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Pauplin
Amotekun Backs Adams As Onakakanfo Alleges Terrorists Presence In Oyo.
~1.6 mins read
The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, has raised the alarm that some fighters of the dreaded Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have been stationed in the Oke Ogun area of Oyo State.

Adams, who is the generalissimo of the Yorubaland, said this on Tuesday in a communiqué at the end of the extraordinary meeting of the Ààre Ònàkakanfò-in-Council, which was presided over by him.

The Chairman of the Oyo State Security Network, codenamed Operation Amotekun, Col. Kunle Togun (retd.), also confirmed Adam’s claim.

Togun, a former Director, Directorate of Army Intelligence, said he had been saying what Adams said, but nobody took him seriously.

Togun said, “I have been saying this for a long time. I have been saying that our land has been infiltrated. These so-called Fulani herdsmen are not herdsmen but foreign terrorists.

“I mentioned it in January 2018 at a forum of the Oyo Council of Elders. The United States of America also said this a few weeks ago.”

Adams called on the Federal Government to ensure that Nigerian borders were secure to prevent further infiltration by criminals and terrorists.

The communiqué read in part, “The Ààre Ona Kakanfo-in-Council has in its possession credible intelligence gathered from within and outside the country, which strongly indicates the infiltration of terrorists and killer Fulani herdsmen in the region.

“More worrisome, the intelligence report also reveals that suspected ISIS operatives have already positioned themselves in Niger State via Ìbàrùbáland, and are now within the Òkè-Ogùn corridor of Òyó State.

“Indeed, the intelligence also revealed that about 500 power bikes and armours belonging to the terrorists have been physically sighted along the abandoned Lusada route moving towards Sokoto, from Igbó-Orà in Òyo State.

“The council, therefore, enjoin all South-West governors as well as the governors of Kwara and Kogi states to emulate the Governor of Benue State, Mr Samuel Ortom, by directing their citizens to apply for gun licences for self-defence against the marauding terrorists and killer herdsmen.”
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Pauplin
One Of The Worlds Richest Petrostates Is Running Out Of Cash
~4.2 mins read
One of the World’s Richest Petrostates Is Running Out of Cash

By Fiona MacDonald

September 2, 2020, 4:00 AM GMT+1

Cheap oil is forcing debate on state handouts across the Gulf
Kuwait among exporters facing deficits due to lower oil prices.

When Kuwait’s then-Finance Minister Anas Al-Saleh warned in 2016 that it was time to cut spending and prepare for life after oil, he was ridiculed by a population raised on a seemingly endless flow of petrodollars. 

Four years on, one of the world’s richest countries is struggling to make ends meet as a sharp decline in energy prices raises profound questions over how Gulf Arab states are run.

Al-Saleh’s long gone, shifting to other cabinet positions. A successor, Mariam Al-Aqeel, moved on in January, two weeks after suggesting Kuwait restructure a public-sector wage bill that’s the single biggest drag on State Finances. 

Her replacement, Barak Al-Sheetan, warned last month there wasn’t enough cash to pay State Salaries beyond October.

Slow to adjust big-spending habits as oil revenues fall, the Gulf states are hurtling toward a moment of economic reckoning, prompting renewed debate over the future of nations that for decades bought popular loyalty with state largesse.

“We’re going to wake up one day and realize we went through all our savings, not because we didn’t check our bank statement but because we looked at it and said, it’s probably a bank glitch, and then bought the latest Rolex,” said Fawaz Al-Sirri, who heads Bensirri political and financial communications firm.

Free Fall
Kuwait's oil and gas exports this year are set to drop to almost half of 2014's highs

Source: IMF

The OPEC club of oil-exporters has revived crude from its historic drop this year, but $40 is still too low. The coronavirus pandemic and shift toward renewable energy threaten to keep prices depressed.

Saudi Arabia is curbing benefits and imposing taxes. Bahrain and Oman, where reserves are less plentiful, are borrowing and seeking support from wealthier neighbors. The UAE diversified with the rise of Dubai as a logistics and finance hub.

KUWAIT-PARLIAMENT-POLITICS

In Kuwait, however, a standoff between the elected parliament and a government whose Prime Minister is appointed by the emir has led to policy gridlock. Lawmakers have thwarted plans to reallocate State Handouts and blocked proposals to issue debt.

Instead, the government has almost exhausted its liquid assets, leaving it unable to cover a budget deficit expected to reach the equivalent of almost $46 billion this year.

It’s been a gradual decline for Kuwait, which in the 1970s was among the most dynamic Gulf states, with its outspoken parliament, entrepreneurial heritage and educated people.

Then the 1982 crash of an informal stock market shook Kuwait’s economy and coincided with instability from the near decade-long Iran-Iraq war. 

Kuwait embarked on a spending spree to rebuild after Saddam Hussein’s assault led to the 1991 Gulf War. It took years for oil to flow freely again.

Kuwait still relies on hydrocarbons for 90% of its income. The state employs 80% of working Kuwaitis, who out-earn private-sector counterparts. 

Benefits for housing, fuel and food can total $2,000 a month for an average family. 

Salaries and subsidies soak up three-quarters of spending by the state, which is heading for its seventh consecutive deficit since the 2014 oil slump.

#Savings for Life
But Kuwait has money, plenty of it, stashed away in an unbreakable fund -- the world’s fourth-largest at an estimated $550 billion. 

Touching the Future Generations Fund, designed to ensure prosperity after oil runs out, is a controversial proposition.

Some Kuwaitis say the time has arrived. Opponents warn that without diversifying the economy and creating jobs, the savings would run out in 15-20 years.

“It’s not a solvency problem, although it’s considered a cash drought,” said Jassim Al-Saadoun, head of Kuwait-based Al-Shall Economic Consultants.

#Rich for Infinity
The wealth fund has already come to the rescue, purchasing over $7 billion of assets from the Treasury in recent weeks. 

Parliament approved plans to halt, in years of deficit, an annual transfer of 10% of oil revenues to the fund, freeing up another $12 billion, but not enough to cover the budget shortfall.

To do that, the government has to borrow. But after a debut Eurobond issuance in 2017, Kuwait’s public-debt law lapsed. 

Al-Sheetan’s warnings about wages came as he tried, unsuccessfully, to convince lawmakers to support plans to borrow up to $65 billion.

His request coincided with a series of corruption scandals, some involving senior members of the ruling family, and lawmakers demanded the government end graft before accumulating debt.

Al-Sheetan is the fourth Finance Minister in as many years. Kuwait’s had 16 governments and seven elections since 2006.

The deadlock has undermined investor confidence. In March, S&P Global Ratings put Kuwait’s sovereign rating on negative watch. Moody’s Investors Service followed. 

The IMF said that month Kuwait’s “window of opportunity to tackle its challenges from the position of strength is narrowing.”

“The belief system in Kuwait is that we’re rich for infinity,” said Al-Sirri. 

“No one has the political capital to tell the Kuwaiti people that the party will be over soon if we don’t support change.”

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