ambrose Owuru, who is constitutional lawyer and a past presidential candidate who ran for the presidency under the platform of the Hope Democratic Party in 2019. Listed as respondents in the motion on notice are the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the Independent National Electoral Commission as 1st to 3rd respondents respectively. Owuru in the suit is praying the Court of Appeal to prohibit President Buhari, the AGF and INEC from inaugurating the 2023 President-elect on May 29, claiming that he was the valid winner of the 2019 election and had not spent his tenure as required by law. Consequently, he is seeking to stop any other move towards the inauguration of Tinubu or anybody else as successor to Buhari. Among other things, Owuru maintained that Buhari had been usurping his tenure of office since 2019 because the Supreme Court had not determined his petition filed in 2019 wherein he challenged Buhari’s victory. In his motion on notice marked CA/CV/259/2023 Owuru applied for “An order of prohibitory injunction compelling Buhari, AGF and INEC, their servants, agents and privies to preserve and give due cognizance and abstain from any further undertaking or engaging in any act of usurpation of adjudged acquired Constitutional rights and mandate as the winner of the 2019 presidential election.” He also applied for another order placing on notice that any form of inauguration, organised by Buhari on May 29, 2023 remains and is viewed as an “interim placeholder” administration arranged pending the hearing and determination of his substantive appeal on the constitutional interpretation thereof. The motion is supported with an eight-paragraph affidavit praying the Court of Appeal for an expeditious hearing before the inauguration of Tinubu. The affidavit deposed to by an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Adebayo Anafowode, and filed at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, expressed apprehension that Owuru’s suit against Buhari would be rendered nugatory unless given a quick hearing. It read in part, “That the applicant (Owuru) is the adjudged 1st in time constitutional winner of the February 16, 2019, presidential election reserves the right of first refusal over any later presidential election returns in the face of usurpation of adjudged acquired constitutional rights.” No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit yet.

  The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has reportedly sealed a property belonging to the embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, in Makurdi, Benue State. It was gathered that Ayu’s property, sealed by the federal government agency, is located at Padre Pio Street, Judges Quarters (ext.). According to Guardian, the property was shut for the owners’ failure to tender relevant documents relating to site plans on the property to the agency. Giving reasons for the sealing of the property, a source told the publication, “It is an academic institution.” However, Special Adviser to the PDP Chairman on Media and Publicity, Simon Imobo-Tswam, denied knowledge of the sealing of any of his principal’s properties by any agency. He promised to find out and revert. Efforts to obtain clarification on the development from the NESREA coordinator in the state, Daniel Iormough, failed. This is coming about a week after the Makurdi High Court presided by Justice Kpochi shifted the date for hearing the substantive suit seeking to remove Ayu from office as the National Chairman of the PDP till April 28, 2023. Justice Kpochi also withdrew from the case and announced he would return the case file to the Chief Judge of Benue State to reassign to another judge as he is embarking on a national assignment at the elections petitions tribunal. Naija News recalls the PDP executives suspended Ayu at his Igyorov ward, Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State, after they passed a vote of no confidence in him. On March 27, 2023, based on an ex-parte motion instituted by a PDP member, Conrad Utaan, Justice Kpochi issued an interim order restraining Ayu from parading himself as the PDP national chairman pending the hearing and determination of the suit.