Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called on private sector  to wake up and fully participate in Nigeria’ transition to green energy that is crucial in helping the country to achieve its objectives in the implementation of its Energy Transition Plan.

“The Private sector must up its participation in the transition to Green energy journey,” Prof. Osinbajo stated, adding that this includes “greater involvement in the crucial conversations about what an economically just transition to zero emissions should be,” he said.
Professor Osinbajo, who spoke in Lagos at the 60th Anniversary Dinner of the Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), highlighted the Energy Transition Plan as “a comprehensive, data-driven and evidence-based plan, designed to deal with the twin crises of climate change and energy poverty.”
The Vice President, who spoke on: “Nigeria: Transitioning to Green Energy,”, said: “we anchored the plan on key objectives, including lifting 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, driving economic growth, bringing modern energy services to the full population and managing the expected long-term job loss in the oil sector due to global decarbonization.
He emphasized the need for more private sector participation in the Energy Transition Plan implementation, adding that the off-grid Solar space in Nigeria is becoming one of the most exciting in the world.
According to the Vice President “we have programmes such as the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Solar Power Naija (under its Economic Sustainability Plan), the Nigerian Electrification Programme with the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank, and also the Rural Electrification Fund providing almost $1 billion in financing and subsidies to drive 10 million connections. We are also working on clear guidelines for on-grid Solar before COP-27 to initially provide the structure for the      rollout of at least 1,000MW.”
He said that the private sector should also get involved in climate finance, especially the voluntary carbon markets, among others.

Professor Osinbajo advised the OPTS to take the lead in Solar to help drive improvements in our energy mix and also accelerate the transition to having “energy” companies, not just oil companies.
“We are particularly pleased with the good work that All-On and Konexa have been doing all with funding from Shell (a key OPTS member). We also have NNPC partnering with the Rural Electrification Agency to rollout Solar Mini-grids and Solar Home Systems across the country.”

Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasannaye, has said that despite all the good legislations to fight corruption in the country, the level of integrity amongst Nigerians is still very low.
Speaking at a two-day capacity-building workshop for members of the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption, the ICPC boss spoke about continued diversion of public funds, both in revenue receipts and expenditure, even as he condemned illicit financial flow, misapplication of funds and budget padding.
Owasannaye insisted that corruption in all its ramifications must be confronted headlong urgently, regretting that Nigerians are yet to recognise the death knell that corruption meant.

He warned that if citizens do not deal with the ethical issues of corruption, it would further impact negatively on the country.
Owasannoye emphasized that Nigerian is never in short supply of anti-corruption legislation but in short supply of integrity.
According to him, such negative attitude has been worsened by high level of hypocrisy.
He listed Central Bank of Nigeria, the Bureau of Public Procurement and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission as some of the anti-corruption gate keepers, saying that most regulatory agencies also played anti-corruption roles.
Owasannoye observed that corruption accentuated political patronage and encouraged sabotage of governance, stressing that funds appropriated on paper, are never used for the purpose for which they are meant.
This was even as the Chairman of the House Committee on Anti-Corruption, Shehu Garba, said that the challenge and the fight against corruption has remained a topical issue.
He said that the ills of corruption has been well documented, adding that Nigerians do not need to be reminded of the consequences.
Garba said that corruption denied citizens a promising future and development, adding that it is heart-warming when the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration made the fight against corruption one of its tasks.
He said that the fight against corruption remains multi-dimensional, involving all institutions, and that there would be no success without collaboration.
The lawmaker said that information sharing and capacity building workshops are crucial in the fight against corruption.
In his contribution, Director-General, National Institute for Legislative Studies, Professor Abubakar Suleiman, commended the National Assembly for the continuous building of staff capacity.
This, he said, has reflected in the 9th assembly, especially in the way it takes the issue of the fight against corruption seriously.
He said that the workshop is important as the current Federal Government administration winds down.
Suleiman stressed that corruption also fuells instability and conflicts, adding that there has been allegations of non-payment of allowances of security operatives, which according to him, undermines the fight against insecurity. “Corruption undermines security and human capacity development.”
The Resident Representative, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, a German political foundation, Marija Peran,
decried the complex security challenges and corruption in the security sector.
She said that corruption in the security sector has a detrimental impact both on security apparatuses and on wider peace and security. Peran said the German foundation’s core mandate is to strengthen good democratic governance and the rule of law, adding that the fight against corruption is an integral part of its mandate.

The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, is obviously Angry with a female human rights activist, Professor Zainab Duke Abiola and has ordered her arrest and prosecution for attacking and inflicting grievous injuries on her security orderly, a female Police Officer, Inspector Teju Moses.
A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said that the domestic staff, the house maid, one Rebecca Enechido and a male suspect currently at large, also joined in the grievous assault on the female police officer.
The statement said that Professor Zainab Duke, a legal practitioner from Mbaise, grievously assaulted her orderly in company of some accomplices on September 20 at her residence in Garki, Abuja, due to the refusal of the orderly to breach professional ethics by carrying out menial and domestic chores at her house.
Angered by the savagely act of the human rights activist and her gang, the Inspector General directed the express prosecution of the arrested suspects who are currently in Police custody, “as the preliminary investigation shows overwhelming evidence of culpability on the part of the Professor and her domestic staff. “The IGP has equally tasked the investigative team to ensure that the fleeing suspect is arrested and made to face the wrath of the law.”
The statement recalled that Professor Zainab, “who name-drops the IGP, his family members, and other officers in the top hierarchy of the Force” has no acquaintance with the Police in any form as erroneously peddled on social media.
“The Inspector-General of Police who similarly ordered the withdrawal of all Police personnel attached to the Professor, expressed consternation at the fact that an individual who claims to be an advocate for Human Rights could stoop so low to violate the rights of another individual, a police officer tasked with ensuring her protection.”