He gave the promise when he received a delegation from the Asido Foundation, a non-governmental organisation promoting mental health advocacy and reforms.

This was disclosed in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday by the Special Adviser to the President on Communications and Publicity, Office of the AGF, Kamarudeen Ogundele.

According to the AGF, health was one of the priority areas of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

He said, “The law is something we have to take a second look at, especially where it is established that the offenders are not in the right state of mind. What the offenders need is pity, treatment and love, to rid society of this kind of situation.

“But whatever we do is not binding on the states. So, I will take the case to the Body of Attorneys General,” Fagbemi said.Related News

He promised to take up the issues around the Mental Health Act with his colleagues in the Federal Ministry of Health.

Earlier, the founder of Asido, Dr Jibril Abdulmalik, sought the help of the AGF in reviewing the law sentencing people for attempted suicide and the implementation of the Mental Health Act signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2023.

Abdulmalik said medical evidence had shown that all over the world, 80 to 90 per cent of those who attempted suicide had background mental illness, especially depression.

“It is because of a sense of hopelessness that makes them get to the edge where they think they are better off dying.

“In that situation what they need is help and treatment, not punishment and incarceration. We know the workload is heavy for our judicial officers…We don’t want them overburdened with cases that should ordinarily go to the hospitals,” he added.

The Managing Director of LAMATA, Mr Kolawole Ojelabi, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.

This is following complaints by commuters that some mini shuttle buses insist on collecting cash instead of allowing them to tap in with their cowry cards.

Ojelabi said feedback was crucial for the government to understand loopholes in the service it provided.

“When you see a thing like that, just snap the bus and send it to me, the only way for us to know is to have information and we call the drivers in and we’ll deal with them.

“The whole essence of putting the monitor there is for you to use your cowry card. Those people collecting money are cutting corners. So, please send us the numbers of the buses.

“Also, about passengers having to tap in another BRT bus because the tap device of the bus to their destination is not working is something I consider strange. This is our number, 09099526282,we need this feedbacks,” he said.

Some residents shared their experiences in separate interviews with NAN.Related News

A businesswoman, Mrs Busayo Bolarinwa, said the practice was common among some minibus drivers who plied Costain, Shitta and Lawanson.

“I top up my cowry card monthly to serve me for the month, so, it’s always annoying when some drivers ask for cash.

“In some cases, the driver will insist you tap in from another bus and then come back to enter the bus, so, I believe that some of their tap-in devices are faulty which should be fixed,” she said.

Similarly, a sales representative,  Mr Dozie Anayo, said: “I was heading to Ikeja under the bridge to get to Egbeda, it was late that day and I couldn’t get a direct bus to Egbeda. I was surprised when the driver said we should pay in cash.

“I know there was no way that money I paid got to the state government. So, imagine if I didn’t have any cash on me. My friend said he had experienced the same too on minibuses.”

A cleric, Mr Idris Olabisi, said most mini shuttle buses usually did this late in the evening.

“I think once it’s late in the evening they believe they have worked for the government during the day and evening delivery was theirs.

“My experience was at the bus terminal at Marina. I boarded Eko Hotel shuttle minibus from there, I brought out my card but I was told to pay in cash,” he said.

The faction of the party frowned on the development and labelled it unacceptable.

Also, the Julius Abure faction disclosed that it was not aware of the development, adding that it already had a substantive state chairman in Gombe.

There has been a conflict between the NLC and the LP leadership recently, with the crisis escalating to the point where the NLC accused the LP National Chairman, Julius Abure, of running the affairs of the party as a sole administrator.https://360playvid.info/slidepleer/videoIframe.html?fn=s1184s#amp=1

The NLC political commission, through its National Secretary, Chris Uyot, took charge and endorsed the erstwhile Gombe LP Chairman, Sani Abdulsalam, who was allegedly dismissed by the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee for anti-party activities.

Uyot announced that Abdulsalam would oversee the affairs of the party, pending the conduct of local government elections in the state.

A copy of the letter was forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Department of State Services, Gombe State Police Command and the Secretary to the Gombe State Government.

The letter partly read, “To whom it may concern. We bring you fraternal greetings from the NLC political commission. We write to communicate the appointment of Alhaji Sani Abdulsalam as interim Chairman of LP in Gombe.

“His appointment is for the period up till the conduct of local government elections in Gombe State. Thereafter, a more substantive state transition committee of the Labour Party in Gombe State will be constituted.

“While we look forward to your cooperation, please accept the renewed assurance of our highest esteem.”

But in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the spokesman for the Apapa faction, Abayomi Arabambi, disowned the arrangement.

Arabambi said the NLC had no power to impose anybody on the party.

He said, “The NLC political commission is not a party. We intend to take very drastic constitutional action against them.

“No section of the LP constitution ceded the control of the party to the NLC or TUC.

“Furthermore, it is rather unfortunate that while some well-meaning members of the party are striving and making attempts to steer the ship of the nation on the path of growth and genuine development towards the repositioning of our party for victory in 2027, the NLC and its political commission are determined to destroy, tear down and demolish the party on the quest for personal aggrandisement.”

The National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Obiora Ifoh, also shared a similar view.

While stating that LP already had a substantive state chairman in Gombe, Ifoh disclosed that the Abure-led NWC was not aware of the recent development.

According to him, Abdulsalam was a former state chairman, who was ousted for alleged anti-party activities.

“We are unaware of that development because the Labour Party has its leadership in Gombe State.

“We have LP chairmen in all the 36 states and the FCT.  In Gombe, we already have a chairman who INEC is working with.

“Anybody can come out to claim he appoints somebody. Just like INEC, we are not aware of it.”

He said the so-called appointment of Abdulsalam was mere recognition and not an appointment.

“The so-called appointed person, Abdulsalam, was a former chairman disengaged by LP for anti-party activities.

“A new leadership was elected into office after his exit. But because of the conflict we had with the NLC, the same man went around to congress and they recognised him.

“However, I think it is a mere recognition and not an appointment in the true sense.

“But we are not interested in joining issues with anybody in the media. For now, we are gradually working towards resolving the crisis between LP and NLC.”

Presidency sources with knowledge of the developments said the report will form the basis of the President’s assessment of his ministers.

“What I know is that an interim report on the performance of the ministers has been submitted to the President and the report for the first quarter is being prepared,” a source who preferred to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak told The Cityvoice.

A second source, who did not want to be mentioned, also debunked speculations about some ministers being marked for a sack, describing them as “rumours”.

“People are carrying those rumours all over the place. May 29 is just weeks away, if the President is shaking up his cabinet, we would know by now,” the senior official who is privy to happenings in the cabinet stated.

On April 8, 2024, the President’s Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Mrs. Hadiza Bala-Usman, who heads the Central Delivery Coordination Unit,  affirmed that the CDCU had received reports from at least 20 of the 35 ministries.

She explained that the Q1 assessment report would be a product of a joint effort of the ministers, citizens and industry experts.

Bala-Usman, who spoke on Arise TV’s News Night, clarified, “Our submission is for the first quarter. So, the first quarter has just ended, and we have initiated the assessment process. The ministers have all been asked to submit their performance based on the deliverables.”

She asserted ministers will be assessed “based on what is out there in the public space. They would write to say, ‘Based on every deliverable you have given me, this is what I’ve done within the first quarter of the year.’

“Through the Citizens Delivery Tracker app, Nigerians will also say, ‘this is what we’ve seen the minister do’ and they would aggregate it,” said the presidential aide.

She also revealed, “The ministers have all been asked to submit what they’ve done in the first quarter. We have received submissions from about 20 ministries. We’re expecting the remaining and then we’re going to conclude the assessment and make a submission to the President.”

However, it could not be confirmed when the CDCU would transmit the Q1 report to the President as efforts to reach the CDCU did not yield results. As of Sunday evening, Bala-Usman did not respond to calls or text messages sent to her mobile line.

On October 17, 2023, she had announced that January 2024 was the ideal month to begin the exercise as all ministries would have received their budgets for the 2024 fiscal year.

“We’re looking to commence an assessment of the respective ministries in January 2024. We’re going to have a quarterly assessment of performance, which would culminate into an annual scorecard,” the former Chief of the Nigerian Ports Authority explained in an interview on TVC.

At the opening of the three-day Cabinet Retreat for Ministers, Presidential Aides, Permanent Secretaries and top government functionaries on November 1, 2023, President Tinubu said Ministers in his Cabinet will only retain their offices based on performance, which will be reviewed quarterly.

“If you are performing, nothing to fear. If you miss the objective, we’ll review it. If no performance, you leave us. No one is an island and the buck stops on my desk,” said the President.

On January 24, 2024, the CDCU trained at least 140 officials to track and assess the performance of federal ministries, departments and agencies ahead of the assessment.

A senior official working closely with the CDCU told our correspondent that the officers were drawn from 35 federal MDAs.Related News

They comprise “A permanent secretary and directors of planning and other officials, four each from 35 ministries.”

“They are considering the modalities of the assessment, deliverables, the key performance indicators and the reporting mechanisms,” the official who preferred to remain anonymous revealed.

In early April, the Presidency launched the Citizens’ Delivery Tracker, which outlined 204 deliverables and 888 indicators for evaluating government MDAs.

The deliverables comprised various government policies, projects and programmes scheduled for completion between 2024 and 2027.

Bala-Usman, whose office facilitated the launch, said the CDT will provide a “strong feedback loop between citizens and the government” and hold ministers and heads of government agencies accountable for these deliverables and KPIs reflecting the eight priority areas of the Tinubu administration.

The CDT highlighted priority areas ranging from economic stability and infrastructure to social welfare and education, mapping MDAs with specific deliverables and KPIs for 2024—in the short term—and 2027 in the long term.

Under the priority area titled Reforming the Economy to Deliver Sustained and Inclusive Growth, the ministries of finance, budget and National Planning, the Presidential Committee on Consumer Credit and the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee have been tasked with completing 28 deliverables and 53 indicators.

Some of these include increasing Nigeria’s Tax-to-GDP ratio to 15 per cent and boosting Internally Generated Revenue to N27.17tn.

The ministries of interior, police affairs and defence would be assessed based on six deliverables and 65 KPIs, including registering at least 88,000 inmates with National Identity Numbers.

Ministries of power, petroleum resources, solid minerals and steel development, among others, have been tasked with unlocking energy and natural resources for sustainable development along 27 deliverables and 130 indicators.

Among these is a target to produce at least 1.4 million barrels of crude oil daily.

Other priority areas and their deliverables are Strengthening national security for peace and prosperity, nine and 65 deliverables and KPIs, respectively; Boosting agriculture to achieve food security, 17 and 84 deliverables and KPIs, respectively; and Enhancing infrastructure and transportation as enablers for growth, 36 deliverables and 237 KPIs.

The administration also itemised 37 deliverables and 169 KPIs for Focusing on education, health, and social investment as essential pillars of development; 25 deliverables and 66 KPIs for Accelerating diversification through industrialisation, digitisation and creative arts; and 25 deliverables and 84 KPIs for improving governance for effective service delivery.

In positioning Nigeria as a global leader in development and peace, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been tasked to secure BRICS and G-20 memberships by the end of 2024 and to ensure the election/appointment of 538 Nigerians into the leadership of major international bodies within the year.

In arriving at the deliverables and KPIs, Bala-Usman said the CDCU held numerous meetings with Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and their respective technical teams for six weeks.

She explained, “The bilateral sessions looked at the mandate of the respective ministries in line with the Presidential Priority Areas and arrived at the final deliverable and KPIs.

“For each of these priority areas, we agreed on specific deliverables and developed KPIs, which formed the basis for the Performance Bond, which all Ministers and Permanent Secretaries signed with the President in November 2023.

“These parameters will guide the Quarterly Assessments and Annual Scorecards, which the CDCU is mandated to present to the President.”

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, Montgomery announced that the two nations have signed a new agreement on enhanced trade and investment partnership.

The agreement aims to boost cooperation in key sectors such as agriculture, creative industries, legal services, financial services, and education.

The UK currently exports around £4bn worth of goods and services to Nigeria, while Nigeria’s exports to the UK stand at approximately £3bn.https://360playvid.info/slidepleer/videoIframe.html?fn=s1184s#amp=1

The British envoy said the new agreement is expected to increase trade volumes and strengthen economic ties between the two nations.

“Trading by both countries is relatively balanced because the UK exports about £4bn worth of goods and services to Nigeria while Nigeria exports to the UK about £3bn worth of goods,” he said.

“We need to do more because if you look at last year’s figure compared to the penultimate, there was not much of an increase in trade volume. It was an increase of about two per cent.

“So trade in the last few years has changed. And the aim of our enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership is to boost trade and investment between both countries and also to raise these numbers,” he explained.Related News

According to him, Nigeria can benefit and take advantage of a new post-Brexit trading agreement that the UK has put in place that is called the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS).

Montgomery noted that DCTS is one of the world’s most generous schemes, removing tariffs on thousands of products worldwide to facilitate free trade.

The envoy added that Nigeria has at least 3,000 tariff-free products that it could export to the UK. “In agricultural exports, Nigeria can export cashew, cotton, or cocoa from the middle belt.”

He stated, “There are lots of commercial farmers involved in vegetables, which can be processed, and there is also timber. And we think that there’s a big potential for commercial agriculture in the future in Nigeria.

“You have the land, you have the people. The new trading scheme should be an opportunity for Nigeria. We can do more in financial and legal services.”
Montgomery revealed that new technologies are entering the financial services sector which will greatly improve the sector.

Further, he expressed optimism that the UK will increase trade with Nigeria, citing the country’s bold reforms.

Montgomery praised the Nigerian government’s removal of the “crippling fuel subsidy,” efforts to tackle oil theft, and foreign exchange reforms.

He noted that the previous foreign exchange system had deterred investors due to difficulties in accessing and transferring funds across borders.

He made the remarks in a video widely shared on social media, which showed him donating N20m to a church.

Eze said, “Tinubu has no boundary. If you go to Abuja, you will see Wike, an Igbo man as a minister. Umahi is Igbo man, as minister. No boundaries. All the types of people we want.

“So this Nigeria, after eight years, it will change. It has started changing. Now, I beg everybody to support him before we die.”Related News

This is not the first time the billionaire has praised the Tinubu administration.

In October 2023, speaking at the Holy Mass to mark the 65th birthday of Rev Fr Patrick Alumuku at St Louis Catholic Church, EFAB Global Estate, Mbora, Abuja, Eze said the appointments of ministers and heads of agencies by Tinubu was fair.

“The President has been fair in his appointments to the three major regions; the East, West, and North. Nigerians should support the President as he continues his transformational agenda,” Eze said.