Following the application by the Federal Government (FG) to withdraw it’s case against seven banks who allegedly violated the Single Treasury Account (TSA) a Federal High Court, Lagos has struck out the suit by the FG.
The Federal High Court in Lagos
The application was seeking to recover $793,200,000 (about N249,659,700,000) from seven banks which it claimed they hid for ‘unknown’ government officials.
The banks are: United Bank for Africa Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, First Bank Ltd, Fidelity Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Ltd and Sterling Bank Plc.
Vacation judge, Chuka Obiozor, who gave the ruling on Wednesday, August 9, 2017, also ordered the government to pay N200,000 as costs to all of the commercial banks except Skye Bank which had no legal representation.
The ruling followed a notice of discontinuance dated August 7 brought on Tuesday by the Attorney-General of the Federation through Professor Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN).
Akinseye-George told Justice Obiozor that the government had decided to explore an “out of court settlement” with the banks in the public interest.
Last July 20, the government accused the banks of hiding $793 million in contravention of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.
It sought and obtained an interim order directing the banks to remit the sum to a designated account at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
But, on Tuesday, the Federal Government applied to discontinue the suit on the instruction of the Attorney-General.
Akinseye-George, relying on Order 50 Rule 2 Subsection 1, Federal High Court Civil Procedure Rules of 2009, moved the court to strike out the suit.
The application was challenged by the six banks which urged the court to substitute the strike out order for an order of dismissal.
The lawyers, including UBA’s counsel, Dr. Ajibola Muraina, Seyi Sowemimo (SAN) for Fidelity Bank; Abimbola Akeredolu (SAN) for Sterling Bank. N. A. Oragwu (Diamond Bank); E.A. Okorie (First Bank) and Babatunde Ogungbamila (Keystone Bank) also asked for costs of between N10 million and N20 million for each bank as compensation or damages.
However, following Akinseye-George’s argument that the banks were not entitled to any cost because, among others, they did not file any affidavit to particlurise the nature of the damage they claimed to have suffered, Justice Obiozor adjourned till yesterday for ruling.
Delivering his decision, the judge found, among others, that since the suit did not proceed to trial, the justice of the case was in favour of an order to strike it out, rather than a dismissal.
He said: “I have also considered the reason given for the discontinuance – the demand, as it were, of public interest. I have also considered the fact that when a notice of discontinuance is duly and validly filed, it cannot be recalled, as the suit ceases to exist the moment it is effectively discontinued, subject to the payment of costs.
“I find that as I have not adjudicated on claims in the action before me for a pronouncement on the merits of the issues arising therefrom, the proper order to make, with respect to this matter, is one striking out this suit and not of dismissal and I so hold.
In the instant case before me, the matter is yet to proceed to trial. I do not find that the justice of this case demands that this matter should be dismissed.
Regarding the costs demanded by the banks, the judge said: “Nevertheless, I shall not turn a blind eye to the effect of the interim order on the defendants. This case cannot now go on. I find no reason not to compensate the defendants with costs at least to those of them who have appeared in this matter.”
He, however, declined to grant the amount demanded as costs, saying “I find the request for N10 million or N20 million as costs to the defendant not to be founded on, with respect to established principles.”
The judge added: “The defendants deserve compensation which I assess and put at N200,000 against the favour of and to be paid to each of the first, second, fourth, fifth sixth and seventh defendants.
“In the final analysis, the suit is hereby struck out and the plaintiff shall not re-list this suit without the prior leave of court. The interim order of this court made on the 20th of July 2017, are hereby set aside, truncated and discharged.”
A new report by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has revealed how over N11 trillion meant to provide regular electricity supply was allegedly squandered under the governments of former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN)
According to the report, “The total estimated financial loss to Nigeria from corruption in the electricity sector starting from the return to democracy in 1999 to date is over N11 trillion. This represents public funds, private equity and social investment (or divestments) in the power sector. It is estimated that may reach over N20 trillion in the next decade, given the rate of government investment and funding in the power sector amidst dwindling fortune and recurrent revenue shortfalls.”
The 65-page report launched on Wednesday, August 9, 2017 in Lagos is titled: “From Darkness to Darkness: How Nigerians are Paying the Price for Corruption in the Electricity Sector”. The report, presented to the media by presented by Yemi Oke, Ass. Professor, Energy/Electricity Law, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, discloses that “the country has lost more megawatts in the post-privatisation era due to corruption, impunity, among other social challenges reflected in the report.”
The report shows: “The much-publicised power sector reforms in Nigeria under the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005 is yet to yield desired and/or anticipated fruits largely due to corruption and impunity of perpetrators, regulatory lapses and policy inconsistencies. Ordinary Nigerians continue to pay the price for corruption in the electricity sector – staying in darkness, but still made to pay crazy electricity bills.”
Mr Femi Falana (SAN), who chaired the report launch, said: “This report is a must read, and I promise to lead in the follow-up litigation efforts to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations of the report.”
The report launch was also attended by Babatunde Irukera, the Director General/Chief Executive of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC); and Mr Ibrahim Magu, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who was represented by Mr Osita Nwajah, Director Public Affairs EFCC. Both promised to work to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations contained in the report.
Others at the events were Babatunde Ogala; Dayo Olaide, Deputy Director Macarthur Foundation; Eva Kouka, Programme Officer, Ford Foundation; Motunrayo Alaka, Coordinator, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism; representatives of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); the National Human Rights Commission, and the media.
The report accuses the Dr. Ransom Owan-led board of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) of allegedly “settling officials with millions of Naira as severance packages and for embarrassing them with alleged N3 billion fraud. The authorities must undertake a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation as to the reasons why corruption charges were withdrawn, and to recover any corrupt funds.”
The report also called for the reopening and effective prosecution of corruption allegations, including the alleged “looting of the benefits of families of the deceased employees of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) levelled against aformer Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali”
The report reads: “The Obasanjo’s administration spent $10 billion on NIPP with no results in terms of increase in power generation. $13, 278, 937, 409.94 was expended on the power sector in eight years while unfunded commitments amounted to $12 billion.
“The Federal Government then budgeted a whopping N16 billion for the various reforms under Liyel Imoke (2003 to 2007) which went down the drain as it failed to generate the needed amount of electricity or meet the set goals. Imoke was alleged to have personally collected the sum of $7.8 million for the execution of the contract for the construction of the Jos-Yola Transmission Line, which was never executed. There were documented/reported allegations of corruption against Imoke that fizzled-out shortly thereafter.”
“Professor Chinedu Nebo handed over the assets of the PHCN to private investors on November 1, 2013. Prof. Nebo is alleged to have corruptly funded the privatised power sector with over N200 billion despite privatisation. The allegation of N200 billion funding of the privatised power sector during Prof Nebo’s tenure should be thoroughly and transparently investigated and anyone suspected to be responsible prosecuted. Any corrupt funds should be fully recovered.”
“Our research revealed that the sum of N1.5 billion with which the vehicles were acquired was allegedly sourced from the diverted N27 billion insurance premium of deceased workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).”
“The National Assembly and members should desist from and avoid manipulating the award of electricity contracts or cite projects in their constituencies under the guise of ‘Constituency Project’. The National Assembly should publish and ensure the full implementation of the recommendations of all power-related investigations to date.
“The Federal Government should back-down from rural electrification initiatives and allow states to undertake rural electrification through their respective Local Governments and Development Areas. Federal Government should consider fully divesting its stakes in the power sector and allow for efficient, decentralised sector governance by Federal and State governments, as appropriate, in line with the provisions of the Second Schedule, paragraph 13 and 14 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
“The 36 state governments should wake up to their rights, duties and obligations under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria relating to the power sector by working to promote and ensure access to regular and uninterrupted electricity supply for all residents within their states. The 36 state governments have been abdicating the duties to the power sector, bearing in mind that Power is an item on the Concurrent Legislative List under the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended).”
“When the late Bola Ige took up the mantle of the Power and Steel Ministry in 1999, he probably didn’t understand the magnitude of problems in the power sector and consequently promised that, within six months of his appointment, “power failure will be a thing of the past” and that on a regular basis, he will brief the nation on the state of power, steel and aluminum. Current minister Babatunde Fashola (SAN) also claimed that ‘a serious government will fix the power problem in six months’.
“The power sector under Ige was characterised by epileptic and unreliable supply, bogus billing and archaic rate collection. The late minister failed and was unable to put an end to these. His failure was attributed to acts of sabotage and corruption by people who were benefitting from the use of generators. The late Bola Ige was not accused of corruption.”
“When Rilwan Lanre Babalola (2008 to 2010) took over the affairs in the Ministry of Power, he met 3,700MW on ground and promised to increase it to 6,000MW and ensure a 24-hour power supply by the end of 2009. Six months after assuring Nigerians of making a significant impact in the sector, in September 2009, the 3,700MW capacity he met on ground dropped to 2,710MW which shortfall was attributed to inadequate supply of gas to the new generators.”
“The duo, Elumelu and Ugbane, allegedly colluded in misappropriating over N10 billion public funds from the account of Rural Electrification Agency (REA). The research also established, based on evaluation and analysing documents, aprima-facie case of misappropriation of unspent funds at the end of the year instead of returning same to the treasury. Alleged misappropriation of N500 million to buy houses; diversion of REA’s funds; flouting of government’s rules on award of contracts and award of fictitious and unnecessary contracts without following due process.
“The government of Nigeria handed over the transmission company to a Canadian company, Manitoba, to manage and under a management service contract of over $200 million. Findings also show that the Transmission Company of Nigeria could not execute most of its approved 44 projects after having 50 percent of its N30 billion 2016 budget released to it. Funds were released from Eurobond. $23.6 million allegedly paid to Manitoba Hydro International (MHI) of Canada to manage the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) would appear to be without due process.”
“The privatisation of PHCN would appear to have yielded the country total darkness. Gains of privatisation were lost through alleged corruption, manipulation of rules and disregard to extant laws and lack of transparency in the exercise. The PBE encouraged the deferment of payment and restructuring of payment terms in contravention of bidding rules to the disadvantage of other bidders.”
“Billing methodology shrouded in secrecy. Billings do not reflect actual electricity consumptions in most cases. Most if not all, officials of the DISCOs are still very corrupt and demand gratification from customers before doing the job they are paid to do. Grand corruption against the Federal Government owner of the 40% stakes in the DISCOS, and by implications, the Nigerian masses due to non-remittance or under-remittances of the monies collected by the DISCOs.
“The Manitoba deal is shrouded in secrecy as essential details of the deal remain unknown to Nigerians till date. The authorities should undertake a public-oriented audit on the state of affairs of the TCN two years before and after the Manitoba deal. The outcome of the audit should form basis for further action and charges in court against the suspected perpetrators and corrupt funds fully recovered.
“The Federal Government should undertake a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into the power sector privatisation with a view to doing things the right, fair and just way. Ownership of public stakes of 40% in those entities should be revisited and further privatised to avoid using government/public resources to subsidise private entities.
“Attention should be focused also on petty corruption. Petty corruption in the electricity sector has not received much attention, as the focus has been on grand corruption in the sector.
“The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), should request the report of the House of Representative Committee that probed government spending in the power sector from 2000 to 2007, and the Elumelu House Probe Committee which had accused 21 persons and 36 companies of subversion of government policy on due process make the report public and ensure appropriate legal action against anyone suspected to be involved in corruption as well as full recovery of corrupt funds.
“Undocumented, monumental fraud and corruption is said to be perpetrated at the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and investigation by the EFCC and ICPC will ensure that those involved are effectively brought to justice.
“Mr Malami should direct the EFCC and ICPC to probe metering and billing fraud and corruption and bribery among Discos. Most consumers are unhappy will their billing methodology and feel short-changed by the operators. Mr Malamishould promptly make progress on all outstanding cases of corruption in the electricity sector including by ensuringeffective prosecution of all power sector cases being handled by the Ministry.
“The ICPC should make public the status of the investigation and recommendations for prosecution (if any) on the AEDC Recruitment Scandal/Jumbo Pay Scandal given the facts that the Nigerian Government and public have 40% stakes in the AEDC. The Manitoba deal is shrouded in secrecy as essential details of the deal remain unknown to Nigerians till date. The EFCC/ICPC should lead a public-oriented audit on the state of affairs of the TCN two years before and after the Manitoba deal.
“The ICPC should tell Nigerians about the current status of the probe of the recruitment scandal and corruption-induced jumbo pay to workers of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC Plc). Anyone found to be responsible should be brought to justice and corrupt funds fully recovered.”
An Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth (ERA/FoEN) led coalition of civil society groups and Host Communities (HoComs) has given a timely warning to the Federal Government of Nigeria, Shell and other concerned authorities, that unless they stop dilly-dallying on the moves to clean up the environment of Ogoni communities of Rivers State, the laudable directives by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) actualised, and the Ogoni communities and the other communities of the Niger Delta region would not be free from the decades of unsafe oil exploration, huge contamination and militancy.
Dr Godwin Uyi Ojo, Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), at the public presentation of a book titled “Nigeria Beyond Oil – Pathway to a Post-petroleum Economy” in Lagos on Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, ERA/FoEN executive director and an arrowhead of the coalition, made the timely call, following a week long activity of the coalition of the groups held recently in the Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State. The forum was aimed at finding concrete solutions to the snail speed and thwarting of the cleanup exercise, as well as with some other burning environmental problems facing the Niger Delta region in particular and Nigeria at large.
Addressing journalists at the occasion partly marking the 6th Anniversary of the UNEP Report Recommendations, Dr. Ojo hinted that although the people of Ogoni and stakeholders around the globe received UNEP’s directives for clean-up of the Ogoni environmental mess with great enthusiasm, since August 4, 2011 (six years ago), there was little or no plans on the ground to show a commitment to the project, more so that Vice President Yemi Osinbanjo officially visited Ogoni last year, to flag off the exercise.
“There is gross inadequate funding and only $10 million has been released from the $200 million pledged by Shell and the federal government of Nigeria for the 2017 fiscal budget. Furthermore, there is no statutory budget provision for the cleanup in the 2017 national budget,” the groups stressed.
The statement by the groups also stressed as follows: “The unease of the Ogoni people has been further heightened by statements credited to the Minister of State for Environment that government was not in a hurry to commence cleanup and fail, and would rather take its time to get it right before commencement. The cause to such lame excuses for the delayed commencement shows that government is yet to grasp the challenges the Ogoni communities face and the need for deliberate speed in the cleanup process, to protect the environment and rural livelihoods of the people.”
The ERA/FoEN boss further mourned that Ogoni, with Ogale as one of its documented impacted communities, is not getting relief, but more at the receiving end of polluted soils, blackened waters, contaminated boreholes and smelling mangroves because of bottlenecks and meaningless bureaucracies by government and Shell.
The groups called for transparency and accountability, as it expressed reservation that no work plan being put in place to cover the 1-5 years short term, and the long range plan for the cleanup exercise that is expected to span 25 years. They also bewailed the absence of public advertisement for contractors to enlist in the project, whilst civil society organisations, community members and other critical stakeholders have been sidelined from making the usual contributions.
Dr. Ojo also frowned that Shell’s positioning in the Governing Council of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) does contributes to the “snail speed” and piece-meal-approach by government and Shell, expressing fears that that would elongate the project beyond the specified 25 years span. He also thumped down the Remediation by Enhanced Natural Attenuation (RENA) methodology adopted by Shell for the cleanup exercise as unsafe and inappropriate, while calling for the use of any other effective technology.
Whilst calling for the cleanup to start without more delay and to serve as a prelude for cleaning up the entire oil-impacted Niger Delta region, the groups also urged the Federal Government, Shell and other transnational oil companies to establish a $100 million fund for the entire cleanup of the region.
The seven points demand made by the groups, however, are that an environmental state of emergency be declared for the Ogoni cleanup, and the establishment of a work plan and timeline by HYPREP clean up, with all-inclusive process that should accommodate inputs from critical stakeholders. Other demands include the funding and inclusion of the National Oil Spills Detection and Remediation Agency ((NOSDRA) and other agencies for effective monitoring of the cleanup; and conduction of environmental and social audit of the Niger Delta.
The groups also called for the immediate removal of Shell from the board, adding that it (Shell) does not use the orchestrated cleanup process as a guise to re-entering Ogoni and to “decommission” its old oil pipes responsible for frequent spills.
Two landlocked countries, the Republic of the Sudan and the Republic of Zimbabwe, on Wednesday, August 2 and Monday, August 7, 2017 respectively deposited their instruments of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan
The northeastern and southern African nations thus become the158th and 159th countries to endorse the global treaty, after the Republic of Haiti, which ratified the climate accord on Monday, July 31, 2017.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), while Sudan’s ratification of the pact will enter into force in a month’s time on Friday, September 1, 2017, Zimbabwe’s ratification will enter into force on Wednesday, September 6, 2017.
Previously, the Netherlands, Venezuela and Serbia ratified the pact respectively on Friday, July 28, Friday, July 21 and Tuesday, July 25, 2017.
Before then, the Republic of Malawi on Thursday, June 29, 2017 likewise endorsed the agreement, ahead of Egypt and Togo, which ratified the climate accord respectively on Thursday, June 29 and Wednesday, June 28 2017.
The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention (UNFCCC) and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.
The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries and the most vulnerable countries, in line with their own national objectives. The Agreement also provides for enhanced transparency of action and support through a more robust transparency framework.
Scientists find curbing the overuse of antimalarial drugs often replaced by overuse of antibiotics instead; study also reveals puzzling cases of malaria patients testing positive yet going untreated
Katia Bruxvoort, an assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria are reducing overuse of malaria medications but may also produce a range of unintended results, according to a comprehensive new study published on Monday, August 7, 2017 in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. An analysis of more than 500,000 patient visits across malaria-endemic regions of Africa and Afghanistan found that in most settings, introduction of RDTs improved antimalarial targeting, but negative test results prompted a shift to antibiotic prescriptions. Even more concerning: a substantial number of patients who tested positive for malaria appeared to go untreated.
Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) found that, overall, RDTs are effective at limiting – though not eliminating – what had been a common practice: routinely prescribing powerful malaria medications known as artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) to patients presenting with fever but without malaria, which could accelerate the emergence of ACT-resistant malaria.
“But we found that in many places a reduction in the use of ACTs was accompanied by an increase in the use of antibiotics, which may drive up the risk of antibiotic-resistant infections,” said Katia Bruxvoort, an assistant professor at the London School and the lead author of the study. “We also don’t yet understand why some patients who tested positive for malaria were not treated with ACTs.”
The scientists believe the shift to antibiotic use after ruling out malaria, which also was explored in a March study in The BMJ that included analysis of some of the same patient visits, may indicate that many patients and providers are not comfortable with what might be the best approach to treating many fevers when malaria has been ruled out: taking a fever-reducing drug (like ibuprofen or paracetamol) and drinking plenty of fluids.
“A key challenge is that we don’t currently have a reliable way to determine which fevers are evidence of a bacterial infection that requires a specific antibiotic treatment and which fevers will resolve with supportive care only,” Bruxvoort said.
Bruxvoort and her colleagues analysed drug prescriptions written from 2007 to 2013 in 562,368 patient encounters documented in 10 related studies – eight from sub-Saharan Africa and two from Afghanistan – conducted by the ACT Consortium, a global research initiative investigating key issues around anti-malarial drugs.
This expanded analysis also revealed:
In most areas studied, which included clinics in Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Uganda, antibiotics were given to 40 to 80 percent of patients who had tested negative for malaria.
In many areas, a negative test for malaria was only partially effective at limiting ACT prescriptions. For example, in two areas, Cameroon and Ghana, 39 to 49 percent of patients who tested negative for malaria still got ACTs.
Overall, 75 percent of patients studied left the clinic with either an antibiotic or an ACT.
Even more surprising, the scientists said, was finding that in five of the eight African studies included in this analysis, more than 20 percent of patients who tested positive for malaria were not prescribed ACTs.
“Drug supply issues did not seem to be a problem in most of the areas where these patients sought treatment,” Bruxvoort said. “There might be other reasons either patients or providers are not using ACTs in these contexts, but the issue of undertreating malaria, even when there is clear evidence of the disease, is troubling and deserves further study.”
Use of RDTs for malaria has soared since 2010 as officials from the World Health Organisation (WHO) have sought to reduce unnecessary prescriptions for ACTs, thought to be a major factor in the rise of drug-resistant malaria in Southeast Asia. In Africa, which accounts for the large majority of the world’s malaria infections, ACTs have been a major factor in the 60 percent drop in malaria deaths over the last 15 years. Experts fear those gains could be rapidly reversed if ACT-resistant malaria spreads across the continent.
“In addition to the important concerns raised by this study, it demonstrates the value of researchers who carefully follow the real-world impact of malaria innovations like rapid diagnostic tests,” said Patricia F. Walker, President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. “The number of patient encounters documented here is extraordinary and provides an unvarnished assessment of why treating a patient who walks into a clinic with a fever remains a complex challenge. Technology alone cannot solve complex health problems; community and provider education, as well as health system changes, must occur hand in hand to improve patient outcomes.”
Sleep deprivation is costing the Australian economy $52.48 billion annually, a report released on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 found.
Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia
The Deloitte Access Economics, in a report, found that 39.8 per cent of Australians were not getting enough sleep.
Deloitte estimated that sleep deprivation accounted for $14.16 billion in lost productivity in the financial year ended in June 2017 while costing Australia’s health system $1.42 billion.
The report found out that almost 400 Australians die each year as a result of driving or operating heavy machinery while fatigued.
Dorothy Bruck, chair of the Sleep Health Foundation, said 7.4 million Australians suffered from a lack of sleep.
Sleep deprivation can be a contributing factor in heart disease, stroke, diabetes and depression.
“The cost of sleep deprivation is utterly alarming and confirms we need to take urgent action to put sleep on the national agenda,” Bruck told Australian media on Tuesday.
Bruck said: “Sleep or rather the lack of it is a substantial burden on our economy and the livelihood of Australians, dampening mood, exacerbating health problems, dulling our productivity and making us a danger on the roads and in workplaces around the country.”
The US is experiencing rapid climate change, 13 government agencies say in an unreleased report obtained by The New York Times. The report finds with “high confidence” that temperatures have spiked since 1980 and that “how much more the climate will change depends on future emissions and the sensitivity of the climate system to those emissions.”
The 13 agencies’ findings contradict the Trump administration’s climate stance. Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency chief, Scott Pruitt, has stated he does not believe carbon emissions are a primary cause of climate change. Scientists behind the report told the Times that they worried the Trump administration would attempt to suppress the document.
Rivers swollen by Hurricane Matthew leading to widespread flooding in North Carolina, USA
The average temperature in the United States has risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, and recent decades have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years, according to a sweeping federal climate change report awaiting approval by the Trump administration.
The draft report by scientists from 13 federal agencies, which has not yet been made public, concludes that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change right now. It directly contradicts claims by President Trump and members of his cabinet who say that the human contribution to climate change is uncertain, and that the ability to predict the effects is limited.
“Evidence for a changing climate abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans,” a draft of the report states. A copy of it was obtained by The New York Times.
The authors note that thousands of studies, conducted by tens of thousands of scientists, have documented climate changes on land and in the air. “Many lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse (heat-trapping) gases, are primarily responsible for recent observed climate change,” they wrote.
The report was completed this year and is a special science section of the National Climate Assessment, which is congressionally mandated every four years. The National Academy of Sciences has signed off on the draft report, and the authors are awaiting permission from the Trump administration to release it.
One government scientist who worked on the report, Katharine Hayhoe, a professor of political science at Texas Tech University, called the conclusions among “the most comprehensive climate science reports” to be published. Another scientist involved in the process, who spoke to The New York Times on the condition of anonymity, said he and others were concerned that it would be suppressed.
The White House and the Environmental Protection Agency did not immediately return calls or respond to emails requesting comment on Monday night.
The report concludes that even if humans immediately stopped emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the world would still feel at least an additional 0.50 degrees Fahrenheit (0.30 degrees Celsius) of warming over this century compared with today. The projected actual rise, scientists say, will be as much as 2 degrees Celsius.
A small difference in global temperatures can make a big difference in the climate: The difference between a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and one of 2 degrees Celsius, for example, could mean longer heat waves, more intense rainstorms and the faster disintegration of coral reefs.
Among the more significant of the study’s findings is that it is possible to attribute some extreme weather to climate change. The field known as “attribution science” has advanced rapidly in response to increasing risks from climate change.
The E.P.A. is one of 13 agencies that must approve the report by Aug. 18. The agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt, has said he does not believe that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.
“It’s a fraught situation,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geoscience and international affairs at Princeton University who was not involved in the study. “This is the first case in which an analysis of climate change of this scope has come up in the Trump administration, and scientists will be watching very carefully to see how they handle it.”
Scientists say they fear that the Trump administration could change or suppress the report. But those who challenge scientific data on human-caused climate change say they are equally worried that the draft report, as well as the larger National Climate Assessment, will be publicly released.
The National Climate Assessment “seems to be on autopilot” because of a lack of political direction, said Myron Ebell, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The report says significant advances have been made linking human influence to individual extreme weather events since the last National Climate Assessment was produced in 2014. Still, it notes, crucial uncertainties remain.
It cites the European heat wave of 2003 and the record heat in Australia in 2013 as specific episodes where “relatively strong evidence” showed that a man-made factor contributed to the extreme weather.
In the United States, the authors write, the heat wave that broiled Texas in 2011 was more complicated. That year was Texas’ driest on record, and one study cited in the report said local weather variability and La Niña were the primary causes, with a “relatively small” warming contribution. Another study had concluded that climate change made extreme events 20 times more likely in Texas.
Based on those and other conflicting studies, the federal draft concludes that there was a medium likelihood that climate change played a role in the Texas heat wave. But it avoids assessing other individual weather events for their link to climate change. Generally, the report described linking recent major droughts in the United States to human activity as “complicated,” saying that while many droughts have been long and severe, they have not been unprecedented in the earth’s hydrologic natural variation.
Worldwide, the draft report finds it “extremely likely” that more than half of the global mean temperature increase since 1951 can be linked to human influence.
In the United States, the report concludes with “very high” confidence that the number and severity of cool nights have decreased since the 1960s, while the frequency and severity of warm days have increased. Extreme cold waves, it says, are less common since the 1980s, while extreme heat waves are more common.
The study examines every corner of the United States and finds that all of it was touched by climate change. The average annual temperature in the United States will continue to rise, the authors write, making recent record-setting years “relatively common” in the near future. It projects increases of 5.0 to 7.5 degrees Fahrenheit (2.8 to 4.8 degrees Celsius) by the late century, depending on the level of future emissions.
It says the average annual rainfall across the country has increased by about 4 percent since the beginning of the 20th century. Parts of the West, Southwest and Southeast are drying up, while the Southern Plains and the Midwest are getting wetter.
With a medium degree of confidence, the authors linked the contribution of human-caused warming to rising temperatures over the Western and Northern United States. It found no direct link in the Southeast.
Additionally, the government scientists wrote that surface, air and ground temperatures in Alaska and the Arctic are rising at a frighteningly fast rate – twice as fast as the global average.
“It is very likely that the accelerated rate of Arctic warming will have a significant consequence for the United States due to accelerating land and sea ice melting that is driving changes in the ocean including sea level rise threatening our coastal communities,” the report says.
Human activity, the report goes on to say, is a primary culprit.
The study does not make policy recommendations, but it notes that stabilising the global mean temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius – what scientists have referred to as the guardrail beyond which changes become catastrophic — will require significant reductions in global levels of carbon dioxide.
Nearly 200 nations agreed as part of the Paris accords to limit or cut fossil fuel emissions. If countries make good on those promises, the federal report says, that will be a key step toward keeping global warming at manageable levels.
Mr. Trump announced this year that the United States would withdraw from the Paris agreement, saying the deal was bad for America.
Governments of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Kiribati on Wednesday, July 26 and Friday, July 28, 2017 respectively deposited their instruments of ratification, thereby becoming the 72nd and 73rd future Parties to the Minamata Convention.
Taneti Mamau, President of Kiribati
Prior to this, the Government of Jamaica on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 deposited its instrument of ratification to become the 71st future Party to the mercury convention.
Hitherto, the Governments of Rwanda, Palau, Thailand, Slovenia and Viet Nam deposited their instruments of ratification, thereby becoming the 66th to 70th future Parties to the mercury treaty.
The depositions were made on Wednesday, June 21; Thursday, June 22; Friday, June 23; and Thursday, June 29, 2017. While Palau deposited on Wednesday and Thailand on Thursday, both Slovenia and Viet Nam did likewise on Friday. Rwanda followed up a week later on Thursday.
Previously, Iran and Estonia had ratified the Convention, which has already entered into force, thanks to the landmark rash of ratifications on Thursday, May 18, 2017 that triggered the entry into force of the mercury accord, having garnered the required 50 ratifications.
On that day, the EU and seven of its member States – Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania and Sweden – deposited their instruments of ratification at the UN Headquarters in New York, bringing to 51 that day the number of future Parties.
As a result, on August 16 2017, the Convention, which aims at protecting human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds, will become legally binding for all its Parties.
To commemorate the historic development, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Kumamoto Prefecture and Minamata City on Saturday, July 1, 2017 held “Celebrating Event for the Minamata Convention on Mercury – Voice from Minamata towards the Entry into Force” in Minamata City, Kumamoto, Japan.
The 1st Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention (COP1) will gather governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations from around the world in Geneva from September 24 to 29, 2017.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury (“Minamata Convention”) is a new international environmental convention for global community to work collaboratively against mercury pollution. The Minamata Convention aims at achieving environmentally sound mercury management throughout its life cycle. The Convention was adopted at the diplomatic conferences held in Minamata City and Kumamoto City in October 2013.
At least 13 per cent of Nigerian children risk growing up with mental deformity unless proper iodine is part of their nutrition, according to professor emeritus, Babatunde Oguntona, who calls on government to pay greater attention to public health.
L-R: Project Manager Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria, Mr. Okoronkwo Sunday; Junior Associate, Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network, Nigeria, Miss Ibiso Ivy King-Harry; Chairman of Occasion, Board of Trustee Member, Media Centre Against Child Malnutrition (MeCAM)/Past President Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Prof. Babatunde Oguntona; National Coordinator, MeCAM, Mr. Remmy Nweke; and Board Member MeCAM, Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba, during the One-Day Nutrition Symposium on Malnutrition, Child Development and the Media in Lagos
“If we don’t keep iodine level properly, we’ll have 13 per cent of Nigerian children mentally deformed,” Prof. Oguntona said at the weekend in Lagos at a one-day Nutrition Symposium on “Malnutrition, Child Development and the Media” organised by the Media Centre Against Child Malnutrition (MeCAM).
“Imagine 13 percent of parliamentarians mentally deformed. Inadequate iodine in our food is a serious threat. You can’t talk of development when you ignore the issue of nutrition status of your people,” he added, rapping the Nigerian authorities for their poor response to the threats of malnutrition.
Oguntona, a former president of the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, said that between 13 and 18 Nigerians children die of malnutrition and related diseases every hour and called on the media to step up advocacy on the issue.
Ivy Ibiso KingHarry, an official of the Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network / Global Alliance on Improved Nutrition (GAIN), said the media have a duty to promote messages on nutrition as influencers and change agents. She added however that such media efforts must flow from proper understanding of the science of nutrition and effective delivery of messages in language understood by common people.
She urged reporters to always fact-check and scrutinise official data on malnutrition, be consistent and build trust in their duty as gatekeeper.
A media advocacy group against child malnutrition and well-being, MeCAM aims to strengthen the agro-nutrition capacity and interest of its members professionally in contribution to nation-building, especially in Nigeria and across the continent of Africa among developing countries of the world.
According to the promoters, MeCAM is committed to showcasing successful and development efforts in the area of agro-nutrition for the benefit of mankind and for Africa emancipation from extreme hunger especially in children, women and society, centred on Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Federal Government on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 applied to withdraw the case it instituted against seven commercial banks in the country, which were accused of violating the government’s Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.
The Federal High Court in Lagos
Government had alleged that the banks connived with some government agencies to illegally hide in their coffers a total of $793,200,000, which was meant to have been transmitted to the TSA account domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The concerned banks are United Bank for Africa, Diamond Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, First Bank Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Limited, and Sterling Bank Plc.
Justice Chuka Obiozor of the Federal High Court in Lagos had on July 20, 2017 granted an interim order in favour of the Federal Government, directing the seven banks to temporarily remit the funds to the TSA.
The court had then adjourned till Tuesday for the banks to appear before him to show cause why the interim order should not be made permanent.
But, at the resumed proceedings on Tuesday, counsel for the Federal Government, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), said he had been instructed by the Attorney General of the Federation to discontinue the case in the overall interest of the public.
“It is not out of weakness that the Federal Government is withdrawing this case. The banks are corporate citizens and we are interested in the well-being of everybody,” Akinseye-George said, urging Justice Obiozor to strike out the suit.
But the banks, which claimed that the Federation Government’s allegation against them was false and that they had already been unjustly disparaged, urged the judge not to merely strike out the suit but to dismiss it and award N20 million cost against the Federal Government.
They noted that any case struck out could be re-filed while a case that is dismissed could no longer be re-filed.
Counsel for the banks, including Mr. Seyi Sowemimo (SAN) and Mrs. Abimbola Akeredolu (SAN), took turn to argue that the proper order that the court ought to make in the circumstances of the case was to dismiss the suit and not strike it out.
Akeredolu, who represented Sterling Bank Plc, argued that, just like the rest of the counsel, the Federal Government decided to withdraw the case having realised that it was filed in error.
“My Lord should not allow the instrumentation of the law to be used as a vehicle of mischief. And nobody is above the law, even the Federal Government of Nigeria…We are praying the court make an order for a meagre cost of N10 million against the plaintiffs,” Akeredolu said.
Counsel for Keystone Bank Limited, Mr. Babatunde Ogungbamila, however, insisted on a cost of N20 million against the Federal Government, saying his client had suffered a substantial damage to its reputation.
“They have destroyed the reputation of our banking industry and they did this recklessly because the fundamental economic underpinning of this country was actually targeted,” Ogungbamila said.
But the Federal Government’s lawyer, Akinseye-George, countered them, arguing that the parties had yet to join issues because the Federal Government had yet to respond to the court processes filed by the banks.
He added that the Federal Government came to court early enough before the maturation of time for the court to arguments on the substantive suit.
Akinseye-George also argued that the banks were not entitled to any cost because they did not file any affidavit to particlurise the nature of the damage they claimed to have suffered.
He urged the court to discontenance their arguments and strike out the suit as prayed by the Federal Government, rather than dismiss it.
He said the suit was not being withdrawn because it lacked substance or was baseless but because it was in the overriding interest of the public to withdraw it.
After taking arguments from the parties, Justice Obiozor adjourned till August 9, 2017 for ruling on whether the case would be struck out or dismissed.
The Federal Government had in the suit alleged that total of $367.4 million was illegally hidden by three government agencies in UBA, while a sum of $41 million was illegally kept in a NAPIMS fixed deposit account with Skye Bank.
The court papers stated that $277.9 million was hidden in Diamond Bank; $18.9 million in First Bank; $24.5 million in Fidelity Bank; $17 million in Keystone Bank; and $46.5 million in Sterling Bank.
A lawyer from Akinseye-George’s law firm, Vincent Adodo, who deposed to a 15-paragraph affidavit in support of an ex parte application filed by the AGF, stated that seven banks colluded with Federal Government officials to hide the funds in breach of the government’s TSA policy.
The funds, he said, were revenues, donations, transfers, refunds, grants, taxes, fees, dues, tariffs etc accruable to the Federal Government from different ministries, departments, parastals and agencies.
Adodo said the banks had failed to remit the funds to the TSA domiciled in the CBN in violation of the guidelines issued by the Accountant General of the Federation which fixed September 15, 2015 as the deadline for such funds to be moved.
