Obasempire reports that Nigerian talent manager Paulo Okoye has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, business tycoon Aliko Dangote, and the CEO of NNPCL to reduce petrol prices to N450 to benefit the public.
The recent fuel shortages and escalating petrol prices have significantly impacted the country.
As of Tuesday morning, some NNPCL stations in Lagos were selling fuel for between N865 and N897 per litre. This trend has been noted at various NNPC stations, especially in Lagos and Abuja.
In response, Paulo respectfully requested that they take action to lower petrol prices as a demonstration of their commitment to the welfare of Nigerians.
Obasempire reports that Solomon Dalung, a former minister under ex-president Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, has advocated for comprehensive reforms to enhance the well-being of men in Nigeria.
Speaking at a recent event, the former minister and justice reform advocate stated that the absence of adequate support systems for men has resulted in premature deaths among many.
Dalung also called on both federal and state governments to create ministries dedicated to men’s affairs, akin to those for women’s affairs.
Barrister Solomon Dalung on Facebook wrote: ”Justice demands we’ve ministry of men affairs”I have a neighbor here in Abuja who is an orphan, now in his late 70s. He used all his money to train his children and support his family.
They are well established, and his wife is now traveling, going on omugwo from Amsterdam to China to America, visiting their children. Meanwhile, the man is left here in Abuja; he doesnt have money anymore because everything he worked for in his life, he invested in the family.
Each time his wife returns, she comes back with a Bible and wine as gifts for him. That is the average situation of a Nigerian man, yet allegations of failure are constantly lumped on us as being responsible. When you mentioned the idea of a Ministry of Men Affairs, I was pleased, as I have been an advocate for it.
We need a Ministry of Men Affairs because theres no ministry exclusively for men. Just because a man is the President of Nigeria doesnt mean he is the representative of the male gender; he is just a male, just like you have women in positions.
I think justice demands that we should give more attention to our men.Men do not live as long. If you go to the church, youll see a committee of widows, but you wont find a committee of widowers. Most men are gone between 50 to 60 years, and nobody is concerned about them.
Obasempire reports that former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has delivered a harsh critique of the Nigerian Senate, accusing it of being complicit in the nation’s economic and social decline.
In a passionate speech, Obasanjo did not soften his remarks as he criticized the legislative body for allegedly exploiting their positions to enrich themselves while Nigeria nears catastrophe.
In his address, Obasanjo targeted the self-granted salaries and allowances that he argues have driven up the cost of governance. He criticized the absurdity of the benefits senators award themselves—from “newspaper allowances” to “pant allowances”—while the country suffers under severe economic strain.
“It’s not right, it’s not right, it’s not right,” Obasanjo repeated emphatically, condemning the Senate for what he described as immoral and self-serving practices.
He also pointed fingers at the executive branch, accusing it of colluding with the Senate to siphon off funds, citing instances where exorbitant amounts were allegedly funneled to senators.
Obasanjo’s biting remarks have sent shockwaves through the political landscape, sparking debate over the ethics and responsibilities of those in power.
As Nigeria faces mounting challenges, Obasanjo’s words serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need for reform and accountability at the highest levels of government.
Obasempire reports that Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s national address concerning the ongoing protests throughout the country.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Soyinka voiced his dismay and apprehension about the government’s response to the protests.
Soyinka observed that while the presidential address detailed the government’s corrective measures since its inception, it failed to adequately address the management of the protests.
He denounced the use of live ammunition and tear gas against peaceful demonstrators, calling it a “regression” that recalls colonial-era acts of contempt.
Soyinka said, “I set my alarm clock for this morning to ensure that I did not miss President Bola Tinubu’s impatiently awaited address to the nation on the current unrest across the nation.
“His outline of government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis.
My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.
“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals.
“Live bullets as state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest.
Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation. They belong indeed in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblazoned on posters.
“They serve as summons to governance that a breaking point has been reached and thus, a testing ground for governance awareness of public desperation.
The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed ENDSARS protests.
“It evokes pre-independence – that is, colonial – acts of disdain, a passage that induced the late stage pioneer Hubert Ogunde’s folk opera BREAD AND BULLETS, earning that nationalist serial persecution and proscription by the colonial government.”
Soyinka noted that the “nation’s security agencies cannot pretend unawareness of alternative models for emulation, civilized advances in security intervention”.
He said, “Need we recall the nationwide 2022/23 editions of what is generally known as the YELLOW VEST movement in France? Perhaps it is time to make such scenarios compulsory viewing in policing curriculum.
In all of the coverage that I watched, I did not catch one single instance of a gun leveled at protesters, much less fired at them even during direct physical confrontations.
“The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually proves – a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions.
“The time is long overdue, surely, to abandon, permanently, the anachronistic resort to lethal means by the security agencies of governance. No nation is so under-developed, materially impoverished, or simply internally insecure as to lack the will to set an example.
All it takes is to recall its own history, then exercise the will to commence a lasting transformation, inserting a break in the chain of lethal responses against civic society”.
Obasempire reports that the First Lady of Nigeria, Oluremi Tinubu, has expressed her views on Nigerians who choose to emigrate in search of better prospects overseas.
In a widely circulated video on social media, Tinubu denounced such migration trends.
In the footage posted by Arise News on YouTube, the First Lady observed that Nigerians often pursue employment opportunities abroad that they would decline in their homeland.
She contended that highly educated individuals from Nigeria opt to work overseas to afford luxuries like cars, whereas they would refuse similar positions domestically.
Additionally, the senator advised Nigerians to assist the less fortunate within their communities rather than solely relying on government assistance.
She suggested that resources spent on lavish celebrations could instead be directed towards aiding those in need locally.
