RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Military aid to Ukraine makes World War III more likely – ex-Russian president

The continuing Western military aid to Kiev only increases the risk of escalating the standoff with Russia, etching the world closer to a global war, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned after NATO members gathered for a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on Tuesday. 

In a post on his Telegram channel, Medvedev blasted the new defense packages announced by Ukraine’s supporters. 

“The completely crazed West could not come up with anything else,”Medvedev, who is currently the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote. “In fact, it is a dead end. World War III is getting closer.” He added that the aid decisions were “highly predictable, to the point of idiocy.”

“What does it all mean to us? Everything is obvious. The special military operation will be continued, with the goals remaining the same,”Medvedev wrote, referring to the military action launched by Russia in Ukraine in February 2022.

Medvedev’s comments came as experts on both sides have been voicing concerns that current tensions between Russia and the West can lead to a new global war and even trigger the use of nuclear weapons. 

Although Ukraine was denied an immediate NATO membership out of fear that it would spiral into an open war between Russia and the US-led alliance, Kiev’s major supporters pledged additional aid. 

Last week, US President Joe Biden authorized the transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite the White House having previously condemned the use of such weapons as war crimes. France plans to provide Kiev with SCALP long-range cruise missiles, while Germany pledged 25 additional Leopard 1 A5 main battle tanks and 40 Marder armored vehicles, as well as two US-made Patriot air defense batteries.

Russian officials have repeatedly warned that shipments of heavy weapons and other military aid to Ukraine make NATO members de facto direct participants in Moscow’s conflict with Kiev. Moscow also insisted that Western support would not change the course of the fighting and not derail the Russian forces from achieving their goals on the battlefield.

** Kiev lost over 26,000 during its so-called counter-offensive — Russian minister

Starting from June 4, the armed forces of Ukraine lost over 26,000 servicemen and more than 3,000 items of military hardware during their so-called counter-offensive, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has told reporters.

"The adversary’s losses beginning from June 4 have reached over 26,000 servicemen and 3,000 items of various pieces of armament," he said.

In his words, Russian troops destroyed 21 planes, five helicopters, 1,244 tanks and other armored vehicles, 17 German-made Leopard tanks, five AMX tanks produced by France and 12 US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles in the reported period.

Moreover, Russian forces eliminated 914 special automotive equipment, two air defense systems, 25 multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), 403 field artillery cannons and mortars.

Russian air defense systems shot down 176 HIMARS rockets, 27 Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles and 483 drones of the Ukrainian armed forces.

Shoigu underscored the damage done to the Ukrainian artillery.

"Once again, I repeat, 403 [artillery] weapons [have been destroyed], including 43 US-made artillery pieces and 46 self-propelled artillery weapons from Poland, the United States and France," the minister emphasized.

He added that Russian troops continue to strike the enemy’s reserves and West-supplied military equipment with its high-precision weapons, thus reducing the offensive potential of the Ukrainian armed forces.

According to Shoigu, foreign intelligence services, primarily those of the United States and NATO, are closely following and analyzing Russia’s combat operations and note "the high efficacy of our defense lines and barrier minefields, [and the] professional work of army aviation and ground-attack aircraft who carry out pre-emptive strike at the adversary’s targets.".

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine, Russia report heavy fighting in east, south

Ukraine's military on Tuesday reported heavy fighting in the east and southeast, the main theatres of its drive to recapture land seized by Russian invaders, saying its forces had repelled dozens of enemy attacks.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who expressed a measure of frustrationwith NATO's failure to offer Ukraine a timeline for alliance membership, suggests that the early stages of a counter offensive in those two regions are going to plan.

But he also says he wishes the advances were faster.

Russian accounts from the front line also outlined clashes, including a successful defence of areas near the devastated city of Bakhmut, where Ukraine says its forces are recovering ground.

A spokesperson for Ukraine's General Staff, Andriy Kovaliov, said Ukrainian troops had beaten back a Russian advance backed by artillery strikes near two towns north of Bakhmut - captured by Russian mercenary forces in late May.

The fluid situation near Bakhmut has been the focus of much attention, with Ukraine noting gains on the city's southern fringe, particularly the strategic village of Klishchiivka.

Liberating the village, which lies on higher ground, would give Ukrainian forces operational advantage in potentially encircling Russian forces in Bakhmut, analysts say.

Ukraine said on Monday it controlled heights ringing the village, enabling it to fire on targets in Bakhmut itself.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces had repelled nine attempted Ukrainian advances in eastern Donetsk region, including one drive near Kliishchivka.

In the south, Ukraine says it has retaken a cluster of villages in the early stages of a drive towards the Sea of Azov - with the aim of severing Russia's land bridge linking eastern Ukraine to the Crimea peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

Ukrainian General Oleksander Tarnavskyi, writing on Telegram, said battles were raging throughout the sector, with his forces repelling 27 enemy attacks. He estimated Russian losses over 24 hours at the equivalent of several hundred dead and wounded.

For all of Ukraine's gains in its counter offensive, Russian forces still hold vast tracts of land after more than 500 days of war - some estimates put it at 17% of Ukrainian territory.

Ukrainian military analyst Serhiy Hrabskyi said Ukraine's drive towards the coast was proceeding well, taking account of Russian defence preparations and extensive mining.

"We note that in a month and a half of offensive operations, we have brought in 25 percent of our resources," he wrote on the Espreso TV website. "By virtue of simple arithmetic, if we continue at this pace we are talking about four months.

** Russian ex-submarine officer on Ukraine blacklist gunned down

A Russian military officer who had commanded a submarine in the Black Sea and appeared on a Ukrainian blacklist of alleged war criminals has been shot dead by an unknown assassin while on his morning run.

Stanislav Rzhitsky, 42, was gunned down early on Monday in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. His address, picture and personal details had appeared on the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets (Peacemaker), a vast unofficial database of people considered to be enemies of Ukraine.

On Tuesday the word "Liquidated", in red letters, had been superimposed on his photograph on the site.

Russia's state Investigative Committee said on Tuesday it had arrested a suspect in his early 60s who was found in possession of a pistol and silencer. It published a short video showing heavily armed security officers storming a house and detaining the man, who was wearing only boxer shorts.

Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency published details of the killing on its website, without claiming responsibility or saying how it obtained the information.

It said Rzhitsky died on the spot when seven shots were fired at him from a Makarov pistol as he was running in a deserted city park at around six in the morning.

Baza, a Russian Telegram channel with links to the security services, said the killer could have tracked Rzhitsky's movements on an app where he posted details of his regular jogging route in Krasnodar and how long he took to complete it.

Russian state media and war bloggers said Rzhitsky was deputy head of military mobilisation in the city and had previously commanded the "Krasnodar" submarine in the Black Sea.

A Telegram channel used by self-styled pro-Ukraine partisans who have claimed hundreds of sabotage attacks inside Russia said - without stating evidence - that Rzhitsky was suspected of involvement in a submarine-launched cruise missile strike in July 2022 that killed at least 23 people including a 4-year-old girl in the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia.

Baza quoted Rzhitsky's father as saying he had resigned from the military at the end of 2021 and been discharged, after a delay, the following August.

At least two other pro-war Russian figures in the Myrotvorets database have been assassinated inside Russia since Russian forces invaded Ukraine nearly 17 months ago. Bomb attacks killed journalist Darya Dugina last August and war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in April.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for the attacks. Kyiv has denied involvement, suggesting the attacks are the result of Russian infighting.

Scientists have used sugar to create a record-breaking battery capable of storing grid-scale energy for more than a year.

The breakthrough could help speed up the transition to renewable energysources, which require vast amounts of battery storage in order to avoid relying on fossil fuels to meet demand when solar or wind output is low.

A team from the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) made the latest discovery while researching flow batteries, which use two liquid-filled chambers to produce an electrochemical reaction to store and release energy.

Flow batteries have the potential to be scaled up to the size of football fields, capable of storing vast amounts of energy, however current methods for creating them rely on mined minerals that are difficult and costly to obtain.

“This is a brand new approach to developing flow battery electrolyte,” said Wei Wang, a battery researcher who led the investigation into the new method. “We showed that you can use a totally different type of catalyst designed to accelerate energy conversion.”

The researchers used a dissolved simple sugar called β-cyclodextrin, which is a derivative of starch, in order to boost their flow battery’s longevity and capacity.

The system achieved 60 per cent more peak power than current methods, while also being capable of storing and releasing energy for more than a year continuously.

The latest advance makes the next-generation battery design “a candidate for scale up”, according to the researchers.

“We cannot always dig the Earth for new materials,” said Imre Gyuk, director of energy storage research at DOE’s Office of Electricity.

“We need to develop a sustainable approach with chemicals that we can sythesize in large amounts – just like the pharmaceutical and the food industries.”

A study detailing the research, titled ‘Proton-regulated alcohol oxidation for high-capacity ketone-based flow battery anolyte’, was published in the scientific journal Joule.

The Independent, UK

Do you know how to sell yourself? No need to panic if that feels alien. Sales expert Rob King is here to help. 

Sure, a job interview is about getting to know each other and figuring out if you and a role are the right fit. But it’s mainly about one thing: convincing your interviewer that you’re absolutely brilliant. 

For self-deprecating types and modest mice, this can feel more than a little uncomfortable. The good news is that it’s entirely possible to fake it till you make it. Easy, in fact. The key lies in understanding the basic sales skillsinvolved in selling yourself, rather than a product. 

Rob King is an expert in sales, so knows his stuff when it comes to those skills. Ahead, he shares eight tips to bear in mind for your next job interview. 

ASK ABOUT VISION

“One of my favourite questions to ask in an interview is something like, ‘What’s your vision for the company (or this role)?’” King tells Stylist. “It’s such a big question that it gets them talking about how you might fit into their vision. This single question pretty much secured me a dream job in the music industry – try it, it works!”

CHOOSE THE TIME OF YOUR INTERVIEW CAREFULLY

Don’t just take the first interview slot your potential workplace offers. Think about what time you’re at your best, so you can best sell that version of you. 

“Think about the best time to have the interview,” King recommends. “When would suit you? Do you perform best in the morning or at the end of the day? 

“Personally, I never meet anyone on a Friday afternoon. It feels like people are winding down and have subconsciously ‘clocked off’. I don’t want to be largely forgotten about come the following week. 

“Similarly, Mondays are a busy ‘doing’ day for most people, so I rarely have face-to-face meetings on a Monday. That only leaves Tues-Thurs. Don’t be afraid to try to ask for a slot on your terms, not theirs. Remember they are interested in you so have the confidence to ask for a slot when you’ll be at your best.”

BE PREPARED

Do you think a great salesperson freewheels their pitch with no research or forethought? Probably not. Make sure you do your prep to be – and feel – completely ready for any question that’s thrown at you. 

“Don’t rock up having not done your homework,” King tells us. “At the very least, have a quick look at their website or LinkedIn profile. Offer some insights as to what you’ve learned about the company or role. You cannot go into an interview without having done your research. There is no excuse!”

ASK OPEN QUESTIONS

King urges: “You should be asking a lot of questions. Use words and phrases like ‘What…?’ ‘How…?’ or ‘Tell me…’ in front of any question you ask. This open-question technique will help get the other person – or interview team – to open up because it prompts them to talk. Avoid closed questions that invite just yes or no answers. ‘Why?’ can be quite defensive, too, so use it sparingly. 

“This is a very helpful technique to gain key information, balance out the conversation and ensure it’s not you talking too much.”

MAKE IT YOUR AIM TO GET RID OF THE TENSION

Interviews can be uncomfortable. And when there’s discomfort, it’s hard to make a sale. 

“So part of your job in any interview is to help lower the natural and instinctive tension levels that will be present,” King notes. “As human beings, tension is hardwired into us because it helps us to approach any new or unfamiliar situations with a degree of wariness. Once you know this, you can work with it and not let the nerves (theirs and yours) get in the way. 

“Create an environment to allow this to happen and make people feel at ease. Ask those key questions that help build rapport and trust. Offer a suggested structure to your responses, be clear and succinct, and always ask them about their agenda for the time you have together. Get those tension levels down as quickly as you can.”

WORK OUT HOW TO RESET

An essential part of selling anything is making sure it’s in the best condition, so it can perform at its peak. The same goes for you. You need to do whatever you can to make yourself feel fully rested, relaxed and restored. 

King says: “How are you feeling? Are you prepared and relaxed? If not, what can you do to get yourself into a prepared and relaxed state? Clear the diary for some prep time? Go for a walk? Some breathing exercises? Make a cup of tea or coffee? What is the best way for you to take a five-minute break and reset before any important interview?”

DON’T LET YOUR INTERVIEWER’S BODY LANGUAGE PUT YOU OFF

King asks: “How is the interviewer behaving? Do they seem relaxed and happy to talk? Or do they seem bored and disinterested? Don’t be thrown by it if they do – ask them what they’d like to get out of the time and what they’d like to know about you. People often give body language signals that can be misinterpreted. It’s important to not be put off by things that are unexpected or let them affect your overall plan.”

FINISH WITH ONE SIMPLE IDEA

When you sell a product, you need an aha moment – a slogan or one simple idea that sticks with people after the pitch is done. Take a similar approach to selling yourself. 

“Aim to leave the interviewer with a simple idea or thing to remember you by,” King recommends. “Most people forget 80% of what is said in a meeting. Therefore, start and finish the interview with one simple easy-to-remember anecdote or fact about you and your experience. You can use it as an opening or closing statement – it’s highly memorable, especially when told as a story.”

Stylist

National Chairman of Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure, has charged members of the party to be prepared for a presidential rerun.

He said he had been informed that President Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) led government was also getting set for a rerun.

Abure also urged millions of party members to be on the alert and get ready to “further humiliate” APC and its government at the polls.

H said this during a virtual meeting held with Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy led by Eddie Oparaoji, who is the LP Diaspora Chairman in the United States, on Monday.

“Those in government are already planning for rerun and this is one of the support we will be canvasing from you. We should also be getting prepared because since all those in government are already preparing for rerun we too should not be taken unawares.”

“So we will be needing your engagement and support on this aspect if par adventure it happens today, that the election is nullified which is not what we are asking for, because we are asking for outright declaration of Peter Obi as the President of Nigeria.

“We believe strongly that we won that election given the statistics we have, given the result we have, we are not expecting anything less than the declaration of Obi as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But supposing that didn’t happen as the government is believed to be planning for a rerun, it will not also be out of place for we to be preparing for a rerun election,” Abure said.

The LP boss said the party is hopeful that if the matter gets to the Supreme Court, the apex court will also act in their favour.

Also, the Director of Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign, Oseloka Obaze, urged ObiDatti members in diaspora to see the struggle “for recovering of our mandate” as a collective responsibility and one that no one can actually abandon for any other reason.

In his speech, the chairman of the Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy, said that the group in partnership with all Obidients in diaspora has the potential to contribute significantly to Nigerian’s development.

“Through advocacy, human rights promotion, capacity building, investment, education and healthcare support, diaspora engagement, and policy advocacy, we can play a crucial role in fostering democratic governance, justice, and socio-ecobomic progress in Nigeria,” he said.

Daily Trust

Foreign investors overlooked 28 states as the value of capital importation into Nigeria grew by 6.78 percent in the first quarter of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The total capital imported was $1.13 billion, up from the $1.06 billion recorded in Q4 2022.

According to the NBS report, the 28 states that failed to attract foreign investment in Q1 2023 include:

• Abia
• Bauchi
• Bayelsa
• Benue
• Borno
• Cross River
• Delta
• Ebonyi
• Edo
• Enugu
• Gombe
• Imo
• Jigawa
• Kaduna
• Kano
• Katsina
• Kebbi
• Kogi
• Kwara
• Nasarawa
• Osun
• Oyo
• Plateau
• Rivers
• Sokoto
• Taraba
• Yobe
• Zamfara

LAGOS LEADS

In the quarter under review, Lagos took the lead as it outshined others — and the federal capital territory (FCT) — to top the list of states that attracted the most investments.

Analysis by TheCable Index shows that the country’s major commercial city attracted $704.87 million, representing 62 percent of the total capital inflow into Nigeria.

According to the NBS report, the FCT emerged as the second top investment destination with $410.27 million — representing 36 percent of the total capital inflow in the country.

Other states that attracted foreign investments in Q1 2023 are Akwa Ibom ($5.21 million), Adamawa ($4.50 million), Anambra ($4 million), and Ogun ($2.09 million).

Niger made the list with $1.50 million, Ondo had $0.20 million, and Ekiti secured $0.01 million.

The Cable

Last month’s currency devaluation in Nigeria is bringing foreign investors back to the nation’s stock market.

Overseas investment flows have jumped over the past month after President Bola Tinubu’s administration allowed the naira to weaken 40%, according to data from the Nigerian Exchange in Lagos. While the devaluation initially reset the foreign-currency price of the benchmark index lower, stock gains fueled by the flows have mitigated that impact — leading to a 7.5% rebound over the past two weeks.

Investors will take heart from history that shows currency devaluations, while causing short-term pain, boost stock values and investment flows over the long term.

The world’s best-performing stock market over the past year is Argentina’s, up 101% in dollar terms on the back of a 51% decline in the peso. Not far behind is Turkey, up 74% off a 34% slump in the lira. The stocks gauge of Lebanon, which has seen the world’s worst currency losses, is up 20% in dollar terms over the period. In Egypt, stocks are up 20% after the currency fell 39%.

“Foreign investors are coming now because they believe they are taking a position on the future,” said Adetilewa Adebajo, chief executive of Lagos-based CFG Advisory.

“If the government comes out with a good budget, oil prices stabilize, crude production goes up, foreign exchange becomes more available, those will be good signals for foreign-investor participation and the positive market movement will be sustained.”

Nigerian stocks are already one of the world’s best performers in local-currency terms. Though Tinubu wasn’t the markets’ most favorite candidate at the February hustings, his administration has surprised investors with the intent and execution of a range of economic reforms. He wound down expensive fuel subsidies, brought changes to the management of the central bank and pledged to move to a flexible foreign-exchange rate.

The World Bank is forecasting the West African nation will almost double its growth rate to 4% from 2024 onward compared with an average of 2.1% since 2015 if it implements reforms to increase non-oil revenue and cut inflation. Bank of America Sub-Saharan Africa economist Tatonga Rusike expects the central bank to intensify its fight against consumer-price growth, potentially hiking interest rates by 700 basis points by the end of the year. 

The NGX All Share Index has risen 6% this month in naira terms, its third monthly gain. That translates to a 3% advance in dollars. The post-election rally has helped the gauge to reduce its valuation discount to its emerging-market peers. It now trades 31% below the forward price-earnings ratio of the MSCI Emerging Markets, compared with 40% in April. 

Meanwhile, foreign-investor participation has increased to 12% of transactions from 4% before the devaluation, according to the exchange. For the flows to continue and deepen, however, they would need assurances the reforms will continue. They will also monitor other variables including foreign-exchange volatility and inflation before committing more funds, said Samuel Sule, director of the financing group at Renaissance Capital Africa. 

The naira erased a decline Monday to trade 1.2% higher at 760.12 per dollar.

Bloomberg

Companies that were unable to file their Companies Income Tax returns for the 2023 year of assessment (YOA) that fell due on the 30th of June 2023 have been given up to 31st August, 2023 to submit their returns to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

FIRS in a Public Notice signed by its Executive Chairman, Muhammad Nami, stated that it had received numerous calls from companies requesting for the extension of time to submit their Companies Income Tax (CIT) returns as they were unable to meet up with the deadline due on 30th June 2023.

It noted that as a measure of goodwill and in line with relevant provisions of the Companies Income Tax Act, “all companies whose CIT returns for 2023 year of assessment that fall due between 30th June and 31st August, 2023 (both days inclusive) are given up to 31st August, 2023 to submit the returns to the Service.”

FIRS noted that the relevant Companies Income Tax returns will not attract late filing penalties or interests if payments were made on or before 31st August 2023, noting further that where companies fail to file by the extended date, the penalty and interest for late payment will be computed from the original due date.

“The relevant CIT returns shall, therefore, not attract late filing penalty or interest for late payment if submitted to the Service on or before 31st August 2023.

“Where relevant CIT returns are not filed by the extended date, penalty and interest for late payment shall be computed from the original due date and not the extended date.”

The Service also stated that the extension of filing date is only for Companies Income Tax and does not include returns for withholding tax, value added tax, personal income tax (PAYE), among others.

“The Service invites all relevant taxpayers to take the opportunity afforded by this extension to submit their CIT returns within the specified time, pay the taxes due and avoid payment of penalty and interest,” the notice read.

PT

Nigeria's state-owned oil firm NNPC Ltd said on Monday an 800,000-litre (211,338-U.S. gallon) vessel carrying stolen crude had been intercepted offshore while heading to Cameroon and would be destroyed as a deterrent to oil theft.

Crude theft from pipelines and wells in the Niger Delta has hobbled the country's output in recent years and is one of the biggest challenges to confront new President Bola Tinubu.

NNPC said the oil was stolen from a well in south western Ondo state. The MT Tura II vessel was owned by locally registered Holab Maritime Services Limited and had no valid documentation for the oil, the company said.

Holab could not be reached for comment on numbers listed on its website.

"Destroying vessels involved in transporting stolen crude oil is of paramount importance as a strong deterrent," NNPC said.

NNPC circulated a video showing the vessel surrounded by armed Nigerian security agents.

Reuters

Acting Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, on Monday, vowed a heavy clampdown on oil thieves, insisting that the nation cannot “afford to let saboteurs take over our economy.”

Adeniyi, who said there were still cases of smuggling of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, at Nigeria’s border stations despite the removal of subsidy on the commodity, said the agency had adopted new border patrol strategies to close in on oil thieves.

He made the disclosure on the sidelines of a sensitisation workshop on the Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023 for management staff of the NCS in Abuja.

President Bola Tinubu announced the end of the petrol subsidy during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, after the Federal Government had kept subsidising the product for several decades, spending trillions of naira in the process.

The government had repeatedly complained that petrol from Nigeria was being smuggled to other West African countries, due to it low price in Nigeria as a result of subsidy, when compared to its cost in these nations.

But the Customs CG revealed on Monday that smuggling had reduced but it had not stopped in some border stations.

As such, he said the agency was reviewing its enforcement strategies, adding that based on the new Nigeria Customs Service Act 2023, there would be heavy penalties against violators of the recently passed legislation.

Asked whether petrol was still being smuggled out of Nigeria after the removal of subsidy on the commodity, he replied, “We still have some incidences in some border stations.

“The rate has reduced and we are going to be watching the situation very closely. The situation of fuel is very sensitive and we cannot afford to let the saboteurs take over our economy.”

Enforcement strategy review

Commenting on plans by the service to review policies that constitute obstacles to trade, Adeniyi said this had to do with the enforcement strategies of the NCS, as well as its procedures and processes at the ports.

“One of the things that I intend to do as we start is that we need to take a look at our procedures and processes in the ports and border areas. Also, our enforcement strategies. We are going to review all that.

“And we want to do them in such a way that they promote user-friendliness and economic growth without compromising our national security. We will get details when we unfold the plans,” Adeniyi stated.

He said the new legislation of the service would impose heavy sanctions and penalties on violators of customs laws.

“We discovered that the previous legislation did not provide sanctions that are punitive enough for violations of customs laws. Some of the fines were ridiculous. Remember that this (old) piece of legislation was put in place in 1958.

“You won’t believe that in some parts of the legislation, some fines were written on pennies, and when you translate them they mean nothing. So criminals are always willing to commit fraud because they know that they are only going to get a slap on the wrist.

“So what this new law has brought are very heavy punitive sanctions that should deter people from committing those violations against the customs law,” the NCS boss stated.

He said the defunct Customs and Excise Management Act Cap C45 LFN 2004 law was enacted 63 years ago and had remained in operation since then without any significant amendment notwithstanding the expansion in government, growth in population and over dynamic progress and challenges in the economy.

“Consequent upon this, several attempts were made in the past to cause amendments or the repeal of CEMA to no avail. The efforts were necessary because the provisions of CEMA had become obsolete and could no longer adequately meet the contemporary fiscal policies of the government and the mandate of the service.

“This situation undoubtedly propelled the National Assembly through a private member bill to initiate the repeal and enactment of a new Nigeria Customs Service Bill which was passed by the parliament and assented to by (former) President Muhammadu Buhari,” Adeniyi stated.

Punch

Unknown persons have carted away the recently reinstalled airfield lighting systems at the domestic runway 18/36L of Murtala Muhammad Airport.

Disappearance of the approach lighting systems had raised security concerns in Nigeria’s busiest airports.

According to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, those who carted away the lighting systems took advantage of the closure of the runway for over three months.

The source alleged that some FAAN workers connived with outsiders to steal the airport lighting equipment.

“The criminal took advantage of the closure to commit the crime. I cannot give the actual worth of the theft, but almost all the lighting was removed. The permanent secretary came around to see for himself the huge damage done. A lot of FAAN officials have been suspended,” the source confirmed.

Some heads of relevant departments at FAAN have been suspended over the missing lighting equipment on the directives of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, Emmanuel Meribole.

The source also disclosed that investigations had since commenced to unravel those responsible for the missing safety equipment.

According to the source, the regular incursion and stealing of safety components at the airports are carried out by a syndicate, consisting of some workers of the agencies, who have access to the restricted areas and accomplices from outside.

A top official with FAAN, who did not want his name in print, said the agency’s Managing Director, Kabir Yusuf, was displeased with the development.

He stated that FAAN MD had also ordered the suspension of security personnel who were in charge of guarding critical airport facilities.

Reacting to the latest development, a former Military Commandant at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, John Ojikutu said, “This is not new at MMA. I wish the FAAN management could go back to 1990 when similar things happened in the airport. I was convinced that it was an ‘insiders threats’. What did I do? I positioned soldiers on the runways and ensured that no FAAN maintenance staff went near the runways for anything without my approval; otherwise, it was shoot at sight. It stopped completely. Runway lightings were being stolen and my conclusion then was that runway lightings can only be useful for runways and not roads or houses.

“Those stolen were being sold to FAAN by the same workers. That is why I am not in support of the unions carrying the picketing of their employers to the airport’s security controlled areas.”

Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, FAAN, Yakubu Funtua, stated that investigations had been launched and that the agency would do all within its powers to avoid a reoccurrence.

He said, “FAAN is doing all it can to get to the bottom of this. You are very aware that there are many agencies within the airport, including the different ones that are supposed to be taking care of security there. So, it would be unfair to put this (the theft) on our (members of) staff and I don’t think there is any FAAN (member of) staff that wants the agency to crash.

“Note that most of our revenue comes from Lagos. So, what kind of staff will ‘kill the goose that lays the egg?’ However, we can’t say exactly who did it, but we are doing all that we can to recover what is lost. We are going to recover it because we are going to find out those people who did it and then block all those loopholes.”

For 15 years, the Lagos Airport domestic runway 18L was shut down to night operations due to the absence of airfield lighting.

Domestic airlines were forced to use runway 19 at the international airport, which consumes more aviation fuel because of the longer distance.

The equipment, which aids aircraft to take off and land at the domestic airport at night, was installed on the 2.7 kilometres long runway last November.

Punch