Buhari bounce becomes bust as Nigeria policies irk investors

When Muhammadu Buhari clinched victory in Nigeria’s presidential elections in March, stocks soared as investors looked to the former military ruler to reverse decades of economic mismanagement and policy inertia. Now hopes have fizzled in his ability to turn around Africa’s largest economy and oil producer.

Money that flowed into stocks and bonds in the West African nation, which McKinsey & Co. says could become one of the world’s 20 biggest economies by 2030, is now fleeing as growth prospects diminish along with oil prices. While Buhari, 72, has prioritized stamping out the graft that has plagued Nigeria since independence from Britain in 1960, policy-making appears as uncertain and haphazard as ever.

“After the initial euphoria, people have become disillusioned,” Ayodele Salami, who oversees about $500 million of African equities as chief investment officer of London-based Duet Asset Management Ltd., said by phone. “He would probably say that he’s being deliberative and cautious. But we expected more.” Duet’s Africa fund has cut its investments in the country to about 24 percent of the total from 38 percent in the last year.

Buhari waited five months before naming his cabinet, hasn’t proposed a clear plan to revive growth and backed foreign-exchange controls aimed at defending the naira. His retention of gasoline subsidies, plans to raise spending in the face of declining revenue and silence about a $5.2 billion fine levied on mobile-phone operator MTN Group Ltd. have added to investor unease.

Nigeria’s benchmark stock index has plunged 22 percent since reaching a year-high on April 2, the day after Buhari was declared the winner of the presidential race against incumbent Goodluck Jonathan. That’s the third-worst performance globally in the period, after the bourses in Ukraine and Egypt. The index advanced 12.5 percent in the two days after Jonathan conceded.

To be sure, Buhari inherited depleted government coffers and a bureaucracy that multiple probes have blamed for looting billions of dollars of oil revenue. The president has said he delayed appointing ministers because he needed time to vet suitable candidates.

Garba Shehu, a spokesman for Buhari, didn’t immediately respond to written questions after requesting they be sent that way.

The hiatus has compounded the pain caused by the slide in the price of crude, which accounts for two-thirds of government revenue and 90 percent of export earnings. Growth, which averaged 6.3 percent annually over the past decade, is set to slow to a 16-year low of 3.3 percent this year, according to the median estimate of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Many filling stations ran dry this month as the government withheld fuel subsidies to suppliers, preventing them from restocking. Lengthening lines forced Buhari to ask lawmakers for permission to pay 413 billion naira ($2 billion) in overdue payments, an amount that hadn’t been budgeted for.

While next year’s budget has yet to be finalized, Buhari wants to raise spending by 56 percent, according to a person who attended a briefing on the government’s plans and asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the government plans to spend its way out of a slowing economy and that an infrastructure fund will be created with public and private financing.


The penalty imposed on MTN’s Nigeria unit last month for failing to register about 5 million subscribers may be an attempt to plug the hole in government finances, according to Cobus de Hart, an economist at NKC Independent Economists.

“You cannot deny there might be a fiscal element to the massive fine,” he said by phone from Paarl, near Cape Town. “It will make investors a little bit more wary of investing in Nigeria.”

An even bigger concern for many investors is the authorities’ naira policy. The Central Bank of Nigeria, with Buhari’s backing, has burned through $4.3 billion of reserves this year and choked off supply of foreign exchange to banks and their customers to defend the naira, even as major oil exporters such as Russia and Colombia have let their currencies slide. The restrictions prompted JPMorgan Chase & Co. to remove Nigeria from its local-currency emerging-market bond indexes, tracked by more than $200 billion of funds, in September, triggering a selloff in the nations’ assets.

While the naira has been all but fixed at about 198 to 199 per dollar since March, forward prices suggest it will drop by almost one-fifth, to 243.5, in a year.

“The number-one issue is the exchange rate,” Andrew Howell, a Citigroup Inc. frontier markets strategist, said from Lagos. ”Access to foreign exchange is becoming a widespread problem.”

Nigerian Breweries Plc, the nation’s biggest brewer that’s controlled by Heineken NV, said it takes two weeks to obtain dollars to pay for its imports, twice as long as it required a few months ago. Nestle SA’s Nigerian unit has had to wait six weeks for dollars, according to Renaissance Capital Ltd. analysts.

“We have had an underweight position in Nigeria since before the election,” Johan Steyn, a fund manager at Prescient Investment Management in Cape Town, said by phone. “Until we see the depreciation of the naira toward a more sustainable level, we are hesitant to add to that position.”

Buhari has won plaudits from leaders including President Barack Obama for his efforts to tackle graft. He replaced the management of the state oil company, which was accused of withholding billions of dollars from the government, and has stepped up the fight against an insurgency being waged by Islamist group Boko Haram.

“The degree of transparency we’re starting to get with the new administration is hugely positive,” Douglas Rowlings, an analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, said in an interview in Lagos. “It gives investors the perception that operating in Nigeria will now be done following proper procedures.”

Jan Dehn, head of research at Ashmore Group Plc, which oversees almost $60 billion of emerging market assets, remains unconvinced that Buhari is up to the job. The fund manager sold all its Nigerian government debt in the past year.

“So far the Buhari administration has done all the wrong things,” Dehn said by phone from London. “Not only has he been incredibly slow in taking any action, when he finally has taken action on the economic front it’s been diametrically opposed to sensible policy. That is a major disappointment given expectations prior to his election.”

- Bloomberg 

The 'CHANGE' Buhari promised Nigerians is fast becoming a mirage - Dele Momodu

Dele Momodu has written a memo to President Buhari asking him to as a matter of urgency fix Nigeria saying that Nigerians are lamenting that the change he promised is fast becoming a mirage. Read the memo below:

Your Excellency, it’s been months since I wrote my desperate memo to you. I wish to thank you once more for reacting promptly and swiftly at that time and for giving me the honour and privilege of meeting you in your office. I remember presenting you a special compilation of my articles, especially the many admonitions to your immediate predecessor, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

After handing over the book to you, Sir, I promised to continue acting in my self-appointed capacity as Special Adviser because of the need to tell you what those very close to you might not be able to say. They might be afraid of you and your reaction.

The truth is you are a plain and simple man imbued with a mission and a passion to save this great country but you cannot do it on your own. You can only do it if people close to you, who should be advising you, tell you as it is so that you can do that which you were elected to do.

Sir, it is on the above basis that I’m back today for reasons some of which you probably know already from your own personal observations and readings. But before I go further, kindly permit me to set some records straight before some conspiracy specialists step forward to ascribe other people’s opinion to me. I shall clearly expose my personal views and state where I belong or stand for any avoidance of doubt. Everywhere I go people refer to me as Buhari’s man and ask “what’s your Baba doing ooo?”. I seriously have no problem with that. I’m proud that I joined so many other Nigerians as well as foreign friends in supporting a man of impeccable pedigree and solid integrity. No matter your view of President Muhammadu Buhari, one thing his bitterest enemies give to him is the fact that he is way above the level of most mortals in matters of uprightness.

This is why many of us volunteered to scream your name to high heavens and we were ready to follow you to Golgotha. Many of your opponents have not gotten over the thrashing you gave them and would forever seek everything and anything to smear you with. It is therefore not surprising that there has been so much noise about what you’ve done or left undone. Whether they are right or wrong in their assessment, I feel it is right and proper to let you know what people are saying about you including your most ardent fans and supporters. Sir, please, let’s not dismiss them as mere rabble-rousers. A groundswell of public opinion can easily metamorphose into an ocean of disenchantment and cataclysmic confusion. In short, I believe your enemies are skilfully setting you up for failure in order to be able to taunt your supporters later by saying we “we told you so!” In this regard it is pertinent to always bear in mind the Yoruba saying ‘ehin kunle l’ota wa, ile ni a se ni ngbe’! Loosely translated it means “the enemy lurk outside in the backyard but your foe resides inside your house.”

What is the matter this time? Many Nigerians are lamenting that the change you promised them is fast becoming a mirage. It is certainly not what they are seeing right now. They insist that your style and methodology appear too slow for a nation in dire straits and in need of urgent and miraculous deliverance. They are not happy that you are no longer the prudent man they used to know. They think you’ve already capitulated by frolicking with members of the bourgeois class and junketing around the world while Nigeria burns like Dante’s inferno. They are miffed that you are still keeping the Presidential fleet when you are supposed to have sold most of them off, if not all. They are worried that the mandate of four years they gave you is being unwittingly frittered away and before you know it all the goodwill you garnered would have evaporated and vamoosed. Time, they say, waits for no man!

The economy and the free fall of the Naira have become worrisome. There are all manner of rumours that may make matters worse, if true, about the current state and status of our banks. Though the Central Bank of Nigeria has come out forcefully to dispel the dangerous rumours, they want you to unleash your economic master-plan as soon as possible, so that what was once a baseless rumour does not somehow become harsh reality. They are expecting a blue-print that would guarantee a farewell to poverty. On this I agree with the opinion that something drastic has to be conjured up to arrest this drift to perdition. Nothing amplifies this monumental tragedy than the debit card fiasco which stipulates that Nigerians cannot live in a civilised world by walking into any international hotel or shop of their choice and paying with their cards. This is terribly depressing.

What this means in plain terms is that Nigerians must patronise the black market and run the risk of carrying cash recklessly whenever they travel abroad. It makes a mockery of the cashless society that the CBN has fought so hard to put in place and jeopardises your fight against corruption because government officials who travel abroad must of necessity carry large sums of cash if they are not to be embarrassed or even disgraced. Sir, the most important thing is that this is not healthy at all. The last thing your Government should be telling the world is that we are so broke that we are on our knees. The world laughs at us and treats us with derision because we have resources other than crude oil which should make us one of the richest in the world if we properly harness them. We must stop giving the impression that we are so impoverished when it is leadership, brigandage and a lack of focus that has failed us.

The other matter that continues to embarrass Nigerians is the issue of Boko Haram. The matter is made worse by the fact that you are a retired army General who should know and have what it takes to drastically reduce if not exterminate the cankerworm. But rather the menace has exacerbated. It has snowballed into a seemingly unquenchable conflagration. I had argued repeatedly that the military alone cannot achieve this result. Intelligence seems to be the key word here. Also identifying and locating some of the cells and prominent sympathisers is crucial. Those who arrogantly and naively say that no form of negotiation should take place are very far from the theatre of war. They have probably not heard of a group called IRA, the Irish Republican Army, that terrorised Great Britain for God knows how many years. I and my directors at Ovation International were lucky to escape a massive explosion that shattered the peace and tranquillity of London Docklands when a bomb went off inside the South Quay light rail station which was next to our office at Beaufort Court. The battle of wits and the war of attrition had to be fought using the carrot and the stick approach. It was the carrot approach that eventually succeeded and the United Kingdom has now been rid of that hitherto interminable scourge for many years!

The Boko Haram issue has defied every effort made so far and it is time to expand the options for the sake of our fellow citizens in the heart of this conundrum. When over 200 girls vanished into thin air, we were so sure they would return very soon but that has remained an illusion. This should tell us that this issue is not a joke and that we need to keep all windows open. Sir, Nigerians want to see government show a different approach and better compassion than what we had in the past. They are waiting to see how you will do this with minimum collateral damage.

Sir, you have a herculean task ahead but it is not a mission impossible. Other nations are experiencing almost similar challenges and they are forging ahead. The first indicator to exhibit our seriousness is when we stop the business as usual syndrome and tighten the belts of government officials and politicians. If the idea is to continue along the path of profligacy then Nigeria is contagiously jinxed. The Republic of Tanzania has already taken the lead. I will publish a report that has already gone viral below this letter as a veritable example of what is possible.

I wish you well as always Sir.

PDP's spokesman Olisa Metuh celebrated his 50th birthday with less privileged in the society - In pictures

The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olisa Metuh turned 50 on Saturday, November 28, 2015, a milestone he celebrated, not in a five star arena, but with the less privileged in the society,

On Sunday, November 29th, Chief Olisa Metuh took his wife, relations and friends to brighten the mood at the Abuja Children Home, Karu, where he ate, played and sang with the children, showered them with various gifts items and announced scholarships, up to university level, for some of them. He also led some of his friends to announce various levels of scholarships and other interventions for the children.

Recall that Chief Metuh had on Friday, November 27, visited the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Wassa, Abuja where he shared meals, distributed assorted food items and pledged to collaborate with relevant government agencies to provide drinking water in the camp.

Below are pictures of Chief Metuh with children of Abuja Children Home.

Photos below are from the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Wassa, Abuja, where Metuh visited with his wife on Friday November 27.

Source: PDP's official Facebook page.

Does President Muhammadu Buhari have a conscience? by Femi Fani-Kayode

”Aside the 105 soldiers killed by Boko Haram, additional 34 soldiers were killed two days ago but it wasn’t in the news”- Deji Adeyanju.

I concur with Mr. Deji Adeyanju. The most heartless and reprehensible thing that our government could have done is to cover-up the fact that 105 of our soldiers were killed by Boko Haram a few days ago. To do such a thing is simply evil.

A soldier ought to be honored in death and this is especially so if he dies in the course of doing his duty and fighting for his nation.

The government has not only dishonored them by not acknowledging their sacrifice but they have also buried them in the wilderness like rabid dogs.

This is wickedness of the highest order and President Buhari, his Chief of Army Staff and his Minister of Defense should bury their heads in shame.
Anyone that buys the lie and propaganda that the 105 soldiers never died and that they are still alive is a compound fool or village idiot.

Will the military also deny the fact that a few days ago 34 of our soldiers were killed by Boko Haram? These boys died for their country. Why deny them?
I am outraged by the fact that a soldier will sacrifice his life for his country yet the citizens and authorities of that country don’t even appreciate it.

Pictures of the dead bodies were posted on social media. Everyone in the military knows that those soldiers are dead. It is an open secret. Yet because government denies it so many people just choose to believe them.
The truth is that Boko Haram must have used chemical weapons in the attack.When you look at the pictures of the dead bodies this is obvious. It was probably mustard gas.
All we want from the military is the truth. If 105 soldiers were not killed then how many actually were?

The whole episode happened last week in Borno state and the military authorities are denying it. I am sickened by that.
If others cannot appreciate the importance of honoring our dead soldiers, I can. I will not be intimidated and I will not remain silent.

Tell us where our boys are buried and if you refuse to do so we will keep asking. There must be accountability and respect for those that have made the supreme sacrifice just to keep the rest of us safe. Our soldiers deserve that much.

Finally let it be said loud and clear that since President Buhari came to power he has not bought one bullet for the military. Considering the fact that we are in the middle of a protracted and very bloody war I believe that this is utterly shameful. If you say you want to fight and defeat Boko Haram then why are you not buying arms for your troops?

This brings me to other matters and raises other questions about our President’s sincerity of purposes and commitment.
You say that you are fighting Boko Haram yet you are travelling the world drinking tea with world leaders whilst your soldiers are secretly being slaughtered.

You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet you were nominated as their spokesman and chief negotiator 2 years ago in proposed peace talks with the Federal Government.
You say you are fighting Boko Haram but the man you appointed as your National Security Adviser was retired from the army a few years ago for ordering the release of Boko Haram terrorists under suspicious circumstances.

You say you are fighting Boko Haram but the first thing you did when u came to power was to remove military checkpoints.This guaranteed Boko Haram free movement and access to the entire country.

You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet last year you told the world that an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the north.

You say you are fighting terror yet since you came to power Boko Haram has grown in strength, has regained lost territory and has been declared the ”worlds number one most deadly terror group” by the Global Terror Index.

You say you are fighting terror yet since you came to power Nigeria, according to the Global Terror Index, has been declared as not just having ”the first most deadly terror group in the world” which is Boko Haram but also of having ”the fourth most deadly terror group in the world” which is a group that the Index describe as the ”Fulani militants” and that we call the Fulani herdsmen.

You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet since you came to power Nigeria has been declared the world’s ”third most terrorised country” by the Global Terror Index after Iraq and Afghanistan which were declared first and second respectively whilst Syria and Pakistan were declared fourth and fifth.

You say you are a ”born again democrat” yet you voted against the protection of human rights at the United Nations alongside Iran, Zimbabwe and North Korea.

You say you respect human rights yet you barricade Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the former National Security Adviser, in his home, endanger his life, deny him medical attention, flout court orders and make him critically ill.

You say you respect human rights yet you arrest Governor Boni Haruna simply for standing as surety for Dasuki and you try to force him to abandon his friend.

You say you respect human rights yet you raid Governor Attahiru Bafarawa’s home and arrest and detain his son simply because he is friends with Dasuki.

You say you respect freedom of speech and human rights yet you lock up Nnamdi Kanu indefinitely and your security agents shoot two unarmed and harmless pro-Biafra youths to death in Enugu simply because they were involved in a peaceful demonstration.

You say that you are a believer in the rule of law yet you ordered your secret police to storm a sitting governors official home in Akwa Ibom knowing that he enjoys immunity from such matters.

You say you love Nigeria yet a bomb goes off in Kano killing over 21 people and instead of coming back home to mourn with your people you continue junketing around the world.

You say you know how to run Nigeria but according to Paul Wallace and Michael Cohen of the United States magazine known as Bloomberg Business your ”bounce has become bust”, your ”policies irk investors”, you have ”destroyed Nigeria’s economy” and you ”do not have the capacity to move the country forward”.

You say that you know how to manage the economy yet stocks and shares have crashed, small businesses are folding up, our foreign currency has dried up, industries are collapsing, agricultural output has decreased, our foreign reserves have been spent and the value of the naira has depreciated since you came to power and it continues to fall.

You say you know what you are doing and how to manage Nigeria’s affairs yet the U.S,-based Washington Times newspaper says that you lied to America about your so-called good intentions for Nigeria and that you have ”duped the United States of America” with your false promises and empty words.

You say that you are fighting poverty yet according to the Business Day Newspaper Nigerians are ”getting poorer for the first time since 1999”.

You say that you will restore our countries fortunes yet the fuel queues are back and the prices of food, transport and basic commodities are soaring by the day.

You say that you are a man of your word and after you were declared winner of the election you promised not to malign, persecute, witchunt, demonize, disrespect or go after President Goodluck Jonathan and members of his administration unless you had concrete evidence of wrongdoing yet when you came to power you did precisely that.

You say you are fair-minded, true to your friends, loyal to your supporters and always reasonable yet you did not concede even one ministerial slot or approve one ministerial nominee of the two men that helped you more than any others to win the presidential election, namely President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Bola Tinubu.

You say that you want the country to change, that you believe in fairness and equity, that you are a progressive, that you believe in a generational powershift and that you want the country to move forward yet you are trying to destroy  Bukola Saraki simply because he won an election and became Senate President.

You say that you are fighting corruption yet no-one has been made to face the music or brought to book over the 25 billion naira REMITA and Systemspecs scandal and neither has the matter been clarified or resolved even though it has been established that the whole deal was struck under your watch.

You say you love Nigeria and all Nigerians yet your Fulani kinsmen, under the guise of herding cattle, are slaughtering thousands of innocent people all over the south and Middle Belt, yet you remain their Grand Patron and you refuse to utter to a word of condemnation for their actions.

You say you respect Nigerians yet every time you travel out of the country you spend your time telling foreigners and the foreign media how useless, rotten and corrupt your people are and how you are the only saint in Nigeria.

In view of all this I am constrained to ask whether President Muhammadu Buhari has a conscience or is it that he has just lost touch with reality? Everything that I said about him during the Presidential campaign has been confirmed and in just six months he has betrayed the trust and squandered the goodwill that the Nigerian people bestowed upon him in the March presidential elections. I have to say that I am not surprised by this because his ”change” mantra was just an illusion.

What he and his APC failed to disclose to the Nigerian people during the campaign is that what he meant by ”change” was a change from light to darkness. Sadly our people trusted him and now he has plunged our nation into that darkness.

May God enable him to find the courage to retrace his steps before it is too late and may the Lord deliver Nigeria from those that are around him that fail to tell him the truth.

I gather that they call those of us that oppose President Buhari and that are PDP supporters the ”wailing wailers”. That is an interesting expression because by the time Buhari finishes with Nigeria I have little doubt that the entire country will be wailing.

The truth is that I would rather be a ”wailing wailer” that posterity vindicates than a ”lying liar” or a ”howling howler” who has lost his way and who continues to have confidence in a man like Buhari and a party like the APC that is hell bent on destroying our country and our cherished democratic institutions with their Rambo-like insensitivity and total ineptitude.

All those ”lying liars” and ”howling howlers” that voted for President Buhari should clap for themselves for the terrible mess our country is now in. We will remember them in our prayers too.

Femi Fani-Kayode was former Aviation Minister.

EXCLUSIVE: Buhari cancels weekly FEC meetings

The federal executive council (FEC) meeting, which used to hold weekly since 1999, will now take place once in two weeks, TheCable reported.

President Buhari has decided that meeting every Wednesday is surplus to requirement, a senior government official told TheCable.

''And FEC will no longer be all about awarding contracts but a serious discussion of policy issues and appraisal of ministerial performance,'' the official said.

FEC has been held just once since the appointment of ministers, with the only meeting taking place on November 11 — the day they were inaugurated.

There was no meeting on November 18, and Buhari was in Ikenne, Ogun state, for the burial of HID Awolowo on November 25.

Buhari will not be in the country on December 2 because of his international commitments. It is still not clear when the next meeting will hold.

''The president believes once he has given you a job, you have to deliver. He was very painstaking in picking the ministers and he is convinced he has picked a very good team, so it is now left for them to deliver the goods with minimal supervision,'' the official said. ''FEC meetings will now be for brainstorming on policies and performance review, not just contracts.''

In the past, decisions on such matters as purchase of cooking stoves and waste bins were discussed at FEC and announced to the world by ministers at media briefings after the meetings.

Source: The Cable

Adorable photos of Princess Charlotte in pretty pink at 6 months released!

The Kensington Palace on Sunday released two photos of Princess Charlotte in a pink cardigan over a dress with a collar taken by her mother Kate Middleton at Anmer Hall, the family's Norfolk home, in early November.

The two photographs were released to mark her turning six months old.and as a thank you to the British public and media for allowing children to grow up away from spotlight,

Gbenro Ajibade, his wife Osas Ighodaro, others arrive in style for ELOYAwards 2015 (Photos)

Gbenro Ajibade and his wife Osas Ighodaro walked the carpet at the 7th edition of the Exquisite Lady of the Year Awards happening now at The Red Carpet Hall, in Lekki, Lagos.

David Cameron attends an anti-corruption event at #CHOGM2015

President Buhari and Commonwealth leaders at a side meeting on Anti-Corruption chaired by UK Prime Minister David Cameron at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Issues on the agenda include climate change and the threat of global extremism.

Nigeria Submits its Climate Action Plan Ahead of 2015 Paris Agreement

Nigeria submitted its new climate action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) comes in advance of a new universal climate change agreement which will be reached at the UN climate conference in Paris, in December this year.

This INDC and all others submitted by countries are available on the UNFCCC website here. Including Nigeria, 182 parties to the UNFCCC have formally submitted their INDCs. The secretariat provides additional information relevant to Nigeria in the attached Pdf below.

The Paris agreement will come into effect in 2020, empowering all countries to act to prevent average global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius and to reap the many opportunities that arise from a necessary global transformation to clean and sustainable development.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres is encouraging countries to come forward with their INDCs as soon as they are able, underlining their commitment and support towards this successful outcome in Paris. Governments agreed to submit their INDCs in advance of Paris.

All information such as documentation on designing and preparing INDCs as well as on sources of support for INDC preparation, is available here.

Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in these national climate plans, meaning that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time.

November 29 2015

Terrorism can only endure if good people remain idle and complacent – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari declared Sunday, November 29, 2015 in Malta that violent extremism and terrorism can only thrive and endure if good people remain idle and complacent.

Speaking on behalf of other participating African Heads of State and Government at the closing Executive Session of the 2015 Commonwealth Summit, President Buhari said that he was confident that terrorism will be ultimately defeated with greater international cooperation and collaboration.

"We have had the opportunity to discuss, in a serene atmosphere, wide ranging issues that are of great significance, not only to the members of the Commonwealth, but to the entire global community.

"Of particular note is the Action Statement on Climate Change, which is expected to herald our commitment to saving the planet for present and future generations.

"Of equal significance are our deliberations on Radicalisation and Violent Extremism. We are witnesses to the growing phenomenon of terrorism that is affecting us all, whether big or small.

"The reign of terror will only succeed if peace-loving people choose to remain idle. But I am confident that through our collective efforts, we will defeat this scourge and restore peace," President Buhari said.

The President also reaffirmed the unwavering commitment of Nigeria and other African member-countries to the promotion and protection of the core values of the Commonwealth.

"I came into power via democratic principles and values espoused by this same body. Nigeria as a country will continue to protect and promote these democratic ideals," President Buhari assured heads of delegations at the session.

The President thanked the outgoing Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma for his exemplary service to the Commonwealth.

"We in Nigeria will not forget his five memorable visits to our country during his tenure. As this is his last CHOGM in his present capacity, I know I speak for my colleagues from Africa in expressing our immense gratitude and best wishes to him," President Buhari said.

He also congratulated the Commonwealth's Secretary-General-elect, Rt. Hon. Patricia Janet Scotland, and assured her of the full support of Nigeria and other African members of the Commonwealth.

- Garba Shehu

AY, Mabel celebrate 7th wedding anniversary (Photos)

Nigerian comedian Ayo Makun and his wife Mabel are celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary on Sunday November 29 with the Comedian posting a series of their wedding photos on social media alongside a special anniversary message to his wife and CEO of Midas Interiors.

''‘You came into my life with a positive attitude, together we have made friends and family,'' AY said. ''Together we have shown love, together we have experienced the good, the bad and the ugly. Thanks for being there all this while. Thanks for being the solid reason behind my smile. Thanks for always helping to take away every pain and sorrow. Thanks for making me look forward to tomorrow. Thanks for always pushing me towards success, Thanks for giving me unlimited happiness. Thanks for accompanying me In the journey of my life. Thanks for being such an amazing wife. Happy anniversary''

The couple got married in 2008 at a star studded ceremony.