Former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke was granted bail by the Westminster Magistrates Court in the United Kingdom on Monday.

She was granted a £70,000 bail over an alleged £100,000 bribe by the district judge, Michael Snow.

Snow further imposed other terms on Alison-Madueke including an 11 pm to 6 am curfew, an electronic tag to be worn by her at all times and a £70,000 surety to be paid before she could leave the court building.

During her appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court, she provided her name, date of birth, and address.

Although she did not formally enter a plea, her attorney, Mark Bowen, informed the court that she would plead not guilty, Reuters reported

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has described fuel subsidy as an organised crime.

POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Obi made the statement on Monday while speaking on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on what approach he would have taken differently in resolving the looming strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress.

“Fuel subsidy is organised crime. I said it repeatedly that it should be removed,” Obi said. “For me, the approach would have been, is to remove the corruption and criminal side of it and remove the excess demand.”

“By doing this, you would have reduced it by 50 per cent. The remaining 50 per cent is what we would have been able to, after consultation with various stakeholders in order to find a way in an organised manner, remove and show the proceed of the gains of the removal to be invested in critical development areas.”

Obi, the former governor of Anambra State, is known for vocal criticism of the Tinubu-led government, especially in managing public finances. He had pledged to remove fuel subsidy and invest the proceeds in critical development areas, such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure, if elected president.

He lost the 2023 election to President Bola Tinubu

One of the major companies in Nigeria, BUA Group , has announced a reduction of ex-factory cement price to N3,500 per bag.

The company, which made this known in a statement on Sunday, said the reduction will take effect from 2 October, 2023.

The statement titled : ‘BUA Cement reduces ex-factory cement prices to N3,500/bag effective October 2, 2023’, reads in full :

“We refer to our previous pronouncements regarding our intent to reduce cement prices upon the completion of our new lines at the end of the year, in order to spur development in the building materials and infrastructure sectors.

As per the commitment made to reduce prices and following a periodic review of our operations for efficiency, the management of BUA Cement Plc wishes to announce and inform our esteemed customers, stakeholders, and the public that effective October 2, 2023, we have decided to bring the price reduction forward. As a result, BUA Cement would now be sold at an ex-factory* price of 3,500 Naira per bag so that Nigerians can begin to enjoy the benefits of the price reduction before the completion of our plants.

Upon completion of the ongoing construction of our new plants, which would increase our production volumes to 17million metric tonnes per annum, BUA Cement PLC intends to review these prices further in line with our earlier pronouncements by the first quarter of 2024.

NOTE: all pending, undelivered orders which had been paid for at the old prices will be reviewed downwards to N3500/bag in line with the new pricing from October 2, 2023. Our licensed dealers are also enjoined to ensure that end-users benefit from this reduction in ex-factory prices as we will monitor field sales to ensure compliance