Author: user user

The Sokoto State Police Command has warned political parties and their supporters against hate speech, violence, thuggery and character assassination as campaigns begin in the state.

The command also vowed to enforce law and order professionally and decisively against threats to public peace before, during and after the elections.

The Commissioner of Police, Hassan Hayatu Shaffa, spoke yesterday in Sokoto at an interactive session with chairmen of registered political parties in the state.

Shaffa said: ‘We will ensure an absolute and peaceful process before, during and after the general elections.’

He urged political parties to conduct their campaigns in line with electoral guidelines, warning that the police would not compromise on law and order.

The commissioner outlined a five-point template for policing the campaigns, stressing that parties must avoid insults and character assassination, focus on issues and campaign in line with their manifestos.

He also urged parties to take responsibility for their supporters and ensure that political activities do not degenerate into violence.

‘Political parties must be accountable and have control of their supporters to be peaceful during party activities,’ he said.

Shaffa said the Inspector-General of Police had consistently demanded professionalism from officers in maintaining public order, adding that the Sokoto Command would uphold the same standard.

Shaffa also warned thugs against destroying or defacing government infrastructure, as well as campaign materials belonging to opposition parties.

Chairmen and representatives of other parties also pledged commitment to peaceful campaigns, while raising concerns over the neutrality of security agencies, a level playing field and the avoidance of partisanship.

The police took note of the concerns.

No fewer than 17 political parties attended the meeting at the Sokoto State Police Command. They included the APC, NDC, AAC, PRP, LP, NNPP, APM, AP, BP, DLA, AC, ADA and AD, among others.

Meanwhile, thousands of youths and supporters of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Sokoto South Local Government Area staged a solidarity rally for the party’s 2027 governorship candidate, Mannir Muhammad Dan Iya.

The supporters, carrying placards, posters and banners, marched through major streets to the ADC state secretariat, chanting solidarity songs for Dan Iya.

The organisers described the event as a 10,000-person rally in support of his candidature.

Dan Iya, a former deputy governor, thanked the youths, women, party elders and other supporters for what he described as a strong demonstration of confidence in his ambition.

In a statement by his media aide, Aminu Abdullahi, he commended the participants for conducting the rally peacefully.

He said the orderly procession, which began from Lokoja Road and ended at the ADC state office, recorded no violence, injury or destruction of public property.

‘What excites me most is that not even a fly was harmed, and no public property was touched or destroyed,’ he said.

Dan Iya said the turnout demonstrated that the state’s youths were becoming more politically conscious and willing to participate in democracy without violence.

Minister of State for Industry, Senator John Owan Enoh yesterday said that costly loans from banks constitute significant setback for manufacturing and industrialisation of the Nigerian economy.

Speaking at the second technical session of the Industrial Revolution Work Group (IRWG) in Lagos, he warned that Nigeria cannot industrialise when manufacturers borrow at interest rates above 30 per cent while competitors in Benin Republic and Cameroon access credit at about eight per cent.

Enoh, who is also Chairman of the RWG, said the high cost of credit had become a major policy constraint to industrial growth. He called on government to move beyond policy statements and deploy financing instruments capable of delivering affordable and long-term capital to manufacturers.

According to him, the recently rebased Nigerian economy had become statistically larger but had not yet become more industrial, with manufacturing contributing less than 10 per cent of total output.

He said the rebasing showed that Nigeria’s economy now stood at N372.8 trillion, with services accounting for more than half of output, while real estate had overtaken oil.

However, he said manufacturing, which he described as the sector that built every rich nation, remained a single-digit contributor to the economy.

He said: ‘So I will say plainly what the rebasing conversation has danced around for a year: the rebasing made Nigeria statistically larger. It did not make Nigeria more industrial. We got a bigger mirror; we did not yet get a stronger body. The mirror is not the achievement. And the body is built in factories.’

The minister cited the experiences of South Korea, China, India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Morocco, arguing that those countries’ sustained commitment to industrial policies, infrastructure, financing and skills had helped them build competitive manufacturing sectors.

He said the next decade should therefore be judged by the volume of goods Nigeria manufactures rather than how well the country measures its economy, declaring that ‘the execution decade begins in this room.’

The minister also identified energy, infrastructure, regulation, local production, skills and innovation as other binding constraints that must be addressed if the country is to achieve broad-based industrial growth.

Speaking on regulation, Enoh advocated merger of overlapping licences and the abolition of unnecessary levies, saying, ‘Where two agencies perform one function, recommend which one stands down. Name the licences to be merged, the levies to be abolished’.

He also called for stronger enforcement of standards, punishment of counterfeiters and proper measurement of federal procurement under the Nigeria First policy.

The Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr. Segun Ajayi-Kadir said that manufacturing had remained resilient but lacked the depth for inclusive economic growth.

In his State of Industry Report, titled: ‘The Real Numbers of the Real Sector: Nigerian Manufacturing and the Rebased Economy,’ the MAN boss said manufacturing’s share of GDP had dropped, despite growth in output.

He said manufacturing grew in the second quarter of 2026 but remained below the overall GDP growth of 4.43 per cent, with capital-intensive oil refining and cement accounting for much of the industrial expansion.

However, employment-intensive sectors such as food, beverage and tobacco lagged behind.

He disclosed that oil refining grew by 43 per cent while cement rose by 12.75 per cent, against three per cent recorded by food, beverage and tobacco.

He called for broader manufacturing growth to generate jobs, tax revenue and inclusive economic expansion.

He said manufacturers also faced expensive credit and high logistics costs, which had continued to weaken competitiveness and capacity utilisation.

Ajayi-Kadir said Nigeria should pursue a broad-based acceleration of manufacturing rather than settle for a selective recovery, with cheaper credit, improved energy supply and stronger demand for employment-intensive products.

‘Resilience should not be a permanent state. And so, when you are resilient, it doesn’t mean that you are growing,’ he said.

Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), Dr Chris Osa Isokpunwu, said the session was aimed at translating policy commitments into investment, production, jobs and national prosperity.

Isokpunwu, who was represented by the Director of the Industrial Development Department, Mohammed Bala, said the IRWG had provided a platform for government, private financial institutions, development partners and other stakeholders to address practical barriers to industrial growth.

He urged participants to renew progress, improve access to finance and infrastructure, strengthen coordination and agree on clear and realistic timelines for implementation.