News

U.S. exports inflation, slows global recovery

Published

3 years ago

October 7, 2022

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

The Federal Reserve recently raised its benchmark interest rate by another 75 basis points, which marked the fifth time for the U.S. monetary policy decision maker to make interest rate hikes. These back-to-back increases are the biggest since early 1980s.
The radical interest rate hikes have triggered widespread concerns of the international society. As the world is still bothered by COVID-19 resurgences and slow economic pickup, the U.S., passing the pressure and risks of inflation to the rest of the world, will only encumber global recovery.
For some time, the U.S. has seen increasingly severe inflation, which has even reached a new 40-year high. It mirrors the country’s structural problem in economy and failing policies.
Over the recent years, the U.S. has followed trade protectionism and arbitrarily increased tariffs, leading to a rise in the price of imported commodities and services. However, the cost is shouldered by American enterprises and consumers.
To cope with the impacts from COVID-19, the U.S. government launched a large number of fiscal policies and ultra-easy monetary policies, which led to overheated economy and supply-demand imbalance. As a result, the recovery of production lagged behind that of consumption.
As in the 1970s, persistent and repeated negative supply shocks will combine with loose monetary, fiscal, and credit policies to produce stagflation, said Nouriel Roubini, Professor Emeritus of Economics at New York University.
Besides, since the Ukraine crisis, the unilateral sanctions launched by the U.S. against Russia have caused huge impacts on global energy, finance and food sectors, which further disordered supply and industrial chains and exacerbated inflation.
The U.S. needs to adopt problem-oriented strategies to address the inflation issue. However, the Federal Reserve is wishing to ease overheated economy and inflation by boosting interest rates. What the U.S. has done is only casting a shadow over its economic growth.
The back-to-back interest rate hikes have driven up the cost of borrowing, thus containing enterprises’ investment expansion and consumption, impacting the labor market and bringing huge downward pressure to the U.S. economy.
Spanish newspaper Rebelion said in an article that the Federal Reserve is curbing inflation at the sacrifice of the entire economy, which will lower economic growth, accelerate recession and trigger debt crisis. Besides, the U.S. practice cannot stop the rising prices caused by the impacted supply chain.
Countries in the world are interdependent in the era of economic globalization. However, the U.S. cares about only its own short-term interests when making monetary and fiscal policies, which may take the world to an even bigger crisis.
CNN called the interest rate hikes “dollar smile,” but the smile only chills the world. U.S. dollars often appreciates when the U.S. economy is very strong or very weak, and the appreciation makes capital flow back to the U.S., which causes hyperinflation and capital flight for other countries. Emerging markets and developing countries have been the biggest victim every time the U.S. raised interest rate since the Latin American debt crisis.
Undoubtedly, the new interest rate hike will bring capital back to the U.S., and developing countries will face a number of challenges such as stock market fluctuation, depreciation of domestic currency, interest rise in their debts in U.S. dollars, as well as surging cost of raw material imports.
James Morrison, associate professor at London School of Economics and Political Science, noted that the interest rate hikes will definitely place negative impacts on the world and worsen the financial distress of developing countries, as the U.S. dollars is in the center of the international financial system.
The interest rate hikes made by the Federal Reserve also burdened Europe, Japan and other developed economies. French newspaper Les Echos said on its website that the raised benchmark interest rate will force other central banks to follow, which will depreciate euro and exacerbate inflation. As a result, the European economy, already impacted by the Ukraine crisis, will shoulder greater pressure.
As the world’s largest economy, the U.S. should adopt responsible economic andfinancialpolicies and control their spillover effect, so as to avoid exporting inflation and recession risks to the rest of the world.
Facing the economic hegemony of the U.S., emerging markets and developing countries should adopt a long-term perspective, improve the system and rules of international economic governance, and make global governance fairer and more equitable.

News

The Most Shocking A/Court ‘Judgment’ in Nigerian History: An unfortunate precedent that should not be allowed to stand

Published

9 hours ago

November 30, 2025

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The last is yet to be heard of wide ranging ex-parte orders as this time around, the charade has moved to the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division. In the case of FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others, the Court of Appeal’s ex parte orders are not only egregious but a chilling sign of judicial capture, smacking of dirty practices at best and corruption at worst.

On Thursday, 27th November 2025, at exactly 2:00pm, Justice Yargata Nimpar delivered a ‘ruling ’ that appeared like a thief in the night, a ghost and unscheduled, the said decision came upon a Motion Ex-parte which was not heard not argued in open court, yet it surfaced, fully written, signed, stamped, and delivered as though it had lived a full life on the Court of Appeal docket.

For many Nigerians, the judiciary has again weathered the storms. Veterans of the legal system describe this episode as “a daylight heist… a judicial armed robbery without guns.”

The controversies over wide ranging ex-parte applications, it would seem, has found its way to the Court of appeal, an intermediate court with limited original jurisdiction as donated to it by statute.

In this instance, barely two weeks ago, we reported the ex-parte orders against NESTOIL and the other defendants listed in the suit before the Federal High Court which led to the transfer of the suit to another judge.

The said interim orders were vacated by effluxion of time, being that ex-parte orders last for only 14 days.

The court however ordered parties to maintain status quo and adjourned the Motion on Notice for hearing by the consent of the parties. That Motion is still pending before the Federal High Court.

It would seem that in order to frustrate that pending Motion, the Plaintiffs somehow filed a similar application to the Court of Appeal which was granted an order ex-parte directing the Lower Court not to take any further steps, including determining the pending application filed by Plaintiffs (now Appellants).

This magically resurrected, fast-tracked application seem to have been rubber-stamped at the fictional “Appeal Bench of Shadows,” as insiders have begun calling it.

A CASE THAT NEVER EXISTED — YET RECEIVED A JUDGMENT

Our Judiciary correspondent gathered that when the court’s official list for the day was released, nothing seemed amiss. No controversial cases. No unexpected hearings.

But somewhere inside the dusty chambers of bureaucracy, a secret file was already being prepared and by 2pm, a judgment carrying the signatures of an entire appeal panel had surfaced — even though none of them had appeared in open court and when the case itself had never been argued before any High Court, making an appellate ruling legally impossible.

By evening, whispers had turned into rumblings. Court workers who handled the mysterious document reported unusual instructions: No public sitting; No mention on the court list; No access to case filings; No digital record and No audio recording of proceedings. Yet an order was made retrospectively to undo a completed act! which is yet another impossibility in law, because the exparte order cannot restore what has been already executed.

“It was like dealing with a ghost file,” one clerk said. “It appeared from nowhere and disappeared into official archives as though it had always existed.”

This judgment, once delivered, spread like wildfire, with legal scholars calling it “a constitutional impossibility.” Veterans said they had never seen anything similar since the 1970s.

Enquiries from our judiciary correspondents indicate that an application can only be hinged upon a valid Notice of Appeal against a decision of a lower court before any application can be entertained at the Court of Appeal.

Further Investigations by our judiciary correspondent reveals that no such Notice of Appeal has been filed nor served on the respondents; no parties have been invited to Settle Records and no Records of Appeal have been transmitted.

One wonders the platform or upon which grounds the ex-parte order was made, observed one senior lawyer, especially as a similar pending application filed by the Appellants has been adjourned for Hearing by the Federal High Court.

Furthermore, the case at the trial court before Justice Osiagor has not been heard on its merits, which documents was placed before the appellate court and all applications before the judge has not been heard or is the court of appeal now a trial court.

A JUDICIARY AT A CROSSROADS

Public outrage rose quickly. Lawyers described the situation as “a hijacking of justice by shadowy interests.” Civil society groups demanded explanations.

A Judiciary where justice can be manufactured behind closed doors…a legal system where influence not merit, decides outcomes…and an institution tested by the weight of powerful external forces, et cetera should not be allowed to thrive.

AN ERA-DEFINING SCANDAL

This judgement will stand as one of the most dramatic challenges ever faced by Nigeria’s justice system. The shockwaves has rippled far beyond the courtroom — touching politics, business, security agencies, and public trust.

One thing is clear: This is the kind of judicial earthquake that rewrites history, shakes institutions, and forces a nation to confront the truths it fears the most. Our judicial correspondences were able to get an incline of the ex-parte orders made by the Court of Appeal as follows:

AN ORDER of interim restorative injunction reversing all steps taken by the Respondents and/or persons purporting to act on the instructions of the Respondents and which steps or actions were taken pursuant to the order of the Federal High Court coram Osiagor, J made on the 20th day of November 2025 pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on the 26th day of November 2025.
AN ORDER of interim injunction restraining the Respondents, their agents, servants, affiliates, and privies from interfering with and interrupting the Receiver/Manager in the performance of his duties pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on 26th November 2025.
AN ORDER staying further proceedings at the lower court pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on the 26th November 2025.

A SHOCKING DEPARTURE FROM JUDICIAL NORMS

Therefore, the Lagos Court of Appeal’s decision to grant ex parte orders in FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others stunned the legal community as ex-parte rulings are meant for rare emergencies and hardly exercised by appellate courts. By acting without hearing both sides, while the matter was already before the Federal High Court, the Court of Appeal has undermined the principle of natural justice and distorted its own role.

NIGERIAN IMAGE AT RISK

At a time when Nigeria is striving to reposition its global reputation, this case sends the wrong message. It portrays the country as one where courts can be hijacked by private interests, where fairness is discarded, and where corruption lurks behind judicial robes. For investors and international partners, it reinforces damaging stereotypes of weak institutions and compromised justice.

AN URGENT CALL FOR INVESTIGATION

These orders are not just irregular — they are evidence of judicial capture. They must be investigated urgently. The Chief Justice of Nigeria, the National Judicial Council, the President of the Court of Appeal and the Nigerian Bar Association cannot remain silent. If appellate courts become arenas for ex-parte adventures, Nigeria’s justice system risks collapse under the weight of manipulation.

CLOSING NOTE

The Court of Appeal’s conduct in FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others is more than a misstep, it is a warning sign of judicial capture. If Nigeria is serious about restoring its image and strengthening democracy, this case must be investigated, accountability enforced, and reforms implemented. Anything less would be an abdication of the judiciary’s sacred duty to uphold justice. We must not allow that to happen.
A very Senior lawyer emphasize that the exparte order of the court of appeal lagos division in Nestoil has the possibility of eroding administrative control of Heads of superior Court from assigning or re assigning matters within their respective courts. Furthermore both the President of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Justice of Nigeria may not have the authority to disband a panel and re- constitute another panel over any matter in their respective courts. This decision is a total anarchy to the judiciary and urgent steps must be taken to vacate the strange Court of appeal exparte order.

The conduct of the court of appeal justices is not excusable anywhere in the world and it’s indeed has brought the court of Appeal justices who constituted the panel to ridicule

News

Pius Akutah’s Alleged Fraud at Nigerian Shippers Council Uncovered

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

milcah

Investigations by Nigerian Concord Newspaper reveal that the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Mr. Pius Akutah, has allegedly misappropriated public funds for a lavish lifestyle.

According to our findings, within months of assuming office, Akutah allegedly purchased a bulletproof SUV valued at approximately N850 million. In addition, he is reported to have acquired over twenty exotic SUVs for use as a convoy.

Akutah is also said to have acquired multiple high-value properties, including three in Abuja’s Maitama and Asokoro districts worth over N2 billion, and two in Lagos’ Banana Island valued at N1.8 billion. These acquisitions appear far beyond the scope of his official salary and allowances.

Further investigation suggests that Akutah may be using public funds to support political ambitions, including allegedly grooming militants across 23 local government areas in Benue State for a potential 2027 gubernatorial bid.

Staff of the Shippers Council reportedly claim that Akutah frequently accesses the council’s treasury without proper authorization. Some insiders have indicated that a petition will soon be filed with the EFCC, ICPC, and the Presidency to report his alleged misconduct.