Strikes kill 13 in Gaza as Biden describes Israel's military response as 'over the top'

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 13 people in Rafah in the Gaza Strip after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ cease-fire terms and vowed to expand the offensive into the southern Gaza town.

President Joe Biden called Israel’s military response in Gaza “over the top” and said he continues to work “tirelessly” to press Israel and Hamas to agree on an extended pause in fighting.

“I am of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top,” Biden told reporters in an exchange on Thursday evening after delivering remarks on a special counsel report on his handling of classified documents.

Biden has been under political pressure to mend any rifts with voters he might need, especially in the Arab American community, where he has faced increased backlash for his vocal support of Israel’s war in Gaza. On Thursday, he sent emissaries to a suburb of Detroit, where the nation’s largest concentration of Arab Americans resides.

More than half of the Gaza Strip’s population has fled to Rafah, a city on the mostly sealed border with Egypt that is also the main entry point for humanitarian aid. Egypt has warned that any ground operation there or mass displacement across the border would undermine its 40-year-old peace treaty with Israel.

The strikes killed at least 13 people, including two women and five children, according to the Kuwaiti Hospital, which received the bodies. At the scene of one of the strikes, residents used their cellphone flashlights as they dug through the rubble with pick-axes and their bare hands.

“I wish we could collect their whole bodies instead of just pieces,” said Mohammed Abu Habib, a neighbor who witnessed the strike.

Israel’s 4-month-old air and ground offensive — among the most destructive in recent history — has killed over 27,000 Palestinians, driven most people from their homes and pushed a quarter of the population toward starvation.

Netanyahu has said the offensive will continue and expand until “total victory” over Hamas, which started the war by launching a wide-ranging attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostage.

Biden has pushed for an extended pause in the fighting to facilitate the release of the remaining hostages after brief pauses earlier that had allowed for the release of mostly women and children. More than 100 are still captive and Israel has vowed to bring them back.

Hamas, however, has demanded that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and end the war as part of a hostage deal. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to agree to those terms.

Biden said he still is hopeful that a deal can be worked out that might create a path to ending the war.

“I am pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage cease-fire,” Biden said. “I’ve been working tirelessly on this deal.”

Israel’s goals appear increasingly elusive, as Hamas reemerges in parts of northern Gaza, which was the first target of the offensive and has seen widespread destruction. Israel has only rescued one hostage, while Hamas says several have been killed in airstrikes or failed rescue missions.

ALARM GROWS AS ISRAEL EYES RAFAH

Netanyahu said preparations were underway to expand the offensive into Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people who fled from other areas are crowded into squalid tent camps and overflowing U.N.-run shelters.

The Palestinian death toll from four months of war has already reached 27,840, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures but says most of the dead were women and children.

International aid organizations have warned that any major operation in Rafah would compound what is already a humanitarian catastrophe.

“If they aren’t killed in the fighting, Palestinian children, women and men will be at risk of dying by starvation or disease.” said Bob Kitchen, of the International Rescue Committee. “There will no longer be a single ‘safe’ area for Palestinians to go to.”

Outside the hospital where bodies from the overnight strikes were brought, relatives wept as they said farewell to their loved ones. Warda Abu Warda said she felt helpless.

“Where do we go after Rafah? Do we go to sea?” she asked.

GAPS REMAIN IN TALKS OVER CEASE-FIRE AND HOSTAGE RELEASE

The United States, Qatar and Egypt are trying to broker another cease-fire agreement to ensure the release of the remaining hostages. But Hamas has demanded an end to the war, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.

Netanyahu rejected those demands as “delusional” on Tuesday and said Israel would never agree to any deal that leaves Hamas in partial or full control of the territory it has ruled since 2007.

But visiting Secretary of State Antony Blinken said an agreement was still possible and that negotiations would continue, the latest sign of a growing divide between the two close allies on the way forward. A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Thursday for more negotiations.

Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from families of the hostages and the wider public to bring them home, even if it requires a deal with Hamas. At least one senior Israeli official has acknowledged that saving the captives and destroying Hamas might be incompatible.

Hamas is still holding over 130 hostages, but around 30 of them are believed to be dead, with the vast majority killed on Oct. 7. The group is widely believed to be holding the captives in tunnels deep underground and using them as human shields for its top leaders.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine is ‘artificial state’ – Putin

Modern Ukraine is a country that was artificially created by the actions of the late Soviet leader Joseph Stalin after World War II, Russian President Vladimir Putin told American journalist Tucker Carlson on Friday.

In a wide-ranging and highly anticipated interview that lasted more than two hours, Putin described in detail the process by which Ukraine was created in its current form.

He recalled that, during the feudal fragmentation of Russia in the Middle Ages, Ukraine – which he described as being part of Russian lands – came under heavy Polish cultural, religious, and political influence. In the 17th century, the people of this region wanted to join the then-growing power of Moscow, but Russia wanted to avoid war with Poland.

Nevertheless, after a lot of deliberation, Moscow decided to bring this “part of old Russian lands” back into the fold, he said, which resulted in a war with Poland. Moscow reclaimed all of its “historic lands” during the reign of Catherine the Great, who ruled between 1762 and 1796, he recalled.

After the 1917 Communist Revolution in Russia and another war with Poland, Warsaw regained control over large swaths of western Ukraine, Putin continued. In the 1920s, the Bolshevik government established a Soviet Ukraine that “had never existed before.”

The Soviet authorities were “Ukrainizing” this region, in line with similar indigenization policies pursued in other areas, the president said.

“After the Second World War, Ukraine, in addition to the territories that had belonged to Poland, received part of the territories that had previously belonged to Hungary and Romania… So, we have every reason to affirm that Ukraine is an artificial state that was shaped at Stalin’s will.”

Putin added that these nations in principle have the right to discuss the return of their former territories, but denied that he had ever discussed the matter with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. However, he suggested that Hungarians living in Ukraine want to “get back to their historic land.”

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine replaces army chief in shakeup at difficult time in war with Russia

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy replaced Ukraine's popular army chief with his ground forces commander on Thursday, a huge gamble at a time when Russian forces are gaining the upper hand nearly two years into their war.

The shakeup ushering in a new military leadership follows months of speculation about a rift between Zelenskiy and army chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who many Ukrainians see as a national hero.

"As of today, a new management team takes over the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Zelenskiy said in a statement.

He promoted ground forces chief Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, 58, to be the new head of the Armed Forces, citing his role in overseeing the defence of Kyiv in 2022 and the lightning Kharkiv counteroffensive later that year.

Syrskyi, who goes by the call sign "snow leopard", takes the helm amid deep uncertainty as Kyiv awaits vital military aid from the United States that has been delayed by Republicans in the U.S. Congress for months.

The U.S. State Department said the move to replace Zaluzhnyi was a "sovereign decision".

The Pentagon said Washington "will work effectively with General Syrskyi, we already have".

With Ukraine struggling to overhaul how it mobilises civilians into the army, the sacking of Zaluzhnyi could deal a blow to troop morale on a 1,000-kilometre (621-mile) front. It could also backfire politically, hurting Zelenskiy's ratings.

Zelenskiy said he was grateful to Zaluzhnyi for his time as army chief and posted a photograph of the two men shaking hands and smiling, with Zaluzhnyi flashing the peace sign.

MESSAGES OF GRATITUDE

Messages of gratitude for Zaluzhnyi, known widely as the "Iron General", flooded social media following the announcement. Some Ukrainians posted images of the top general alongside images of hearts.

Passers-by in central Kyiv openly questioned the move.

"This is a very odd decision. We know our enemy and it is not Zaluzhnyi," said Svitlana Kalinina, a consultant.

"I am very upset. I don't know about others but I am very upset. This is a signal that worries me," said Olena, a doctor.

Late last year a poll put the public's trust in Zaluzhnyi at over 90%, significantly higher than Zelenskiy's 77%.

Under Zaluzhnyi's command, Ukrainian forces rebuffed Russia's initial assault on Kyiv and reclaimed swathes of territory in 2022. But the battlefield momentum turned against Ukraine last year as a much-vaunted counteroffensive proved unable to break through heavily defended Russian lines.

Russia has since ramped up offensive pressure on the eastern front, trying to cut off and encircle the town of Avdiivka.

Zelenskiy indicated it was last year's setback that underpinned his decision to replace Zaluzhnyi.

"In the second year of this war, we won the Black Sea. We won the winter. We proved that we can regain control over the Ukrainian sky. But, unfortunately, we could not achieve the goals of our state on the ground."

The military shakeup unfolded over a series of statements in which Zelenskiy said he had met Zaluzhnyi to discuss changes to the military leadership, adding that he had asked the general to remain "on his team."

In a separate statement, Zaluzhnyi said he had met Zelenskyi for an "important and serious conversation" and that a decision had been made to change battlefield tactics and strategy.

"The tasks of 2022 are different from the tasks of 2024. Therefore, everyone must change and adapt to new realities as well. To win together too," his statement said.

The two statements were published within moments of one another, suggesting that the two most prominent wartime figures in Ukraine had coordinated closely to put on a display of unity.

As ground commander, the new army chief Syrskyi is also closely associated both with Ukraine's initial successes and its more recent setbacks. In an interview with Reuters last month, he signalled the importance of rotating out exhausted troops who have been under near-constant artillery fire.

"Our task and...one of the reasons for the attention on mobilisation is the timely replenishment of those units that are head for replacement."

RT/Reuters

As the troubled Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convenes its Ministerial Council meeting in Abuja on February 8 to discuss the quit notice served by three of its members – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – the situation in Senegal might well be the elephant in the room.

Three weeks to the presidential election earlier scheduled to hold in that country on February 25, President Macky Sall announced that the election had been postponed, without immediately giving a new date or any believable reasons. After a wave of protests, he instigated the Senegalese Parliament to announce December 15 as a possible new date.

It's not the postponement that will worry ECOWAS leaders as ministers meet in Nigeria, where presidential elections have been postponed twice in the last 10 years even on the eve of voting; it’s Sall’s recent shifty habit – first eying a third-term and then denying it, followed by his government’s crackdown on opposition candidates.

The problem in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — three delinquent countries that have accused the community of complicity and negligence in its obligations and signalled an intention to quit — is bad enough.

That threat alone has not only put trade in the community estimated at $208.1 billion at risk, minus informal trade amongst citizens which constitutes about 30 percent of the transactions; it also threatens to complicate the security situation in the subregion that is already facing serious problems from violent extremism and banditry.

Hypocritical oath

A politically unstable Senegal is the last thing that the community needs at this time. Of course, it’s unlikely that the situation in Senegal will feature at the ECOWAS meeting, where an allegiance of hypocrisy, elegantly called the principle of “non-interference”, forbids members from telling one another the truth.

The point, however, is that the resurgence of military rule in a number of African countries today, particularly in Mali and Burkina Faso, is partly traceable to blatant disregard for constitutionalism, the rule of law, and rigged transitions – the sort of bad habit that Sall is showing in his old age.

Sall looked like the most unlikely candidate for this nonsense. In some ways, he reminded me of Senegal’s founding president, Leopold Senghor – urbane, intellectual and sensible. A geologist and widely travelled man, Sall built his way up from the bottom of the political ladder. Although he started his journey as a minister under former president Abdoulaye Wade, he soon returned to his base where he took up position as mayor of his hometown.

He took up other ministerial positions later on and also became the president of the country’s parliament. He fell out with his mentor, Wade, after he dragged Wade’s son to parliament to answer corruption charges. But his quarrel was not personal.

Sall seduced

Senegal was drifting, the cost of living was rising and infrastructure collapsing. Wade’s answer, if he had any, was to attempt to bend the constitution to extend his rule. Sall rallied the opposition. At a stage, the Parti Democratique Senegalais (PDS), where Sall had risen to become prime minister, could no longer contain Wade and Sall. He broke off to form his own Hope Alliance on which platform he challenged Wade in the 2012 presidential election and defeated him, with the assistance of a coalition, after a run-off.

This same Sall, who is losing his way and dragging his country along with him, set a high mark when he assumed office. He cut the size of his cabinet as he had promised, ploughed funds into the renewal of infrastructure and even made a proposal to parliament that would have reduced his term from seven to five-year two-term limit!

Strong arm tactics

All of that now appears to have been in the former life of a fairytale. As Sall’s reset two terms of 12 years neared its end, he slowly became the worst possible version of Wade, toying with an extended tenure and hounding the opposition with a number of his strongest opponents, including Ousmane Sonkoh, who has now been bumped off the trail on contrived charges. Sall, in short, has been seduced by what he hates.

ECOWAS will not be bothered if Sall changed his mind by December and sought an illegal third term. In the last four years, two regional leaderswangled illegal tenure extensions – Alpha Conde of Guinea and Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire. The first didn’t quite get away with it after soldiers struck and removed him from office, setting off the region’s coup spiral; while the second is the current host of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Perhaps if there’s one person left in the community on whom the burden falls to whisper to Sall that this is not the Senegal that we used to know, it’s Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu. As surely as a stumble imitates a fall, the signs from Dakar are those that presage what could become a full-blown political crisis for the region if left unattended.

Tinubu, who promised to promote a coup-free region when he assumed office as chair of ECOWAS last year, cannot afford another country added to the regional coup belt. The same way he requested regional leaders at a meeting in Abuja to give George Weah a standing applause for the exemplary transition in that country, he needs to pull Sall’s ear, behind closed doors, and ask him to stop playing games.

For ECOWAS to achieve the African Union (AU) objective to Silence the Guns in Africa by 2030, the community must pay attention to the underlying factors that breed resort to guns violence, a few of the obvious ones being rigged elections, suppression of dissent, and the rule of strongmen. When regional leaders like those in the delinquent states complain that the community is insensitive to problems caused by Western or foreign meddling, it’s the elite, like Sall, that open the door enabling such meddling.

Oasis in jeopardy

An oasis of stability and a shining light in a highly politically volatile region, Senegal was one of the few countries on the continent that others looked up to. According to Martin Meredith in his book entitled, The Fortunes of Africa, “Over the course of 150 elections held in 29 countries between 1960 and 1989, opposition parties were never allowed a single seat. Only three countries – Senegal, Botswana and the tiny state of the Gambia – sustained multi-party politics, holding elections on a regular basis that were considered reasonably free and fair.”

That’s the reputation that Sall threatens to drag in the mud. Tinubu needs to remind Sall that it was he, Sall, and Nigeria’s former President, Muhammadu Buhari, who led the regional response to flush out Yahaya Jammeh in neigbouring The Gambia when Jammeh was on the verge of disrupting the outcome of the elections there because they did not favour him.

By railroading a 10-month postponement of elections through Parliament, Sall is obviously hoping to succeed where Wade and Jammeh failed. And he doesn’t care the cost. But ECOWAS should. The community cannot afford to wait until Senegal becomes another basket case before weighing in.

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

At a recent function in Abuja, Vice President Kashim Shettima expressed his disappointment that some Nigerians would rather be amused by the free fall of Naira value than pour ashes on their heads. According to him, “It is not only disheartening and disenchanting but also heartbreaking that yesterday when the Naira culminated to N1,500 to the dollar, instead of us to coagulate into a single force and salvage our nation economy, sadly, some clowns are celebrating on Twitter of an impending implosion of the Nigerian economy.” Look, if any clown here badly needs help recognising what he truly is, it is Shettima himself.

When insecurity was rife in Nigeria under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Shettima did not think it was necessary to “coagulate into a single force” to save the country. He, and a set of fellow governors, took off for Washington D.C., to “report” their president to foreign agents. Now that he faces a similar bad situation as vice president, he expects to reap the understanding he never sowed. Who exactly does he expect to bunch up and help him solve the problem of Naira depreciation? This time last year, the same Shettima was all over the place campaigning for votes and—with an admixture of outlandish promises and insults to opponents—swore they would turn our earth to heaven. Now you finally have the chance to live up to your promises, you are sourcing the wisdom you need to lead from those you defeated? Yeye man!

Shettima is not the only joker looking for those who will help them do their job. Another one of that tribe is their party spokesman, Felix Morka, who asked opposition parties to go beyond condemning the APC administrative impotence and share solutions to Nigeria’s problems with them. In a Tuesday interview on Channels, Morka said, “One of the concerns we have is that opposition is not about condemning. So, it is not enough to just condemn. These leaders should be able to – assuming they have that silver bullet that they say the government is not deploying – point it out.”

If a plaque is to be handed out for halfwit clowns with poor memory, Morka should be the uncontested winner. He seems to have forgotten—and so quickly too—that the whole of his party’s opposition before they made it to Aso Rock has never consisted of anything but condemnation. Nothing—I repeat, nothing—the PDP and the LP are doing today comes close to the acerbic and vituperative activities of the APC when they were the opposition party. In fact, the PDP and LP cojoined are relatively tame—and lame—compared to the toxicity of just Morka’s predecessor Lai Mohammed alone.

So now Morka expects the opposition parties who want to take their place to give the APC the very ideas the APC needs to stay in power forever? Clown! In case he has never pondered on their party’s antecedents, he should be reminded that the APC itself has never offered Nigeria a model of political opposition that is composed of either solution-finding or even respectful conveyance of an ideological position to authority. Every intellectual agenda and moral vision the APC ideologues and “Lagos boys” ever offered were all cash-and-carry projects funded by their leader who needed to sell himself as Obafemi Awolowo reincarnate. That is why, on the occasions they have won national elections, the first thing they abandoned were those very ideas on which they built the APC’s so-called “progressive” character.

Eight years under Muhammadu Buhari stripped some of the biggest names in their party of all mystique, revealing them to be mere blowhards. While some were able to dodge some criticism by claiming they were sidelined under the Buhari administration, nothing has changed now that they are the chief occupiers of Aso Rock. In virtually every sphere, people are groaning under the weight of oppression. The government has not officially admitted it, but they too seem perplexed by the Nigerian situation.

Things are getting out of hand, and there is palpable fear everywhere that when people get pushed to a point where they have exhausted their options, they will resort to the language of the unheard: violence. On Monday, hundreds of residents of Minna, Niger State, and Kano, Kano State, publicly demonstrated the unbearable cost of living occasioned by the Naira devaluation. The surprise is not even that some people protested, but that everyone is not yet on the streets doing the same.

Nigerians have endured a series of hardships for far too long. Look at the past year alone. From the unfortunate Naira redesign policy that brought untold—and entirely needless—hardship on the populace, we have stumbled into fueled crises engendered by the removal of subsidies on petrol and forex. There was no space for recovery before people were plunged into another round of economic crisis.

With Nigerians exposed to the harsh vicissitudes of global economics, the cost of living has spiralled out of control with barely any mitigating measures. The minimum wage remains N30,000 (about $20) and people can barely afford basics such as food, healthcare, energy, medicine, transport costs, energy, etc., let alone the little things that make life pleasant. Families everywhere are watching their purchasing power tanking and the quality of their lives depreciating. These are tough times, and they have been indefinitely extended.

Speaking of tough times, Tinubu’s New Year speech already enjoined Nigerians to maintain a steel resolve in the face of adversity. He said, Dear Compatriots, take this from me: the time may be rough and tough, however, our spirit must remain unbowed because tough times never last. We are made for this period, never to flinch, never to falter. The socio-economic challenges of today should energise and rekindle our love and faith in the promise of Nigeria….

In the history of presidential speeches given during a national crisis, this one must rank very high among the most tone-deaf. Trite and out of touch with reality, it came out insensitive. It is not that hard for a man ensconced in the lush surroundings of Aso Rock and who will never know the pain of hunger, deprivation, and frustration to say “we” (and please note the use of corporate pronoun by someone who lives—and has always lived—on public resources) are made for tough times, never to flinch and never to falter. He—or the speechwriter who composed the uninspiring prose—must assume that our Nigerian skins are overlaid with leather hides and can therefore indeterminately endure the lash of hardship.

Imagine a president who still takes a “private visit” to France amidst the grinding poverty in his country telling us that desperate situations should enhance patriotism. When it comes to suffering, they will expect Nigerians to demonstrate patriotism and unity. When it is time for pleasure, they experience that alone. The dissonance between his speech and executive action reminds you of every charlatan cleric living off the sweat and blood of his congregation while telling them that their “suffer suffer for world” will lead to “enjoyment for heaven.”

Even his own ardent supporters, some of whom resorted to name-calling the Yoruba people who did not support Tinubu’s presidential ambition, are now regretting their support for him. Things are that bad, yes. It is easy—cheap, actually—for a man who does not have to look at the faces of his children and tell them why he cannot live up to his responsibilities because he does not have money to tell other men that their descent into poverty should enhance their patriotism. If not because we are supposed to respect our leaders, the mindset that people should swallow the pill of tough times with patriotism alone qualifies Tinubu to be called another APC “clown.”

Punch

You might assume winning arguments — over politics, a work project, or even where to eat — requires hours of researching data and rehearsing well-informed points.

Not necessarily, says Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Most people think changing minds requires “some version of pushing” with “more facts, more figures [and] more emotional appeals,” but that method usually fails, he says.

“We spend a lot of time thinking, ‘If the client didn’t bite, my colleague didn’t listen, or my spouse didn’t hear me, let me tell them one more time,’” he tells CNBC Make It.

Repeating or adding more evidence to the same argument can actually end up hurting it. That’s because people often dilute their stronger claims by adding weaker, less relevant ones, Niro Sivanathan, an organizational behavior professor at London Business School, told CNBC Make It in November.

So, instead of hearing your strongest points, the person you’re hoping to convince may walk away with a shallower understanding of your argument.

“Less is more,” Sivanathan said. “If you have just one key argument, be confident and put that on the table, rather than feeling the need to list many others.”

How to change people’s minds in 2 steps

Luckily, there’s a simple, two-step fix.

First, instead of adding points to your argument, “identify the roadblocks and barriers” that prevent your perspective from connecting with others, Berger says. People often resist hearing a new argument because they’re uncertain, want to counter argue, or it doesn’t fit the norms of their social group.

Understanding your audience helps, but if you’re trying to drive someone or a group into action quickly, assume they don’t want to be told what to do, Berger says.

“Pushing, telling or just encouraging people to do something often makes them less likely to do it,” Berger wrote in his 2020 book, “The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind.” That’s because “people like to feel they have control over their choices and actions.”

Hence step two: Craft your argument in a way that gives the receiver a sense of agency, like they are reaching a new conclusion on their own, Berger says.

There are a few ways to do that, as Berger laid out in his book:

• Outline the different choices, like multiple kinds of restaurants or different policies.
• Ask questions, so you can better understand their perspective, or gently introduce your viewpoint. If you want to negotiate a raise, you could start by asking your boss, “How do you think my performance has been this year?” Then, follow up with, “Do you think people should be compensated for high performance?” Berger says.
• Acknowledge both of your perspectives by finding common ground, or noting your shared goals, values or experiences.

By and large, Berger says, it’s less about what you say, and more about how you say it.

“We think more about the ideas we want to communicate than the words we use,” Berger says. “That’s a mistake. Subtle shifts in our language can have a really big impact.”

CNBC

Central Bank of Nigeria hiked the interest rates on short term debt obligations on Wednesday in a bid to mop up naira liquidity and attract foreign investor inflows.

CBN sold one trillion naira ($696 million) in treasury bills to both local and foreign investors at rates that were nearly twice the level of previous offers. Yields for the one-year bill rose to 19%, the highest in 12 years, from 11.5% at the previous auction on Jan. 24.

Three-months bill was sold at 17.24%, which was three times more than the January offer of 5%, while six-month notes fetched 18%.

Expand

The 19% rate on the 364-day bills takes it above the central bank’s policy rate, which currently stands at 18.75%, for the first time. It is also narrows the gap on the inflation rate, which stood at nearly a three-decade high of 28.9% in December.

The auction suggests CBN is seeking to normalize interest rates in Africa’s most populous nation and lure foreign investors in a bid to stabilize the naira.

Nigeria has eased currency controls and introduced a series of reforms since last week as part of efforts to reform its foreign exchange market to ease a dollar scarcity that has created a backlog of unmet demand estimated at $2.2 billion by the central bank.

Bloomberg

Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System on Wednesday said cashless transactions in Nigeria increased to N611.06trn in 2023.

It said the payments grew to N611.06trn from N395.38trn as of the end of 2022 indicating a 54.55 per cent year-on-year growth.

The NIBSS Instant Payments is an account-number-based, online real-time Inter-Bank payment solution developed in the year 2011 by NIBSS. It is the Nigerian financial industry’s preferred funds transfer platform that guarantees instant value to the beneficiary.

According to NIBSS, over the years, Nigerian banks have exposed NIP through their various channels, that is, internet banking, bank branches, Kiosks, mobile apps, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, POS, ATM, etc. to their customers.

Analysis of the data showed that electronic payment channels were used 11.05 billion times in 2023, a 75.96 per cent increase from the 6.28 billion times they were used in 2022 while the total value of instant payment in 2023 was N600.36trn and Point of Sales transactions was N10.7trn and relied upon for 1.38 billion times.

It said said the figure hitting an all-time high indicates more acceptance by Nigerians to embrace cashless payments.

While the e-payment data shows a steady increase throughout the 12 months of the year, the highest value was recorded in December. Being a festive period with lots of spending activities, Nigerians spent a total of N71.9 trillion over electronic channels in December 2023.

The NIBSS data showed that e-payment volume hit an all-time high of 1.1 billion in March 2023, the time Nigerians experienced cash scarcity and were forced to transact through electronic channels. However, the value for the month was not as high as what was recorded in December of the same year.

Meanwhile, the volume of transactions processed by NIBSS for the year also jumped from 5.1 billion in 2022 to 9.7 billion in 2023. This represents a 90% increase year on year.

A look at the value of electronic transactions month by month shows that Nigerians spent N38.9 trillion on electronic platforms in January 2023, while in February, e-payment value was N36.8 trillion.

Similarly, In March 2023, the value of electronic transactions jumped to N48.3 trillion, driven by the scarcity of cash at that time.

By April, a total of N41.3 trillion was spent on the electronic channels, while in May transaction volume was N45.9 trillion.

NIP transactions value in June 2023 was N45.3 trillion, a slight decline from the value recorded in May. July saw e-payment transactions jump to N47.4 trillion.

In August, the value of NIP transactions climbed further to N50.9 trillion, while it rose to N51 trillion in September.

October and November transactions value were N59 trillion and N63.6 trillion respectively, while the highest transaction value of N71.9 trillion was recorded in December.

Cashless transactions in the country were partly boosted by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign policy and withdrawal limits from December 2022.

After announcing a limit on transactions, the apex bank said, “Customers should be encouraged to use alternative channels (Internet banking, mobile banking apps, USSD, cards/POS, eNaira, etc.) to conduct their banking transactions.”

Punch

Niger State Police Command has arrested a 30-year-old woman, Aisha Jibrin, who led women and young people in a mass protest on Monday over the high cost of living in Minna.

Aisha was arrested alongside two other women: 57-year-old Fatima Aliyu and 43-year-old Fatima Isyaku; and 22 others.

Spokesman for the Niger State Police Command, Abiodun Wasiu, who disclosed the arrest in a statement on Wednesday, said an investigation was ongoing after which the protesters would be taken to court and arraigned.

According to Wasiu, the protesters acted violently and illegally.

On Tuesday, the ruling All  Progressives Congress alleged that the protesters were sponsored by the opposition parties, a claim the Peoples Democratic Party refuted, saying the protests were triggered by the hardship occasioned by the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu.

On Wednesday, the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, described the arrest of the protesters as undemocratic.

Angry youths and women had on Monday taken to the streets of Minna, the Niger State capital, protesting hardship in the land, occasioned by the hike in the cost of living.

The protest started when a group of women blocked Minna-Bida Road at the popular Kpakungu Roundabout to lament what they termed the suffering under the Tinubu government. They were later joined by men and youths stopping vehicles from moving.

The protest occurred in the Morning morning when some of the youths began speaking in Hausa language, lamenting how the country’s economy was getting worse under Tinubu’s leadership.

A deployment of police operatives to the scene could not stop the youths from the protest as some of them could be heard saying that the police were the agents of the government and they could not do anything.

The Niger police spokesman, Wasiu, said Aisha, who led the protest, was arrested alongside 24 others.

Wasiu said after being alerted to the protest, the police “the command immediately drafted police patrol teams led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, Shehu Didango, to the scene, and after much persuasion by the police, the protesters deliberately refused to clear the road for public use, while the Deputy Governor of Niger State, Yakubu Garba, equally availed himself at the scene and addressed the group, yet they turned deaf ears and chose to be violent.”

“However, the police adopted minimum force to disperse the protesters who turned violent by attacking the police with weapons, such as stones, bottles, sticks, cutlasses and damaged police patrol vehicles and parts of the Kpakungu Division roof.

“In the course of this, the police arrested the initiator of the protest one Aisha Jibrin, 30 years, Fatima Aliyu, 57years, Fatima Isyaku, 43years, all of Soje ‘A’ of Kpakungu area of Minna, and 22 other miscreants.”

According to the police spokesman, the police recovered from the protesters “three knives, one scissors, one cutlass, one saw blade, one iron pipe, four other sticks, two wraps of Indian hemp, and charms.”

He said, “During interrogation, the said Aisha claimed that she was not aware that her action was illegal by mobilising over 100 women and miscreants to block the highway for a violent protest. She claimed further that she informed one youth leader, Hassan, in the area, who promised to inform the police of their plan to protest, but did not do so.”

However, the PDP condemned the arrest of the protesters.

The opposition party’s spokesman, Ologunagba, in an interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday, said Nigerians should not be further punished in addition to the economic hardship they were grappling with.

He said, “We condemn this arrest; this is not democracy. They have the constitutional right and duty to protest. This President was the leader of the protest in 2012. President Buhari was the leader of the protests in 2012. So many other prominent Nigerians who have now gone into hibernation were part of that protest. So why arrest protesters?

“If they can protest against the PDP then, because it was their democratic right to do so, why can’t Nigerians now protest against the more excruciating pain that they have inflicted on Nigerians?”

Ologunagba said the protests were just a reflection of the hardship in the country.

He said, “There is frustration in the land and that frustration can be seen on the street already in different parts of the country. There is a need for the President to listen to people, listen to the protesters, don’t listen to people around you in the corridors of power because people are hurting.

“Your policies are draconian. Your policies are inhumane, your policies are insensitive. Your policies are such that they don’t show any level of competence on the part of the people in government. Nigerians are beginning to hurt and they are beginning to be frustrated. And they have begun to vent that frustration. And what did the government do? They arrested the leaders of protesters in Niger State.

“We call on all Nigerians to speak up, demand immediate and unconditional release of those arrested in Minna, Niger State.”

However, reacting on behalf of the ruling party, APC National Publicity Director, Bala Ibrahim, said, “The ruling APC is a democratic party. And as a party in power, its ambition is to promote democracy. This demonstration (Minna) is encouraged by the constitution and democracy. There is no way the ruling party will go against the provision of the Constitution

“It is the wish of the party that whatever grievance anyone has should be expressed in such a way that is encouraged by the Constitution. To do that is to go about the provisions laid down by the Constitution and, by extension, the law.

“If the police announced that they made arrests, I am sure it will be in line with the law. There is no way the party can stop people from expressing their opinions, provided it is in order. Even the President has made an address to the nation where he said that he feels the anger of Nigerians all over the cities, towns and villages.”

Punch

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has received the official report of the 16 January explosion that occurred at Adeyi Avenue in Bodija, Ibadan, in which five persons died.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Fatai Owoseni, made this known on Wednesday while briefing journalists shortly after the presentation of the report to the governor.

Owoseni said that three persons of interest have been identified in connection with the cause of the unfortunate incident.

He added that the identified persons will face prosecution based on the investigation carried out.

Owoseni also revealed that the character of the explosive is known as ‘Water Gel Type Based Explosive’ and that the explosion was triggered by an electric spark.

He explained that a Closed Circuit Television in one of the affected houses gave footage of how the incident happened.

Owoseni, a former Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, assured that the state government would bring the perpetrators to book.

He added that the government would also check the immigration status of all the people of interest since a majority of the suspects quizzed were from Mali.

“We have been able to report that the swiftness with which security was deployed to the epicentre had so far successfully made the state to fully secure the environment.

“And with the security that was provided, the state has also been able to prevent untoward happenings, especially opportunistic crimes that hoodlums always take advantage of such situations to carry out.

“We would recall that an emergency situation centre was put in place by the governor and was located at the premises of Oyo State Housing Corporation, Ibadan.

“The EOC has so far collated information, data of things that happened there and some of the data collated include census of the respective houses and the fatalities that were affected including the extent of losses suffered.

“As of 6 p.m., February 3, which was the 18th day of the incident, a total of 335 affected persons registered at the emergency situation centre.

“These include 16 companies or business operators, churches, mosques, three schools and the UCH also approached the centre to report on their losses.

“The losses reported also include fatality, injuries of various degrees, damages ranging from total collapse and submerging of houses, houses that suffered collateral damage and the ones that suffered minimal damages,” Owoseni stated.

Chairman of the Nigeria Institute of Structural Engineers, Mbim Okutinyang, who is also the lead coordinator of the team that carried out structural integrity on the affected houses, also told journalists that 282 houses were affected.

He, however, said that only four of the houses would have to be demolished due to the degrees of the damage.

Okutinyang added that the seismic report was still being awaited.

On his part, the Head of the Emergency Operation Centre, Temitope Alonge, said 80 victims in total were managed across various hospitals following the incident, but only five patients were on admission as of the time of the press briefing.

Alonge explained that four of the patients are being treated at the University College Hospital (UCH) and were at various levels of recovery, while one patient is at the Redeemers Hospital being managed for a spinal cord injury.

He said that most of the cases at UCH will likely be discharged within the next week.

The head of the EOC added that some of the affected victims who experienced medical disorders such as respiratory illness had been treated.

He also explained that those with symptoms suggestive of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder were being attended to by clinical psychologists from UCH.

Giving an update on the tests for radioactivity, Alonge said the site of the incident had been cleared in terms of radioactivity, as the EOC invited the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NNRA) to conduct another screening.

NAN

Super Eagles of Nigeria have qualified for the final of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Ivory Coast.

Nigeria defeated Bafana Bafana of South Africa on penalties in the semi-final at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake on Wednesday. 

Both teams played out a one-all draw through the regular period and extra time before the Eagles triumphed 4-2 in the penalty shootout.

The match was a record 15th semi-final AFCON semi-final appearance for the Super Eagles, and it was a nervy encounter that pushed them to the breaking point.

Victor Osimhen was only announced fit on the eve of the match after suffering abdominal discomfort. However, another injury forced Jose Peseiro, Super Eagles head coach, to make a change to his regular starting line-up. Bright Osayi-Samuel came in for injured Zaidu Sanusi at the back.

Nigeria started with a 3-4-3 formation, which was mirrored by Hugo Broos, the Bafana Bafana head coach, and the Eagles struggled in the early stage of the game.

The backline of William Troost-Ekong, Semi Ajayi and Calvin Bassey initially struggled to curtail the speed and positional awareness of Percy Tau and Evidence Makgopa.

Stanley Nwabali was forced to make a sterling save after Makgopa spun on the edge of the box and aimed a curler into the top corner.

But Nigeria scored the first goal of the game. Mothobi Mvala brought down Osimhen in the South African goal area in the 65th minute. Troost-Ekong made no mistake from the resultant penalty.

A brief moment of madness swung the game Bafana Bafana’s way deep in the second half. Osimhen was wheeling away in celebration of a goal he thought he had scored when a VAR review zoomed on a foul by Alhassan Yusuf on Percy Tau in the Nigerian box during the leadup to the goal. Nigerians were brought to despair from the brink of delight as a penalty was awarded to South Africa.

Teboho Mokoena sent Nwabali the wrong way from the spot-kick. The game crawled into extra time and a penalty shootout eventually.

Mokoena missed his kick, while Nwabali saved Makgopa’s before Kelechi Iheanacho sent Nigeria to the AFCON final.

PLAYER RATINGS

Stanley Nwabali, GK (5/5): He was as calm as ever with impeccable positioning. He made routine saves effortlessly and clawed a certain goal away. He could not save the penalty in regular time but saved twice in the shootout to send Nigeria into the final.

Bright Osayi-Samuel, DW (3/5): An average display in a match he deputised for the injured Sanusi.

Olaoluwa Aina, DW (4/5): He had a solid display again, and his defensive qualities shone through in this match. He was, however, unlucky in the shootout.

Calvin Bassey, DC (3/5): A nervy showing against a more determined opposition but still good in defence.

William Troost Ekong (C), DC (4/5): He mopped up at the back with his usual confidence despite the ageing legs and a determined South Africa attack. He scored the breakthrough penalty goal.

Semi Ajayi, DC (3/5): A well-measured last-ditch challenge saved Nigeria. He continued his impressive performance in both defence and attack.

Frank Onyeka, DM (3/5): He ran himself ragged and made timely tackles to stall the momentum of South Africa’s attacks.

Alex Iwobi, MC (3/5): It was a poor display from Iwobi in this match. He chose perfection over routine passes and failed more often than not.

Moses Simon, WF (3/5): The dribbling winger failed to get the better of two defenders always on him—a below-average day.

Ademola Lookman, WF (3/5): A silent evening for Lookman, but he kept trying and provided an assist for the goal chalked off by VAR. He was subbed off late on.

Victor Osimhen, ST (4/5): Battling as ever despite looking unfit following his injury scare. He had two chances from headers off target but single-handedly won the penalty that led to Ekong’s goal.

Substitutes

Alhassan Yusuf, MC (1/5): His action of note was to give the foul that led to South Africa’s equaliser.

Simon Chukwueze, WF (1/5): Selfish on the ball, poor decision-making and lacks end product.

Joe Aribo, MC (2/5): Stabilised the midfield with simple passes to recycle possession.

Kelechi Iheanacho, MC (4/5): A free kick on target, and he scored the winning kick during the shootout in his first AFCON match.

Terrem Moffi, ST (4/5): Pace set him up, but a last-ditch challenge denied him glory. He scored in the shootout.

The Cable