Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, criticized Nigeria's federalism structure, citing its adverse effects on state development. He urged a review of revenue distribution to align with fiscal federalism principles, particularly highlighting the disparity in resource-endowed states' allocations.

Diri emphasized the injustice of Bayelsa being labeled as financially insolvent while its resources fuel the nation's coffers.

Speaking at an event in Houston, Texas, where he received the "Icon of Unity and Social Justice" award, Diri underscored the importance of preserving Ijaw heritage and unity.

Diri says: “You cannot take away the resources in my state and the internally generated revenue that would have accrued to us and expropriate it in the name of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). Every month end, the 36 states in the country gather in Abuja to share resources accruing from my state and they still come back to insult us that our state is insolvent.”

He lamented the potential growth lost due to unequal resource sharing and called for a fairer distribution mechanism, inclusive of all mineral resources. Diri urged continued support for Ijaw causes and pledged his administration's commitment to their advancement.

Israel moves deeper into Rafah, fights Hamas militants regrouping in northern Gaza

The exodus of Palestinians from Gaza’s last refuge accelerated Sunday as Israeli forces pushed deeper into the southern city of Rafah. Israel also pounded the territory’s devastated north, where some Hamas militants have regrouped in areas the military said it had cleared months ago.

Rafah is considered Hamas’ last stronghold. Some 300,000 of the more than 1 million civilians sheltering there have fled the city following evacuation orders from Israel, which says it must invade to dismantle Hamas and return scores of hostages taken from Israel in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war.

Neighboring Egypt issued its strongest objection yet to the Rafah offensive, saying it intends to formally join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice alleging Israel is committing genocide in Gaza — an accusation Israel rejects. The foreign ministry statement cited “the worsening severity and scope of the Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians.”

United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement that he cannot see how a full-scale invasion of Rafah can be reconciled with international humanitarian law.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated opposition to a major military assault on Rafah, and told CBS that Israel would “be left holding the bag on an enduring insurgency” without an exit from Gaza and postwar governance plan.

Gaza has been left without a functioning government, leading to a breakdown in public order and allowing Hamas’ armed wing to reconstitute itself even in the hardest-hit areas. On Sunday, Hamas touted attacks against Israeli soldiers in Rafah and near Gaza City.

Israel has yet to offer a detailed plan for postwar governance in Gaza, saying only that it will maintain open-ended security control over the enclave of about 2.3 million Palestinians.

Internationally mediated talks over a cease-fire and hostage release appeared to be at a standstill.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Memorial Day speech vowed to continue fighting until victory in memory of those killed in the war. But in Tel Aviv, hundreds of protesters stood outside military headquarters and raised candles during a minute-long siren marking the day’s start, demanding an immediate cease-fire deal to return the hostages.

Netanyahu has rejected postwar plans proposed by the United States for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to govern Gaza with support from Arab and Muslim countries. Those plans depend on progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, which Israel’s government opposes.

The Oct. 7 attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostage. Militants still hold about 100 captives and the remains of more than 30.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 militants, without providing evidence.

HEAVY BOMBARDMENT IN THE NORTH

Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months. U.N. officials say there is a “full-blown famine” there.

Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery also struck the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have battled militants for over a week. They have called on tens of thousands of people to relocate to nearby areas.

“It was a very difficult night,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old from Jabaliya. He said they could hear intense and constant bombing since midday Saturday. “This is madness.”

First responders with the Palestinian Civil Defense said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help from both areas, as well as from Rafah.

In central Gaza, staff at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah said an Israeli strike killed four people.

Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said forces were also operating in the northern towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, which were heavily bombed in the war’s opening days.

Hamas’ military wing said it shelled Israeli special forces east of Jabaliya and fired mortar shells at troops and vehicles entering the Rafah border crossing area.

“Hamas’ regime cannot be toppled without preparing an alternative to that regime,” columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Israel’s Maariv daily, channeling the growing frustration felt by many Israelis more than seven months into the war. “The only people who can govern Gaza after the war are Gazans, with a lot of support and help from the outside.”

CIVILIANS FLEE IN THE SOUTH

Rafah had been sheltering 1.3 million Palestinians, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere. But Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of the city.

Most people are heading to the heavily damaged nearby city of Khan Younis or Muwasi, a coastal tent camp where some 450,000 people are already living in squalid conditions.

The U.N. has warned that a planned full-scale invasion would further cripple humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian deaths. The main aid entry points near Rafah are already affected. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to shut down.

A senior Egyptian official told The Associated Press that Cairo has lodged protests with Israel, the United States and European governments, saying the offensive has put its decades-old peace treaty with Israel — a cornerstone of regional stability — at high risk. The official was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he won’t provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah, and his administration says there is “reasonable” evidence that Israel had breached international lawprotecting civilians.

Israel rejects those allegations, saying it tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for the high toll because the militants fight in dense, residential areas.

In the West Bank, where deadly violence has increased since the war began, the Palestinian Health Ministry said a man was shot dead by Israeli forces in Balata refugee camp in Nablus. The army said its forces responded with live fire after being shot at by militants in the camp.

 

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces bear down on Ukraine border town in Kharkiv region

Russian forces attacking Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region were engaged in fighting on the outskirts of the border town of Vovchansk, Kyiv's troops said on Sunday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described heavy fighting there and in the east.

Moscow troops entered into the Kharkiv regionon Friday, opening a northeastern front in the 27-month war that has long been waged in the south and east. Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, is 30 km (18 miles) from the Russian border.

Soldiers returning from a combat mission in the area said the fighting had reached the edges of Vovchansk, a town around 4 km from the border and 45 km from Kharkiv city, describing helping some troops break out of Russian encirclement.

"The town is ours. They (the Russians) are biting on the outskirts, but we are biting back. And we will bite for every metre," said a Ukrainian soldier.

"Our boys got surrounded. We helped them. They got out and set up a defensive line along the street, inflicting considerable losses to enemy infantry."

In a post-midnight report, Ukraine's General Staff said Russian forces had achieved "tactical success" with 14 of 22 attempted advances in the area still proceeding.

Fighting was raging around Vovchansk, it said, with Russian forces "deploying significant forces for its attack on the town". But it said Russian troops were "taking no account of their own losses", with at least 100 reported dead.

The Russian military says it has seized control of at least nine border villages in the Kharkiv region. Kyiv says it is repelling the attacks and battling to control the settlements.

Several Russian media outlets, including Mash and Readovka, reported that Moscow's troops had entered Vovchansk.

The main thrusts of Russia's attack were aimed at Vovchansk and the town of Lyptsi around 7.5 km from the border and some 20 km (12 miles) from the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian military spokesperson Nazar Voloshyn said.

Tamaz Gambarashvili, head of Vovchansk's military administration, told Reuters the town remained under Ukrainian control after its soldiers turned back small groups of Russians.

Russian drones, he said, were "constantly above Vovchansk".

Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Synehubov said Russian forces were "intensifying their shelling of Vovchansk". Nearly 6,000 residents had been evacuated from the area, he said.

VOLUNTEERS READY RESIDENTS FOR EVACUATION

Volunteers in flak jackets and helmets raced through village neighbourhoods, pleading with residents in damaged homes to pack up a handful of possessions and leave for evacuation points.

Evacuee Kostiantyn Tymchenko said fighting was raging 500 metres from his house, with Russian troops on the opposite bank of the Vovcha River.

"Ukrainian tanks roll in, shoot and roll out. On the other side there is shouting all the time," he told Reuters.

Despite the constant explosions nearby, some elderly residents were reluctant to go. Others were sluggish in preparing, despite urging from volunteers.

One man was brought in to an evacuation point with torn-off fingers, an incident medics said occurred after Russian forces shot him as he was leaving his house. As medics attended to his wounds, the man said "What did I do to deserve this?'"

Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said "defensive battles" had engulfed a string of Kharkiv region villages.

Fighting, he said, was "no less acute" in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine is on the defensive after months of slowed supplies of U.S. munitions. Russia's forces hold a significant advantage in manpower and munitions.

In 2022, soon after the start of their full-scale invasion, Russian forces reached the suburbs of the city of Kharkiv before being driven back to the border.

Kyiv says months of delays by the U.S. Congress before voting through the aid package last month have cost them on the battlefield. It now hopes significant quantities of the approved assistance will arrive quickly to bolster the defence effort.

On the other side of the border in the Belgorod region a whole section of a Russian apartment block collapsed, killing at least 13 people, after it was struck by a missile launched by Ukraine and shot down by Russia, Russian officials said.

Kyiv did not immediately comment.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Scores killed and injured after Ukraine strikes Russian city – authorities

At least 18 civilians died in a series of Ukrainian strikes targeting the Russian city of Belgorod on Sunday, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said. The bodies of 15 victims were taken out from under the rubble of a multi-story building that had collapsed earlier in the day as a result of one of the strikes.

Kiev’s forces launched another “massive shelling” targeting the city after the incident, the governor said on Sunday evening. This attack claimed the lives of three more people, including a 17-year-old girl, Gladkov confirmed. Five more suffered various injuries in the strike, according to authorities.

Gladkov added that, in addition to the the total death toll, over two dozen people were injured in the strikes. The second strike also damaged 17 apartments in five residential buildings, the governor said. That figure did not include the damage suffered by the partially collapsed apartment block.

Earlier, the governor said that “an entire section of an apartment building – from the tenth to the first floor – collapsed as a result of a direct hit” during a Ukrainian bombardment.

At some point, the roof of the damaged building collapsed as well, while the rescuers were clearing the rubble underneath. A source in the governor’s office told Mash Telegram channel that no one was hurt in that incident. Another Telegram channel, Shot, claimed that at least three people sustained injuries in the roof collapse. 

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that Ukraine had attacked residential areas of Belgorod, using a Tochka-U tactical missile system, as well as rockets from Olkha and RM-70 Vampire multiple launch systems. The ministry further asserted that Russian air defenses had intercepted six Soviet-era Tochka-U missiles, four Vampire rockets, and two Olkha projectiles.

The Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a criminal case into terrorism following the strike that caused the partial building collapse.

 

Reuters/RT

President Bola Tinubu has asked the Central Bank of Nigeria to suspend the implementation of the controversial cybersecurity levy policy and ordered a review.

This followed the decision of the House of Representatives, which, last Thursday, asked the CBN to withdraw its circular directing all banks to commence charging a 0.5 per cent cybersecurity levy on all electronic transactions in the country.

The CBN on May 6, 2024, issued a circular mandating all banks, mobile money operators, and payment service providers to implement a new cybersecurity levy, following the provisions laid out in the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) (Amendment) Act 2024.

According to the Act, a levy amounting to 0.5 per cent of the value of all electronic transactions will be collected and remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund, overseen by the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Financial institutions are required to apply the levy at the point of electronic transfer origination.

The deducted amount is to be explicitly noted in customer accounts under the descriptor “Cybersecurity Levy” and remitted by the financial institution. All financial institutions are required to start implementing the levy within two weeks from the issuance of the circular.

By implication, the deduction of the levy by financial institutions should commence on May 20, 2024.

However, financial institutions are to make their remittances in bulk to the NCF account domiciled at the CBN by the fifth business day of every subsequent month.

The circular also stipulates a timeframe for financial institutions to reconfigure their systems to ensure complete and timely submission of remittance files to the Nigeria Interbank Settlement Systems  Plc as follows: “Commercial, Merchant, Non-Interest, and Payment Service Banks – Within four weeks of the issuance of the Circular.

“All other Financial Institutions (Microfinance Banks, Primary Mortgage Banks, Development Financial Institutions) – Within eight weeks of the issuance of the Circular,” the circular noted.

The CBN has emphasised strict adherence to this mandate, warning that any financial institution that fails to comply with the provisions will face severe penalties. As outlined in the Act, non-compliant entities are subject to a minimum fine of two per cent of their annual turnover upon conviction.

The circular provides a list of transactions currently deemed eligible for exemption, to avoid multiple applications of the levy.

These are loan disbursements and repayments, salary payments, intra-account transfers within the same bank or between different banks for the same customer, and intra-bank transfers between customers of the same bank.

Exemptions include other financial institutions’ transfers to their correspondent banks, interbank placements, banks’ transfers to CBN and vice versa, inter-branch transfers within a bank, cheque clearing and settlements, letters of credit, and banks’ recapitalisation-related funding.

Others are bulk funds movement from collection accounts, savings, and deposits including transactions involving long-term investments such as treasury bills, bonds, and commercial papers, and government social welfare programmes transactions.

These may include pension payments, non-profit and charitable transactions including donations to registered non-profit organisations or charities, educational institutions transactions, including tuition payments and other transactions involving schools, universities, or other educational institutions, and transactions involving the bank’s internal accounts, inter-branch accounts, reserve accounts, nostro and vostro accounts, and escrow accounts.

The introduction of the new levy sparked varied reactions among stakeholders as it is expected to raise the cost of conducting business in Nigeria and could potentially hinder the growth of digital transaction adoption.

‘Stop levy now’

Members of the House of Representatives on Thursday asked the Central Bank of Nigeria to withdraw the circular directing financial institutions to commence implementation of the 0.5 per cent cybersecurity levy, describing it as “ambiguous”.

The development was in response to a motion on the urgent need to halt and modify the implementation of the cybersecurity levy, moved by Kingsley Chinda.

According to the House, the CBN is to withdraw the initial circular, and “issue a more understandable one”.

Chinda had drawn the attention of the House to multiple interpretations of the CBN directive against the specifications in the Cybersecurity Act.

The House then expressed worry, that the Act would be implemented in error if immediate steps were not taken, to address the concerns around the interpretation of the CBN directive and the Cybersecurity Act.

However, sources with knowledge of Tinubu’s position on the issue told Sunday PUNCH that the President was aware of the economic burden on Nigerians since his hardline economic reforms began last May, adding that he did not want to risk adding to the burden with more levies.

A senior presidency official who preferred not to be named told our correspondent, “The President is sensitive to what Nigerians feel. And he will not want to proceed with implementing a policy that adds to the burden of the people.

“So, he has asked the CBN to hold off on that policy and ordered a review. I would have said he ordered the CBN, but that is not appropriate because the CBN is autonomous. But he has asked the CBN to hold off on it and review things again.”

Another presidency official who preferred to remain anonymous as he was not authorised to speak on the issue said these discrepancies prompted the President to order a review.

“If you look at it, the law predates the Tinubu administration. It was enacted in 2015 and signed by Goodluck Jonathan. It is only being implemented now.

“You know he (Tinubu) was not around when that directive was being circulated. And he does not want to present his government as being insensitive. As it is now, the CBN has held off the instruction to banks to start charging people. So, the President is sensitive. His goal is not to just tax Nigerians like that. That is not his intention. So, he has ordered a review of that law.”

 

Punch

The Nigerian Army is investigating how a group of soldiers detained in guard rooms for various offenses managed to break out of the facility at the 8 Division Garrison in Sokoto.

Following the incident, in which Lance Corporal Charles Ekefure was reportedly shot, the Army has detained around 100 soldiers, 10 in each cell, after they clamored for better living conditions.

Army spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, expressed regret over the incident and stated that appropriate sanctions would be applied to the soldiers involved. He emphasized that while the Army acknowledges the need for improved conditions, it cannot condone the unruly behavior displayed by the detainees.

A probe has been initiated by the Chief of Army Staff to determine the extent of the issue and ensure such incidents do not reoccur. Nwachukwu reaffirmed the Army's commitment to upholding professional standards and ensuring fair treatment for all detainees, even those awaiting sentencing for aiding criminal activities.

The Army appreciates the support of Nigerians and remains focused on addressing security challenges in collaboration with other security agencies.