Author: user user

Africa must develop refining capacity and energy solutions that reflect the continent’s purchasing power, infrastructure limitations and industrial needs to strengthen energy security and improve the competitiveness of its downstream petroleum industry, Chairman of OTL Africa Downstream Energy Week, Adetunji Oyebanji, has said.

Oyebanji said that expanding refining capacity across the continent should go together with policies that recognise Africa’s peculiar economic realities, improve consumer access to energy and promote safety and environmental sustainability.

He spoke against the backdrop of growing investments in refining, natural gas, cleaner fuels and renewable energy, which he said were reshaping the continent’s energy landscape and influencing investment decisions.

According to him, the continent’s energy transition should be guided by practical considerations, as countries have different levels of economic development, infrastructure readiness and capacity to finance new energy projects.

He noted that cleaner fuels, natural gas, renewable energy and changing mobility patterns were increasingly shaping investment decisions, but stressed that the pace of adoption would differ across countries.

On Nigeria’s downstream market, Oyebanji emphasised that balancing investment, market power and consumer protection remained a critical challenge requiring constructive engagement among industry stakeholders.

He said the discussions at the 20th anniversary edition of OTL Africa Downstream Energy Week would examine issues affecting the development and competitiveness of Africa’s refining industry, including regulatory convergence, regional market integration, refinery competitiveness, feedstock strategies, energy financing and shipping logistics.

He advocated greater cooperation among regulators, governments and private-sector operators to create a predictable investment environment and facilitate cross-border petroleum trade.

He said the event’s 20-year contribution included helping businesses establish supply relationships, identify technical solutions and engage directly with financiers and regulators.

‘OTL cannot substitute for the decisions that companies and governments must make. It can make those decisions better informed and make the necessary relationships easier to build,’ he said.

He urged participants to use the anniversary edition to develop partnerships and practical solutions capable of strengthening Africa’s refining and downstream petroleum capacity.

The celebration of the 20th anniversary edition of OTL Africa Downstream Energy Week brought together stakeholders across the energy value chain to discuss investment, refining capacity, market development, supply security and opportunities for greater regional cooperation.

Ahead of the 2027 polls, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has begun the process of recruiting polling agents, despite not having an election campaign council in place at the national level.

On Monday, the opposition party opened a training programme for its state secretaries, organising secretaries and ICT officers from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja. The programme is aimed at equipping them to identify and recruit trusted polling agents who would represent the party and protect its electoral interests.

Incidentally, the party’s national leader and FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, is a strong supporter of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Findings by the Nigerian Tribune on Monday indicated that recent moves by the PDP to constitute a presidential campaign council had yet to materialise, reportedly leaving its presidential candidate, Senator Sandy Onor, helpless.

Speaking at the opening of the training programme, tagged ‘INEC Portal Capacity Building and Training’, the National Organising Secretary, Captain Umar Bature (retd.), said the party could not afford to repeat the challenges it encountered with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the uploading of its candidates.

Bature noted that the recruitment of polling agents required careful screening to prevent individuals who might compromise the party’s interests or work for rival political parties from being appointed.

He explained: ‘Uploading of agents is very important in the election process today. We have just finished the battle with INEC over the uploading of candidates, and you can see INEC doing whatever it wants to do, particularly after the Supreme Court judgment.

‘So, we don’t want to have the same challenges with agents. We have a window until December 17, when all agents must be uploaded to the portal. I urge you to get the best hands because we have issues when elections are approaching. People become agents, and at the end of the day, they also become double agents, leaving our candidates stranded at some point.’

The organising secretary urged state party officials to prioritise loyalty and commitment when selecting agents, warning against engaging individuals who might abandon the party or compromise their responsibilities on election day.

He announced that the party had fixed December 10 as the deadline for state chapters to submit their nominees to the national secretariat for onward uploading to INEC, ahead of the commission’s December 17 deadline.

‘Please, patronise those who are dedicated to this party. A lot of people are out there who are committed to this party. Fish them out and select them as agents. The importance of timely submission of this list is very important to all of us,’ Bature added.

Bature further stated that the agents’ details would include their names, designated polling units and photographs, which would be used to produce their identification tags. He urged state officials to ensure that the nominated agents did not sell or hand over their tags to members of other political parties.

In his remarks, the Deputy National Secretary of the PDP, Otunba Bisi Kolawole, commended the NWC, particularly Bature, for organising the exercise and advised participants to comply with the guidelines provided, assuring them of the national secretariat’s support.

Kolawole said the training was part of efforts to rebuild the party and reposition it for electoral success in 2027.

He said at the session: ‘Our party will rise again. What we are doing is the beginning of that process. We are laying the foundation again and putting the party together. By the grace of God, we shall succeed.’

Similarly, the National Youth Leader, Ambassador Ibrahim Bala-Aboki, described the exercise as critical to the party’s chances of securing victory, stressing that only committed members should be entrusted with the responsibility of representing it at polling units.

He called on ICT officers to work closely with state chairmen and party secretaries in identifying suitable nominees, noting that the majority of polling agents and voters were young people.

Bala-Aboki warned that appointing individuals who were not sufficiently committed to the party could expose the electoral process to compromise, urging participants to exercise patience, tolerance and diligence in carrying out the assignment.

Also speaking, the National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, recalled the experience of a particular candidate in the 2023 presidential election, saying the candidate enjoyed considerable visibility on social media but lacked adequate representation at polling units.

‘Let me quickly remind us of a presidential candidate in the 2023 election. He was everywhere on social media, but he was nowhere at the polling units. By that, I mean he had no agents at the polling units. Perhaps, if he had agents on the ground, the story would have been different,’ Mohammed added.

The PDP spokesman used the opportunity to advise state party leaders to prioritise funding for the recruitment and deployment of credible polling agents, warning that rallies, funfairs and other campaign activities alone could not guarantee electoral victory.

African Action Congress (AAC) in Oyo has urged opposition parties and democratic forces across Nigeria to consider a collective boycott of the 2027 general elections if the government and security agencies cannot guarantee safety for political actors and citizens.

The party said the escalating atmosphere of violence, intimidation and political thuggery surrounding campaign and electoral activities has made meaningful participation dangerous.

In a statement signed by its Oyo State Chairman, Kayode Babayomi, the AAC said elections should be a contest of ideas, policies and visions for the future, not a platform for political actors and their supporters to unleash violence, terrorise opponents and threaten lives.

He said incidents of physical attacks, intimidation and threats to lives and property during campaign activities raise serious concerns about the safety, credibility and integrity of the electoral process.

Babayomi specifically cited the recent attack on the party’s Presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, saying it must not be dismissed as a mere political disagreement or altercation.

He said a meaningful democratic election cannot occur when opposition voices are silenced through violence and intimidation.

‘Participation should never mean surrendering our lives to political violence,’ he said.

The AAC demanded that authorities immediately investigate the alleged assassination attempt on Sowore and identify and prosecute those responsible, as well as their sponsors, regardless of political affiliation.

He warned that democracy must not become a battlefield where the strongest political thugs dictate who can participate and who can survive.

‘What we are currently witnessing is troubling and alarming. An election should not be a platform for political actors and their supporters to unleash violence, terrorize opponents, and threaten the lives of citizens.

‘Every Nigerian, regardless of political affiliation, has the fundamental right to campaign, organize, express political opinions, and participate in the democratic process without the fear of being attacked or killed.

‘There must be a genuine commitment to protecting all Nigerians. Voter apathy should not result from the fear of violence.

‘The right to participate in an election must come with a guarantee of personal safety; without that guarantee, the credibility of the entire electoral process is questionable. We cannot legitimize a process that fails to ensure the safety of its participants.

‘Democracy must be protected, and human lives must take precedence over political ambitions,’ Babayomi added.

International media strategist Chief Adetola Adeniyi and historical scholars have challenged Western marital standards, describing global monogamy as a ‘pretentious lie’ that masks widespread serial divorces, secondary households, and covert multi-partner relationships across continents.

The declaration came during The Toyin Falola Interviews, a global panel discussion hosted by Professor Toyin Falola focusing on the theme ‘Polygamy: Amplifying African Voices’. The panel featured Chief Adetola B. Adeniyi, Professor Mukhtar Umar Bunza, Dr. (Mrs.) Faleke Victoria Ogunnike, Dr. Teboho Solomon Ngubane, and Professor Emeritus A.B. Assensoh.

Opening the session, Professor Toyin Falola explained that the conversation was convened to critically examine cultural adaptability, responsibility, and historical continuity without blindly accepting Western standards. ‘I did not set up this conversation to condemn it, to affirm it, or to say that Western marital ideals are the best,’ Falola said. ‘Neither did I set up this conversation to be uncritical because I want to uphold cultural authenticity’.

Speaking during the session, veteran international journalist Chief Adetola Adeniyi criticized the hypocrisy embedded in Western marital doctrines, arguing that true monogamy is a myth. ‘I make bold to say with all emphasis at my disposal that no culture on planet Earth truly practices monogamy,’ Adeniyi declared. ‘My Greek, Italian, Russian, British, American, and other Caucasian friends routinely visit their other wives called by other name with whom they have children. Back in the home state they shared with one carrying ring, they are monogamists’.

Adeniyi argued that Western societies, which condemn traditional African and Islamic polygamy, routinely engage in serial monogamy and extra-marital relationships under alternative names. ‘The Western world, which had not learned the art of living amicably with more than one partner under the same roof, has indulged in multiple serial marriages, divorcing innocent wives under flimsy excuses so that another woman can move in, should not be a measure of standard for the world,’ he noted.

He drew attention to the psychological and social toll borne by individuals forced to live double lives to conform to artificial legal and religious expectations. ‘To the whole world, they were champions of monogamy, but to their hearts and conscience, they were celebrated polygamists or at best serial monogamists,’ Adeniyi observed. ‘I saw pain written all over them, the agony of living a lie, the unease of hypocrisy, and the shame of going through life pretending to be what you are not’. He added that even Western historical figures exemplified this reality: ‘We know of King Henry VIII and several major historical figures in Christian courts, Europe, who had more than one wife in addition to a string of wives who their laws forbade them to address as wives, but who nonetheless are wives by other names’.

Linguistic and communication scholar Dr. Victoria Ogunnike reinforced Adeniyi’s observation on Western marital practices by clarifying the definition of multi-marriage arrangements. She noted that public discourse often conflates terms, hiding the reality that multiple sequential marriages are simply another form of polygamy. ‘The term polygamy has its etymology from the late Latin as polygamia, which means frequent marriages, and in Greek as polygamos, which means married several times,’ Ogunnike explained.

Responding to her etymological clarification, Chief Adeniyi pointed out that by definition, Western serial divorce and remarriage fall squarely under polygamy. ‘Polygamy means marrying several wives or several times, which means all Europeans who marry and divorce, marry and divorce are actually polygamists, all of them,’ Adeniyi stated. ‘So by your definition, every human being, every male who had married several times is a polygamist… there’s no monogamy on Earth’.

Historical and religious scholar Professor Mukhtar Umar Bunza supported the critique of Western legal frameworks, pointing out the contradiction in prohibiting traditional polygamy while legalizing non-traditional family models. ‘It’s not all what West term as bad or ban as illegal that we on our own side will view, will see, will accept as illegal,’ Bunza said. ‘First, if one observes what is happening in Europe, they ban polygamy, but they allow same-sex marriage, man taking man, woman taking woman. So how come? In our own side, they discourage what is legal and they want us to take what is not known in tradition, in human civilization, and even common sense’.

Bunza further argued that multi-partner unions have been a constant throughout human civilization, from ancient Mesopotamia and Greece to Biblical times, making Western attempts to universalize monogamy historically inaccurate. ‘Throughout human history, as much as you have polygamy, so you also have monogamy being practiced hand-in-hand in human society,’ Bunza stated. ‘Take for example the Assyrian civilization, Mesopotamian civilization, Egyptian civilization, Chinese civilization. Go to Greece, go to Roman, go to Christian, go to Islam… it is an institution that if you look at it from the beginning of human race up to date, it refused to give up’.

Adding a global perspective on non-Western marriage systems, Professor Emeritus A.B. Assensoh observed that multi-partner practices extend beyond Africa and take various forms across continents. ‘Due to my earlier professional interest as a journalist, I traveled extensively and came across several instances of marriages, particularly in Asia,’ Assensoh shared. ‘I came across polyandry, whereby a woman could have two men as spouses, and I came across polygamy in other forms, polygyny, whereby the man would have more than one female partner or wife… all forms of marriage have their merits and their demerits’.

Dr. Teboho Solomon Ngubane emphasized that Western critiques often miss the core cultural values that sustain structured multi-partner families in non-Western societies. ‘Polygamy is not a new concept in Africa… For generations, many African communities practiced it as part of their culture and social systems before Western intervention,’ Ngubane noted. ‘However, our forefathers never taught that polygamy was merely about having multiple wives. They taught that it was about responsibility, discipline, wisdom, and Ubuntu leadership’.

Warning of the long-term global consequences of enforcing artificial monogamy, Chief Adeniyi urged societies to abandon hypocrisy and face demographic realities. ‘Why should the world continue to live the life of the ostrich?’ Adeniyi questioned. ‘Society must rethink this issue of pretentious monogamy vis-a-vis polygamy so that in the not too distant future, we do not end up with millions of unmarried women whose lifestyle will be worse than prostitutes and millions of children whose fathers will be nowhere to be found’.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has urged heads of tertiary institutions across the country to strengthen internal controls, tackle corruption risks and ensure transparency in the management of funds provided by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, gave the charge on Monday while declaring open a two-day Organisational Integrity Management Capacity-Building Programme for officials of TETFund beneficiary institutions in Abuja.

The programme was organised by the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN), the training and research arm of the ICPC, with support from TETFund.

Dr Aliyu warned that weak procurement practices, poor project supervision, ineffective internal controls, conflicts of interest and financial mismanagement could undermine investments in the tertiary education sector.

He stressed that adequate funding alone would not guarantee improved educational infrastructure and services unless beneficiary institutions demonstrated transparency, accountability and responsible management of public resources.

‘Integrity must not exist merely in policy documents or institutional mission statements. It must be reflected in everyday decisions, administrative processes, and the management of public resources,’ he said.

The ICPC chairman urged institutional leaders to demonstrate ethical conduct, enforce established procedures and provide safe channels for reporting misconduct without fear of retaliation.

He also called on the institutions to institutionalise corruption risk assessments, improve documentation and segregation of duties, ensure independent verification of projects, and strengthen mechanisms for reporting and responding to misconduct.

According to him, participating institutions should identify specific integrity measures, appoint responsible officers, establish implementation timelines and develop measurable indicators to monitor progress.

‘The success of this initiative should be measured not merely by attendance or participation, but by the improvements introduced in your respective institutions,’ he said.

Dr Aliyu reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to preventing corruption through System Study and Review, Corruption Risk Assessment, the Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard, and capacity-building programmes organised through ACAN.

In his remarks, the Provost of ACAN, Professor Sheriff Ghali Ibrahim, said integrity in tertiary education should extend beyond institutional leadership to academic and non-academic staff, as well as students.

He identified honesty, accountability and fairness as critical values for building trust and sustaining ethical standards in educational institutions.

Professor Ibrahim urged tertiary institutions to collaborate with the ICPC in tackling administrative corruption, embezzlement, examination malpractice, monetisation of marks, sexual harassment and the presence of ghost workers.

He commended TETFund for supporting the programme, describing it as an opportunity to strengthen governance and promote integrity in the education sector.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono, represented by the Director of Human Resources and General Administration, Dr Kolapo Okunlola, said funding alone could not guarantee meaningful results without accountable leadership, effective implementation and strict adherence to established standards.

He urged institutional heads to comply with procurement laws, financial regulations and TETFund guidelines while taking responsibility for project outcomes and protecting individuals who report wrongdoing.

Echono reaffirmed TETFund’s commitment to transparency and accountability, urging participants to identify institutional weaknesses and apply the knowledge gained from the programme.

He added that the impact of TETFund interventions should be measured by the integrity with which the funds are managed and the improvements they bring to educational infrastructure, research and learning across beneficiary institutions.