ON Monday, the Senate challenged the acting Auditor General of the Federation, AuGF, Adolphus Aghughu, to focus on the financial activities of big revenue generation agencies rather than agencies with lower revenue.
Senator Mathew Urhoghide, the Chairman, Senate Public Affairs Committee said this during the 2021 budget defence of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
He particularly asked the AuGF to ensure comprehensive auditing of the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, the Nigerian Ports Authority, and the Nigerian Maritime Administration, NIMASA and Safety Authority among others.
“You claim that you are auditing the account of the federation and you won’t touch the accounts of the NNPC, NPA, NIMASA among others.
“You will remove all the big spenders from your watch list but you will focus on smaller agencies. That is what has been happening from 2015 to date,” he said.
According to the AuGF’s latest report which dates back to 2017, an estimated N17 billion was disbursed for the implementation of 32 projects in 17 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“We don’t want to be seeing these smaller agencies of government that you are focusing on because they can’t settle well. We are tired of seeing audit queries involving municipal councils leaving behind the big agencies,” he said.
Urhoghide said his committee would carry out further works on what the AuGF was doing regarding the Bureau of Public Procurement.
“We are doing status enquiries on the Bureau of Public Procurement based on the Auditor General’s report in a bid to expand the scope. We want to look at their revenue and expenditure profile. We will look at the budget, particularly the Internally Generated Revenue to see everything they have been collecting and how they’re spending it.
“We have asked the secretariat to write to them and invite them. The indictment of the Auditor General is correct. They could not even defend the queries issued against them by the Auditor General,” he concluded.
TWO years after the death of a 13-year-old girl, Ochanya Ogbanje in Benue State, Civil Society Organisations and the family of deceased rape victim, have given a two-week ultimatum to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, to arrest one of the fleeing suspects, Victor Ogbuja.
According to court records, Ochanya died on October 17, 2018 as a result of health complications arising from several years of rape in the hands of Victor Ogbuja and his father, Mr. Andrew Ogbuja, a senior lecturer at the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo.
Speaking at a joint press conference with members of the Federal Government Girls College Gboko Old Girls Association and Make a Difference Initiative (MAD) as well as the Wanda Adu Foundation on Monday in Abuja, the elder brother to deceased teenager, Mr. Ameh Ejekwonyilo, lamented the alleged refusal of the IGP to launch a national manhunt for the young Ogbuja with a view to bringing the fugitive to justice.
Ameh noted that while the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) and the Benue State Government had made tremendous progress in prosecuting Mr Ogbuja and his wife, Felicia Ochiga-Ogbuja for their alleged roles in the rape and death of Ochanya, he wondered why the police have neglected its constitutional duty in arresting and prosecuting Victor Ogbuja.
The CSOs based their ultimatum to the IGP on a Legal Advice from the Benue State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, which directed the police to make “efforts to arrest Victor Ogbuja who is still at large, for justice to take its course.”
A copy of the legal advice marked: MOJ/LEG/3DR/39/100 and dated January 10, 2019, which was sighted by our correspondent read in part: “Arising from the health condition of the deceased (Ochanya Ogbanje) due to multiple rape and sexual abuse resulting to grievous injuries confirmed by Medical Reports, it is our legal opinion that a case of criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide punishable with death under Sections 97 and 222 of the Penal Code Revised Edition (Laws of Benue State) 2004 has been made out against the above named (Andrew Ogbuja) and he shall be prosecuted accordingly.
“Efforts should be made to arrest Victor Ogbuja who is still at large, for justice to take its course.”
Ameh accused the police of shielding the alleged rapist and murderer from prosecution.
“Two years after the death of Ochanya as a result of health complications arising from her being serially raped by the suspected rapists, the Nigeria Police Force are still incapable of arresting and bringing to justice one of the principal suspects, Victor Ogbuja, in this heinous crime.
“We have come to realise that the seeming failure to arrest Victor Ogbuja smacks of high level of complicity by not only the Benue State Police Command but also may have the blessing of the Inspector General of Police.
“We are now of the view that it is simply and squarely a question of neglect, if not outright refusal by the police to arrest and bring Victor Ogbuja before justice over the rape and death of Ochanya Ogbanje.
“It is in the light of the foregoing that we hereby put the IGP on notice that in the event that he fails to declare Victor Ogbuja wanted for the egregious crimes that have been linked to him in the aforementioned Legal Advice, we as a family, the FGGC Gboko Old Girls’ Association and other civil society organisations will have no choice but to storm the police Force Headquarters at Louis Edet House in Abuja to register our displeasure over the continued refusal to arrest and bring the fugitive to justice,” Ameh said.
In a welcome address, a representative of the FGGC Gboko Old Girls Association, Dr. Ngozi Akpala, regretted that two years down the line, justice was still elusive to the late Ochanya, urging the police authorities to arrest and bring Victor Ogbuja to book.
In his remarks, the Executive Director, MAD, Mr. Lemmy Ughegbe, said the endemic proportions of SGBV should compel the police to act in apprehending Victor Ogbuja.
Similarly, founder of Wanda Adu Foundation, Wanda Abe, decried the prevalence of sexual and gender violence in the country, urging the IGP to declare Victor Ogbuja wanted and bring him to justice.
AS the National Youth Service Corps scheme resumes orientation camp nationwide, seven prospective corps member have tested positive for COVID-19.
According to reports, in the Federal Capital Territory Orientation Camp, five of the prospective corps members were tested positive and handed over to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Walida Isa, the Coordinator, NYSC, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) said this during the swearing-in of the 2020 Batch `B’ Stream 1 corps members on Monday in Abuja.
She said that 858 corps members were tested for COVID- 19 and out of the number, five of them were positive.
“The five that were positive were taken to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for treatment. So they are not among the number we registered,’’ said Isa.
Members of the National Youth Service Corps Credit: File photo
Also, Hajiya Aisha Tata, the Coordinator of the scheme in Kano State while speaking with journalists after the induction of the 2020 Batch ‘B’ Stream A corps members, said two prospective corps members tested positive.
However, in a reaction to the reports, the NYSC National Director of Press & Public Relations, Adenike Adeyemi told The ICIR that the reports are ‘misrepresentation of the fact’.
“Corps members were asked to come with camp, and they would be tested, so they are all tested and anyone that needs further test is taken for a further confirmatory test. No positive case on any of the orientation camp nationwide.
“They may be talking about those who were sent for further confirmative test, they are not yet confirmed positive yet,” Adeyemi said.
She stated that according to guidelines, corps members are all tested before allowed to gain entrance into the orientation camps.
“As we speak, there is no positive case on the NYSC camp and this is important so that parents’ minds can be at ease and they would not assume or imagine that some corps members are tested positive and some are there mingling with them. We do not have that kind of situation,” she added.
The NYSC orientation camp was closed nationwide earlier in March due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
DESPITE premier biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies: Moderna and Pfizer recording success as COVID-19 vaccine candidates, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said a vaccine alone will not end the pandemic.
“A vaccine will complement the other tools we have, not replace them. A vaccine on its own will not end the pandemic,” Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said recently during an executive board meeting in Geneva.
With new cases being recording daily, Ghebreyesus stated that supplies of the vaccine would be initially directed to “health workers, older people and other at-risk populations,” adding that it will enable health systems to cope.
Ghebreyesus further warned “That will still leave the virus with a lot of room to move. Surveillance will need to continue, people will still need to be tested, isolated and cared for, contacts will still need to be traced… and individuals will still need to be cared for.”
At the moment, 55 million cases of COVID-19 have been recorded globally, with over a million deaths according to Worldometer.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria will continue to partner with the WHO and some countries to ensure accelerated development and manufacturing, as well as uninhibited supply of safe and effective Coronavirus vaccines to all.
President Buhari said this on Wednesday while speaking virtually on the first day of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Debate.
“…. Nigeria is committed to working with other member states in the spirit of global cooperation and solidarity to promote human health and general well-being,” he said.
FALSE claim circulates online that N-Power has shortlisted the names of the successful applicants and the documentation will commence immediately. A post obtained on a WhatsApp group on November 13, instructed the applicants to click the link to check their names.
The post reads: ”Check your name on the N-POWER shortlisted names. Documentation will commence immediately. Check here https://n-power-list.bid.”
Recall that the same fake post with different content was also procured on September, 3 that N-power 2020 has shortlisted for its second stage.
The post also reads: “N-power 2020 has shortlisted for its second stage. Check if you are included or forward to your loved ones who applied.”
The Findings
The findings conducted by this reporter unveiled that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs through its official Twitter account has tagged the purported circular going viral on social media as fake, urged the N-power applicants to disregard the fake news.
When this reporter clicked the link, the site asked this reporter to input his phone number and upon inserting the phone number that wasn’t used to register for N-power, this reporter received a congratulatory message on the website.
“Congratulations, you have been shortlisted for the N-power program! You will be reached through the email on the next thing to do. Always ensure you check your e-mail frequently.”
Meanwhile, this reporter didn’t submit an email to the site and they promised to reach him via email.
They, however, claimed that to qualify for documentation, this reporter needs to share it to 12 WhatsApp groups.
The post reads: “To start your documentation. First, click the green button ‘WHATSAPP’ and send this information to 12 WhatsApp groups. After sending the message, you will go to the next step where you will be able to process your documentation.”
After the post is being shared to the 12 WhatsApp group, this reporter was congratulated once again and was asked to select the device this reporter was using for documentation between the laptop and phone.
Consequently, this reporter was continuously asked to allow the site to send notifications. Till now, this reporter didn’t receive any mail as claimed on the website and no procedure was sent to proceed for documentation.
Verdict
Based on the checks above and personal experience of this reporter on the fake N-power website, the claim that N-power has shortlisted the names of N-power successful applicants is FALSE.
As of the time of fact-checking this, the site is still active.
MODERNA, an American biotechnology company that focuses on drug discovery, drug development, and vaccine says clinical results of a COVID-19 vaccine it developed has shown 95 percent effective.
Stéphane Bancel, the Chief Executive of Moderna, said on Monday that the results also provided that the vaccine can prevent other severe diseases.
“The first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease,” she said
This latest announcement comes barely a week after Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech, announced a vaccine which suggests it is 90% effective at preventing illness.
The company said it will be seeking approval from regulators in the US to start administering the drug in the next few weeks.
According to the BBC, the clinical trial involved 30,000 people in the US with half being given two doses of the vaccine, four weeks apart. The rest had dummy injections. The analysis was based on the first 95 to develop Covid-19 symptoms.
Only five of the COVID cases were in people given the vaccine, 90 were in those given the dummy treatment. The company says the vaccine is protecting 94.5% of people.
The data also shows there were 11 cases of severe COVIDin the trial, but none happened in people who were immunized.
“The overall effectiveness has been remarkable… it’s a great day,” Tal Zaks, the chief medical officer at Moderna, was quoted to have said by the BBC.
Since the global outbreak of COVID-19, there have been concerted efforts by scientists across the world to develop vaccines and effective treatments against the pandemic which has infected more than 50 million people, killing over a million persons in at least 200 countries.
Pfizer and Moderna were the first to announce early data on large studies, but 10 other companies are also conducting big Phase 3 trials in a global race to produce a vaccine, including efforts in Australia, Britain, China, India, and Russia. More than 50 other candidates are in earlier stages of testing.
In August, Vladimir Putin, Russian President, announced that his country has recorded a breakthrough in the development of a vaccine for the COVID-19.
Putin who said that the vaccine went through necessary trials added that one of his daughters has already been inoculated with the vaccine.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) which is coordinating global efforts to develop a vaccine against the vaccine said it was in talks with Russia to review its vaccine.
A BBC Africa Eye investigation has revealed the existence of a secretive but thriving illegal market for babies and young children in Kenya.
For over a year, a team of undercover investigators infiltrated a series of child trafficking rings that extend from the slums of Nairobi to one of the country’s biggest hospitals.
Led by reporter Njeri Mwangi, our investigation uncovered evidence of newborn babies being stolen from their mothers and sold on the streets of Nairobi for as little as $400.
Njeri Mwangi-low res
Working with a network of informers and whistleblowers, Africa Eye uncovered a trade in human lives that preys on the country’s most vulnerable women, leaving unimaginable trauma in its wake.
According to our evidence, new-born babies are sold from a network of unlicensed clinics in slum areas, are snatched from homeless mothers, or even stolen to order by corrupt medical staff in city hospitals.
These babies are then sold on to desperate women eager to shortcut Kenya’s complex adoption laws, or, according to one trafficker featured in the investigation, are used in human sacrifice rituals.
The perpetrators range from desperate opportunists to organised criminals. Often the people doing the snatching are petty criminals like Anita – a heavy drinker and drug user who steals babies from street mothers to sell on to a local businesswoman.
AE Mary Auma_credit BBC (1)
Or people like Mary Auma – who runs a makeshift clinic in a slum where poor women are pressured to sell their babies for meagre sums, while Mary negotiates to sell them on for a hefty profit.
The illegal business in babies even extends to some of Nairobi’s biggest hospitals. Fred Leparan, a clinical social worker at Mama Lucy Kibaki hospital, sold undercover reporters a two-week-old boy that he stole from the facility after just a few cursory questions and an agreement to pay cash.
There are no reliable statistics on the extent of child trafficking in Kenya; no comprehensive government reports or national surveys.
But this investigation provides the most damning evidence yet of a secretive, lucrative, and apparently thriving illegal trade in children.
BBC Africa eye presented their allegations to Mama Lucy Kibaki hospital, and those individuals who our evidence suggests are involved in child trafficking, but they declined to comment.
There were feelings of excitement among the people of Ohuru-Ndoki Community when three contractors were prequalified to bid for their road project in 2008. They were happy that after a long wait, their prayers were about to be answered. But years later, their dream is yet to materialise. The people are disillusioned. In the first of this two-part series, Arinze CHIJIOKE, who just returned from a tour of the area, reports that the project initiated by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has not commenced.
IF there was anything the people of Ohuru-Ndoki Community ever longed for, it was the re-construction of the Obohia-Ohuru-Aba/ Ohambele-Obeaku road. Before it finally failed in the early 2000s, exactly two decades after it was constructed in 1980 by the then governor of Imo State, Samuel Mbakwe, the road boosted the economic activities of Ohuru and Obeaku communities known for palm oil operations and shipping businesses.
It served as the major gateway linking Abia, Akwa Ibom and Rivers states with parts of Ngwa land. But after it became unmotorable, economic activities for the people who are predominantly farmers were grounded, making life difficult for most of them. It became hard for them to go out and sell their products just as it was difficult for people to come into the community. The road became a death trap for travelers too.
A section of the none-executed obohia-Ohuru-Aba road
According to Eze Obinna Nwagbara, the traditional ruler of Ohuru-Ndoki Autonomous Community in Ukwa East Local Government, “to use motorcycles, you would have to pay huge sums since cars can’t pass through the road. And so, after harvests, we can’t sell.”
In 2007, Nwagbara invited a contractor, Benjamin Nwosu, owner of Akomec Nigeria Limited, along with a Shell Engineer, identified simply as Idowu, and both of them took the measurement of the road. He said the decision was taken with the hope that something would be done about the state of the road, considering its huge economic importance and coupled with the fact that Obohia is one of the major oil-producing communities in Ukwa East.
Igwe Obinna Nwagbara explains how long they have had to wait
A document made available to this reporter shows that after the visit, a proposal was submitted to the office of the former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Timi Alaibe. The proposal paid off when in 2008, a total of 48 mega projects for the oil-producing states of the Niger Delta were advertised for tender by the Presidency on September 18, 2008, and in Vanguard newspaper edition of Friday, October 10, 2008.
Out of a total of five megaprojects approved for Abia State, the Obohia-Ohuru-Aba Road project was shortlisted for bid and subsequent award. The project was captured as Obohia-Ohuru-Aba Road with spur to Ohambele Obeaku Road, with further details provided thus: “Construction of 16km of rural road with 1 no.3 span bridge, 10 culverts, drains along populated areas and crushed stone base course at marshy areas.”
A total of three contractors were prequalified to bid for the project in 2008, including Akomec Nigeria Limited, Herbertech Nigeria Limited and Atai Nigeria Limited. With feelings of excitement, members of the community waited for the contractor who won the contract to commence work on the road. But that was never to be.
“We were happy that after a long wait, our prayer was answered. Little did we know that that was the beginning of another unending wait,” said Nwagbara.
Hopes dashed
As days ran into weeks and weeks into months and years, no contractor showed up for the job. It has now been 12 years but the project that was duly advertised in line with procurement processes has not commenced. When Nwagbara and the people of Ohuru could not wait any longer, they invited Nwosu, who had measured the road and subsequently won the contract to explain reasons for the delay
Nwabara said: “Nwosu told us he was not mobilised to commence work on the road. But, how would they ask him to come and commence a project without giving him money?”
The traditional ruler has been working with youths and other monarchs to ensure that the project is started, regardless of the contractor. He said there is a need to find out what happened to the money for the project.
“We are not demanding anything from the government apart from this road. It is very important to us. If NDDC has any problem with Akomec that won the contract, they can get another contractor to continue with the job,” he explained.
When contacted for his reaction, Nwosu confirmed that the contract for the construction of the Obohia-Ohuru-Aba Road was awarded to his firm for N2.3 billion (two billion, three hundred million naira only).
He said that he attracted and won the contract in 2009, with the influence of his in-law, former President Goodluck Jonathan, who was at that time, the Vice President of Nigeria. He, however, said that he was not given the letter of award for the contract and the money to execute the project.
He said: “The former MD of the NDDC when the contract was awarded, Timi Alaibe, told me that I won the contract. But I did not get the award letter till his administration was dissolved and since then, no one is saying anything.”
A board member representing Abia State in the NDDC at the time of the contract award between 2007 and 2009, Aloysius Nwagboso, confirmed that the contract for Obohia-Ohuru Road was indeed awarded by the NDDC. He nonetheless refused to comment on the controversy surrounding the award of the contract and why work has not started on the road. He insisted that he would not want to be drawn into unnecessary controversy.
According to him, “Akomec cannot claim to have won the contract when he does not have an award letter from the commission. The project was awarded in 2009, and by that year, in April, our tenure terminated. I know that the project was part of the budget. I defended it. But who won the project is what I don’t know. It is a very controversial issue.”
Deluge of petitions
Comrade Henry Nwaigwe, who doubles as the youth leader of Ohuru-Ndoki Community and Zonal Coordinator, Ndoki Youth Federation, told our reporter that between 2010 and 2015, his community and Akomec, the supposed winner of the contract, wrote series of petitions demanding the mobilisation of contractor to site. He said they also wrote to the Presidential Probe Committee on NDDC, the Executive Directorate Department of the Commission, the Bureau of Public Procurement and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The Obohia-Ohuru road was advertised in Vanguard
“We want the NDDC to allow us access to the award letter and also explain to us the reason behind the non-execution of the project since 2008 because the continued delay in its execution does not encourage us to trust the intervention policy of the commission,” he said.
He maintained that the Obohia-Ohuru-Aba Road is an authentic project under NDDC’s project execution list and that documentary record with the National Assembly Committee on NDDC, BPP, and the Due process office of the Commission in Port Harcourt are there to verify the fact.
Allegations of re-alignment
However, there are suspicions in Ohuru – Ndoki that the contract for the construction of the Obahi-Ohuru-Aba Road may somehow have been awarded to another contractor, but for another road, This is because HERBERTECH NIG Ltd, one of the prequalified contractors for the Obohia-Ohuru-Aba Road project resumed work on a nearby project, the Obohia-Ohanku Aba Road. There have been allegations that he changed the alignment of the original road to fit the new one.
In fact, Nwosu, owner of Akomec who said he won the contract, alleged that the Obohia-Ohuru Road was doctored along the bidding process in November 2008, for the Obohia-Ohanku-Aba Road in favour of one of the bidder contractors in the contract sum of N2,0,80,000,000 (two billion and eighty million Naira only).
Nwaigwe, the youth leader of Ohuru-Ndoki, also alleged that funds released for the execution of the Ohuru Road project from the presidency were being appropriated by the NDDC staff and Herbert who used it to work on a road project that was not legally procured.
He said: “While we were making efforts to ensure that the contractor was mobilised to site, we noticed that one of the contractors who lost out in the bidding of the Obohia-Ohuru-Aba Road project, had started working on a farm road between Obohia-Ndoki Roundabout, with the inscription, Obohia-Ohanku Aba Road.”
The project was part of the Mega projects in Abia State
He, however, revealed that the funding of the Obohia-Ohanku Aba Road has since been suspended after the petitions. Following allegations that he changed the alignment of the Obohia-Ohuru Road, Herbert said that what he was given by the NDDC was the construction of the Obohia-Ohanku Aba Road and that all the contract details and agreements signed are available.
“If the NDDC advertised that they were going to do a particular project and later, failed to follow it up, you cannot slap them. You did not give them money to do any road for you,” he said.
Herbert said he went, picked and filled the tender when it was published after which the bid analysis was done and they went straight to the BPP for no objection certification after which agreements were signed.
He told this reporter that as a contractor, he does not have the capacity to change the alignment of a road and have the NDDC to access it, do bid analysis, obtain a certificate of no objection, write award letter, mobilise and pay the interim payment certificate, one, two, three and four.
When asked whether the contract for the road was published in line with the procurement processes, he said: “As a registered contractor, I was asked to come and collect a tender; I have the original copy of the tender that said Obohia-Ohanku. I took what I saw and went away.”
Herbert said he had two options, to collect the project or reject it, adding that the project was tendered in 2008, awarded in 2009, and the site handed over to him in 2010.
“I could not have asked them why it is Ohanku and not Ohuru. The extent I have gone on the project, I can’t go back,” he said.
He said that the NDDC has not paid him since 2017 when he finished about 20km of the Obohia-Ohanku Road out of 32.30km in the contract, adding that the development has slowed the pace of work on the road.
“If the payment were coming as at when due, I would have finished the project. I can’t begin to talk about all of that because there will be a penalty for anything I say. Our agreement says that contractors are the employees while the NDDC is the employer and that means we are to act on the instructions of the employer,” he added.
In its database, the NDDC admitted that the contract for the construction of Obohia – Ohanku – Aba Road with Spur to Ohambele- Obeaku (32.30km) Ukwa East has since been abandoned.
However, NNDC’s budget document seen by this reporter showed that between 2012 and 2016, over N1.5 billion has so far been committed to the construction of the road project, which has now been combined with the Obohia-Ohanku Road and captured as Obohia-Ohanku-Ohuru-Aba Road with spur to Ohambele-Obeaku Road.
Signboard for the Obohia-Ohanku road
A budget sum of N6,580,262,907.19 (six billion five hundred and eighty million, two hundred and sixty-two thousand nine hundred and seven thousand nineteen kobo) has been allocated for the two projects since they were brought together in 2012. The Obohia-Ohuru-Aba/ Ohambele Obeaku road, which was advertised by the NDDC had N3,980,626,907.19, while the Obohia-Ohanku- Aba Road had a budget of N2.6 billion.
But while the Obohia-Ohanku- Aba/Ohambele Obeaku Road has since commenced, with the contractor, Herbertech Nigeria Ltd constructing 20km, no contractor has been mobilised to the Obohia-Ohuru-Aba/Ohambele Obeaku road.
And the people of Ohuru-Ndoki continue to question the rationale behind the non-mobilisation of a contractor to the road after all available documents ranging from proposal, budget, approval stage and tender advertisement show that the road followed the due process.
No proper record keeping
One of the problems of the NDDC, which has often resulted in the non-execution and abandonment of projects across the oil-producing states, is poor record-keeping by the commission.
The Chief Technical Assistant to the Executive Director, Projects of the NDDC in 2015, Engineer Jerry Oritsejolone, said that he was asked to look into the controversy surrounding the Obohia-Ohuru Road project but added that the board was soon dissolved and he was transferred from the headquarters.
Oritsejolone, who is currently the Assistant Director, Projects, Delta State office of the commission, said that since 2015 after he left, the matter died down and successive boards have failed to look into it. He blamed it on the failure of the NDDC to always keep records of contracts. He said that once a board leaves, another board comes in and they usually don’t know what happened in the previous administration.
“Even if there are any records, politicians, who often are in charge of these projects, do not have the patience to check and projects die natural deaths,” he explained.
He, however, said that it is possible that the Obohia-Ohuru Road contract was not awarded even after it was advertised by the commission.
“The people cannot protest against what we have advertised because a lot of projects were awarded because of the problems in the NDDC,” he said.
Oritsejolone further explained that the commission may have used most funds for the execution of what it described as emergency awards instead of paying for projects that already exist.
A section of the 20km road constructed out of 32.30km
According to him, “most of what we have now are emergency awards as the government has said no new contracts should be awarded. You will find that in our budgets and most of these emergency awards are fictitious (and) used to steal money in the commission.”
Politics of contract award and execution
Oritsejolone spoke of how contractors were usually asked to pay 10 percent of contract sums before they were given contracts after winning bids. He said: “If you cannot pay the 10 percent once they collect some percentage and when you work and get paid, you pay them because most of the projects belong to politicians who require you to pay.”
He explained that contractors were required to sign agreements and pay part of the agreement first including three percent to the facilitator and that any contractor who failed to provide the money would lose the job.
He said it was possible that Akomec, the supposed winner of the contract for Obohia-Ohuru Road, failed to provide the percentage required for him to get the award letter and was denied the contract.
“If the former MD told Akomec that he won the award, how do we believe that? There has to be an award letter and other necessary documents like the non-rejection letter from the due process office for us to believe. However, I believe the contract was awarded to him and that was why the commission paid him three times for the job. He was not doing the road on his own. If they don’t pay him again, he can’t go back to the site,” he said.
Oritsejolone asked the people of Ohuru-Nkoki to write a protest letter to the MD of the commission as anyone they wrote before now may have expired and that once transferred, all members of a particular board leave, and nobody would know anything about the matter.
“Nobody has time to go back to past documents. They need to write again and keep writing till something is done about the project. Since the last letter they wrote, about four boards have come and gone and they are still depending on that,” how, he asked.
KAMISIYOCHUKWU Perpetual, an eye-witness at the Lekki tollgate where protesters were shot, has disclosed that she saw soldiers carrying no fewer than seven human bodies hit by bullets and dumped them in a waiting van.
Kamsiyochukwu, who was a petitioner before the Lagos State Panel of Judicial Inquiry on police brutality, also said she and two other protesters saw another dead body with a bullet-torn head at Reddington Hospital at Lekki the following morning when they went to collect the data of injured protesters.
And before she left the hospital, dead and injured bodies were still being brought in. But when she returned to the hospital in the evening the same day, she was told by a nurse at the hospital that the casualties have been evacuated from the hospital to an undisclosed location based on an order from above.
“I saw soldiers picking at least seven dead, limp bodies hit by bullets into their vans,” she said.
“We also requested to see the dead protesters who were brought in. The doctors refused us access to see the dead bodies. The media man intervened again and we could only see one of the dead bodies whose head was torn by a bullet. He laid at the emergency unit. The doctor called the corpse ‘John Doe’.
“While at Reddington Hospital, dead and injured bodies were still being brought in. By evening when I returned to Reddington Hospital, one of the nurses informed me that the dead and the injured had been transferred from Reddington Hospital to an unknown hospital based on orders from above.
She told the panel that she and her colleagues have the names of the injured bodies and that of the dead body.
“We have the record of the names of 22 injured persons and one of the dead persons we were allowed to see.”
She gave their names as Abiola Esther, RFK, Lekan Williams, Felix Nandip, Adams Moses, Akinyele Damilola, Samuela Iordyom, Emmanuel John, Isaac Amede, and Charles Uzoma.
Others are; Raymond Simon Abah, Samuel Anthony, Andrew Ugochuckwu, Bobby Maduka, Moses Oyi, Emmanuel George, Nelson Andrew, Sheriff Akande, Chigozie Chukwujekwu, Damilola Adedayo, and 12-year-old Bakare Michael.
Lying military
When the media reported about the shooting at Lekki tollgate which happened on October 20, the Nigerian military feigned ignorance and denied the allegation, saying its men were not involved.
In subsequent press releases, Osoba Olaniyi, the Acting Deputy Director, 81 Division Army Public Relations, admitted that soldiers were deployed to Lekki but were only there to carry a request of the state government to enforce an earlier curfew imposed by the state government.
He however denied that the soldiers did not shoot any civilian and that there is glaring and convincing evidence to attest to this fact. He maintained that the allegations of shootings are the “handiwork of mischief-makers who will stop at nothing to tarnish the image of the Nigerian Army.”
In a bid to further discredit the media reports on the Lekki incident, John Enenche, the coordinator, Defence Media Operations, citing some military analysts, told newsmen in Abuja that videos of the incident circulating around the social media were fake or photoshops.
However, on Saturday, during his appearance before the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Enquiry, Ahmed Taiwo, Commander of the 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, said soldiers deployed to the scene did not shoot the protesters with live bullets but fired blank bullets into the air.
While explaining that the blank bullets used could not have caused any damage to the flesh, Taiwo said if real bullets were indeed fired, one bullet had the potency to kill three persons.
NIGERIA’s inflation rate for October 2020 hits a new record of 14.23 percent since its steady increase in 32 months, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed on Monday.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released by the NBS measures the average change over time in the prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.
The new inflation rate is about 0.52 percent points higher than the rate recorded in September 2020 (13.71) percent.
In September, inflation had hit an all-time high of 13.71 percent for 31 months, according to the previous CPI report by NBS.
In the latest report, the urban inflation rate increased by 14.81 percent (year-on-year) in October 2020 from 14.31 percent recorded in September 2020, while the rural inflation rate increased by 13.68 percent in October 2020 from 13.14 percent in September 2020.
The urban inflation rate increased by 14.81 percent in October 2020 from 14.31 percent recorded in September 2020, while the rural inflation rate increased by 13.68 percent in October 2020 when compared to the 13.14 percent rate in September 2020.
On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.60 percent in October 2020, up by 0.04 from 1.56 percent recorded in September 2020, while the rural index also rose by 1.48 percent in October 2020, up by 0.08 from the rate recorded in September 2020 (1.40 percent)
Food inflation
The composite food index rose by 17.38 percent in October 2020 compared to 16.66 percent in September 2020.
This rise in the food index was caused by increases in prices of Bread and cereals, Potatoes, yam, and other tubers, Meat, Fish, Fruits, vegetables, alcoholic and food beverages, and Oils and Fats.
On a month-on-month basis, the food sub-index increased by 1.96 percent in October 2020, up by 0.08 percent points from 1.88 percent recorded in September 2020.
Core inflation
The Core inflation or ”All items less farm produce”, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 11.14 percent in October 2020, up by 0.56 percent when compared with 10.58 percent recorded in September 2020.
On a month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 1.25 percent in October 2020. This was up by 0.31 percent when compared with 0.94 percent recorded in September 2020.
The highest increases were recorded in prices of passenger transport by air, hospital and medical services, passenger transport by road, pharmaceutical products, motor cars, vehicle spare parts, maintenance and repair of personal transport equipment. Others are hairdressing salons and personal grooming establishments, miscellaneous services relating to the dwelling, paramedical services and shoes and other footwear.
State profiles for food inflation
In October 2020, food inflation on a year on year basis was highest in Edo (21.65 percent), Zamfara-20.88 percent and Kogi-20.5 percent, while Lagos-14.57 percent, Ogun-14.47 percent, and Ondo 14.23-percent recorded the slowest rise.
On a month-on-month basis, October 2020 food inflation was highest in Kwara-3.88 percent, Edo-3.81 percent and Sokoto-3.65 percent, while Oyo-0.57 percent and Jigawa-0.54 percent and Taraba-0.29 percent recorded the slowest rise on month-on-month inflation.
