Former president, Goodluck Jonathan, may be called to witness in the trial of Sambo Dasuki who is facing investigation for alleged mismanagement of $2.1billion arms funds. The Nation reports that Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), the counsel to the former national security adviser (NSA), said Dasuki wanted Jonathan to testify in court.

Raji said: “It will be desirable for Jonathan to testify for the ex-NSA. It will throw greater light into grey areas. And it will serve the interest of Justice. “It will be fantastic for him to go to court to testify. Dasuki is an agent of a disclosed and known principal.”

Another member of the legal team citing Jonathan’s statement that faulted the charges against Dasuki, said the only logical thing for the former president to do is to see it through.

“We want Jonathan to follow-through. If he backs out, it will be bad.”

Recall that Jonathan in a recent interview at the Oxford Union in the United Kingdom, faulted the charges against Dasuki, claiming that the ex-NSA could not have stolen about $2.2billion votes for arms. But, in Raji’s view, a political solution will be better than trial because of the “characters involved”.

He said: “But, frankly speaking, I pray for a political solution to the problem because of the characters involved.” On insurgency, the United States has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to sustain the momentum against the Boko Haram insurgents.

The Sun reports that the US on Sunday, October 30, told President Buhari to put more pressure on Boko Haram to ensure the insurgents do not regroup even as the country distanced herself from the Nigerian government negotiations with the group that led to the release of 21 Chibok girls recently.

Sarah Sewall, the US Under-Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, commended the Buhari administration for its progress in the fight against Boko Haram. But Washington urged the federal government to step up pressure on the terrorists.

“From our experiences, insurgency and terrorist groups can be very resilient, can move and again reconstitute themselves. So, it’s absolutely critical that both federal and state levels of governments partner very closely the military campaigns to ensure they can provide security, services and good governance for the country as Boko Haram is pushed out particularly in the neighborhoods. At the same time, Nigeria needs to put pressure on Boko Haram,” Sewall said. Meanwhile, strong indications emerged that elders, leaders and stakeholders of the Niger Delta Region have rejected the federal government’s move to launch a $10 billion (N4 trillion) infrastructural rebirth investment programme in the area.

Vanguard reports that the multi-trillion naira programme is part of the Short and Medium Term Priorities to Grow Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry (2015 to 2019), tagged the ‘7 BigWins’, a new initiative of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

But the Niger-Delta leaders dismissed the proposal as a blackmail saying there is no money to fund it. The leaders said it is imperative to tell President Buhari that they are rejecting the move because it is private sector-driven with the aim of dragging the government into it.

“At the end of the day, other Nigerians will say why complain when you have $10 billion and the money is not there in the first place. If the companies have such money, they should pay the money owed the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, rather than blackmail the region with such money,” they said.

In other news, the Punch reports that another round of crisis is looming between the executive and the federal legislature over the present administration’s plan to borrow $29.96bn from external sources.
The impending clash follows President Muhammadu Buhari request on Tuesday, October, 25, for the National Assembly to approve the external borrowing plan to enable his government to raise funds to execute key infrastructural projects across the country between now and 2018. But a source has said lawmakers were currently not favourably disposed to approving the plan.

The lawmakers opposed to the loan were said to include members of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party. On the economy, banks are taking their scarce assets to governments as foreign exchange crisis and economic recession threaten return of investments. Guardian reports that lending rates to different sectors of the economy for the month of September as published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) show that deposit money banks see higher risks in lending to the private sector, including agriculture.

Loans to governments and Mining & Quarrying remain the lowest at 24 and 23 per cent respectively. For general commerce, oil and gas, construction, manufacturing, mortgage and agriculture, banks would charge the highest rates at 27 per cent on the average. Ostensibly due to exchange rate volatility.