The Nigeria Police, Kogi State Command, has confirmed the rescue of 14 students of Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, who were abducted by unknown gunmen on Thursday, May 9 while on campus preparing for their first semester examinations.

According to Daily Post, the Police Public Relations Officer, SP William Ovye Aya via a WhatsApp message on Sunday, confirmed that 14 students were rescued by the joint security operations carried out since the incident happened on Thursday.

He said the rescued students have been taken to hospital for medical assistance, stressing that the police and other security agencies in the state will continue to guarantee security of lives and properties.

Earlier, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Kingsley Fanwo had issued a press statement on the rescue of the students from the kidnappers.

He commended the gallant efforts of all the security agents who went all out to rescue the students from their abductors, saying the unknown gunmen were confronted with superior power that made them abandon their victims.

Members of organised labour are currently occupying Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) offices nationwide.

The rise in energy rates for users in the Band A category is being opposed by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and other affiliated organisations.

The power rate for users in the classification was approved by NERC on April 3 and is now N225 per kwh instead of N66.

The demand from organised labour is for the increase to be reversed and for talks to resume.

The unionists, on Monday, arrived at the NERC office located at Novel House in Ikeja, Lagos, around 9:40am.

Addressing workers at the complex, Funmi Sessi, NLC Lagos chairperson, asked them to vacate their offices.

Sessi said the unions do not understand the regulatory functions of NERC amid the epileptic power supply in the country.

In Abuja, the unions besieged the NERC office located in the Central Business District.

Labour has also shut NERC offices in Jos, Akwa Ibom, Benin, Kaduna and in other capital cities across the country.

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The federal government has been advised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to eliminate subsidies for petrol and electricity when the social safety programme has been improved and inflation has decreased.

In a paper titled “Nigeria: 2024 Article IV Consultation,” the IMF made this revelation.

The proposal came after Nigeria’s inflation rate increased sharply, from 31.70 percent in February 2024 to 33.20 percent in March 2024.

According to the IMF, an improved social intervention programme that the federal government of Nigeria created with assistance from the World Bank may benefit roughly 15 million households, or 60 million Nigerians.

“The authorities have recently approved an enhanced social transfer mechanism developed with World Bank support, and some initial payments have been made,” IMF said.

“In response to governance concerns, the authorities automated and digitalized the system to build a robust mechanism that delivers swift and targeted support to vulnerable households, some 15 million households or 60 million Nigerians potentially benefit from the scheme.

“Once the safety net has been scaled up and inflation subsides, the government should tackle implicit fuel and electricity subsidies.”

According to the IMF, the subsidies are costly and poorly targeted, with higher-income groups benefiting more than the vulnerable.

IMF also said with pump prices and tariffs below cost-recovery, subsidy costs could increase to three percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024, compared to one percent of GDP in 2023.

IMF said its staff projected a higher fiscal deficit than anticipated in the 2024 budget, adding that “higher implicit” fuel and electricity subsidies would drive the increase.

The federal government had projected N9 trillion budget deficit for this year.

Aside from the subsidies, IMF said other drivers are lower oil and gas revenue projections, continued suspension of excise measures included in the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF), and higher interest costs.

“Staff factors in an under-execution of capital expenditure in line with past outcomes and estimates an FGN deficit of 4.5 percent of GDP relative to the 2024 budget target of 3.4 percent of GDP,” IMF said.

“For the consolidated government, this implies a projected deficit of 4.7 percent of GDP in 2024, compared to 4.8 percent of GDP in 2023 measured from the financing side, which is appropriate given the large social needs and factoring in a realistic pace of revenue mobilization.

“Over the medium-term, staff projects consolidation in the non-oil primary deficit. With rising interest costs, government debt stabilizes towards the end of the projection period.”

On April 3, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approved an increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A category to N225 per kilowatt-hour (kwh), from N66, to reduce electricity subsidy.

However, on May 6, electricity distribution companies (DisCos) said the tariff of Band A customers has been reduced to N206.80 per kwh.

On May 29, President Bola Tinubu announced petrol subsidy was gone, however, on August 15, 2023, TheCable reported the president was considering a “temporary subsidy” on petrol.

On April 15, Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna state, said the federal government is spending more on petrol subsidy than before.

Also, Gabriel Ogbechie, chief executive officer (CEO) of Rainoil Limited, on April 17, said the federal government now spends N600 billion on petrol subsidy monthly.