The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, has threatened to resign from the position, if anyone asked him to compromise.
Bawa, who answered questions on NTA interview programme, One-on-One, stressed: If anybody asks me to do anything contrary to my conscience or against the rule of law, I will resign my appointment.”
In a statement posted on the EFCC’s official Twitter handle, the anti corruption boss said: “we need to change our attitudes in Nigeria.”
“We are in the habit of worshipping people that have money in the society, but never bother to ask questions about their source of income. In winning the fight against corruption, we are engaging all stakeholders including religious leaders, community leaders and others.
“We are going to embark on massive public enlightenment to sensitise people on the need to shun corruption in all its forms.”
Bawa vowed to continue to do what is right, saying: “the Commission under my watch will continue to abide by the rule of law.”
President Muhammadu Buhari welcomes the Chadian President, Idriss Deby Itno to Presidential villa, Abuja, with coronavirus handshake and in coronavirus style, today, March 27. Photo by Sunday Agaeze.
Saudi Arabia has been hit by seven million cyber attacks in the first two months of 2021, according to a new report.
The report from cyber security firm; Kaspersky, said that Saudi Arabia witnessed more than 22.5 million brute force attacks in 2020 on remote desktop protocols (RDPs), the most popular way to access Windows or servers.
Brute force attacks are trial-and-error attempts to guess login information, encryption keys or find a hidden web page.
The report said that the number of attacks significantly increased by 104 percent in March to 2 million, compared to February when there were 983,512.
The jump, the report said, coincided with the government’s announcement restricting office work and other activities.
It said that this situation is not exclusive to Saudi Arabia.
The Kaspersky report showed that brute force attacks against RDPs skyrocketed to reach 3.56 billion globally with the switch to remote work.
Saudi cybersecurity expert, Abdullah Al-Gumaijan explained three factors behind the recent increase in cyberattacks.
“When there’s political tension in the region, cyberattacks immediately rise,” Al-Gumaijan told Arab News. “Also, the utilization of cyberweapons increased due to attackers now realizing the value of such attacks as they continue to prove their power and damage. Therefore, the trends toward investments in cyberattacks are growing.”
The third factor, he said, was the pandemic. “With most people working from home, that means most organizations were forced to ease their security controls to allow their employers to access its environment remotely. This is another window opened to attackers. Flexibility in the paradigm contradicts with security. The more we go secure, the less flexibility we have.”
The report said that one of the most common attacks were against the protocols used by employees to access corporate resources remotely, emphasizing the need for cybersecurity awareness.
Also, most employees in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region never want to return to pre-pandemic, traditional work paradigms, making the refinement of security measures a serious task for organizations of all sizes.
“People do not want to go back to traditional methods,” said Al-Gumaijan, adding that organizations and governments had realized that virtual mediums were an efficient way of working.
It was considered odd before the pandemic to hold official meetings virtually, he said, whereas nowadays summits at global levels were taking place online, eliminating costs and facilitating communication for everyone.
But this shift also suggested that cybercriminals would continue to attack, therefore organizations must increase cybersecurity awareness among their people, who had become the first line of defense.
“Companies that have good security maturity have now realized that they need to invest in awareness. This is the right response. We should adapt to change, it is good and healthy, cost-effective. You have to raise awareness instead of diving against the wave.”
The Kaspersky report said that more than half of employees believed that technology skills were the most important to develop. But, just as technical skills were important, so were cybersecurity skills.
“Remote work is here to stay,” said Emad Haffar, head of technical experts at Kaspersky. “Even as organizations begin considering re-opening their workplaces, many will continue to include remote work as part of their operating model or even combine working from home and the office in a hybrid format. That means it’s likely these types of attacks against remote desktop protocols will continue to occur at a rather high rate. 2020 made it clear that organizations need to enhance their security measures, and a good place to start is providing stronger protection for their RDP access,” added Haffar.
The company recommended that organizations enable access to RDPs through a corporate VPN, and the use of Network Level Authentication when connecting remotely.
Other steps are using corporate security solutions empowered with network threat protection, enabling multi-factor authentication, and automated security awareness services.
Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development has admitted that some Northern elders are responsible for the worsening security challenges in the country, especially in the Northeast and Northwest
In a statement today, March 26 by the National Coordinator, Engr. Goni Zana, the group confessed that some of them applied religious and regional considerations in dealing with the crisis.
“As difficult as it is in speaking the truth, we feel constrained to admit that our quick resort to religious, ethnic and regional considerations led us to advise the president in wrong directions.
“The war against insecurity could have been a thing of the past if we had made good and informed decisions. We believe the complete consideration of our interest in making appointments into security agencies among other things led us to this present situation. Our decision resulted in deep drop in the pursuit of the war against terrorists thus emboldened the adversaries on the other hand.
“Many lives and property have been lost and destroyed. Frontline troops were falling every day to a more determined group of insurgents and bandits but our decision to remain quiet and not say the truth as things were happening, led us to this present situation.”
The group said that the way out is for the President to stop adhering to advice from people of narrow interest and begin to take only decisions that are pro-Nigeria with a view to correcting the many ills of his administration towards a better country.
The group said that such decisions should be immediately reviewed, adding: “we wish to once again raise alarm over the deteriorating state of security in the North. We have been crying and will continue to cry until the situation gets better.
“We are loosing it as a country and Mr President needs to take extra steps before we are consumed as the rate at which we are going now if nothing is done within the shortest possible time, we may not have a country to call our own. The era of doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is over. We can’t continue to dwell in the past. It’s time to move forward now.” “Mr President must ignore every sectional, regional, tribal and religious sentiments and go for the best hands that can do this job of securing our country.
“As northern elders who are concerned about the peace, security and stability of our dear nation, we wish to appeal to those people of influence in the North who have access to the president to always speak the truth to him, especially in appointments or reforms in the security sectors and others even if it does not favour our region and religion, provided such appointments will bring lasting peace and unify Nigeria.”
The Nigeria’s Federal Government has announced the release of about N288 billion out of the N500 billion appropriated for COVID-19 intervention programmes under the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP).
The government announced also that at least 2.1 million jobs have been saved, including new ones created, while over 4000 kilometre of federal and rural roads are at least 30 percent completed since the commencement of the ESP months ago. rising from a meeting today, March 25, the Economic Sustainability Committee said that significant improvement had been made in the implementation of the plan, as the Federal Government ramps up funding for projects across sectors to impact more Nigerians.
The meeting which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said that already, more than 50 percent of the appropriated sum for the ESP has been released.
Professor Osinbajo, who stressed that considerable progress had been recorded, affirmed the President’s resolve to always look out for the Nigerian people, and urged members of the committee “to bear in mind that the vast majority of our people are not allowed to suffer.” “Under the Survival Fund scheme specifically, 1.3 million jobs have been saved, and another 774,000 jobs created from the Public Works Programme. This is apart from the total 26,021 jobs created from construction and rehabilitation works.” Other highlights include the release of 100% (i.e. N5bn) appropriation for the COVID-19 Aviation intervention; 50% funding (N26bn) for the Public Works scheme hiring 774,000 persons across the country, among others. Professor Osinbajo said at the meeting: “I think that it will be fair to say that on account of the very good work that you all have done, we were able to get out of recession much faster than anyone would have imagined, although only marginally.” He advised ministers and heads of agencies implementing key programmes of government not to rest on their oars, adding: “it is important for us to continually bear in mind that we really have a duty to ensure that the vast majority of our people are not allowed to suffer. So, I feel we should be thinking more about the next thing that we need to do.” On digital skills support for youth and women, anchored by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba reported that N1.5 billion, which is 50% of the amount appropriated for the scheme primarily targeted for job creation has been released to the ministry. He added that priority programmes for the intervention is the training of 600 youths (100 from each of the 6 geo-political zones) on VSAT technologies who will also be supported with laptops and stipends. The Minister noted that the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs has received N625 million (representing 50% of appropriated funds) to implement an empowerment scheme for women through capacity building in innovation and vocational training. For the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports, the Minister said N2.6 billion representing 50% appropriation was released for implementation of youth employability improvement scheme through: *Capacity building in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies *Positioning Nigerian youths for digital remote jobs *Equipping of youths digital/robotic training centres across the 6 geo-political zones. Another key highlight of the progress report is the release of N1.25 billion (50%) to the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons for implementation of programmes for vulnerable and displaced persons, specifically: *The construction of 400 housing units for persons of concern in Zamfara, Yobe, Katsina, and Edo states; 8 PHCs and others *Empowerment of 900 persons of concern with skills, starter packs and startup capital. The Minister also reported that the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development received N2.45 billion representing 7.5% of N32.45 billion for cash transfer to the poor and vulnerable, while the balance of N30 billion is being processed. In strengthening health system, the Minister said 52 Federal Tertiary Health (FTHs) Institutions received N23.57 billion (N853m each) for the establishment of ICUs, Molecular Laboratories and Isolation Centres. The progress report presented by the minister showed that in 38 FTHs implementation is at an average of 47% completion with procurement process completed and equipment supply in progress. Expected outcomes from the interventions in the sector include 520 fully equipped ICU beds available in FTHs; 52 Isolation wards with an aggregate of 1040 beds and associated patient monitoring equipment and 52 molecular labs with the capacity to carry out a minimum of 150 PCR test a day. Other releases for the health sector, according to the minister include, N10 billion for the establishment of a bio-vaccine laboratory; N5.02 billion representing 50% to the Federal Ministry of Health for implementation of the following projects: *Surveillance and Epidemiology *Establishing Laboratory *Point of Entry; *Infection Prevention and Control *Case Management *Health-related communication *Research and Development In his presentation, the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Nanono, said N17 billion has been released for rural roads project under the ESP while about 5.8 million farmers enumerated out of which the data of 3.6 million have been validated. In the works sector, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola said a total number of 4,350 direct jobs were recalled and 18,321 indirect jobs were created through the engagement of the contractors and suppliers handling different works across the country.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced an increase of 80.12 percent in trading surplus for the month of December 2020 which stands at ₦24.19billion compared to the ₦13.43billion surplus recorded in November 2020.
This is contained in the December 2020 edition of the NNPC Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR), according to a statement today, March 25 by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Corporation, Dr. Kennie Obateru.
He said that Trading surplus or trading deficit is derived after deduction of the expenditure profile from the revenue in the period under review.
According to the report, the operating revenue of the NNPC Group in December 2020 as compared to November 2020 increased by 33.44% or N137.00billion to stand at N546.65billion. Similarly, expenditure for the month increased by 27.54% or N112.81billion to stand at N522.47billion. The December 2020, expenditure as a proportion of revenue is 0.96 as against 0.97 in November 2020.
The report indicated that the 80.12% increase is due mainly to the significant rise in the profit of NNPC’s flagship Upstream entity, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) amid improved market fundamentals and strong global demand for crude oil.
Other contributory factors to the robust trading surplus recorded in the month under review include the improved performance by the Nigerian Gas Marketing Company (NGMC), the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), the National Engineering and Technical Company (NETCO) and Duke Oil Incorporated which recorded noticeable gains in their operations.
In the Downstream, 2.26billion litres of white products were sold and distributed by PPMC in the month of December 2020 compared to 1.72billion litres in the month of November 2020.
This comprised 2.254billion litres of petrol, translating to 72.72million litres/day, 11.40 million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) and 0.48 million litres of kerosene.
Total sale of white products for the period of December 2019 to December 2020 stood at 18.456billion litres and petrol accounted for 18.325billion litres or 99.29%.
In monetary terms, the volume translates to a value of ₦288.77billion recorded on the sale of white products by PPMC in the month of December 2020 compared to ₦226.08 billion sales in November 2020.
Total revenues generated from the sales of white products for the period December 2019 to December 2020 stood at ₦2.217triilion, where petrol contributed about 99.09% of the total sales with a value of ₦2.197trillion.
In December 2020, 43 pipeline points were vandalized representing about 18.60% increase from the 35 points recorded in November 2020. Mosimi Area accounted for 56% of the vandalized points while Kaduna Area and Port Harcourt accounted for the remaining 33% and 12% respectively.
In the Gas Sector, natural gas production in December 2020 stood at 213.34Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) translating to an average daily production of 6,881.83million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd).
The daily average natural gas supply to power plants increased by 3.52% to 816mmscfd, equivalent to power generation of 3,445MW.
Out of the 208.61BCF of gas supplied in December 2020, a total of 146.72BCF was commercialized; consisting of 42.90BCF and 103.82BCF for the domestic and export market respectively.
This translates to a total supply of 1,383.93mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,349.00mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.
This implies that 70.33% of the average daily gas produced was commercialized while the balance of 29.67% was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared. Gas flare rate was 6.80% for the month under review (i.e. 457.25 mmscfd) compared to average gas flare rate of 7.15% (i.e. 538.59 mmscfd) for the period December 2019 to December 2020.
The 65th edition of the NNPC MFOR highlights the Corporation’s activities for the period of December 2019 to December 2020.
In line with the Corporation’s commitment of becoming more accountable and transparent, the Corporation has continued to sustain effective communication with stakeholders through the MFOR which is published on Corporation’s website, national dailies, as well as independent online news portals.
The Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) has said that within the last four years, its members have grown from begging Banks for loans to the banks now begging them to take their loans.
“From being an unbankable sector that was on the verge of bankruptcy, the members of the association in the last 3 months alone have been able to raise bank guarantees and funding of close to N100 billion.”
Leaders of the Association, who visited President Muhammadu Buhari today, March 25, at the Presidential villa, Abuja, said that from having fertiliser scarcity which led to rationing, today any farmer can buy as many bags as he or she wants.
‘‘As a matter of fact, some farmer associations even give customised orders for their specific crops. On behalf of the Nigerian farmers we wish to thank Mr President for empowering them.”
The President of the Association, Thomas Etuh, who led the team to the Presidency, recounted that in their first meeting with the President five years ago, he gave the association a mission to reduce Nigeria’s reliance on import, enhance fertiliser availability and affordability and create jobs over a 4-year period.
‘‘Today, 4 years later Mr President, I am proud to inform Your Excellency, and indeed all Nigerians, that mission is accomplished.”
Etuh said that from 3 blending plants operating at 40 per cent capacity in 2016, today Nigeria has 44 blending plants most of which are operating at full capacity.
‘‘From focusing on one fertiliser blend (NPK20:10:10) in 2017, today, we have countless numbers of crop specific blends coming up across the country.
‘‘From being reliant on imports, today over 60 per cent of raw materials used in fertiliser production are locally sourced.
Responding, President Buhari said that a new basic chemicals platform worth $1.3 billion, capable of producing ammonia and fertilizers in Nigeria will be ready for commissioning in the coming months.
President Buhari said that the new plant will be built in partnership with the Kingdom of Morocco.
‘‘His Majesty, the King of Morocco and I, have agreed to extend the current Phosphate supply agreement between the Kingdom of Morocco and Nigeria.
‘‘We both believe that to consolidate and expand on the successes recorded thus far, we must secure raw material supplies to our blenders.
‘‘Furthermore, to improve the balance of trade between Nigeria and Morocco, the two countries have signed an agreement to develop a $1.3 billion Basic Chemicals Platform in Nigeria that will produce Ammonia, Phosphoric Acid, Sulphuric Acid and various Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK) and Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertilisers using Nigeria’s gas reserves.”
The President said that the new plant, when completed, would complement the existing Dangote and Indorama Chemicals facilities which produce urea, ammonia and other industrial raw materials.
‘‘When we combine these projects with the existing 44 blending plants, Nigeria will indeed become a regional and global fertiliser power house.”
On the activities of the FEPSAN, President Buhari expressed delight on the progress they have made over the past five years, saying that despite the country going through recessions during the period, investments in the fertiliser and agricultural inputs sector continued to grow.
‘‘Though many investors chose to take their monies out of Nigeria, you continued to invest. Today, we are seeing the fruits of your smart, long term and patriotic decisions.
‘‘This is why all Nigerians should be proud of the personal commitments and sacrifices you all made in getting us to where we are today.
‘‘Another commendable trait worth mentioning is that all your investments have been balanced between urban and rural Nigeria. These are the types of investments needed to address the unemployment and security challenges our nation is facing today.”
He assured them that the Federal Government would continue to ensure a conducive business environment for these investments to flourish.
On the issue of security, the President expressed concern that the lack of employment prospects and opportunities in most rural communities had remained a major contributor to insecurity.
He noted that for decades, previous Government policies have focused on urban development at the expense of rural inclusion.
‘‘In the last four years, we have worked hard to bridge some of these economic imbalances through our various agricultural and financial policies to attract employment opportunities to rural areas.
‘‘As we continue to expand our security operations to bring an end to these challenges, it is important to note that peace and prosperity can only be sustained if we collectively and actively support investments that take opportunities to our rural citizens.
‘‘I therefore urge our governors, bankers, investors and entrepreneurs to look beyond our cities when it comes to investments.
‘‘As we have seen from Nigeria’s 5-year fertiliser revolution, if investors are willing to endure the short term ‘start-up’ pains, they will surely benefit from long term sustainable and substantial gains.”
The President commended Governor Muhammad Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State, Thomas Etuh and his FEPSAN team, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, security and intelligence agencies and all Federal and State Government agencies for their collaboration in making the project possible.
‘‘I will also use this opportunity, on behalf of Nigerians, to thank my brother and friend, His Majesty, the King of Morocco for being with us during this difficult but exciting journey.
‘‘This mutually beneficial partnership between our two countries is a true example of how intra-Africa trade and partnership should work.”
The long awaited increase in the pump price of petrol may soon come into effect as the Federal Government plans to allow market forces to determine the price.
The government lamented that it is currently subsidizing cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to the tune of about N120 billion ($263,248 million) monthly.
The Group General Manager (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, who spoke to news men today at the fifth edition of the Special Ministerial Briefings, said that the NNPC has been absorbing the cost differential which is recorded in its financial books.
Kyari said that the NNPC is paying between N100 and N120 billion a month to keep the pump price at the current levels, insisting that market forces must be allowed to determine the pump price of petrol in the country.
He said that while the actual cost of importation and handling charges amounts to lN234 per liter, the government is selling at N162 per liter.
He, however, said that the NNPC can no longer afford to bear the cost, adding that sooner or later Nigerians would have to pay the actual cost for the commodity.
A popular Islamic Cleric, Shiekh Gumi has insisted that the only way to end banditry in Nigeria is for the government to dialogue with the bandits, most of who areFulani herdsmen.
At a virtual meeting today, March 24, hosted by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, Sheikh Gumi stressed that under the present circumstance, the bandits will never surrender their arms unless they feel safe.
“Nobody can justify criminality. What we are saying is what we saw in the forest is an ethnic war going on between people in the forest and the neighbouring villages and hamlets. When the herder felt he has grievances and nobody was listening to him, he took on weapons.”
“So when we went there and they saw a listening ear, they were ready to negotiate, tell us their grievances, and ready to incorporate into the society.”
“So in such a case, I see no reason why we should not have a dialogue with them.
“If you don’t show them they’re safe in the larger society, there’s no way they can leave their weapon. And that’s why we asked for amnesty for them just like we had in the Niger Delta.”
“I’m not justifying their kidnapping, what they do is crime. But their kidnapping is to get more money to buy more weapons so that they can protect themselves.”.
Gumi has faced severe criticisms over his involvement in negotiations between the Nigerian government and the bandits.
The virtual meeting today was organised to discuss Nigeria’s security challenges.
Nigeria’s Federal Government has approved N922.8 million for the purchase of fertilizer to assist states affected by insurgency and the 2018 flood disaster.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Mrs. Sadiya Farouk, who spoke to news men today, March 24 shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential villa, Abuja, said that Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states would receive liquid brands of NPK fertilizer as assistance to farmers.
“Today at council, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, presented a memo for the approval of award of contract for purchase of NPK 20:10:10 fertilizer under the emergency agricultural intervention for states affected by conflicts, insurgency and also the 2018 flood disaster in the total sum of N922, 803, 393.26 and council approved the award of the contract.
“The benefitting States are Yobe, Adamawa and Borno. Initially we were supposed to give the NPK 20:10:10 fertilizer but now we are going to provide the liquid fertilizer to the benefiting States and the quantity is about 259, 000 litres of that particular product.”
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The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced an increase of 80.12 percent in trading surplus for the month of December 2020 which stands at ₦24.19billion compared to the ₦13.43billion surplus recorded in November 2020.
The Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN) has said that within the last four years, its members have grown from begging Banks for loans to the banks now begging them to take their loans.
The long awaited increase in the pump price of petrol may soon come into effect as the Federal Government plans to allow market forces to determine the price.
A popular Islamic Cleric, Shiekh Gumi has insisted that the only way to end banditry in Nigeria is for the government to dialogue with the bandits, most of who areFulani herdsmen.
Nigeria’s Federal Government has approved N922.8 million for the purchase of fertilizer to assist states affected by insurgency and the 2018 flood disaster.
