Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State has ordered that 16 top government functionaries in the state should forfeit their September and October salaries and overheads for coming late to a state event.
The officials were said to have arrived late to a debate competition organized by the government as part of activities to mark the nation’s 55th anniversary and 19th year of the state’s creation.
The functionaries included commissioners, special advisers, assistants, members of boards, local government areas caretaker committee chairmen, among others.
Others included the Principal Secretary to the Governor, Commissioner for Environment, and Commissioner for Economic Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation among others.
Umahi, who expressed dismay over the lateness of the officials, noted that the government intended to restore sanity to governance in the state.
He commended the organizers and participants at the debate with the theme, ‘Anti-Corruption and Internally Generated Revenue Drive: the only Panacea for Economic Development in Ebonyi’.
“It is pertinent to state that not all public office holders are corrupt; the malaise is a matter of the individual’s conscience.
“The government will recover all funds paid by the people to Enugu Electricity Distribution Company for pre-paid metres as the company always offers excuses for non-provision of the facilities,” he said.
Senior Special Adviser on Religious Affairs and Welfare to the Governor, Rev. Father Abraham Nwali, said the masses suffered most from the effects of corruption. [myad]
A trader, Mrs. Yemi Adebayo, has narrated to an Akure Customary Court how her husband, Adesola once fought with her whereby he pulled her hair after dragging her on the floor and that she was able to rescue herself by hitting him in the head with a phone.
Mrs. Adebayo who sought for the dissolution of her eight year-old marriage with Adesola over threat to her life, said that he had often quarreled with her resulting most times in her sustaining injuries, even as she produced photo evidences to buttress her point.
The petitioner told the court that the respondent was hell-bent on killing her and their two children, adding that apart from subjectibg her to cruel beating, the husband is also into promiscuity which had resulted in five children outside wedlock and unknown to her.
She also said that her husband had never paid her bride price and had bluntly refused to pay it each time she brought the matter up, saying that they came together as husband and wife after confronting him with extramarital affairs.
According to her, the respondent has not been paying the school fees of their two children.
She therefore prayed the court to put an end to the union which according to her had collapsed a long time ago, pleading that the children should be in her custody. [myad]
President Muhammadu Buhari may have turned his back on former President Goodluck Jonathan conceived Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P as the beneficiaries and trainees of the 2014 Technical Vocational Education Training, TVET have not been paid their take off grants after attending a three week empowerment programme nine months ago.
The trainees numbering about 85 and selected across the 36 states of the federation and trained in Water well drilling, borehole rehabilitation and maintenance said that they were yet to be empowered with either equipment or funds to start up their businesses.
The team leader of the group, Aminu Haruna Maipampo, who spoke to newsmen in Kaduna yesterday said they were told at the commencement of the training that on completion of the three weeks programme, they would be given take-off grants to empower them and enable them to start up a business, but to their surprise, nine months after, they were yet to be paid a dime.
Maipampo appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency, intervene in the matter and ensure justice is done, adding: the SURE-P was introduced to reduce unemployment and poverty in Nigeria through the development of skills, building institutional capacity and investing in Technical and Vocational training infrastructure.
“Out of a large number of Nigerians who applied, 85 of us were selected across the country to undertake intensive training exercise in Borehole drilling, rehabilitation and maintenance for three weeks with the aim of turning us into self reliance individuals after completion of the training by empowering us with either equipments or funds to start up our own borehole drilling/maintenance businesses just the way it is obtainable in all other SURE-P empowerment programmes.
“Initially, privilege information we got, we were told each person will be given 600,000 naira on completion of the training. Later, we were told 400,000 naira but before the end of the three weeks training, we got another privilege information that we will be paid N250,000 and that electronic payment will require us giving them our bank detail, which we did. But we are yet to be paid a penny for the past 9 months.
“About nine months now after the training, we have made so much effort to see that the equipment or funds are been released to us, but to our disappointment, a reliable source in the SURE-P headquarters, Abuja, revealed to us that the funds meant for us have been diverted by some top officials in the SURE-P headquarters into their own coffers. Several attempts made to reach the officials in question have proved abortive.
“It is on this note that we call on President Muhammadu Buhari to in his anti-corruption crusade intervene in this matter.” [myad]
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has fixed tomorrow, Tuesday for the conduct of a fresh governorship primary in Bayelsa state after the one held last week Monday failed to meet the party’s standard of free and fair election.
The APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, who spoke to new men at the end of its National Working Committee (NWC) meeting in Abuja today, said: “The main issue that occupied us today at the NWC meeting has to do with the Bayelsa governorship primary. We want to make it very clear that as a party, the APC guides very jealously its record of free and fair primary.
Flanked by the Deputy Chairman, North and South, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, Engr. Segun Oni, National Vice Chairman, South -South, Prince Hillaard Etta, the National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and National Women Leader, Hajia Ramatu Tijanni Ali, the APC chairman added: “the NWC sees it as a duty to provide a level playing ground for all those who aspire to offices in this party. Unfortunately, in Bayelsa State, we had serious security challenges and so, the process could not meet the standard which this party has set for itself.
“So, we have no alternative than to stop the process by ensuring that the chairman of the panel was effectively moved out of the venue with the help of security agencies. We decided thereafter that there should be a proper fresh primary.
“So today, the party decided and we have written to INEC appropriately that the party has decided to conduct fresh primary for the Bayelsa governorship election beginning on Tuesday. So, the process for fresh primary will begin on Tuesday.
“We are getting in touch with the Inspector General of Police and other security agencies to please assist us by ensuring effective security.” [myad]
The Federal Government on Monday declared Thursday, October 1 as public holiday to mark Nigeria’s 55th Independence celebration.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Abubakar Magaji, announce this on behalf of the Federal Government in a statement signed by the ministry’s Director of Press, Yusuf Isiaka.
Magaji, who congratulated Nigerians both at home and abroad, also thanked them for their supports to President Muhammadu Buhari in his efforts towards building a peaceful, united and virile nation.
He further urged Nigerians to use the occasion to pray for peace and unity across the country.
Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, has called on his people to join him in begging the federal government to pay the N29 Billion bailout fund he requested in full instead the N9.6 billion that had so far been released.
The governor, who spoke today in Ikogosi-Ekiti during the opening ceremony of a two-day retreat for commissioners, permanent secretaries and heads of agencies, said that out of the N5.6 billion applied for by the 16 local governments in the state, the federal government only approved N991 million.
“You people know that I don’t hide anything from you when allocations come. We applied for N29 billion from the bail-out fund. It is to cover the August and September 2014 salary arrears left by the Fayemi government, leave bonus, pensions, gratuities and others. But for reasons we don’t know yet, the federal government only approved N9.6 billion for salaries leaving other issues.
“The 16 local governments applied for N5.6 billion and we did all the necessary papers and presented them to the appropriate authorities, but only N991 million was approved. We were later told by the Central Bank of Nigeria that about 14 states had similar problem with the small amount approved for local governments.
“I have since written to them to rectify the situation and I hope they will do that quickly. It is only the federal government that can explain why they only approved one item, salary, out of the many items we presented to them on the workers’ issue.
“We have nothing to hide and people should appeal to the federal government to release the money in full. We know it is a loan that we will repay with nine per cent interest.”
The governor said that the state had experienced a sharp decline in monthly allocations in recent time.
“Last month we had a shortfall of N500 million and this month we have a shortfall of N600 million. The economy is dwindling and in bad shape and the federal government must do something about it urgently.” [myad]
Milestone: Start of the fifth month of Muhammadu Buhari’s “Change” era. The week commences with the Nigerian leader’s appearance at the 70th United Nations General Assembly. It will be his first as an elected leader, and he is expected to be received with respect. Buhari arrives at the UN at an important moment: the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that Nigeria made such a historic failure of, and the commencement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will replace—and hopefully correct—it. As one who has advocated that Buhari probe projects, not persons, I believe the MDGs are one of the most important projects to be investigated. That would be in the best interest of Nigeria, to set the stage for successful implementation of the SDGs, but it would also be in the best interest of Buhari, because it will help him strengthen our management practices. Tomorrow, he will speak at the UN General Debate, where he may make an impact no Nigerian leader has in a long time. When he speaks, he must remember that exactly one year from now, all things being well, he will need to be talking about achievement, not promise. Nonetheless, Buhari will return to Nigeria the following day, in time for Nigeria’s National Day two days later. Two significant things are guaranteed in the three days before October 1. The first is that he will submit to the National Assembly a list of his Ministerial nominees. The second is that he will have a chance to obtain from a veteran his first full glimpse into the quality of the existing anti-corruption terrain: the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is scheduled to submit its annual report to the National Assembly by Wednesday. That report should be at the top of President Buhari’s reading list this week, should it be submitted. The commission has usually avoided writing one. Rumors have it that when it was allegedly submitted during the steal-as- much-as-you-can years, it was in the form of an overview of a couple of pages. That manufactured draft would then be smuggled into the National Assembly, where it was kept out of sight by its complicit leadership. In other words, the EFCC knew the only battle it was doing with economic and financial crime in Nigeria was keeping a lid on it, a job that with the legislature’s help was laughably easy. The voters changed that hoodwinking last March when they hired Buhari, but the EFCC is however nothing if not adaptable, and it has taken advantage of Buhari’s recent arrival to run around the country beating the crime-fighter drum. Perhaps it really had been fighting corruption all these years but was simply not getting the credit. Perhaps it was “malicious” Nigerians such as this writer who were misrepresenting the work of the commission. This is the week we get to find out. First, does the EFCC submit a report? If it does, is it the comprehensive, authoritative one demanded by the EFCC law? That is: is the report reflective of the scale and character of Nigeria’s corruption malfeasance? Second, we will also presumably find out in what direction the National Assembly, to which the report is submitted, will be leaning. The Assembly, in its current form, has cooperated with, and therefore nurtured, the mess for 10 years. There are many fascinating dimensions to this week. One of them is that Bukola Saraki, the President of the Senate, is embroiled in his own battle at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), where he faces 13 serious counts of corruption. Will Saraki and the many Senators who support him show any interest in a substantive EFCC report? If so, what form would such “interest” take? Will they identify corruption as a menace to be fought, or will they see in it an opportunity to frustrate a dangerous enemy? I have previously identified the EFCC’s failure to publish the report as being a matter of life and death to its leadership. If the commission is an honest and patriotic agency, such a report will reveal it to be thorough, organized and structured in its work. If not, it will immediately unveil the commission as a criminal outfit that is dangerous to the national interest. A related dimension is that Ibrahim Lamorde, the current chairman of the commission, was recently accused by a petitioner of having misappropriated federal funds. Hopefully, the audit segment of the awaited report this week will set the records straight and restore Lamorde’s reputation. Still, Saraki’s Senate has commenced his investigation, and its failure for any reason to complete that process will not pass as proof of his innocence. The meaning of all this is that I was wrong when I said at the beginning that there are two significant issues for Nigeria and President Buhari in the next couple of days. There is just one because Buhari’s ministerial-nominee list and the EFCC report will wind up in the Senate, possibly the same day. The first has suffered—or benefitted from—Buhari’s search for Nigerians of integrity; the other concerns Nigeria’s top economic and financial criminals who are well-represented in the Upper House. Given the crisis in the National Assembly, Buhari may thus find himself in a hostage situation there, as his nominees become pawns in the hands of those forces eager to halt or frustrate his anti-corruption objectives. I urge the President to proceed with determination, beginning by ensuring the dissemination of the EFCC report or taking appropriate steps should it not be published. It is intended to be a public document. Remember: among many others, that report will clarify why so many anti-corruption agencies have left so many former governors and other top officials without being prosecuted for their crimes, some of them for 10 years or more. This is critical because the key—but in the final analysis meaningless—argument of the Bukola Saraki camp in his confrontation with the CCT (apart from his being clairvoyant and being rich because he is rich), is that he should have been challenged when he made his famous assets declaration in 2003. Reviewing the EFCC report, and thereafter making whatever important changes are necessary in the anti-corruption sub-sector, is fundamental to any long-term success in it. It will also unveil how the agencies in the industry have become adept at covering up for, and cooperating with, each other. If Buhari does not care, and does not understand these tendencies, he can consider his war against corruption traveling the same direction as his 1984 War Against Indiscipline: into the hands of the Ibrahim Babangidas. These agencies have nurtured corruption by nurturing impunity and granting respectability to the most odious forms of abuse. It is appropriate to inaugurate a true war against corruption by recognizing their institutional contributions, or punishing their betrayal. There is no other way forward. sonala.olumhense@gmail.com Twitter: @SonalaOlumhense. [myad]
National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has began the airlift of pilgrims with the first flight by Medview Aircraft leaving Jeddah and headed to Lagos this morning, with 221 Ogun state pilgrims. Information reaching Greenbarge Reporters indicated that the first flight, VL3205 departed Jeddah for Lagos at 10.20am. This is even as it was confirmed that no fewer than 56 Nigerians died in the last Thursday’s stampede at Jamrat in which over 750 pillgrims died. The report said that 61 others Nigerians sustained various degree of injuries in the stampede. Chairman of the NAHCON, Alhaji Abdullahi Muhtar who was reported to have made this known yesterday, after a meeting with Nigerian mission in Saudi Arabia said that the figure could be higher, because some Nigerians have not yet been accounted for. Reports indicated that the states who lost pilgrims are Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Jigawa, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Lagos and Yobe.
Among the prominent Nigerians who lost their lives in the stampede are: 1. Professor Tijjani Abubakar El-Miskin -Deputy Secretary General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) 2. Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf – former Editor of New Nigerian Newspaper 3. Justice Abubakar Abdulkadir Jega – Judge at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal 4. Alhaji Abbas Ibrahim – first class Emir of Zing in Taraba State (he was also the Taraba State Amirul Hajj) 5. The two wives of the Emir 6. Hafsat Shittu – Female pharmacist 7. Shiekh Liman Dan-Ata – Chief Imam of the Sultan Abubakar III Jumaa’at Mosque 8. Bello Gidan-Hamma – immediate Caretaker Chairman of Illela Local Government Area of Sokoto state, 9. His mother 10. His step-mother 11. His two wives. [myad]
Whatever Magic the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode put in place to ease the Traffic Gridlock in Apapa must be sustained. I spent less than 35 minutes from Shangisha to Lagoon Hospital, Apapa. I must also thank the Lagos Governor for saving the life of my bosom friend, who was involved in a fatal accident along Lekki – Epe Expressway last Sunday. The swift response of the Emergency Team with just a call to 112 and the mobile ambulance (which I now termed Hospital on the wheel) was key to my friend’s survival. He was treated free of charge! I recall that those mobile clinics were launched by the Lagos state Governor just two weeks earlier. I must also commend the effort of the medical team at the Lagos Trauma (Accident & Emmergency Centre) Ikeja Toll Gate, Near 7-Up. You guys are wonderful and I thank you all! Honestly, I can say that Lagos is working and Nigeria should learn from this example. Thank you Mr Governor and your wonderful team in the health care delivery sector!
Leader of the Shiite Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, has attributed the Jamrat stampede that led to the death of over 750 pilgrims to a Saudi Arabian prince, whose convoy allegedly caused it.
El-Zakzaky, who spoke yesterday in Zaria, Kaduna State, as part of activities to mark the Eid-el-Kabir said that the prince, whose name he did not mention, and others that were fingered in the tragedy should be sentenced to death.
The leader of the Shiite Islamic sect said the Saudi prince, whose convoy allegedly caused the stampede should not only be blamed for the death of innocent souls but be held culpable for the ugly incident.
He said that the management of the hajj was not the exclusive preserve of the Al-Saud royal family. [myad]
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
And Now The EFCC Report, By Sonala Olumhense
Milestone: Start of the fifth month of Muhammadu Buhari’s “Change” era.
The week commences with the Nigerian leader’s appearance at the 70th United Nations General Assembly. It will be his first as an elected leader, and he is expected to be received with respect.
Buhari arrives at the UN at an important moment: the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that Nigeria made such a historic failure of, and the commencement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will replace—and hopefully correct—it.
As one who has advocated that Buhari probe projects, not persons, I believe the MDGs are one of the most important projects to be investigated. That would be in the best interest of Nigeria, to set the stage for successful implementation of the SDGs, but it would also be in the best interest of Buhari, because it will help him strengthen our management practices.
Tomorrow, he will speak at the UN General Debate, where he may make an impact no Nigerian leader has in a long time. When he speaks, he must remember that exactly one year from now, all things being well, he will need to be talking about achievement, not promise.
Nonetheless, Buhari will return to Nigeria the following day, in time for Nigeria’s National Day two days later.
Two significant things are guaranteed in the three days before October 1. The first is that he will submit to the National Assembly a list of his Ministerial nominees.
The second is that he will have a chance to obtain from a veteran his first full glimpse into the quality of the existing anti-corruption terrain: the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is scheduled to submit its annual report to the National Assembly by Wednesday.
That report should be at the top of President Buhari’s reading list this week, should it be submitted. The commission has usually avoided writing one. Rumors have it that when it was allegedly submitted during the steal-as- much-as-you-can years, it was in the form of an overview of a couple of pages.
That manufactured draft would then be smuggled into the National Assembly, where it was kept out of sight by its complicit leadership.
In other words, the EFCC knew the only battle it was doing with economic and financial crime in Nigeria was keeping a lid on it, a job that with the legislature’s help was laughably easy.
The voters changed that hoodwinking last March when they hired Buhari, but the EFCC is however nothing if not adaptable, and it has taken advantage of Buhari’s recent arrival to run around the country beating the crime-fighter drum.
Perhaps it really had been fighting corruption all these years but was simply not getting the credit. Perhaps it was “malicious” Nigerians such as this writer who were
misrepresenting the work of the commission. This is the week we get to find out.
First, does the EFCC submit a report? If it does, is it the comprehensive, authoritative one demanded by the EFCC law? That is: is the report reflective of the scale and
character of Nigeria’s corruption malfeasance?
Second, we will also presumably find out in what direction the National Assembly, to which the report is submitted, will be leaning. The Assembly, in its current form, has cooperated with, and therefore nurtured, the mess for 10 years.
There are many fascinating dimensions to this week. One of them is that Bukola Saraki, the President of the Senate, is embroiled in his own battle at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), where he faces 13 serious counts of corruption.
Will Saraki and the many Senators who support him show any interest in a substantive EFCC report? If so, what form would such “interest” take? Will they identify corruption as a menace to be fought, or will they see in it an opportunity to frustrate a dangerous enemy?
I have previously identified the EFCC’s failure to publish the report as being a matter of life and death to its leadership. If the commission is an honest and patriotic agency, such a report will reveal it to be thorough, organized and structured in its work. If not, it will immediately unveil the commission as a criminal outfit that is dangerous to the national interest.
A related dimension is that Ibrahim Lamorde, the current chairman of the commission, was recently accused by a petitioner of having misappropriated federal funds.
Hopefully, the audit segment of the awaited report this week will set the records straight and restore Lamorde’s reputation.
Still, Saraki’s Senate has commenced his investigation, and its failure for any reason to complete that process will not pass as proof of his innocence.
The meaning of all this is that I was wrong when I said at the beginning that there are two significant issues for Nigeria and President Buhari in the next couple of days.
There is just one because Buhari’s ministerial-nominee list and the EFCC report will wind up in the Senate, possibly the same day. The first has suffered—or benefitted from—Buhari’s search for Nigerians of integrity; the other concerns Nigeria’s top economic and financial criminals
who are well-represented in the Upper House.
Given the crisis in the National Assembly, Buhari may thus find himself in a hostage situation there, as his nominees become pawns in the hands of those forces eager to halt or frustrate his anti-corruption objectives.
I urge the President to proceed with determination, beginning by ensuring the dissemination of the EFCC report or taking appropriate steps should it not be published. It is intended to be a public document. Remember: among many others, that report will clarify why so many anti-corruption agencies have left so many former governors and other top officials without being prosecuted for their crimes, some of them for 10 years or more.
This is critical because the key—but in the final analysis meaningless—argument of the Bukola Saraki camp in his confrontation with the CCT (apart from his being clairvoyant and being rich because he is rich), is that he should have been challenged when he made his famous assets
declaration in 2003.
Reviewing the EFCC report, and thereafter making whatever important changes are necessary in the anti-corruption sub-sector, is fundamental to any long-term success in it.
It will also unveil how the agencies in the industry have become adept at covering up for, and cooperating with, each other. If Buhari does not care, and does not understand these tendencies, he can consider his war against corruption traveling the same direction as his 1984 War
Against Indiscipline: into the hands of the Ibrahim Babangidas.
These agencies have nurtured corruption by nurturing impunity and granting respectability to the most odious forms of abuse. It is appropriate to inaugurate a true war against corruption by recognizing their institutional contributions, or punishing their betrayal.
There is no other way forward.
sonala.olumhense@gmail.com
Twitter: @SonalaOlumhense. [myad]