The suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu has named a number of institutions and government agencies that benefitted from the recovered loots. This is contained in a letter titled: “Re: Alleged Case of Conspiracy, Enrichment, Abuse of Public Office and Other Infractions,” which his lawyer attempted to submit to the Justice Ayo Salami-led presidential panel investigating him. The letter was in response to an earlier report by the Presidential Committee on Audit of Recovered Assets in which Magu was accused of being unable to account for the interest accrued to N550 billion recovered funds as well as recovered vehicles and houses. Magu said in the letter that some of the agencies which received the vehicles on auction had not paid for them and that there was an arrangement that the money would be deducted from their financial allocations. According to him, some of those recovered by the EFCC were auctioned to the Presidential Villa, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development as well as the Federal Inland Revenue Services and other agencies. “The commission presently has presidential approval to dispose over 450 forfeited vehicles located in Lagos and Abuja. The vehicles have been valued by the National Automotive Council Valuers and the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. But no sale/disposal has been conducted yet.” Magu said that some houses permanently forfeited to the Federal Government by looters have also been handed over to some government agencies like the Voice of Nigeria, North -East Development Commission and the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate. It was gathered that the panel insisted it would not accept the letter which Magu’s lawyer, Wahab Shittu attempted to submit on Monday. “An attempt to submit the letter to the secretary of the panel on Monday failed. Magu’s team was informed that the panel does not entertain letters but it is purely an investigative one. If there is a need for clarification, Magu would be invited,” a source was quoted saying. Magu was arrested by the police on July 6, detained for about 10 days and made to appear before the investigative panel on a daily basis. Source: The Punch.
Every now and then, an important item in the news tends to remind me of something. Get Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said last Tuesday that this country should try new tactics in the fight against corruption, he reminded me of Nasiru Imam, Deputy Managing Editor of Daily Trust and long-time secretary of its Editorial Board.
Some years ago, the editorial board was discussing the problem of teachers’ salaries, which were in arrears in many states. One member said the system of paying teachers through State Basic Education Commissions [SBECs] is failing. Another member however said funds for paying teachers’ salaries were once paid directly to local governments. The system was ended because many LGAs diverted them. Yet another member pointed out that in the 1980s-early 1990s, Babangida regime centralized the payment of teachers’ salaries in the National Primary Education Commission [NPEC] but that arrangement also ran into problems. Nasiru Imam dropped his pen, sighed and said, “Every method has been tried. Nothing worked.”
Osinbajo spoke at an Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission [ICPC] regional webinar on “Combatting Corruption and Illicit Financial Flows: New Measures and Strategies.” He said we must democratize the fight against corruption and protect whistle blowers. Very good. He is looking for another method to fight corruption. In the last 60 years in Nigeria, which tactic have we not tried in fighting corruption?
We have overthrown governments because of corruption. Those who overthrew the First Republic in January 1966; those who overthrew the Gowon regime in 1975; those who killed General Murtala Mohammed in 1976; those who overthrew the Second Republic in 1983 as well as those who voted out the Jonathan Administration in 2015 all alleged that it was due to corruption. We later realized that Sardauna, Balewa, Gowon, Murtala and Shagari had no money.
We tried affidavits. In 1974, Godwin Daboh filed an affidavit against Federal Commissioner for Communications Joseph Tarka while Aper Aku filed another affidavit in court against Benue Plateau State Military Governor, Police Commissioner Joseph Gomwalk, both alleging corruption. We tried a purge. In 1975-76 Murtala purged thousands of public servants in all sectors. He used the harshest words and the sternest language including summary dismissal, dead woods, with ignominy, with immediate effect, betrayed the ethics of their professions, and they should be ashamed of themselves.
We tried Public Complaints Commission, which Murtala formed in 1976 with the hyper-active Yusuf Maitama Sule as its first Federal Commissioner. When that did not work, we tried exhortation. In 1977 Head of State General Obasanjo went to Jaji and made the Jaji Declaration, that Nigeria must create a society that is fair, just, humane and African. It failed.
In 1981 President Shehu Shagari tried an Ethical Revolution. It hardly got off the ground so in 1983, he created an Egypt-style Ministry of National Guidance with Yusuf Maitama Sule as the minister. It made no impact either, so in 1984-85 we tried a War Against Indiscipline, WAI. Buhari/Idiagbon regime launched it in five brutal phases, complete with a WAI Brigade that became notorious for its excesses.
General Buhari also signed the Recovery of Public Property [Special Military Tribunals] Decree no 3 of 1984. The Special Military Investigation Panels turned the doctrine of justice on its head. They said based on a former public office holder’s declaration of assets, he was presumed guilty until he could prove his innocence. Though who couldn’t do so were turned over to Special Military Tribunals, which jailed dozens of former governors, ministers and other top officials, some for up to 300 years. Many governors were jailed for donating public funds to their political parties.
We tried court cases. Gani Fawehinmi filed an innumerable number of suits to challenge every suspected corrupt act by the Babangida regime, including Mrs. Babangida’s pet Better Life for Rural Women. We tried Failed Banks Tribunals. General Sani Abacha created them with much fanfare. They jailed many bankers and bank debtors, even though Abacha himself nearly bankrupted the Central Bank.
Under General Abdulsalami Abubakar, we began efforts to retrieve looted assets. Recovering the Abacha loot has been on for 22 years now. In 1999, President Obasanjo promised in his inaugural address to fight corruption. Five years later he created EFCC and ICPC. Later, EFCC created NFIU, which is now an independent body. We even tried an Anti-corruption Advisory, which EFCC issued just before the 2007 elections.
We tried a Freedom of Information Act but unlike in America, government agencies here routinely ignore FOI requests. Obasanjo also did a Servicom, with units in every ministry and agency but that did not dent corruption. A lot of human rights and anti-corruption NGOs also sprang up in Nigeria, mostly populated by left-wingers who were left ideologically stranded by the East Bloc’s collapse in 1989.
We tried Code of Conduct Bureau for public officers but since their assets declaration is kept secret, the Code of Conduct Tribunal that tries violators has very little work to do. We tried parliamentary Public Accounts Committees. They were very powerful in the First Republic but these days they have no audit reports to work on, since most government agencies never audit their accounts. We tried preaching; Muslim imams and Christian pastors have shouted themselves hoarse from the pulpits against corruption, to no avail. Sometimes they practice if you cant beat them, join them.
Newspaper editors, reporters and columnists also did what they can in the war against corruption. Nearly every day in the last 50 years, exposes of corrupt deeds were the lead stories in many Nigerian newspapers. No one can count the feature articles, opinion columns and editorials written against corruption. In recent years the social media joined in the fight, not always appropriately.
Nigeria Police too did its best, arrested and charged to court thousands of people for acts of corruption, even if they were less than one-tenth of the culprits. Ditto for the courts; they have jailed thousands of people for corruption in the last 60 years, after ponderous trials and appeals, but let many thieves off the hook. In 2007 President Umaru Yar’adua tried adherence to rule of law as an anti-corruption strategy. That did not work either. President Jonathan’s biggest contribution to the anti-corruption war was to make a distinction between ordinary stealing and corruption, which he later said he heard from the Chief Justice.
We tried whistleblowing but the blowers were left unpaid. In the last 10 years, we deployed technological tools including BVN, TSA and EFCC’s Eagleclaw against corruption. They made a dent, but not all that much. President Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign, launched in 2015, at first held the highest promise but it had no blueprint and totally relied on EFCC. It recently came crashing down in flames.
Even the force of personal example did not help. You can’t have a simpler national leader than Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. That iconic 1965 photo of him, on leave in Bauchi, taken by a white journalist, sitting on a local mat, his two children around him, eating sugar cane, no sign of security guards or limos, no mansion behind him, no exquisite furniture, no Persian rugs, no contract files in sight and no fawning aides nearby. Yet he was killed by totally misguided soldiers for alleged corruption.
Sardauna Ahmadu Bello, after being overwhelming Premier of the North for 12 years, governing 20 of today’s 37 states including FCT, had only one personal car, a Pontiac, when he was killed in the January 1966 coup. When I interviewed his personal driver Nuhu Direba in Sokoto in January 1991, he told me that two days after the coup, he evacuated Sardauna’s family to Sokoto in that lone car. It was too small to accommodate their bags so Sardauna’s Principal Private Secretary Hassan Lemu went and borrowed another car. The family left for Sokoto in that two-vehicle convoy.
Sardauna had no house in Kaduna that his family could repair to. Even though under his rule, Ministry of Lands carved out hundreds of GRA plots and allocated them to senior civil servants and merchants, Sardauna got none. In Sokoto too, he had only one modest house even though before he became Premier in 1954, he was the Northern Region Minister of Works, Community Development and Local Governments, in charge of all Emirs, Chiefs and Native Authorities. Before that, he was Councillor in charge of Sokoto NA’s Central Office, i.e. SSG of today’s Sokoto and Zamfara states combined. Which personal example again is anyone talking about?
I wish Prof Osinbajo luck in his search for a new tactic. I can’t think of any that has not been tried already.
PRESIDENT BUHARI RECEIVES ECOWAS DELEGATION TO MAIL LED BY PRESI JONATHAN. 5A&B. The President Muhammadu Buhari receives Former President and Leader ECOWAS Delegation to Mali Political crisis Dr Goodluck Jonathan on their delegation Mission to Mali held at the State House Abuja. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. JULY 21 2020 PRESIDENT BUHARI RECEIVES ECOWAS SPECIAL ENVOY TO MAIL LED BY PRESI JONATHAN. 3 President Muhammadu Buhari, ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali and former Dr Goodluck Jonathan and President of ECOWAS Commission, H.E Jean-Claude Kassi Brou held at the State House Abuja. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. JULY 21 2020 PRESIDENT BUHARI RECEIVES ECOWAS SPECIAL ENVOY TO MAIL LED BY PRESI JONATHAN. 2A President Muhammadu Buhari receives ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali and former Dr Goodluck Jonathan and the ECOWAS delegation held at the State House Abuja. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. JULY 21 2020 PRESIDENT BUHARI RECEIVES ECOWAS SPECIAL ENVOY TO MAIL LED BY PRESI JONATHAN. 0A. President Muhammadu Buhari receives ECOWAS Special Envoy to Mali and former President Dr Goodluck Jonathan and the ECOWAS delegation held at the State House Abuja. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. JULY 21 2020
The presidency has accused the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore of telling lies against late Malam Isma’ila Isa Funtua who died yesterday over his role in his arrest and detention by the Department of State Security (DSS) recently.
In a statement today, July 21, senior special assistant to the President on media and publicity, Malam Garba Shehu said that late Isa Funtua on his own, called him (Garba Shehu) to ask that he broker a meeting with him and two others with the SSS, which they agreed to.
“First, it is important to state that the meeting was not instructed by the government. Nobody sent anybody to go and “negotiate” Sowore’s freedom as he put it.
“It is important that I state that it was the force of Malam Isma’ila’s argument that made the meeting possible. “Vanguard Newspapers publisher, Sam Amuka and ThisDay Publisher and President, Nigerian Press Organisation, Nduka Obaigbena, all agreed that Sowore was a “rascal”, who had used his newspaper “to abuse all of us,” but agreed, nonetheless to go and press for his release.
“As the late Isma’ila put it, although he (Sowore) got into his problems due to politics, not journalism, the fact of him being a publisher imposed a duty on the media leaders to seek ways of making free.”
Garba Shehu said that the meeting ended well, and that contrary to the posturing by Sowore, he said he was happy with a resolution proposed but that his lawyer needed to come on board.
“The fence mending process, apparently collapsed after the the meeting of the trio with the lawyer in Lagos.
“I don’t know what Sowore wants to achieve by distorting the facts of what transpired, but my advice to him is that he should stop his attacks on a dead, well-meaning intercessor.
“Knowing the way the secret service works, it should surprise no one if they keep a recording of that meeting. “Faced with this posturing and the unfair attacks on the dead, we certainly will be forced to ask for the release of tapes, in case they are available for the public to judge.”
It is a show of shame isn’t it, what is going on at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)?
Established in the year 2000 to assuage the fears of the people of the Niger Delta and address their concerns about the lack of infrastructural development in the region, despite the region’s contributions to the sustenance of Nigeria, it is sad to see how like all good initiatives gone bad in Nigeria, this interventionist agency has become, or has been exposed as a festering sore upon the wound of the Niger Delta. From personality clashes to sordid tales of mismanagement of funds, contractors that collect mobilization fees and simply take a walk, politicians in the National Assembly feeding fat on Niger Delta resources, and reports of terrifying wasteful expenditure and the conversion of every event or situation: graduation ceremonies and even COVID-19 into an opportunity to empty the people’s till, the stench from the NDDC stinks to the heavens. In the past week, we have been treated to the kind of melodrama an artist may never have imagined, complete with the stuff of a fainting fit, a failed romantic attempt, a woman scorned, and hell breaking loose and a once self-styled uncommon Governor as the deutragonist.
It is this latter part of the plot that has excited, amused and fascinated Nigerians. The protagonist is Joi Nunieh, the former Acting Managing Director of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NDDC (October. 2019- February 2020) who left the commission rather abruptly due to a yet unproven allegation around and about her NYSC certificate and so-called “insubordination”. In the course of a forensic audit of the agency ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari, it is noteworthy that all the hidden corpses in the NDDC especially within the last one year began to show up, and some of those ghosts emerged in the form of financial sleaze and broken alliances and failed relationships. The supervising Minister of the Commission, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, a once powerful PDP chieftain, turned an APC floor member, went on television to offer his perspective on what transpired at the NDDC (he must be regretting doing so); rather than address the issues, he launched an attack on Joi Nunieh, who worked briefly as Acting Chairman of the NDDC.
He complained about how the lady had married four husbands and called on those four men, who, if they exist at all, have lent themselves common sense and stayed off the radar. The Minister also made an allusion to Joi Nunieh’s state of health. Of course, she didn’t take it lying low. She seized the occasion with every ounce of oxygen in her body and smashed the table on which Akpabio leaned his bulky frame in the studio. In the course of her now famous interview on Arise TV, we were treated to the sub-plot of how Akpabio failing to dictate to her or control her actions adopted a “Plan B,” which is basically a plan to “entangle” her in “the other room.” She disclosed that what the “uncommon former Governor” from Akwa Ibom State got in response was an “uncommon slap in the face.”
It must have been one of those hot, dirty, blinding slaps that result in a momentary loss of vision and a loud scream of Ye!. Akpabio as Governor used to refer to Akwa Ibom as “Gilgal.” His current travail is like a journey from Gilgal to Golgotha. He insists that Joi Nunieh is lying. He says he has asked his lawyers to go to court.
You probably know the rest of the story: how things went downhill afterwards: the attempt to arrest Joi Nunieh at her Port Harcourt residence, a detachment of about 50 policemen knocking on the gates, smashing doors as if they were after a Colombian drug lord, Governor Nyesom Wike’s ironic, swashbuckling gallantry (can you imagine a PDP Governor protecting an APC member from members of her own party?), the sordid spectacle of the current Acting Chairman of the NDDC, Professor Keme Pondei walking out on the House of Representatives Committee on the NDDC, after practically accusing the Chair of the Committee of being an interested party in the matter, and the same Committee issuing a warrant of arrest to call Pondei to order. Earlier, the same Professor Keme Pondei allegedly disclosed how members of the IMC which he leads spent N1.8 billion on themselves alone as COVID palliative within three months! When he eventually showed up at the House of Representatives yesterday, and he was reminded that he and his colleagues had helped themselves to funds that were not covered in the approved NDDC Budget, he started fanning himself in an air-conditioned room and before anyone knew it, he slumped atop his table! His detractors argue that he was merely playing his role: an Acting MD, acting out a scene in the NDDC drama.
Stakeholders within the NGO community who claim that they have been monitoring the NDDC for years, in fact, suggest that we haven’t seen anything yet and that if a thorough forensic audit is conducted, Nigerians will be shocked beyond their marrows. But can anything be worse than what we have seen and heard so far? These stakeholders also argue that all the drama that our eyes have seen so far is at best a distraction and an orchestrated cover up attempt. The only problem is that the Niger Delta NGO community has also been fingered in some of the stories for having received patronage from the NDDC for work not done. If indeed things get more curious, a list of beneficiary-NGOs may surface, and we may all get busy struggling to lift the veil. We should be watchful. A Professor slumped yesterday. Someone else could have a heart attack tomorrow!
But where are the people of the Niger Delta in all of this? What are their views on the on-going controversy? They are the ones who have been short-changed the most. The NDDC, originally OMPADEC, was part of a series of policy measures including derivation, ecological fund, and infrastructure development plans to address the marginalization of the Niger Delta people, check youth restiveness in the region and promote peace and stability. Since inception, the NDDC has been managed by persons from the Niger Delta. A Ministry of the Niger Delta was also created, and to date, only persons from the Niger Delta have headed that Ministry. And yet all of these issues! The usual tendency is to say that the NDDC was designed to fail, but that is certainly not true. The goal was principled – to bring development to the Niger Delta. It will also be incorrect to say that the people have not seen any development at all. In 1999, parts of the Niger Delta were in a complete mess. I recall visiting Yenagoa in 2000. The Governor then was the late Governor-General of the Niger Delta, the famous Diepreye Alamiyesiegha. Yenagoa, the state capital had only one visible road, which looked like something constructed in the 1960s. I saw one bank: the defunct All States Trust, I believe. And one fuel station with a broken, solitary, pump. And there was a higher education college whose female students were friendly and hospitable beyond comparison! Today, Yenagoa looks different, and the same may be said of other areas of the Niger Delta. The improvement does not go far enough, however, because the major threats to the people’s lives: critical infrastructure like the East-West Highway, environmental crisis, and unemployment remain visible.
Governors of the Niger Delta since 1999 may claim credit for this improvement that we have seen but the perception in Nigeria is that the OMPADEC/NDDC intervention has helped to some degree resulting in the request by other regions for a similar intervention agency. Nonetheless, recent revelations that contractors and officials of the NDDC have been busy pilfering the funds of the Commission is at best stupefying, the sheer scale of it is benumbing. The N81.5 billion that was allegedly diverted within two months sounds like enough money to transform the health sector in parts of the Niger Delta in a season of COVID-19. So, this is not the time for the people of the Niger Delta to make the usual defensive point that anybody from the Niger Delta is entitled to take Niger Delta money. The view that “it is our money taken by our children” is unacceptable. The Niger Delta struggle was based on the ideals of justice, equity, development and progress, no latter-day revisionist should impose on the people of the Niger Delta, a Barkin Zuwo philosophy. I bring this up because I have read some comments by some members of the Niger Delta elite insisting that the big issue is that the NDDC has not been properly funded and that the thing to do is to release all outstanding funds to the Commission. Is that why the trillions in contention had to be mismanaged? Is that the issue on the table? There should be a more robust conversation about the development process in the Niger Delta beyond the confusing argument that this is a conflict between “a political Niger Delta” and “a geographical Niger Delta” or that the only way forward is to throw in more money.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered two major audits in recent times: the audit of the Niger Delta Development Commission and that of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Both should be taken as a personal reaffirmation of his commitment to one of the major planks of his proposed legacy at the inception of his administration in 2015: that is the fight against corruption. But beyond the anti-corruption battle, there is an emerging downside to the Buhari administration: the constant bickering, the cult of personality and the externalization of battles over territory within the government. In a Presidential democracy, a President appoints persons to assist him, he delegates authority to them and they are required to help him achieve the objectives of his administration. Under President Buhari, the in-fighting among his team conveys the impression that many of his appointees are either not interested in his own objectives or they are on a frolic of their own. We have had the Director General of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission at logger heads with the Minister of Communications over office space; Minister of Information vs. DG National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Minister of Labour and Employment vs. MD NSITF, Joy Nunieh vs Godswill Akpabio; Minister of Health vs. Executive Secretary, NHIS, AGF Malami vs EFCC Chair Magu, DSS vs. EFCC, First Lady vs. Presidential aides…all fighting-to-finish as if “Oga is not around”. They have done so much damage. Five years ago, the fear of Buhari’s war against corruption was the beginning of wisdom Today, his own appointees and political associates have messed up the message and strategy. The economy is in bad shape. The war against terror is not working…
Whatever is happening is a wake up call and an opportunity for Mr. President to steady the ship. He needs to rescue his government from ambitious and disloyal individuals and strengthen the institutions of state. He should disband the present Interim Management Committee of the NDDC and sack the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. The Board of the NDDC as provided for in the Enabling Act should be immediately constituted. The audit of the Commission must be totally independent without any interference. The major challenge at the NDDC is that politics has been placed above development objectives. That must change with appropriate mechanisms put in place. On the war against corruption, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission (ICPC) should also be audited. Thereafter, it should be merged with the EFCC. The new EFCC should then be unbundled. It should have autonomous departments: an investigation department, a prosecution department and an enforcement department, all headed separately by professionals who will not be required to report to one individual. The EFCC must also be disengaged from the Nigerian Police. Since inception, only policemen have led the EFCC. How about neutral persons or graduates of the EFCC Academy that has produced many officers who have enjoyed international training and who joined the EFCC with the hope that they were looking forward to a career? The President must restore dignity and respect to the governance process.
The Presidency has made it clear that appointment or sacking of Service Chiefs is a Presidential prerogative of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Reacting to a Senate resolution calling on the Service Chiefs to resign or be sacked due to the multi-pronged security challenges in the country, the Presidency stressed that the President will continue to do what is best at all times in the best interest of the country as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
The two-paragraph statement was issued today, July 21 by the special adviser to the President on media and publicity Femi Adesina.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has published detailed information to guide taxpayers and the general public on rates payable as stamp duty.
This followed several requests by taxpayers seeking clarifications on the current administration of Stamp Duties Act in the country.
The clarification guide is contained in a Public Notice signed by Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Muhammad Nami, and published on the official FIRS website, www.firs.gov.ng
Nami said: “stamp duty is a tax payable in respect of dutiable instrument as provided under the Stamp Duties Act, CAP S8, LFN 2004 (as amended). Such instruments include Agreements, Contracts, Receipts, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Promissory notes, Insurance policies and others stipulated in the Schedule to the Stamp Duties Act.
“Stamp Duty is chargeable on both physical and electronic instruments in two ways i.e. Ad-valorem, where duty payable is a percentage of the consideration on an instrument; or Flat Rate, where a fixed sum is chargeable irrespective of the consideration on dutiable instrument or document.”
He listed no fewer than 50 types of chargeable transactions which require stamp duty, even as he specified the rates chargeable on each.
A statement issued by Director, Communications and Liaison Department the FIRS, Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad said that some of the chargeable transactions are bank deposit or transfer, loan agreement, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) related to land, sales agreement, will, tenancy/lease agreement and all receipts.
He quoted Nami as saying that the recently launched FIRS Adhesive Stamp “is not the same as postage stamp administered by NIPOST for the purposes of delivery of items and documents, and is therefore not a substitute for the FIRS adhesive stamp, which is produced for the sole purpose of stamp duty payment.”
The FIRS helmsman stressed that the burden of payment of stamp duties whether fixed or ad-valorem is that of the beneficiaries of a contract, or Money Deposit Banks’ customers who transfer an amount of N10,000 and above from his account to another customer’s account.
“It is the responsibility of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Money Deposit Banks (MDBs), Companies, Landlords, Executors, etc. to ensure that service providers, contractors, tenants etc. pay stamp duties due on agreements, receipts and other dutiable instruments.
“Failure to deduct or remit stamp duties into the Federal or State Stamp Duties Account attracts relevant penalties and interest as stipulated in the Stamp Duties Act, Cap S8, LFN 2004 (as amended).”
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for its determination to correct the gaps, through research funding, in the nation’s health, governance and security infrastructure which the coronavirus has exposed.
Boss Mustapha spoke today, July 21, while Inaugurating the Body of Experts (BoE) for the Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme (HSRDIS) established by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Boss Mustapha
He praised the efforts of the CBN at addressing the flaws in the public health system through its landmark intervention, adding that the pandemic represented Nigeria with a fresh opportunity to reposition its health system and redress all the deficiencies in the sector as well as other infrastructure.
Boss Mustapha expressed confidence in the composition of the body to deliver on the onerous task, stressing that the CBN intervention would set Nigeria’s healthcare system on the path of recovery.
In his remarks, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, said the Body of Experts (BOE) was established to review and evaluate submitted research proposals and provide recommendations for financing the identified R&D proposals.
Emefiele said that 20 projects valued at N26.278 Billion had been funded under the N100 billion credit support intervention for the healthcare industry, adding that the CBN HSRDIS was designed to increase Nigeria’s research and development activities to support the development of validated Nigeria-made vaccines, drugs and herbal medicines.
He said that the CBN would provide grants to biotechnological and pharmaceutical companies, institutions, researchers, and research institutes, to boost domestic capacity to curb the spread of COVID-19 and other communicable or non-communicable diseases.
The apex bank boss stressed the need to support capacity of relevant health agencies towards attaining World Health Organisation (WHO) Maturity Level three prerequisite for manufacturing of vaccines in Nigeria, even as he said that the Bank would facilitate partnership between academia (researchers, research institutes and universities) and industry to research and develop drugs, phytomedicines and vaccines for the control, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in Nigeria
Emefiele said that a major objective for the Bank was also to reduce dependence on imported drug products (synthetic and herbal) and vaccines for the control, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in Nigeria.
“Attention will be paid to research projects with high potential to contribute to the development of the Nigerian vaccines that will help curb the spread infectious diseases.
“All submissions will be subjected to strict scientific and empirical scrutiny considered to be best in class.”
In her response, the Chairperson of the Body of Experts and DG, NAFDAC, Prof. Adeyeye assured that the body “will diligently seek the truth by ascertaining how the hypothesis driven questions raised in the proposals will be answered.”
She noted that the success of the exercise will increase access to medical products which could impact positively the health of our population, create jobs and expand trade whilst reducing the over dependence on importation and further encourage local production.
Other members of the body of experts are Prof. Babatunde Lawal, Professor Richard A. Adegbola, Prof. Alex Akpa, Professor Isa Marte Hussaini, Prof. Abdulhamid Ahmed, Dr. Chinwe Lucia Ochu and Dr. Philip Fafowora Builders.
The Board of Experts, chaired by the Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, is expected to address challenges that limit Research and Development investment in the healthcare sector.
File photo of President Muhammadu Buhari and Late Isah Funtua at the Presidential villa, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed shock and deep sadness over the death of his longtime friend and associate, Malam Isma’ila Isa Funtua.
He said that Isa Funtua, who until his death today, July 20, was Life Patron of International Press Institute and Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), had stood by him throughout his political journey.
In a condolence message to the family members, government and people of Katsina State, as all associates, President Buhari said that his death had created a huge gap in the media industry.
Describing late Isa Funtua as a man that was “greatly admired and respected,” the President prayed to Allah for repose of Malam Funtua’s soul, and to grant the family strength and fortitude to bear the loss.
The Chief of Nigeria Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai has cautioned against constantly blaming security agents over some shortcomings in their battle with the insurgents and bandits in parts of the North.
“if we don’t do anything and continue to complain, and continue to accuse the agencies involved in fighting it, then we are not helping matters.”
General Buratai, who spoke to newsmen today, July 20, after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa Abuja on the security situation in the parts of the country, admitted that one cannot rule out some challenges in security matters.
“There are set backs that can occur in such military operations or any security operations but that does not mean inability to handle it, incompetence to handle it. As long as the efforts are there and are visible, the support of all and sundry will be required to address it squarely.
The army chief said that it is important for the press not to escalate the situation through reportage.
He pleaded with the press not to give prominence to the bandits, terrorists activities, adding that press blackout will go along way in weakening them.
“You know for the criminals, publicity is their oxygen. Without that publicity, they will be ineffective. Couple with our efforts in the military and security agencies, we will do everything possible to get rid of these criminals.”
General Buratai gave assurance that the security situation is under control and is not like what it used to happen a month or two ago.
“We are working very hard and the troops are doing very well and I commend them for the efforts they have put in so far. “This include the kinetic and the non-kinetic aspect of our exercise Sahel Sanity. We are there fully supporting operation Hadarin Daji, which is a join operation of the armed offices and the security agencies.
“So far, this collective effort is making tremendous progress in the area of bringing normalcy. Unlike the series of killings, kidnappings, cattle rustling and of course, the threats to prevent the people from going to their farms and farm this season, this has been removed with the presence of the number of troops in the northwest and they are carrying out surveillance operations, patrol to ensure that no one is molested if you go outside the community to farm or harvest. .
“We will ensure that this is sustained throughout this farming season and beyond. What we require is the full support of everyone in the area.”
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The presidency has accused the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore of telling lies against late Malam Isma’ila Isa Funtua who died yesterday over his role in his arrest and detention by the Department of State Security (DSS) recently.
It is a show of shame isn’t it, what is going on at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)?
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has published detailed information to guide taxpayers and the general public on rates payable as stamp duty.
The Chief of Nigeria Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai has cautioned against constantly blaming security agents over some shortcomings in their battle with the insurgents and bandits in parts of the North.
Which Tactic Is There Left To Try? By Mahmud Jega
Every now and then, an important item in the news tends to remind me of something. Get Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said last Tuesday that this country should try new tactics in the fight against corruption, he reminded me of Nasiru Imam, Deputy Managing Editor of Daily Trust and long-time secretary of its Editorial Board.
Some years ago, the editorial board was discussing the problem of teachers’ salaries, which were in arrears in many states. One member said the system of paying teachers through State Basic Education Commissions [SBECs] is failing. Another member however said funds for paying teachers’ salaries were once paid directly to local governments. The system was ended because many LGAs diverted them. Yet another member pointed out that in the 1980s-early 1990s, Babangida regime centralized the payment of teachers’ salaries in the National Primary Education Commission [NPEC] but that arrangement also ran into problems. Nasiru Imam dropped his pen, sighed and said, “Every method has been tried. Nothing worked.”
Osinbajo spoke at an Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission [ICPC] regional webinar on “Combatting Corruption and Illicit Financial Flows: New Measures and Strategies.” He said we must democratize the fight against corruption and protect whistle blowers. Very good. He is looking for another method to fight corruption. In the last 60 years in Nigeria, which tactic have we not tried in fighting corruption?
We have overthrown governments because of corruption. Those who overthrew the First Republic in January 1966; those who overthrew the Gowon regime in 1975; those who killed General Murtala Mohammed in 1976; those who overthrew the Second Republic in 1983 as well as those who voted out the Jonathan Administration in 2015 all alleged that it was due to corruption. We later realized that Sardauna, Balewa, Gowon, Murtala and Shagari had no money.
We tried affidavits. In 1974, Godwin Daboh filed an affidavit against Federal Commissioner for Communications Joseph Tarka while Aper Aku filed another affidavit in court against Benue Plateau State Military Governor, Police Commissioner Joseph Gomwalk, both alleging corruption. We tried a purge. In 1975-76 Murtala purged thousands of public servants in all sectors. He used the harshest words and the sternest language including summary dismissal, dead woods, with ignominy, with immediate effect, betrayed the ethics of their professions, and they should be ashamed of themselves.
We tried Public Complaints Commission, which Murtala formed in 1976 with the hyper-active Yusuf Maitama Sule as its first Federal Commissioner. When that did not work, we tried exhortation. In 1977 Head of State General Obasanjo went to Jaji and made the Jaji Declaration, that Nigeria must create a society that is fair, just, humane and African. It failed.
In 1981 President Shehu Shagari tried an Ethical Revolution. It hardly got off the ground so in 1983, he created an Egypt-style Ministry of National Guidance with Yusuf Maitama Sule as the minister. It made no impact either, so in 1984-85 we tried a War Against Indiscipline, WAI. Buhari/Idiagbon regime launched it in five brutal phases, complete with a WAI Brigade that became notorious for its excesses.
General Buhari also signed the Recovery of Public Property [Special Military Tribunals] Decree no 3 of 1984. The Special Military Investigation Panels turned the doctrine of justice on its head. They said based on a former public office holder’s declaration of assets, he was presumed guilty until he could prove his innocence. Though who couldn’t do so were turned over to Special Military Tribunals, which jailed dozens of former governors, ministers and other top officials, some for up to 300 years. Many governors were jailed for donating public funds to their political parties.
We tried court cases. Gani Fawehinmi filed an innumerable number of suits to challenge every suspected corrupt act by the Babangida regime, including Mrs. Babangida’s pet Better Life for Rural Women. We tried Failed Banks Tribunals. General Sani Abacha created them with much fanfare. They jailed many bankers and bank debtors, even though Abacha himself nearly bankrupted the Central Bank.
Under General Abdulsalami Abubakar, we began efforts to retrieve looted assets. Recovering the Abacha loot has been on for 22 years now. In 1999, President Obasanjo promised in his inaugural address to fight corruption. Five years later he created EFCC and ICPC. Later, EFCC created NFIU, which is now an independent body. We even tried an Anti-corruption Advisory, which EFCC issued just before the 2007 elections.
We tried a Freedom of Information Act but unlike in America, government agencies here routinely ignore FOI requests. Obasanjo also did a Servicom, with units in every ministry and agency but that did not dent corruption. A lot of human rights and anti-corruption NGOs also sprang up in Nigeria, mostly populated by left-wingers who were left ideologically stranded by the East Bloc’s collapse in 1989.
We tried Code of Conduct Bureau for public officers but since their assets declaration is kept secret, the Code of Conduct Tribunal that tries violators has very little work to do. We tried parliamentary Public Accounts Committees. They were very powerful in the First Republic but these days they have no audit reports to work on, since most government agencies never audit their accounts. We tried preaching; Muslim imams and Christian pastors have shouted themselves hoarse from the pulpits against corruption, to no avail. Sometimes they practice if you cant beat them, join them.
Newspaper editors, reporters and columnists also did what they can in the war against corruption. Nearly every day in the last 50 years, exposes of corrupt deeds were the lead stories in many Nigerian newspapers. No one can count the feature articles, opinion columns and editorials written against corruption. In recent years the social media joined in the fight, not always appropriately.
Nigeria Police too did its best, arrested and charged to court thousands of people for acts of corruption, even if they were less than one-tenth of the culprits. Ditto for the courts; they have jailed thousands of people for corruption in the last 60 years, after ponderous trials and appeals, but let many thieves off the hook. In 2007 President Umaru Yar’adua tried adherence to rule of law as an anti-corruption strategy. That did not work either. President Jonathan’s biggest contribution to the anti-corruption war was to make a distinction between ordinary stealing and corruption, which he later said he heard from the Chief Justice.
We tried whistleblowing but the blowers were left unpaid. In the last 10 years, we deployed technological tools including BVN, TSA and EFCC’s Eagleclaw against corruption. They made a dent, but not all that much. President Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign, launched in 2015, at first held the highest promise but it had no blueprint and totally relied on EFCC. It recently came crashing down in flames.
Even the force of personal example did not help. You can’t have a simpler national leader than Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. That iconic 1965 photo of him, on leave in Bauchi, taken by a white journalist, sitting on a local mat, his two children around him, eating sugar cane, no sign of security guards or limos, no mansion behind him, no exquisite furniture, no Persian rugs, no contract files in sight and no fawning aides nearby. Yet he was killed by totally misguided soldiers for alleged corruption.
Sardauna Ahmadu Bello, after being overwhelming Premier of the North for 12 years, governing 20 of today’s 37 states including FCT, had only one personal car, a Pontiac, when he was killed in the January 1966 coup. When I interviewed his personal driver Nuhu Direba in Sokoto in January 1991, he told me that two days after the coup, he evacuated Sardauna’s family to Sokoto in that lone car. It was too small to accommodate their bags so Sardauna’s Principal Private Secretary Hassan Lemu went and borrowed another car. The family left for Sokoto in that two-vehicle convoy.
Sardauna had no house in Kaduna that his family could repair to. Even though under his rule, Ministry of Lands carved out hundreds of GRA plots and allocated them to senior civil servants and merchants, Sardauna got none. In Sokoto too, he had only one modest house even though before he became Premier in 1954, he was the Northern Region Minister of Works, Community Development and Local Governments, in charge of all Emirs, Chiefs and Native Authorities. Before that, he was Councillor in charge of Sokoto NA’s Central Office, i.e. SSG of today’s Sokoto and Zamfara states combined. Which personal example again is anyone talking about?
I wish Prof Osinbajo luck in his search for a new tactic. I can’t think of any that has not been tried already.
Culled from Daily Trust.