SOLDIERS of the Nigerian Army at the military hospital in Lagos have denied access to the Lagos State Judicial Panel trying to enter the morgue at the 65 battalions operating under 81 Divisions.
The panel members who went on an unscheduled visit were denied access as the military officers at the facility pushed them out and subsequently locked the gate.
Details shortly…
78-YEAR-OLD Lee Myung-bak, former South Korean president has bagged a 17-year jail term for bribery and embezzlement offences.
The country’s Supreme Court upheld the conviction that was first delivered in 2018, where the former president had been sentenced by an Appeal Court, only to be released on bail, pending the ruling from the country’s apex court.
On Thursday, Myung-bak who severed as president of South Korea from 2008-2013 was convicted for embezzling 25.2 billion won ($22 million) and accepting bribes totalling 9.4 billion won ($8.2 million).
Reports also reveal that he is subject to a 13-billion-won fine and forfeiture of assets to the tune 5.7 billion won.
Myung-Bak is one of four of South Korea’s living former presidents who have either been behind bars or have served jail terms. The others are Park Geun-hye, Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo.
Park Geun-hye who served from 2013 – 2017 was the first female president of South Korea. In April 2017, Park was formally charged with abuse of power, bribery, coercion and leaking government secrets. She was sentenced to 24 years in prison and a charged fine of 18 billion won ($16.7 million).
Chun Doo-hwan, who served from 1980-1988 was on December 3, 1995 arrested alongside 16 others on charges of conspiracy and insurrection. On December 16, 1996, the Seoul High Court issued a sentence of life imprisonment and a fine in the amount of 220 billion won (194.2 million).
Roh Tae-woo also got a 22-year jail sentence for mutiny and treason, which was reduced to 17 years on appeal. He was president of South Korea from 1988-1993.
No Nigerian president since the return to democracy in 1999 has been prosecuted for corruption, let alone convicted and jailed.
THE Akure Zonal wing of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has opposed Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari over alleged attempts to appoint Professor Abayomi Sunday Fasina as the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Federal University of Oye Ekiti (FUOYE).
This is contained in a statement jointly signed by Olu Olu Olufayo, the ASUU Akure Zonal Coordinator; Olayinka Awopetu, ASUU FUTA Chairperson; Adeola Egbedokun, ASUU OAU Chairperson; Kayode Arogundade, Chairperson, ASUU EKSU and Akinyemi Omonijo, ASUU FUOYE Chairperson on Thursday.
According to ASUU, Fasina, who is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (administration) of FUOYE has been running the university as a private enterprise alongside the soon to be retired VC, Kayode Soremekun.
“Under the watch of Professors Soremekun and Fasina, FUOYE has become an enslaved and conquered territory where academic freedom has long been mortgaged to nepotism, parochialism and patronage.
“Soremekun and Fasina have continued to run a private enterprise and surprisingly, as the tenure of the tyrant Vice-Chancellor is coming to an end, we learnt that there are clandestine plans to enthrone Prof. Fasina as an anointed successor in a bid to enshrine a dynasty of impunity,” the statement read.
ASUU said Fasina should have been arrested by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged acts of corruption.
“The Man, Fasina, by all available information of his arrant misdemeanour should have been arrested and prosecuted over one year ago. We had earlier petitioned two anti-graft agencies (EFCC and ICPC) on the goings-on at FUOYE since 2019 and till now, we have not heard anything,” said ASUU.
Further opposing his alleged positioning as the next VC, ASUU said Fasina had been involved in misconducts at his former place of employment, Ekiti State University.
“Fasina is a basket of corruption and errors! A pathological liar of sinister personality and a bundle of destruction. He stands as a security risk and this can be verified by his antecedents at Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti where he is still a staff till date.
“He absconded from EKSU, lied to FUOYE to cunningly secure an appointment and received full salaries in both places for six (6) months. We wonder why such a personality managed to be shortlisted from the long list of applicants to the next round.
“As it stands, there is a public petition against him from Hon. ‘Bayo Idowu & Co. (Barrister- At- Law), on fraudulent practices and requesting for thorough Investigation and Disciplinary Action,” ASUU further stated.
The Zonal ASUU branch also alleged that there is no record of Fasina’s disengagement from EKSU before he was appointed as a full-time staff in FUOYE.
“We also wonder why he was offered a full-time appointment in FUOYE as a Professor despite failing to meet up with the FUOYE criteria for appointment as Professor as enshrined in the Conditions of Service.
“He was advised to re-prepare his Curriculum Vitae for re-assessment but nothing was heard of the process again until he was surreptitiously appointed by Soremekun as Professor without due process. He parades at least 3 different letters of appointment from FOUYE in a clumsy effort to conceal his nefarious appointments in FUOYE,” claimed ASUU.
ASUU said several calls in the past over misconducts in the university had been ignored from anti-graft agencies, Federal Ministry of Education as well as National Universities Commission.
Rather than appoint, ASUU called on the authorities to arrest and prosecute Fasina and Soremekun over the alleged offences.
WILLIE Obiano, Governor of Anambra State, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to mobilise all African, European Union leaders and the rest of the world to get President Donal Trump to do the right in supporting the candidacy of Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Obiano, in a statement signed by Don Adinuba, Anambra State’s Commissioner for Information, said that President Buhari and other African leaders should immediately put into motion the machinery that would make the US do the right thing by supporting the most qualified and the most popular candidate for the WTO’s job.
He stated further that all that is needed by the Federal Government “is a great diplomatic offensive before the formal announcement of the winner on November 9.”
“The people and government of Anambra State, therefore, call upon President Muhammadu Buhari and other African leaders to immediately set in motion the machinery to get the United States to do the right thing by supporting the most qualified and the most popular candidate,” Obiano said.
“The Trump administration wants South Korean Trade Minister, Yoo Myung-hee, who has the support of only 55 nations, about 50 per cent of Okonjo-Iweala’s vote. It needs not to have its way.”
The Governor who cited the case of Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), said the US is always against Africans at the international stage.
“Earlier this year it opposed the re-election of Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture and African Union’s choice, as the African Development Bank President based on unsubstantiated allegations like nepotism,” he said.
“It is difficult to understand why the Trump administration should be on a collision course with Africans on international assignments, acts like this help fuel criticism that the administration may not be free of racism.
“The people and government of Anambra State are of the opinion that President Buhari needs to do more to urgently mobilise not just African leaders, but also the EU and, indeed, the rest of the world to get the United States to do the right thing.”
The ICIR had reported on Thursday, how the United States said it is supporting Okonjo-Iweala’s counterpart and opponent, Yoo Myung-hee, Korean Trade Minister as the next WTO Director-General because she is “a bona fide trade expert who has distinguished herself during a 25-year career as a successful trade negotiator and trade policy maker.”
The US also stated that Yoo Myung-hee has all the skills necessary to be an effective leader of the organisation.
While stating that the WTO is facing a very difficult time because of the challenges confronting it, the US said it needs to be led by someone with trade experience to drive the reforms it needs.
“This is a very difficult time for the WTO and international trade. There have been no multilateral tariff negotiations in 25 years, the dispute settlement system has gotten out of control, and too few members fulfill basic transparency obligations. The WTO is badly in need of major reform. It must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field,” the US said in a statement.
The Nigerian Government said on Thursday that it would continue to work with relevant stakeholders in the World Trade Organization to realize Nigeria’s dream of leading the international trade body.
Meanwhile, Okonjo-Iweala, despite the opposition from the US, has remained positive.
In a tweet Thursday, she expressed joy for the progress her WTO bid has made as she moves to the next step October 9.
“Happy for the success & continued progress of our @wto DG bid. Very humbled to be declared the candidate with the largest, broadest support among members & most likely to attract consensus. We move on to the next step on Nov 9, despite hiccups. We’re keeping the positivity going!” she said.
THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on federal and state governments to stop medical tourism and improve funding to the nation’s health sector.
Ayuba Wabba, the NLC President said this on Thursday in Abuja at a ceremony to mark the 2020 Global Day of Action on Care.
“We call for an end to all forms of medical tourism, especially by our elected and appointed public officials. We reiterate our position that the government must be ready to invest heavily in the health sector as no country survives without effective health care,” said Wabba.
Wabba urged governments to equip medical workers across the nation as well as provide decent remuneration for them.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has also exposed the risks health care workers face daily in the course of their duties as they do not have adequate and appropriate safety gears, access to their own health care, decent pay commensurate with the work they do.
“Healthcare workers also need standard daycare centres to keep their children when schools are not open and, or infants that are not of school age, to enable them to concentrate on their work.
“It is also important that they are granted paid medical leave that includes their immediate families. This will also help to curb the spread of airborne diseases they are exposed to at their workplaces,” he added.
He stated that the COVID-19 has shown that the health sector is a key sector in the country thereby it must be shown appropriate attention.
“We believe that now is the time for our government at all levels to demonstrate keen attention to the health sector. The current pandemic has shown how important healthcare is to all sectors and citizens of any country,” he stated.
The NLC president called for full membership of trade unions by all health workers, including those in private facilities, to give them the coverage to demand their rights and enable unions to monitor safety standards at the care centres.
He further called on the Federal government to pay two months’ salaries of health workers owed since 2018 following an industrial dispute in 2018.
OUTGOING Auditor-General for the Federation, AuGF, Anthony Ayine, has queried officials of the Nigerian embassy in Germany for spending N248 million without approval from the National Assembly.
This was disclosed in the 2015 audit report currently being examined by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts.
Matthew Urhoghide of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, representing Edo South Senatorial district raised the concerns of the AuGF during the committee’s deliberation in Abuja.
The AuGF queried the affected officials in a petition, asking why the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2014 failed to abide by the financial regulations and extant laws.
“The embassy (in Germany) overspent its budget for 2014 in 16 subheads, totalling N248,025,564.88.
“This act of over expenditure by the embassy is a virement by the Mission without approval from the National Assembly,” the query read in part.
The petition also stated the AuGF had asked the ministry to explain the details behind its spending without approval.
“The Mission, through the Permanent Secretary, has been advised to abide by the provisions of the financial regulations and extant circular, which states that expenditure must be within the amount provided in the subheads.
“It is also necessary that the embassy should explain the source of the extra funds spent,” it stated.
However, in its written response to the audit query, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that the embassy did not overspend its budget for 2014.
“Some of the subheads where funds were needed were under-provided for. The only fund spent outside the budget was a donation of €5,000 made by Julius Berger Nigeria Limited to the Mission as a gift for the National Day celebration.
“The allocations to sub-heads were not in line with the requirements of the Mission, the costs of services were very high and delayed allocations were grossly responsible for the Mission’s action.
“The Mission could not afford to delay payments for services provided to avoid being blacklisted by the host community,” the ministry replied.
The Chairman of the panel, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, sustained the audit query and pointed out that the embassy officials erred by not seeking approval for virement from the National Assembly.
In another development, Adolphus Aghughu is set to take over the helm of the affair as AuGF in an acting capacity as the auditor-general, Anthony Ayine embarks on retirement from the service.
This was contained in a statement by Oghenekevwe Ebireri, Media Officer in the Office of the Auditor-General in Abuja who said that Aghughu would serve in an acting capacity until a substantive AuGF is appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
MOHAMMED Adamu, Nigerian Inspector-General of Police, will on Friday begin tours to the police formations across the country to boost the morale of officers and men of the Nigerian Police Force.
The IGP’s tour which is to begin from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will also assess the level of damages caused by hoodlums to police stations during the fallout of the #ENDSARS protests in some parts of the country.
The police authority in a statement on Friday rejecting reports by Amnesty International, that police officers shot at #EndSARS protesters, disclosed that 22 police personnel were extra-judicially killed during the protest while 205 police stations and formations including other critical private and public infrastructure were also damaged by hoodlums.
The developments were said to have weakened the morale of some men of the force who said they would not resume until the government addressed the killing of their colleagues during the protests.
According to Punch, a top police officer, Nigerian police authorities were also disturbed by the developments, hence, the need for the IGP’s tour.
“The tour by the IG, which is starting in Abuja, is aimed at raising the morale of officers and men of the force many of whom are not happy that the police were blamed for almost all the problems of the country during the protests despite the fact that all sectors have their bad eggs.
“We are not happy with the atrocities of SARS and other bad eggs in the force, but we are sad about the violent dimension the protest took. Many of those people killed were not hoodlums. Also, we lost fine officers and men, who were not found wanting on their duties. Our policemen are not happy that Nigerians are not concerned about the killing of policemen,” Punch said.
Adeniran Aremu, the deputy force spokesman, also confirmed that the IG would on Friday (today) embark on an assessment of the security situation in Abuja and also carry out an on-the-spot assessment of facilities and property destroyed by the hoodlums in the nation’s capital.
THE Nigeria government has said it will continue to work with relevant stakeholders in the World Trade Organization to realize Nigeria’s dream of leading the international trade body.
Ferdinand Nwonye, Nigeria Foreign Affairs ministry’s spokesperson, in a statement on Thursday, said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s candidate in the race for the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has secured cross-regional backing with only the United States opposing the consensus.
“The ministry of foreign affairs wishes to inform that the third and final round of the selection process of the director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was concluded On Tuesday, 27th October 2020 and the result was formally announced on Wednesday, 28th October 2020,” the statement read.
“The candidate from Nigeria, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has secured the support of the majority of the member countries but is yet to be declared and returned the winner.
“This is because apart from winning the election, all 164 member states of WTO were expected to adopt the winner by consensus; in accordance with the rule of procedure of the WTO.
“It is important to highlight that Dr Okonjo-lweala has secured cross-regional backing with only the United States opposing the consensus.
“Nigeria will continue to engage relevant stakeholders to ensure that the lofty aspiration of her candidate to lead the World Trade Organisation is realised,” it said.
The ICIR had reported yesterday, how the United States said it is supporting Okonjo-Iweala’s rival candidate, Yoo Myung-hee, Korean Trade Minister as the next WTO Director-General because she is “a bona fide trade expert who has distinguished herself during a 25-year career as a successful trade negotiator and trade policymaker.”
The US also stated that Yoo Myung-hee has all the skills necessary to be an effective leader of the organization.
While stating that the WTO is facing a very difficult time because of the challenges confronting it, the US said it needs to be led by someone with trade experience to drive the reforms it needs.
“This is a very difficult time for the WTO and international trade. There have been no multilateral tariff negotiations in 25 years, the dispute settlement system has gotten out of control, and too few members fulfill basic transparency obligations. The WTO is badly in need of major reform. It must be led by someone with real, hands-on experience in the field,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Okonjo-Iweala, despite the opposition from the US, has remained positive.
In a tweet yesterday, she expressed joy for the progress her WTO bid has made as she moves to the next step on October 9 .
“Happy for the success & continued progress of our @wto DG bid. Very humbled to be declared the candidate with the largest, broadest support among members & most likely to attract consensus. We move on to the next step on Nov 9, despite hiccups. We’re keeping the positivity going!” She said.
Happy for the success & continued progress of our @wto DG bid. Very humbled to be declared the candidate with the largest, broadest support among members & most likely to attract consensus. We move on to the next step on Nov 9, despite hiccups. We're keeping the positivity going!
— Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (@NOIweala) October 29, 2020
A REPORT highlighting the performances of African Union (AU) member nations on the implementation of the Malabo Declaration has recognised Ghana, Rwanda, Morocco and Mali among countries that surpassed the benchmark set out for member countries to realise food security and agricultural development target.
Nigeria did not meet up with the benchmark.
Key findings from the report show that Rwanda, Morocco and Mali have remained committed to the AU agreement on agricultural productivity since 2017 when the review was inaugurated; Ghana satisfied the requirement in the last performance evaluation.
Speaking during BR strategy engagements and dissemination meeting held in Abuja, Constance Okeke, International Project Manager, Public Finance for Agriculture, ActionAid International disclosed that the meeting was to ensure non-state actors are able to understand the report in order to hold their respective governments more accountable, particularly in driving promises made by the respective governments.
Notable among the targets is for member countries to set aside 10 percent budgetary allocation to the agricultural sector.
To rank their performances, signatories to the agreement were expected to attain the 6.66 benchmarks. Rwanda (7.24), Morocco (6.97), Mali (6.82) and Ghana (6.67)
“Overall, only three member countries Rwanda, Morocco and Mali have stayed on-track in both the inaugural and second biennial review reporting cycle. The majority of member states scored below the benchmarks in both rounds, while 17 countries that were on track in 2017 were unable to maintain it in 2019,” she said in her presentation.
“Ghana is recognised as the only member state that has moved from not-on-track in the 2017 inaugural BR to on-track in 2019.”
The biennial initiative report is an idea of the AU Heads of State. It is done every two years basically to review the implementation progress of African countries in terms of achieving the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Target.
It could be recalled that in 2003, the African Head of State agreed on the Maputo Declaration on CAADP among which is for member states to earmark 10 percent of their annual budgets to the agricultural sector.
They also agreed to increase by six percent annual growth in the agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
By June 2014, the Heads of State met in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea to renew their commitment to the earlier Maputo declaration.
As such, seven development targets were adopted and these formed the basics for the biennial review performance report used to measure performances of member countries in alignment with set targets.
Some of the targets include recommitment to the CAADP principles and values, enhancing investment finance in agriculture, ending hunger by 2025 and boosting intra-Africa trade in agricultural commodities among others.
In 2017, the first BR was developed and presented to the African Heads of State in 2018 while the current BR was prepared in 2019 but presented to the African presidents in February 2020.
To ascertain performances of the member countries, the initial benchmark was 3.94 but it was reviewed upward to 6.66.
Though she recognised some level of progress among some of the member countries as reflected in the report, only the four nations met with the set target.
Okeke also identified poor data collection as a major problem in Nigeria. She assumed the same factor could have affected other nations from meeting up with the agreed target.
Poor financing of agricultural projects was also highlighted in the report.
“If you look at the role of agriculture in the lives of Africans, you begin to question why governments would not increase investments in agriculture,” she said stressing that “After all, the commitment to setting aside 10 percent of the annual budget as stated by the Maputo Declaration was not made by the citizens but by the governments.”
She called for joint efforts to advocate for government to improve investments in agriculture.
This, she noted, would help ensure food security, reduce conflicts and foster the overall development of the member countries.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria’s economy is too fragile to bear another round of fresh COVID-19 lockdown.
The President disclosed this via his verified Twitter handle on Thursday.
Buhari said, compliance with COVID-19 protocols by all Nigerians is crucial to avert a second wave of the pandemic in the country.
“Looking at the trends in other countries, we must do all we can to avert a second wave of Covid-19 in Nigeria. We must make sure that our cases, which have gone down, do not rise again. Our economy is too fragile to bear another round of lockdown,” he tweeted.
He, therefore, urged Nigerians to obey all protocols recommended by health authorities to curtail the spread of the lethal coronavirus.
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It will be recalled that Buhari had in March imposed a total lockdown on parts of the country including Lagos, Abuja and Ogun which lasted for over five weeks.
Nigeria, on Wednesday, recorded 147 new cases of COVID-19 bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 62,371.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), with Wednesday’s figure, the total tally of infected people in the country rose to 62,371, from 62,111 reported on Tuesday evening.
To date, 62,371 cases have been confirmed, 58,095 cases have been discharged and 1,139 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
