In July, the wife of the President, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Initiative launched a “smart farming” project to boost food production. According to her, if everyone takes up farming, the problem of hunger can be ameliorated. To lead by example, Mrs Tinubu had to show herself at work. A sanctioned television crew and a few hangers-on who would say the right things were about the only witnesses to the landmark event of a woman—who likely cannot distinguish between ewédu and lemon grass seeds—farm in the backyard of the presidential residence. It was just right that no serious media house was invited to witness the occasion. Imagine how disruptive of that grandiose charade it would be if any of them who still had their heads screwed right asked irritating questions like, “So how many aides will help to water these vegetables when you would have forgotten all about their existence?

Given that first ladies typically use their symbolic power for social advocacy, it was not out of order for Mrs Tinubu to have launched an initiative around urban farming. Under a different set of circumstances, it would be a good idea. What ruins her advocacy is the gaslighting and the insincerity that underwrites the whole project.

First, asking women to get involved in farming to boost national food production is out of touch. Women already farm. If she had done some homework before starting her pet initiative, she would have realised that a significant percentage of farming in Nigeria is done by women. What does Mrs Tinubu think women in rural areas do for a living?

Second, when she claimed that the proceeds from her garden would feed her family and she would be giving some to her staff members, you saw a woman who lies like a child. Even the most dimwitted among us know that that little thing you are doing in that garden has no impact whatsoever on the Aso Rock food budget. Why insult the public by pretending there is anything more to the project than the mere symbolism of it all? The ‘Every Home a Garden’ project is inorganic and so unrelated to the reality of life in Nigeria that she knew the idea would hardly catch on. Typical of the Tinubus to throw money at issues, she offered a N25m prize to farmers just to stimulate some interest.

Third—and this point is crucial, is the fact that much of the present food crisis is a fallout of her husband’s ill-conceived policies. Yes, there has always been hunger in Nigeria, but under their administration, food costs shot up astronomically. At the time Mrs Tinubu was launching her garden in July, food prices had increased by more than 200 percent compared to last year. The inflation is about structural problems that can only be addressed through providing the right infrastructure. It was disingenuous of Mrs Tinubu to pretend that the matter is simple, and resolvable if women would just grow food crops inside a bucket in their houses. She says the farming initiative is for all of us to contribute solutions. But why solicit corporate support when the problem was not caused by the collective? It was you—the Tinubu administration—that caused the problem. It should also be you solving it, not deflecting responsibility.

When they launched the regional initiative in Jos, Mrs Tinubu was represented by Salamatu Gbajabiamila, wife of the chief of staff to the president, who announced their donation of N500,000 to 20 women in each of the north-central states. Mrs Gbajabiamila said they were confident that their efforts would boost women in agriculture, transform the lives of the beneficiaries of their stipend, and even contribute to food sufficiency in the region. There you go! Thanks to Mrs Tinubu and her right-hand women, all the complex problems rural women face—from insecurity to poverty, lack of storage facilities and food processing infrastructure, and poor access to capital—will be resolved by throwing a pittance at a few actors, the money that might not even reach their hands.

These people have not made genuine efforts to understand the problem, but they are expecting their pet project to be transformative. To even simulate the magical results they wanted, Mrs Tinubu’s vegetables were harvested a mere 23 days after she allegedly planted them.

Now Mrs Tinubu is on to another joke: a fabric to promote national unity. According to her, she was inspired to create a national fabric after a trip to Zimbabwe last year. She called for a national competition with another N25m prize for whoever can design the national fabric. Now, she says that dress will be donned on October 1st. Well, the first thing she should have asked the Zimbabweans was how the national fabric, launched in 2020, is working for them. Are they more united because they wear a uniform now?

If Mrs Tinubu had bothered to inquire, she would have found that the main reason the Zimbabwean national dress seems to be popular is because the interest is imposed by the first lady who uses the government machinery to sell it. Nobody wears it because they buy into the idea of national unity, nor do they imagine their historical and ideological fault lines will magically disappear because they wear “andco.” The dress will disappear the moment the government that made it near-compulsory for civil servants and party supporters leave power.

Mrs Tinubu, like a typical African leader who pursues symbolism at the expense of substance, thinks that in addition to changing the national anthem, they can foster unity through a dress. That is how they will obsess over national unity until the next election, when their attack dogs will be unleashed with their usual divisive rhetoric, and they will pretend to be blind, deaf, and mute.

Mrs Tinubu says local manufacturers will mass-produce the fabric, thereby boosting the local textile industry, creating jobs, and improving the economy. There we go again with magical expectations. You are not even sure that people will give a bleep about your fabric, but you are already building castles in the air. Apart from the APC flock who will be made to wear their uniform to prove they are still standing on Bola’s mandate, how does Mrs Tinubu hope to sell enough nationwide to keep the local textile factories working? How much money is even being invested in this farce?

Meanwhile, Mrs Tinubu is so locked in the Yoruba insularity and nepotism of her husband’s government that she fails to see that the optics of the project are entirely bad. So, she, a Yoruba woman, initiated the project. The named judges are Yoruba women; her Lagos friends, and the winner of the N25m fabric design competition is a Yoruba woman too! Mrs Tinubu wants an incredibly diverse country people to wear a national aso ebí, but it just did not occur to her to extend the sphere of creating the material beyond Yorubas? So how do you hope to get the buy-in of non-Yoruba Nigerians if you do not think their contributions are valuable? So much for national unity!

Like her vegetable garden, I can bet Mrs Tinubu did not think through what the national fabric project was meant to achieve or how to organize the idea. This “andco” thing is just another means of seeking social relevance for a woman who does not know what she should be doing with her time or how to justify budgetary allocations to her “office.” Unfortunately, she does not have advisors or friends who can help her design a sensible project. All the women surrounding her are likely to just say “yes, ma” each time she proposes another witless idea. Even if an idea for a worthwhile project were to be created for her, she still does not come across as someone who has the discipline to sit down and master what it takes to turn it into a success. She just wants to be seen as relevant and that is why she is all over the place, doing too much of nothing.

Punch

Jennifer Liu

Like a lot of hiring managers, Adriane Schwager likes to ask candidates about times in their career they've made a mistake. Usually, it's to get an idea of how you handle stressful situations and how you learn from previous errors.

For Schwager, the CEO and co-founder of the hiring platform GrowthAssistant with 20 years of recruiting experience, the answer can uncover a big red flag: whether the person has low ownership of their work.

In listening to the response, Schwager tells CNBC Make It that she tries to assess whether the person can own up to the mistake, or if it seems like they're making it out to be someone else's fault.

Take an example where someone forgot to send something important to accounting, and it cost the business $250,000, she says. If the candidate discusses how the accident was the result of someone else not sending them the right information, or their manager not helping to provide oversight, "and it turns into someone else's fault, that shows me they have low ownership," Schwager says.

On the other hand, she says, a better response might be: "I didn't send something to accounting once and it cost us $250,000. I thought I was going to lose my job. So I immediately created a calendar reminder so that I send that to accounting every Tuesday."

"I believe that all situations are co-created, and we all play a part in some of this failure," Schwager says. "A company fails, your department fails — even if you aren't running that department, you still played a part in it. That doesn't make you good or bad. It just is. So be aware of your participation in that outcome, and be able to talk about the learning you had from it."

Ultimately, Schwager says, "I need somebody who is that aware of how they participated in the outcome."

Sometimes, she can also tell whether a candidate has low ownership based on how they describe why they left their previous job.

For example, if someone says "I left because my manager had it out for me" or "I wasn't being managed well," Schwager says she wants to hear about whether the candidate tried to take ownership and manage up.

Or, if they burned out at a previous job, Schwager wants to know if they learned from the situation to identify their burnout patterns, can communicate them to a boss or colleagues, and that they have acquired strategies to cope: "They recognized it, they learned from it, and they've applied those changes to their to experiences."

CNBC

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has announced that N1.203 trillion was shared among federal, state, and local governments for August 2024. This allocation, derived from a gross total of N2.278 trillion, was disclosed by Mohammed Manga, Director of Information at the Ministry of Finance, following FAAC's September meeting chaired by Finance Minister Wale Edun.

The distribution marks a decrease of N155 billion compared to July's allocation. From the total amount:

- Federal government received N374.925 billion

- States received N422.861 billion

- Local government councils got N306.533 billion

- Oil-producing states received N99.474 billion as derivation

Additionally, N81.975 billion was allocated for collection costs, while N992.617 billion was set aside for transfers, interventions, and refunds.

Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue decreased by N51.988 billion to N573.341 billion. After deductions, N533.895 billion of VAT funds were distributed among the three tiers of government.

Gross statutory revenue also declined by N165.994 billion to N1.221 trillion. After allocations for collection costs and other purposes, N186.636 billion was shared among the government tiers.

The Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) contributed N15.643 billion, which was distributed accordingly.

An exchange difference of N468.245 billion was also shared among the government levels.

The communique noted decreases in various revenue sources, including Companies Income Tax, Import and Excise Duties, and Petroleum Profit Tax.

As of September 2024, the balance in the Excess Crude Account was $473,754.57.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has issued a warning to Nigerians following the release of water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon. The Lagdo Reservoir, located in Cameroon's Northern Province along the Benue River in the Niger basin, spans an area of 586 square kilometers.

In a statement on Tuesday, NIHSA Director General, Umar Mohammed, notified the public about the release of water but reassured that no significant flooding is expected in Nigeria. However, he advised certain states—Kogi, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Cross River, and Rivers—to take necessary precautions to mitigate the potential impact.

"The management of Lagdo Dam has informed NIHSA that regulated water releases at a rate of 100 cubic meters per second (8,640,000 cubic meters per day) will begin today, September 17, 2024," said Mohammed. He noted that the release could increase gradually to 1,000 cubic meters per second over the next seven days, depending on inflow from the Garoua River, which feeds the reservoir and significantly contributes to the Benue River.

The gradual release, according to Mohammed, is designed to avoid overwhelming the Benue River system and prevent major flooding downstream. Water releases are expected to cease once inflow levels from the reservoir decrease.

"Although major flooding is not anticipated, it is crucial for states along the Benue River—such as Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Edo, Delta, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Rivers—to remain vigilant and implement preparedness measures at all levels of government to minimize any flood-related impacts."

NIHSA has assured continuous monitoring of water flow in both the Benue River and other major rivers across the country, with regular updates to be provided to prevent flood disasters.

This development follows recent devastating floods in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, which resulted in the loss of lives and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents.

Zimbabwe plans to cull 200 elephants to feed communities facing acute hunger after the worst drought in four decades, wildlife authorities said on Tuesday.

The El Nino-induced drought wiped out crops in southern Africa, impacting 68 million people and causing food shortages across the region.

"We can confirm that we are planning to cull about 200 elephants across the country. We are working on modalities on how we are going to do it," Tinashe Farawo, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (Zimparks) spokesperson, told Reuters.

He said the elephant meat would be distributed to communities in Zimbabwe affected by the drought.

The cull, the first in the country since 1988, will take place in Hwange, Mbire, Tsholotsho and Chiredzi districts. It follows neighbouring Namibia's decision last month to cull 83 elephants and distribute meat to people impacted by the drought.

More than 200,000 elephants are estimated to live in a conservation area spread over five southern African countries - Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Angola and Namibia - making the region home to one of the largest elephant populations worldwide.

Farawo said the culling is also part of the country's efforts to decongest its parks, which can only sustain 55,000 elephants. Zimbabwe is home to over 84,000 elephants.

"It's an effort to decongest the parks in the face of drought. The numbers are just a drop in the ocean because we are talking of 200 (elephants) and we are sitting on plus 84,000, which is big," he said.

With such a severe drought, human-wildlife conflicts can escalate as resources become scarcer. Last year Zimbabwe lost 50 people to elephant attacks.

The country, which is lauded for its conservation efforts and growing its elephant population, has been lobbying the U.N.'s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to reopen trade of ivory and live elephants.

With one of the largest elephant populations, Zimbabwe has about $600 million worth of ivory stockpiles which it cannot sell.

Reuters

Israel planted explosives in 5,000 Hezbollah's pagers, say sources

Israel's Mossad spy agency planted explosives inside 5,000 pagers imported by Lebanese group Hezbollah months before Tuesday's detonations, a senior Lebanese security source and another source told Reuters.

The operation was an unprecedented Hezbollah security breach that saw thousands of pagers detonate across Lebanon, killing nine people and wounding nearly 3,000 others, including the group's fighters and Iran's envoy to Beirut.

The Lebanese security source said the pagers were from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo, but the company said it did not manufacture the devices, but were made by a European firm with the right to use its brand.

Iran-backed Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel, whose military declined to comment on the blasts.

The plot appears to have been many months in the making, several sources told Reuters.

The senior Lebanese security source said the group had ordered 5,000 beepers from Gold Apollo, which several sources say were brought into the country earlier this year.

Gold Apollo founder Hsu Ching-Kuang said the pagers used in the explosion were made by a company in Europe that had the right to use the Taipei-based firm's brand, the name of which he could not immediately confirm.

"The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it," he told reporters on Wednesday, without naming the company which did make the devices.

The senior Lebanese security source identified a photograph of the model of the pager, an AP924, which like other pagers wirelessly receive and display text messages but cannot make telephone calls.

Hezbollah fighters have been using pagers as a low-tech means of communication in an attempt to evade Israeli location-tracking, two sources familiar with the group's operations told Reuters this year.

But the senior Lebanese source said the devices had been modified by Israel's spy service "at the production level."

"The Mossad injected a board inside of the device that has explosive material that receives a code. It's very hard to detect it through any means. Even with any device or scanner," the source said.

The source said 3,000 of the pagers exploded when a coded message was sent to them, simultaneously activating the explosives.

Another security source told Reuters that up to three grams of explosives were hidden in the new pagers and had gone "undetected" by Hezbollah for months.

Israeli officials did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Images of destroyed pagers analysed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo.

Hezbollah was reeling from the attack, which left fighters and others bloodied, hospitalised or dead. One Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the detonation was the group's "biggest security breach" since the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas erupted on Oct. 7.

"This would easily be the biggest counterintelligence failure that Hezbollah has had in decades," said Jonathan Panikoff, the U.S. government's former deputy national intelligence officer on the Middle East.

BREAK YOUR PHONES, GROUP ORDERED

In February, Hezbollah drew up a war plan that aimed to address gaps in the group's intelligence infrastructure. Around 170 fighters had already been killed in targeted Israeli strikes on Lebanon, including one senior commander and a top Hamas official in Beirut.

In a televised speech on Feb. 13, the group's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah sternly warned supporters that their phones were more dangerous than Israeli spies, saying they should break, bury or lock them in an iron box.

Instead, the group opted to distribute pagers to Hezbollah members across the group's various branches - from fighters to medics working in its relief services.

The explosions maimed many Hezbollah members, according to footage from hospitals reviewed by Reuters. Wounded men had injuries of varying degrees to the face, missing fingers and gaping wounds at the hip where the pagers were likely worn.

"We really got hit hard," said the senior Lebanese security source, who has direct knowledge of the group's probe into the explosions.

The pager blasts came at a time of mounting concern about tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the Gaza conflict erupted last October.

While the war in Gaza has been Israel's main focus since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas-led gunmen, the precarious situation along Israel's northern border with Lebanon has fueled fears of a regional conflict that could drag in the United States and Iran.

A missile barrage by Hezbollah the day after Oct. 7 opened the latest phase of conflict and since then there have been daily exchanges of rockets, artillery fire and missiles, with Israeli jets striking deep into Lebanese territory.

Hezbollah has said it does not seek a wider war but would fight if Israel launched one.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday that the window was closing for a diplomatic solution to the standoff with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon.

Still, experts said they did not see the pager blasts as a sign that an Israeli ground offensive was imminent.

Instead, it was a sign of Israeli intelligence's apparently deep penetration of Hezbollah.

"It demonstrates Israel's ability to infiltrate its adversaries in a remarkably dramatic way," said Paul Pillar, a 28-year veteran of the U.S. intelligence community, mainly at the CIA.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia strikes energy facilities in Ukraine's Sumy region, authorities say

Russia fired missiles at energy infrastructure in the northeast Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday hours after an overnight drone strike on the region, reducing power in some areas and forcing authorities to use back-up power systems.

The Sumy region's governor, Volodymyr Artiukh, citing an initial assessment, said Russia had used at least four missiles in the latest attack on energy facilities. Ukraine's energy ministry said Russia's attacks had caused a fire at a power substation and cut power to more than 281,000 consumers. Power was later partially restored, it said.

Acting Sumy mayor Artem Kobzar said there were no casualties in the city, but regional officials said the overnight drone attack had damaged the region's Konotop, Okhtyrka and Sumy districts.

Critical infrastructure facilities had to use back-up power systems, regional authorities said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 51 drones in Tuesday's attack, of which 34 were shot down.

Russia also dropped three guided bombs on the town of Hlukhiv, Ukraine's northern military command said on Telegram. Two people were wounded and 20 private houses, public transport and a grain silo suffered damage.

Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has been attacking energy infrastructure in what Kyiv says is a concerted effort to degrade the energy system before winter, when people need electricity and heating most.

Russian forces have been steadily advancing in Ukraine's east, while Ukrainian forces remain in the Russian region of Kursk following a cross-border incursion last month.

Moscow said its air defence systems had overnight destroyed 16 Ukrainian drones over Russia's Kursk and Bryansk regions.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian breakthrough attempts thwarted: developments in Kursk Region

The offensive of the battlegroup North continues in the Kursk Region, several brigades of the Ukrainian armed forces have been defeated over the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

In addition, the Russian military repelled five attempts of the enemy to break through the border towards the settlements of Veseloye and Medvezhye.

TASS has gathered the key news about the unfolding situation.

Operation to neutralize Ukrainian forces

- The Russian military repelled four enemy counterattacks towards Lyubimovka, Malaya Loknya, Olgovka and Cherkasskaya Konopelka.

- The army also repulsed five Ukrainian attempts to break through the border near the settlements of Veseloye and Medvezhye.

- The advance of Russia’s battlegroup North continues, its units delivered strikes on the Ukrainian formations of the 22nd, 41st and 115th mechanized, 17th armored, and 82nd air assault brigades, the National Guard’s 1st brigade as well as the 112th and 129th defense brigades in the vicinity of Lyubimovka, Malaya Loknya, Daryino, Nikolo-Daryino, Tolsty Lug and Plekhovo.

- The Russian military struck clusters of manpower and hardware of the 22nd, 41st and 61st mechanized, 17th tank, 80th, 82nd and 95th airborne assault brigades, as well as the 112th and 129th defense brigades near Daryino, Kositsa, Kurilovka, Kruglenkoe, Zazulevka, Lyubimovka, Mirny, Makhnovka, Mikhailovka, Malaya Loknya, Nikolo-Daryino, Novy Put, Novaya Sorochina, Novoivanovka, Orlovka, Pravda, Plekhovo, Russkoe Porechnoye and Tolsty Lug.

- Russian jets hit Ukrainian reserves in the Sumy Region.

Ukraine’s losses

- Over the day, Ukraine lost up to 400 troops and 19 armored vehicles, including four tanks, a Swedish-made CV-90 infantry fighting vehicle and 14 armored combat vehicles, as well as five artillery pieces, five mortars, six vehicles and an engineering demolition vehicle.

- Since the beginning of hostilities in Russia’s borderline region, Ukraine’s losses have amounted to more than 14,200 troops, 119 tanks, 45 infantry fighting vehicles, 91 armored personnel carriers, 743 armored combat vehicles, 445 vehicles, 103 artillery pieces, 28 multiple rocket launchers, including seven HIMARS and six US-made MLRS, eight launchers of anti-aircraft missile systems, four transport and loading vehicles, 26 radar stations, seven counter-battery radars, two air defense radars, 14 pieces of engineering equipment, including eight engineering demolition vehicles and a UR-77 demining unit.

Alaudinov’s statements

- The Russian military has mopped up Kursk Region's Borki from Ukrainian troops. Reinforcement units have entered the settlement, Deputy Chief of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, Commander of the Akhmat special forces, Major General Apty Alaudinov said.

- He added that Akhmat forces destroyed a significant number of Ukrainian infantry attempting to establish positions in several areas near Sudzha.

- Alaudinov added that several dozen foreign instructors had appeared near Sudzha.

Reuters/Tass

The New York Times reported Thursday that the Biden administration is considering allowing Ukraine to use NATO-provided long-range precision weapons against targets deep inside Russia. Such a decision would put the world at greater risk of nuclear conflagration than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis.

At a time when American leaders should be focused on finding a diplomatic off-ramp to a war that should never have been allowed to take place, the Biden-Harris administration is instead pursuing a policy that Russia says it will interpret as an act of war. In the words of Vladimir Putin, long-range strikes in Russia “will mean that NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia.”

Some American analysts believe Putin is bluffing, and favor calling his bluff. As the Times reported, “‘Easing the restrictions on Western weapons will not cause Moscow to escalate,’17 former ambassadors and generals wrote in a letter to the administration this week. ‘We know this because Ukraine is already striking territory Russia considers its own — including Crimea and Kursk — with these weapons and Moscow’s response remains unchanged.’”

These analysts are mistaking restraint for weakness. In essence, they are advocating a strategy of brinksmanship. Each escalation — from HIMARS to cluster munitions to Abrams tanks to F-16s to ATACMS — draws the world closer to the brink of Armageddon. Their logic seems to be that if you goad a bear five times and it doesn’t respond, it is safe to goad him even harder a sixth time.

Such a strategy might be reasonable if the bear had no teeth. The hawks in the Biden administration seem to have forgotten that Russia is a nuclear power. They have forgotten the wisdom of John F. Kennedy, who said in 1963, “Nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war.”

We should take this advice seriously. Putin has signaled numerous times that Russia would use nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances. In September 2022, Putin said, “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people — this is not a bluff.” In March 2023, he struck a deal with Belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons there. Earlier this month, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced that Russia would be amending its nuclear doctrine in response to Western involvement in the Ukraine war.

Imagine if Russia were providing another country with missiles, training and targeting information to strike deep into American territory. The U.S. would never tolerate it. We shouldn’t expect Russia to tolerate it either.

This game of nuclear “chicken” has gone far enough. There is no remaining step between firing U.S. missiles deep into Russian territory and a nuclear exchange. We cannot get any closer to the brink than this.
And for what? To “weaken Russia”? To control Ukraine’s minerals? No vital American interest is at stake. To risk nuclear conflict for the sake of the neoconservative fantasy of global “full-spectrum dominance” is madness.

The war fever in the U.S. foreign policy establishment is at such a pitch that it is hard to tell whether they believe their own rhetoric. In last Tuesday’s debate, Vice President Kamala Harris conjured up images of Russian forces rolling across Europe. Surely she must know how absurd that is. For one thing, Russia can barely wrest a few provinces from Ukraine, which is by no means one of Europe’s great powers.

Secondly, Russia made its war aims very clear at the outset — most notably Ukrainian neutrality and a halt to NATO’s eastward expansion. Hundreds of thousands of lost lives, and hundreds of billions of dollars later, no one is better off — not Europe, not America and certainly not Ukraine.

It is past time to de-escalate this conflict. This is more important than any of the political issues our nation argues about. Nuclear war would mean the end of civilization as we know it, maybe even the end of the human species.

Former President Donald Trump has vowed to end this war, but by the time he takes office, it might be too late. We need to demand, right now, that Harris and President Biden reverse their insane war agenda and open direct negotiations with Moscow.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an environmental lawyer and public health advocate. Donald Trump Jr. is executive vice president of the Trump Organization.

The Hill

The terrible cost of Russia’s continuing assault on Ukraine is viscerally clear at a military rehabilitation center on the outskirts of this city. Soldiers there describe how their bodies were shattered on the front lines. And they’re the lucky ones who survived.

Alexei was trying to hold his position at Pokrovsk, the scene of some of this year’s heaviest fighting, when a drone dropped a grenade near him. His left leg and right hand were nearly severed, attached by thin threads of tissue but now mended. Nikolai lost his left leg in Kharkiv, another Russian target. He waited 18 hours to be evacuated because of drone attacks. Dima lost both legs when his vehicle was hit by a drone in Pokrovsk. The four soldiers traveling with him were killed.

I met these wounded soldiers at a recovery center funded by a Ukrainian businessman named Victor Pinchuk, one of 15 similar facilities he has established around the country. Like soldiers everywhere, they’re kids, with sleeves of tattoos and T-shirts promoting heavy metal bands. But they got old in a hurry. Talking with a half-dozen of them Friday, I heard the same grim account of what’s at stake in this war. As Alexei put it: “We don’t have a choice. If we stop fighting, we’ll stop existing.”

Listening to their stories, you realize that Ukraine is bleeding out. Its will to fight is as strong as ever, but its army is exhausted by a ceaseless drone war that’s unlike anything in the history of combat. The Biden administration’s rubric of support — “as long as it takes” — simply doesn’t match the reality of this conflict. Ukraine doesn’t have enough soldiers to fight an indefinite war of attrition. It needs to escalate to be strong enough to reach a decent settlement.

That’s the lesson I took from a visit here to attend a conference sponsored by Pinchuk’s group YES, which stands for Yalta European Strategy. It was founded 20 years ago to encourage Ukraine’s integration with the West. Now it’s trying to prevent the country’s destruction. The title of the meeting was “The Necessity to Win.” But the underlying message was that, without more firepower, Ukraine might be forced to settle on Vladimir Putin’s terms to halt his brutal onslaught.

The YES gathering was unlike any conference I’ve attended. It was a Davos-like meeting of prominent politicians and diplomats, featuring a passionate address by President Volodymyr Zelensky. But on the wall behind the speakers was a grim display of snapshots of dozens of dead soldiers — some bright-eyed, others haggard, all of them gone. And the most powerful presentations weren’t from the big shots but from soldiers who had come in from the front.

“We are tired,” said a drone unit commander named Serhii Varakin, who has been fighting Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine for more than eight years. His face, ringed with fatigue, was a portrait of the stress of relentless combat. The conference’s most emotional moment came when this hardened warrior told the audience: “I should have had a family, wonderful children, taking pictures by the barbecue, but now I take pictures on the front line.” The prolonged applause brought tears to Varakin’s eyes.

During a break from the conference, I visited a Ukrainian friend named Sergiy Koshman, a free-wheeling intellectual from Kharkiv and onetime civil society activist. Now he’s working to design weapons. At our last meeting, a few months after Russia’s full-scale invasion, he had described an almost giddy sense of national solidarity, with young activists talking about a mountaintop festival to defy Russian threats of using tactical nuclear weapons. But that mood has changed.

“We thought that once we showed solidarity, Russia would back off,” he told me. “Now it seems the war could last for decades.” He described a “radicalization” of intellectual life, in which the core principle had become: “We have to kill as many Russians as possible and find innovative ways to do it.” The war has transformed the country. “It’s so kinetic, when ballistic missiles are raining down on you daily. It’s a different reality.”

This cultural mood was vividly embodied by a soldier named Yarnya Chornohus. She’s a poet when she isn’t at the front, and she was a striking presence onstage: movie-star beautiful, with a snake tattooed on her right arm, the fangs open at her wrist, and the Ukrainian military emblem on her left arm. She said she had instructed her daughter to be ready to fight someday. As a poet, she said, she had learned the power of her verse comes from her experience of war.

A recurring theme of the conference was that President Joe Biden should remove current limits on Ukraine’s use of American ATACMS long-range missiles to strike deep into Russia. A procession of speakers said Biden should stop worrying about the danger of Russian escalation — and implied he was weak for even considering the issue. That strikes me as wrong; a primary responsibility of any American president is to avoid war with a nuclear superpower.

But I came away from the conference thinking the United States should take more risks to help Ukraine. It matters how this war ends. If Putin prevails, it will harm the interests of America and Europe for decades.

“I have no announcement to make” on the ATACMS issue, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a video interview with the group. That’s fine with me. Don’t announce anything. Leave Putin guessing. But if Russia’s surge continues, Putin’s bases within ATACMS range should be legitimate targets. He’s the one crossing the “red line” every day he continues his unprovoked aggression.

Zelensky, clad as always in a green combat shirt, said the proper range for U.S.-supplied weapons should be “long enough to act as a game changer and make Russia seek peace.” He’ll meet Biden in a week in New York to make that plea in person. I hope Biden says yes, privately.

If Zelensky is wise, he’ll bring along Oleksander Budko, a wounded veteran who spoke to the YES group. Though he lost both of his legs in combat, the boyishly handsome Budko was recently chosen as “Ukraine’s most desirable man” on a national television show. That’s the spirit that sustains Ukraine in this dark moment, and it’s moving to see.

But it’s not sentimentality that underlies deeper American support for Ukraine, but U.S. national interest.

Washington Post

The price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, produced by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on Monday may justify the importation of the commodity into Nigeria, oil marketers have said.

Dealers also stated that vessels of imported petrol should start arriving in Nigeria from Tuesday (today) as they called for transparency in the pricing of the PMS produced by the Dangote refinery.

This came as the Organised Private Sector faulted the role of NNPC as the sole off-taker of petrol from the $20bn Lekki-based refinery. They called for competition in the space, adding that NNPC’s role as sole off-taker would not encourage this.

On Monday, NNPC announced that it would sell the petrol lifted from the Dangote refinery at a price above N1,000/litre in the far north.

Its spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, in a statement titled, ‘NNPC Ltd Releases Estimated Pump Prices of PMS from Dangote Refinery Based on September 2024 Pricing’.

Soneye explained that the price may go for as high as N1,019/litre in Borno State and N999.22 in Abuja, Sokoto, Kano, and others.

In Oyo, Rivers and other areas in the South, it will be N960/litre. The lowest price, according to an info graphic released by the NNPC, is N950 in Lagos and its environs.

“The NNPC Ltd has released estimated prices of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol (obtained from the Dangote refinery) in its retail stations across the country.

“The NNPC Ltd also wishes to state that, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act, PMS prices are not set by the government, but negotiated directly between parties at an arm’s length,” he stated.

The company explained that the product it loaded on Sunday was paid for in dollars.

“The NNPC Ltd can confirm that it is paying Dangote Refinery in USD for September 2024 PMS offtake, as naira transactions will only commence on October 1, 2024.

“The NNPC Ltd assures that if the quoted pricing is disputed, it will be grateful for any discount from the Dangote Refinery, which will be passed on 100 per cent to the general public,” the statement added.

Soneye stated that the estimated pump prices of PMS were obtained from the Dangote refinery and would be across NNPC retail stations in Nigeria based on September 2024 pricing.

Recall that the Dangote Group had disagreed with NNPC on Sunday on the N898/litre PMS cost announced by NNPC as the price at which Dangote sold the commodity.

Petrol importation

Major oil marketers stated that the high price of the Dangote petrol released by NNPC would encourage the importation of the commodity, as they noted that some PMS vessels might arrive in Nigeria today (Tuesday).

“As it is now, I don’t know what magic they (NNPC and Dangote) are going to perform because a lot of companies are surely going to be involved in the importation of PMS. This is because whatever is going to come out of that place (Dangote refinery), it is either there will not be enough transparency in the allocation of the product, or there will be other issues.

“Also, some big players may not get enough quantity from the plant and they will have to complete this with imported products. Like I told you, all things being equal, from September 17 (today), PMS vessels by marketers, not NNPC, should start coming into the country,” a major marketer, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.

The source added, “Let me also state that as it is now, you will see PMS for N1,200/litre in some stations, this can also happen in Lagos because, at N950 and N1,019/litre, there will be a market for imported products. Yes, you will see a price of N950 here and in another location, you will get it at about N1,200. It now depends on the customers.

“Those who can queue may opt for the cheaper prices and wait in the queues, while people in haste will drive into stations that sell at higher rates to buy the product. So, the price by Dangote will encourage importation. And like I told you earlier, a lot of marketers are having their cargoes before the end of the month.”

IPMAN reacts

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria raised concerns over the pricing of petrol from the Dangote refinery, urging NNPC to ensure that the product was not sold at a higher price than imported fuel.

IPMAN argued that such a disparity would be counterproductive to the nation’s drive for energy self-sufficiency and could negatively impact consumers and marketers alike.

According to IPMAN on Monday, the pricing strategy for locally refined petrol should reflect the advantages of domestic production, offering Nigerians a more affordable option.

The association emphasised that maintaining competitive pricing was crucial for the success of the Dangote refinery and for fostering a sustainable fuel market in the country.

IPMAN National Welfare Officer, John Kekeocha, stated this on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief breakfast programme on Monday.

“If NNPC can sell Dangote products higher than the imported products then it doesn’t make sense. What is the celebration we are having all these while then?” he queried.

The NNPC began loading the first batch of petrol from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday, saying it got petrol at N898 per litre from the private refinery.

Before lifting petrol from the Dangote Refinery on Sunday, NNPC retail outlets in Lagos sold petrol for around N855 but said a litre of Dangote petrol would sell for N950/litre in Lagos and N1,019 in Borno.

However, Dangote refinery denied selling petrol to NNPC at N898. A spokesman for the refinery Anthony Chiejina in a statement late Sunday described the claim by the NNPC as “misleading and mischievous.”

Terrifying price

Reacting to the price list released by NNPC, the President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, described it as “terrifying.”

He, however, noted that the breakdown of the prices by the national oil company was clear, adding that “NNPC did not even tell us if they are making any profit from the Dangote selling price.”

Gillis-Harry stated, “This is the kind of transparency that we are requesting that the industry should be inundated with. We need this transparency so that the public will understand what they are engaged in.

“However, whatever it is, the good news is that PMS will be rolling out into the tanks of commuters and that businesses will not be grounded to a halt due to scarcity. But as for the pricing, I believe there will be a stakeholder review about it and we will make our input known.”

The PETROAN president called for minimal importation of PMS while the country should try to stabilise the supply of products from the Dangote refinery.

He again pointed out this would be achieved when there was transparency, accurate and timely information from both NNPC and Dangote refinery.

OPS expresses concern

The President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Dele Oye, said NACCIMA members were concerned about NNPC’s role as the sole off-taker for the Dangote refinery.

He said, “The arrangement whereby NNPC is the sole buyer from the Dangote refinery does indeed create a monopolistic situation, which appears to contradict the principles of a deregulated market and is in conflict with the government’s current position that they have deregulated the sector. This raises concerns about the potential distortion of pricing mechanisms and the limited opportunities for other stakeholders to participate in the market.

 “The conflicting statements between Dangote refinery and NNPC further underscore the need for clarity and transparency in the fuel pricing process. The public deserves a clear explanation of the rationale behind the pricing decisions to enhance trust and confidence in our energy sector. The recent price increase, while necessary, has had a significant impact on the already challenging inflationary situation, and has led to some businesses and even some state governments resorting to remote work arrangements.”

He asserted that the NNPC needed to open the market by allowing multiple buyers from Dangote refinery.

He added, “This would not only enhance competition but also ensure that prices reflected true market realities rather than being solely dictated by regulatory control.

 “Furthermore, it is imperative that the NNPCL provide a clear timeline for the completion and commencement of operations at the Port Harcourt Refinery. This would introduce much-needed competition among the local refineries, thereby strengthening our energy security.

 “The current uncertainty and perceived lack of transparency, as well as the perceived lack of demonstrated support for the Dangote Refinery, may send negative signals to potential foreign and existing local investors. This could undermine President Tinubu’s efforts to attract foreign direct investment and drive economic growth. It is essential that we address these issues promptly to build a more favourable investment climate that encourages sustainable development and prosperity for our nation.”

The President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gabriel Idahosa, said NNPC could not prevent Dangote refinery from selling PMS to other marketers.

Idahosa noted that independent marketers had called on the NNPC to allow them decide whether they could afford to buy at whatever price Dangote would sell and then sell accordingly.

He said, “If we can sell at N900 and make a profit, that’s our problem. If we cannot sell, and we are forced to sell above N898, and there are Nigerian buyers in various parts of the country who are willing to buy because they are not ready to stay in long queues at NNPC stations that are selling at N898, so be it.”

Idahosa observed that while independent oil marketers were not restrained from buying Dangote’s PMS, they may be hesitant to compete with NNPC’s pump prices in the open market.

“What NNPC can do, and it has done, is to say whatever price we and Dangote have agreed to pay is a private treaty between the supplier Dangote and the buyer NNPC. And NNPC will sell to you and me at the pump at N898, which is the price they announced.

“So, they have yet to fix the price for Dangote to sell its products, but they have sealed the price that you and me can buy from the pump,” he continued.

The LCCI president noted that NNPC’s increase in pump price to a minimum of N898 following its purchase of PMS from the Dangote refinery came at a time when Nigerians were enmeshed in hardship and hunger worsened by declining average income levels

“It is difficult for the majority of Nigerians to afford it easily. That point is not in dispute,” Idahosa said. “The only point is, how do we gradually begin to see a reduction in the pump price of petrol?

“We have travelled through this road before (about) the high price of diesel and aviation fuel, but because the market was deregulated, it gradually and steadily came down. So, how can we see that for petrol? I think that is everyone’s primary concern,” Idahosa added.

Punch