Nigerian stocks rose the most in nearly four months and hit a record high on Wednesday, driven by strong earnings releases from banks and some manufacturers including Dangote Cement.

The All Share Index rose 1.9% at 2.30 p.m in Lagos, the most since July 10, to 70,581.76, the highest on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Nigerian index outperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Europe, Middle East and Africa Index, which advanced 0.6%.

Earnings from banks have been solid, alongside reports from manufacturers including Dangote Cement, Tunde Abidoye, a securities analyst at investment bank FBNQuest in Lagos, said by phone.

The banking index was up 2.2% to 732.24 points, the highest since Oct 2008. The index is up 75% this year and is heading for its best performance in at least 10 years.

“The interest-rate environment and revaluation gains are positive for the banking stocks and are helping the index,” Abidoye said.

Nigeria’s biggest lenders have seen their third-quarter earnings more than double, boosted by foreign-exchange revaluation gains. Zenith Bank, the country’s second-biggest bank by assets, reported net income for the nine-month period of 433.9 billion naira, compared with 174.23 billion naira a year earlier. UBA Plc’s net income of 442 billion naira was nearly 400% higher compared with the previous year.

Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s second-biggest firm by market value, also saw net earnings jump 44% from a year earlier, driven by double-digit increases in prices of the building material. The company’s shares are up 5.8% in the last five days and 26% year-to-date.

Leadership Change

Stocks have rallied since President Bola Tinubu’s government scrapped costly fuel subsidies and devalued the naira, rising 38% year-to-date in local currency. However, a 42% devaluation of the naira means that they are down 22% year-to-date in dollar returns, making it one of the worst-performing equity markets globally.

Gains in local currency have been driven mainly by local investors looking to protect their savings against soaring inflation, which quickened to 27% in September, and the weakening naira. Foreign investors sold a net 7.9 billion naira ($9.86 million) of Nigerian stocks in September, according to the Lagos-based Nigerian Exchange.

Airtel Africa Plc led gains on Wednesday, advancing 10%, the most in about 22 months. The firm’s share price traded at 1,694.10 naira, the highest since Oct. 14, with trading volume at about 11 times the 20-day average.

“More banks are going to be releasing results, so it’s a trend that should continue,” Abidoye said. “The pace can only be weakened by the non-financial companies that are affected by naira devaluation and seeing higher finance costs that have affected their financials.”

Bloomberg

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says Joe Ajaero, its president, was brutalised in Imo state.

The NLC said Ajaero was beaten and blindfolded immediately after he was arrested by security operatives.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ajaero was reportedly picked up from the Imo council secretariat of the NLC by heavily armed police officers.

Denying the arrest, the police command in Imo said the NLC president was taken into protective custody to avoid being lynched by a mob.

Reacting to the incident, Benson Upah, media head of the NLC, in a statement, said the phones and personal belongings taken from the NLC president have not been returned.

“Immediately after his arrest, he was beaten up and blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination where more brutalisation took place, sometimes with bottles,” the statement reads.

“Contact was made with Congress President, Ajaero this evening around 1530 hours at the police hospital in Owerri from where he was taken to Federal Medical Centre, Owerri where he is receiving medical attention.

“Thoroughly brutalized, his right eye at the time of contact was completely shut.

“His phones, money and other personal effects were taken off him and have not been returned to him.”

The Cable

At least 40 people were killed in Yobe state between Monday and Tuesday after suspected Boko Haram militants shot at villagers and set off a land mine, in the first major attack on the northern eastern state in 18 months, the police said on Wednesday.

The attack happened at about 8:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) on Monday, at Gurokayeya village, Gaidam local government in Yobe State, the state's police spokesperson Abdulkarim Dungus said.

He said gunmen opened fire on villagers, killing at least 17 people and that on Tuesday a land mine exploded, killing at least 20 villagers who were returning from burying victims of the previous attack.

The Islamist group has been killing and abducting villagers in Borno state, a hotbed for militancy that has been the epicentre of a 14-year war on insurgency in Nigeria.

President Bola Tinubu and his cabinet on Monday approved $2.8 billion supplementary budget to fund "urgent issues" including defence and security.

Tinubu has yet to disclose how he would tackle insurgency in the north and widespread insecurity in other parts of the country.

The Yobe community had been at peace for over a year before this attack, residents said. The last time a bomb exploded in Yobe state was in April 2022.

Lawan Ahmed, a resident, told Reuters the militants shot at villagers sporadically from motorbikes, killing about 18 people on Monday.

Ahmed added that the same insurgents on Tuesday attempted to eliminate those who had gone to the burial on Monday, killing more than 20 people.

Reuters

After weeks in besieged Gaza, some foreign nationals and wounded Palestinians are allowed to leave

Israeli ground troops have advanced to “the gates of Gaza City” in heavy fighting with militants, the military said Wednesday, as hundreds of foreign nationals and dozens of seriously injured Palestinians were allowed to leave Gaza after more than three weeks under siege.

The news came as U.S. President Joe Biden called for a humanitarian “pause” in the fighting. Biden was speaking at a Minneapolis campaign fundraiser when a protester interrupted him, calling for a cease-fire.

“I think we need a pause,” Biden responded. White House officials later said a break in fighting would allow more aid to get into Gaza and create a possibility for more hostages held by Hamas to be freed.

The first people to leave Gaza — other than four hostages released by Hamas and another rescued by Israeli forces — crossed into Egypt, escaping the territory’s growing misery as bombings drive hundreds of thousands from their homes, and food, water and fuel run low.

The U.S. State Department said some American citizens were among those who left, without giving specifics. It said it expected more Americans and other foreign nationals to get out of Gaza in coming days. Talks were reportedly ongoing among Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which has been mediating with Hamas.

Heavy airstrikes demolished apartment buildings for the second day in a row in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City. Al Jazeera television showed wounded people, including children, being brought to a hospital.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and Jordan on Friday – his second trip to the region since the war was sparked by Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel. Blinken aims to reiterate U.S. support for Israel, but also to push to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza.

In a sign of increasing alarm over the war among Arab countries, Jordan — a key U.S. ally with a peace deal with Israel — recalled its ambassador from Israel and told Israel’s ambassador to remain out of the country.

Deputy Prime Minister Ayman al-Safadi said the return of the ambassadors is linked to Israel “stopping its war on Gaza … and the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing.”

ISRAELI ARMY ADVANCES DEEPER

Itzik Cohen, commander of the 162nd Armored Division, said his troops were deep in Gaza. “We are located at the gates of Gaza City.”

Israeli forces appeared to be advancing on three main routes, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. research group. One thrust came from Gaza’s northeast corner. Another south of Gaza City cut across the territory, reaching the main north-south highway.

The third from Gaza’s northwest corner had moved about 3 miles (5 kilometers) down the Mediterranean coast, reaching the outskirts of the Shati and Jabaliya refugee camps on the edges of Gaza City.

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group reported clashes with Israeli troops in several locations. Hamas’ armed wing posted video purporting to show its fighters emerging from tunnels and firing rockets at Israeli tanks.

The Israeli military said its airstrikes killed the head of Hamas’ anti-tank rocket unit in Gaza.

Several hundred thousand Palestinians remain in northern Gaza in the path of the fighting. Casualties on both sides are expected to rise as Israeli troops advance toward the dense residential neighborhoods of Gaza City. Israeli officials say Hamas’ military infrastructure, including tunnels, is concentrated in the city.

The toll was not known from the strikes Wednesday in Jabaliya. Airstrikes in the same area killed or wounded hundreds, according to the director of a nearby hospital. Israel said those strikes destroyed Hamas tunnels beneath the buildings and killed dozens of fighters.

Rocket fire by Gaza militants into Israel has continued, disrupting life for millions of people and forcing an estimated 250,000 people to evacuate towns in northern and southern Israel. Most rockets are intercepted.

BORDER OPENS TO ALLOW SOME PEOPLE OUT

By midafternoon Wednesday, 335 foreign passport holders left Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority.

Seventy-six Palestinian patients, along with their companions, have been evacuated for treatment in Egypt, Abu Omar said.

The authority said the plan was for more than 400 foreign passport holders to leave for Egypt. The White House said it expected a “handful” of American citizens to be among them, and German, French, British and Australian officials said their citizens were among the evacuees.

Hundreds more remain in Gaza. The U.S. has said it is trying to evacuate 400 Americans with their families.

Egypt has said it will not accept an influx of Palestinian refugees, fearing Israel will not allow them to return to Gaza after the war.

BIDEN URGES “PAUSE”

Biden’s call for a “pause” was a subtle departure for White House policymakers, who have insisted they will not dictate how the Israelis carry out military operations. The White House has, however, been signaling that Israel should consider humanitarian pauses to allow more aid into Gaza and for trapped foreign nationals to leave. Biden’s new comments put pressure on Netanyahu to give Gaza’s civilians at least a brief reprieve.

“A pause means give time to get the prisoners out,” Biden said at the Minneapolis fundraiser for his 2024 reelection campaign.

HOSPITALS WARN OF DEPLETING FUEL

Over half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes, and supplies of food, medicine, water and fuel are running low.

Hospitals in Gaza expressed increasing alarm that the generators running life-saving equipment were dangerously low on fuel after weeks of siege.

Only hours of electricity remained at Gaza City’s largest hospital, Shifa, according to its director, Mohammed Abu Salmia, who pleaded for “whoever has a liter of diesel in his home” to donate it.

The Turkish-Palestinian Hospital, Gaza’s only facility offering specialized treatment for cancer patients, was forced to shut down because of lack of fuel, leaving 70 cancer patients in a critical situation, the Health Ministry said.

The World Health Organization said the lack of fuel puts at risk 1,000 patients on kidney dialysis, 130 premature babies in incubators, as well as cancer patients and patients on ventilators.

The Israeli military released a recording of what it said was a Hamas military commander forcing a hospital to give some fuel. The recording could not be independently verified.

DEATH TOLL KEEPS RISING

More than 8,800 Palestinians have been killed in the war, mostly women and minors, and more than 22,000 people have been wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Wednesday, without providing a breakdown between civilians and fighters. The figure is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’ initial attack, also an unprecedented figure. Palestinian militants also abducted around 240 people during their incursion and have continued firing rockets into Israel.

Sixteen Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the ground operation.

An estimated 800,000 Palestinians have fled south from northern Gaza following Israeli evacuation orders, but hundreds of thousands remain.

Israel has allowed more than 260 trucks carrying food and medicine to enter from Egypt over the past 10 days, but aid workers say it’s not nearly enough.

AFTER WAR, THEN WHAT?

Israel has vowed to crush Hamas’ ability to govern Gaza or threaten Israel. But it has said little about who would govern Gaza afterwards.

During his visit Friday, Blinken wants to discuss those issues with Israel and Jordan, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. To that end, Blinken will push Israeli officials on reining in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank and will restate U.S. backing for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, he said.

On Tuesday, Blinken suggested President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority could govern Gaza.

Hamas drove the authority’s forces out of Gaza in heavy fighting in 2007, leaving it with limited control over parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and little Palestinian support.

In other developments Wednesday:

— Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired “a large batch of drones” toward Israel, Yahya Sarea, a Houthi spokesman, said on social media. The announcement came one day after the Houthis said their forces had targeted Israel with at least three missile and drone attacks. The Houthi involvement brings Iran, a longtime sponsor of the Houthis, Hamas and the Lebanese militia group Hezbolla, even closer to the war.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine must innovate as war moves to static, attritional phase -army chief

Ukraine's war with Russia is moving towards a new stage of static and attritional fighting, a phase that could allow Moscow to rebuild its military power, Ukraine's commander-in-chief has said.

In an article for The Economist published on Wednesday, General Valery Zaluzhnyi said his army needed key new military capabilities and technological innovation to break out of the new phase of the war, now in its 21st month.

Using stark language, he described risks of prolonged, attritional fighting: "This will benefit Russia, allowing it to rebuild its military power, eventually threatening Ukraine's armed forces and the state itself."

His article comes almost five months into a major Ukrainian counteroffensive that has not made a serious breakthrough against heavily mined Russian defensive lines. Fighting is expected to slow as the weather worsens.

Russian troops have gone on the offensive in parts of the east and Kyiv fears Moscow plans to unleash a campaign of air strikes to cripple the power grid, plunging millions into darkness in the depths of winter.

"Just like in the First World War we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate," Zaluzhnyi was quoted as saying in an interview published alongside his article.

The article singled out Russia's air power advantage as a factor that made advancing harder and called for Kyiv to conduct massive drone strikes to overload Russia's air defences.

"Basic weapons, such as missiles and shells, remain essential. But Ukraine's armed forces need key military capabilities and technologies to break out of this kind of war. The most important one is air power," he wrote.

He said Ukraine must get better at destroying Russian artillery and devise better mine-breaching technology, saying Western supplies have proven insufficient faced with Russian minefields that stretched back 20 km (12 miles) in some areas.

He called it a priority for Ukraine to build up its reserve forces despite noting it had limited capacity to train them inside the country and highlighting gaps in legislation that allowed people to evade service.

"We are trying to fix these problems. We are introducing a unified register of draftees, and we must expand the category of citizens who can be called up for training or mobilisation," he wrote.

"We are also introducing a 'combat internship', which involves placing newly mobilised and trained personnel in experienced front-line units to prepare them," he said.

** Russian drone hits oil refinery, frontline attacks repelled -Ukraine military

A Russian drone attack set ablaze the Kremenchuk oil refinery in central Ukraine and knocked out power supply in three villages, while battlefield reports said Ukrainian forces had repelled Russian attacks in frontline sectors in the east and northeast.

The fire at the Kremenchuk refinery, which Moscow has targeted many times and the Kyiv government says is not operational, was quickly put out, said Filip Pronin, head of Poltava region's military administration. The extent of the damage was not clear.

Ukraine's Air Force said air defences shot down 18 of 20 drones and a missile fired by Russia overnight before they reached their targets in an attack that sought to strike military and critical infrastructure.

"The focus of the attack was Poltava region, it was attacked in several waves," Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told national television.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said troops had repelled eight Russian attacks near Kupiansk in the northeast, five near the shattered eastern town of Bakhmut, held by Russian forces, and five further south near Avdiivka, a focal point of Russian assaults since mid-October.

A video posted by the Ukrainian military showed its forces destroying a Russian flamethrower system near Avdiivka, an attack it said could be observed for dozens of kilometres.

Military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko, in an article posted online, said some 40,000 Russian troops were now massed outside Avdiivka, widely viewed as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.

"Despite its losses, the Russian command still intends to capture Avdiivka, which is now a political, rather than a tactical, aim," Kovalenko wrote.

Natalia Khomeniuk, a military spokesperson in the south, said Russian forces had dropped 20 aerial bombs in Kherson region from positions they now hold on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River after abandoning the region's main town last year. Russian forces shell the river's western bank almost daily.

In Poltava region, three villages lost electricity after power lines and an unnamed infrastructure facility were damaged, the Energy Ministry said on Telegram.

Railway power lines were damaged by falling debris in central Kirovohrad region, but the damage was quickly repaired, Governor Andriy Raikovych said.

The Ukrainian military said Russia carried out another missile attack on Poltava region and southern Odesa region later on Wednesday, and two of the missiles in Odesa region were downed.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. Russia made no immediate comment on the Ukrainian reports.

The Russian Defence Ministry's accounts said its forces had hit Ukrainian troops and equipment in villages south of Bakhmut.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine conflict ‘fatigue’ is growing, Italian PM says

There is “a lot of fatigue” with the Ukraine conflict and EU nations will soon agree that it must be resolved through a compromise, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has told a pair of Russian pranksters.

Vovan and Lexus published the clip on Wednesday of their conversation with Meloni, which reportedly dates back to September and in which they posed as an unnamed African politician.

Discussing the Ukraine conflict, the Italian leader told the pair: “I see that there is a lot of fatigue, if I have to say the truth, from all the sides. We are near the moment in which everybody understands that we need a way out.”

“The problem is to find a way out which can be acceptable for both, without destroying the international law,” Meloni added.

The conversation then shifted to Kiev’s summer counteroffensive, the outcome of which the fake African politician suggested was a far cry from what many had expected. Meloni replied that the operation was ongoing, but acknowledged that it had not changed “the destiny of the conflict.”

“Everybody understands that it really could last many years, if we don’t try to find some solution,” Meloni stated. She then expressed concern that a badly-designed solution could trigger further conflicts, before criticizing what previously unfolded in Libya.

The North African nation was rocked by a NATO-backed anti-government uprising in 2011 which ousted longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. More than a decade later, Libya remains split among warring factions and is economically devastated.

Italy has been the destination for a flow of illegal migrants departing from Libya and crossing the Mediterranean Sea in the hope of receiving shelter in the EU. Meloni accused Brussels of not doing enough to help Rome as she discussed the issue at length with the pranksters.

The conversation also touched on European energy security and how developing energy production in Africa could improve it. “We are going to an era when we can’t manage it no more. It’s already too late,” Meloni said.

Later on Wednesday, Meloni’s office said the phone call had taken place on September 18, ahead of meetings with African leaders at the UN General Assembly. It said it regretted that the prime minister had been deceived by a prankster posing as the head of the African Union Commission, Reuters reported.

Vovan and Lexus, whose real names are Vladimir Kuznetsov and Aleksey Stolyarov, have been pranking public figures for years with fake calls from people their targets trust. The pair usually goad their targets into saying things they might otherwise be unwilling to make public.

** Tank production grows sevenfold in Russia

Russia has greatly boosted production of military hardware over the past year, having multiplied by seven the number of tanks it manufactures, Sergey Chemezov, the CEO of defense conglomerate Rostec, said on Wednesday.

Speaking on Rossiya 24 TV channel, Chemezov added that the state-owned corporation has been continuously modernizing and improving its products as well.

“Over the past year, we ramped up production of tanks by seven times,”Chemezov said, adding that output of light armor, including assorted infantry fighting vehicles and armored cars grew by a factor of around 4.5. The official did not elaborate whether the figures include modernization of older vehicles or production of new ones from scratch.

Earlier this week, Rostec subsidiary Uralvagonzavod released a video showing a new batch of T-90M tanks, Russia’s most modern, undergoing final testing before being sent to the military. The tanks appeared to feature new improvements, such as additional ‘soft hull’ blocks for its turret, while external armor blocks on the hull are now cased in more robust-looking containers, compared to previous versions made of fabric.

In mid-October Uralvagonzavod completed a large batch of T-90M and T-72B3 tanks and delivered them to the military. At the time, Russia’s Deputy PM Denis Manturov said the tanks of this type were most in demand, having performed strongly during the conflict with Ukraine.

Rostec has also greatly expanded ammunition production, Chemezov added. Since the beginning of 2023 it has produced 20 times more munitions for multiple rocket launcher systems than in all of 2022. 

Back in September, Rostec’s industrial director Bekhan Ozdoev revealed the conglomerate has expanded production of high-precision weaponry, namely Iskander ground-based tactical ballistic missiles and air-launched Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. He said at the time that “among other things, the production of missiles for the Kinzhal, Iskander, and Pantsir [anti-aircraft] systems, aerial bombs, artillery and tank shells is being ramped up.”

Reuters/RT

What is an A, anyway? Does it mean that a 16-year-old recognizes 96 percent of the allusions in “The Bluest Eye”? Or that she could tell you 95 percent of the reasons the Teapot Dome Scandal was so important? Or just that she made it to most classes? Does it come from a physics teacher in the Great Smoky Mountains who bludgeons students with weekly, memory-taxing tests or from a trigonometry teacher in Topeka who works in Taylor Swift references and allows infinite retests?

One answer is that A is now the most popular high school grade in America. Indeed, in 2016, 47 percent of high school students graduated with grades in the A range. This means that nearly half of seniors are averaging within a few numeric points of one another.

A belt has several holes, but usually only one or two of them show any wear in the leather. Can the same really be true for the grades we give our students, with their varied efforts and their constellations of cognitive skills? A grading drop-down menu ought not to be so simple a tool as one person’s belt.

And grades have only gone up since 2016, most notably since the pandemic, most prominently in higher-income school districts. Were this a true reflection of student achievement, it would be reason to celebrate, but the metrics have it differently. From 1998 to 2016, average high school G.P.A.s rose from 3.27 to 3.38, but average SAT scores fell from 1026 to 1002. ACT scores among the class of 2023 were the worst in over three decades. Is it any wonder, then, that 65 percent of Americans feel they are smarter than average?

I’ll confess that in my nearly 30 years as a high school English teacher, my conceptions of grading have either softened or evolved, depending on how you see it. While I may fret over the ambiguity on Page 5 of a student’s essay, I’m aware of the greater machine. Their whole semester will boil down to one letter, and that letter joins 30 or so others on a transcript they may send to a dozen colleges, some of which have thousands of applicants.

Besides, I like my students. I see them coming into the building at 7:30, carrying three backpacks for a routine that may well go on until 7:30 that night, roughly the time it takes someone to complete a full Ironman triathlon. They will use their free periods to prep for group projects, they’ll scarf down lunch before a French quiz, and hours later, toe the line of scrimmage against those massive defensive backs from the other side of the county. I don’t need to be excellent at as many utterly different things as they do. And my skills are not constantly judged like this, year after year, by a rotation of personalities. If kids come to my writing classes and share their heart and soul on the page, I want to offer them a handhold on this stony path.

Also, it’s just so much easier to give good grades!

But when so many adolescent egos rest upon this collective, timorous deflection, it doesn’t do an awful lot of good. Passing off the average as exceptional with bromides like “wonderful” and “impressive” soothes the soul, but if there’s nothing there to modify these adjectives, teachers do little service to their colleagues who receive these students the next year. It has that looming sense of climate denial, propped up by wishful thinking.

Grade inflation, after all, acts just like real inflation. In the early 1960s, when, according to GradeInflation.com, about 15 percent of grades given at four-year colleges were A’s, a dollar could buy you a movie ticket. Now, this will get you 15 seconds with a college essay coach and a firsthand lesson in Freud’s concept of the narcissism of minor differences: The more a community shares the same thing, the higher the sensitivity becomes about small disparities. So if everyone else applying to the College on the Hill has A’s in math, your A-minus suddenly gives you the wrong distinction.

In the shape-shifting landscape of college admissions, grades have never been more important. Now more than 80 percent of four-year colleges do not require standardized tests. Interviews, perhaps the truest show of the unadorned student, are also falling the way of the Bachman’s warbler. ChatGPT brings possibly serviceable responses to essay questions, if you can live with yourself for using it. And a recommendation letter coming from someone who teaches 150 students is going to look different from someone’s who teaches 50. This all augurs toward the new Pangea: grades. As a high school teacher, I don’t want to hold that much power, nor do I think I should.

It’s so easy to see grades as sheer commodities that we all but overlook their actual purpose — as far as I know — of providing feedback. In English class, this happens not just on days we wield our red pens but every time we encourage students to appreciate the complexity of an idea, every time we can coax an apprehensive hand into the discussion about the bloody field or the Tuscan garden. It happens in meetings outside class when students fumble into ideas for their own stories and on the words, words, words of comments my English-teaching kinfolk are thoughtfully spooling onto our students’ drafts. To forsake all this for one fixed letter is to waste the process for the stamp.

How might grade inflation’s roiling cloud now be pierced? Do we approach the colleges that purport to favor both mental health and kids who take 10 A.P. exams? Or high schools, which watch these grading trend lines with the dread of sea level rise? We keep treating high school and college as two separate entities, but ultimately, they service the same people, and there needs to be more conversation about what this mess of grades is doing to them.

For now, a modest proposal: Consider the essay that comes in with a promising central idea but lacks support from a few critical moments of the text. It makes a smart but abrupt transition and closes with an interesting connection, a trifle undercooked. With another assiduous go-round, it might become something amazing. But please don’t give this draft an A-minus, the grade that puts so much potential to an early, convenient death. Instead, think of the produce of this student’s deletions and insertions, the music as he riffles through those pages he’ll annotate better next time, the reflective potential of a revision. Grading offers a singular place to teach such lessons of resilience. Instead, consider the B-plus.

This means nothing if done alone. But if we’re really going to be teachers, it’s high time to tighten the belt.

New York Times

Legendary billionaire investor Warren Buffett is widely recognized as one of the greatest financial minds of this era. Over the course of several decades, he amassed a significant fortune through shrewd investment strategies and timeless wisdom.

During the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. annual meeting, Buffett shared his perspective on the curious dynamics of discussing the company's investments. He offered insights into why he refrains from "talking up" Berkshire's investments, shedding light on the intricacies of investment strategies that may not always align with Wall Street's expectations.

Buffett's remarks from the meeting were candid and reflected his no-nonsense approach to investing. He mentioned that it's not uncommon for people to inquire about the investments Berkshire Hathaway holds, with the assumption that the company would want to promote these holdings. However, Buffett was quick to dispel this notion. He made it clear that Berkshire Hathaway has no vested interest in encouraging others to buy the same investments it holds. Its perspective is quite the opposite.

Buffett explained that Berkshire, either through the company or its subsidiaries, is likely to continue buying stock. This means it stands to benefit from lower stock prices, making a rise in stock value less attractive. The rationale behind this is straightforward. If Berkshire Hathaway intends to acquire more of a particular investment in the coming years, it would be counterproductive for them to publicly promote the stock, causing its value to increase prematurely. By doing so, it would essentially be buying at a higher price in the future. This pragmatic approach underscores its long-term investment strategy.

Buffett acknowledged that this perspective diverges from the conventional wisdom of Wall Street. The common belief on Wall Street is that if you own a particular stock, it's in your best interest to see its value rise in the short term. People often refer to this as "talking your book."

Yahoo News

President Bola Tinubu has set up a constitutional review committee to carry out “comprehensive” police reforms.

Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi, announced the development while speaking to State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Nigeria police council chaired by Tinubu on Tuesday.

The council at the meeting confirmed Kayode Egbetokun as the substantive inspector-general of police (IGP).

According to Mohammed, members of the committee include Ibrahim Geidam, minister of police affairs; Nuhu Ribadu, national security adviser (NSA); Solomon Arase, chairman of the police service commission (PSC); and AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, governor of Kwara and chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF).

“The confirmation of the IGP prompted further discussion on the Nigeria Police Force and the president has formed a special committee to look at all the gaps in Nigeria’s 1999 constitution with a view to bring harmony and synergy, closing technology and manpower gaps to the Nigerian police force,” Mohammed said.

“The committee comprises the minister of police affairs, NSA, chairman of PSC, and the chairman of the NGF. They will work together with a view to make sure that the Nigeria Police is reformed.”

Also speaking, Dapo Abiodun, governor of Ogun, said the council observed that no meaningful reforms have taken place in the police since its creation in 1861.

He added that the committee would develop ideas that would lead to reforms that would characterize the new Nigeria police force.

“The newly confirmed IGP is adequately prepared, his CV is extremely rich, very experienced, intellectually and practically,” Abiodun said.

“He also addressed us as a council on the state of policing in Nigeria, among other things that he highlighted he spoke about the need for technology-driven policing.

“The need for community-based policing, the need to ensure that required budgetary provision is provided for community-based policing which has been proven to be very effective.

“The issue of funding also came up and this committee of four to five people will look at these issues that border on reforms.

“We observed that there have been no meaningful reforms since the establishment of the Nigeria police force.”

The Cable

OPEC oil output has risen for a third straight month in October, a Reuters survey found on Tuesday, led by increases in Nigeria and Angola and despite ongoing cuts by Saudi Arabia and other members of the wider OPEC+ alliance to support the market.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has pumped 27.90 million barrels per day (bpd), the survey found, up by 180,000 bpd from September. Production in August had risen for the first time since February.

The steady rise in OPEC output is largely being driven by a small number of producers managing to overcome internal or external factors that have curbed supply, such as U.S. sanctions or unrest. Despite the rise in output, oil prices are finding support from conflict in the Middle East.

Nigeria boosted exports in October without any major disruption to shipments, according to shipping data and sources in the survey, increasing output by 50,000 bpd. The country is targeting a further recovery by next year. Angola also boosted exports in October, the survey found.

Smaller increases came from Iraq and Iran. Tehran's output edged up to 3.17 million bpd, the survey found. This is the highest since 2018, the year Washington re-imposed sanctions on Iran, according to Reuters surveys and OPEC figures.

Analysts have said the higher Iranian exports appear to be the result of Iran's success in evading U.S. sanctions and Washington's discretion in enforcing them.

There was no immediate boost in Venezuela's production, sources in the survey said, following the U.S. move this month to broadly ease sanctionson the country's oil sector. OPEC+ sources expect the production recovery to be gradual.

Output from the 10 OPEC members that are subject to OPEC+ supply cut agreements rose by 150,000 bpd, the survey found. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf members maintained strong compliance with agreed cutbacks and extra voluntary reductions.

Saudi Arabia kept October and September output close to 9 million bpd, the survey found. The country in September extended a voluntary 1 million bpd output cut until the end of the year to provide extra support for the market.

OPEC's output is still undershooting the targeted amount by about 560,000 bpd, mainly because Nigeria and Angola lack the capacity to pump as much as their agreed level.

The Reuters survey aims to track supply to the market. It is based on shipping data provided by external sources, LSEG flows data, information from companies that track flows such as Petro-Logistics and Kpler, and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.

Reuters

Governor Sim Fubara of Rivers State and Nyesom Wike, his predecessor, yesterday met at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The duo, who reportedly fell out less than six months after succession, have been in the news since the reported move of the Rivers House of Assembly to impeach the governor.

Fubara had stormed the assembly while some lawmakers loyal to Wike were said to be planning his removal.

Addressing youths who trooped to Government House, Port Harcourt, over the development, Fubara vowed to resist any impeachment attempt against him that is not justified.

The governor also dared his political opponents to tell him his offence before he would be removed.

“I know how you people are feeling, just take it easy. Great Rivers State youths. Great! When we have the youth, we have power,” Fubara said.

“But the difference with our own power is we will not misuse it. We woke up this morning to a very troubling news. We have gone to the Assembly to see for ourselves what has happened.

“On my way there, I was shot at directly by the (sic) operation, or whatever they call it. But it doesn’t matter, somebody will die one day. Whether you die inside your house or on the road. So my journey today, whatever it is that wants to happen, let it happen.

“If Siminalayi Fubara is in peace, I am not a force neither will I be…What I’m saying is that any attempt that is not justified will be resisted. Great Rivers people! That offence that I have committed, come out and tell the people of Rivers State. That’s what I want. That offence Fubara committed warrants impeaching me.”

He pledged to always defend the Rivers residents and make available dividends of democracy to them.

“But my happiness this morning is that the people of Rivers State, represented by everybody here are with us. Let me remind you people that we will continue to defend you people. We will protect you people and enjoy the dividends of democracy. I don’t want to say much. At the appropriate time, I will address the press. Thank you. God bless you,” he added.

On the feud between the governor and his predecessor, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State said President Bola Tinubu has intervened in the political impasse in Rivers State to restore peace.

He stated this yesterday while briefing State House reporters after a meeting of National Police Council presided over by the President at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Mohammed, who said the president was talking to the parties involved in the imbroglio, added that it appeared there would be peace with his intervention.

The chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum (PDP-GF) also said the opposition governors had resolved to work with the president because he had shown good faith by not interfering with gubernatorial cases brought before the courts by PDP members.

The governor of Bauchi State, who briefed after the maiden police council meeting under the Tinubu administration, said the president engaged in discussions with the Rivers State governor and the FCT Minister, who is alleged to be behind the plot to impeach the governor to restore peace in the state.

He said, “We had a closed session. You will recall, members of the press, that there was a very serious national issue that was discussed that had security implication. That is the problem emerging in Rivers. Mr President, in his usual leadership position, intervened, and it would appear there will be peace in that respect.”

Daily Trust