Home Blog Page 2048

NDDC: Reps set to institute legal action against Akpabio for falsehood, defamation

Olugbenga ADANIKIN
-
0
NDDC: Reps set to institute legal action against Akpabio for falsehood, defamation

THE House of Representatives on Thursday commenced the process of establishing a criminal legal action against Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta over alleged falsehood and defamation of character.

Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House said he had directed the Clerk of the House to engage the services of lawyers to institute the legal action.

This is coming after Gbajabiamila instructed Akpabio to present in 48 hours, the list of lawmakers who allegedly benefited from contract awards by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as claimed by the minister.

“I recognise that the House has not always lived up to the high expectations of the Nigerian people. As much as we still have a lot to do in that regard, I refuse to sit here in good conscience and allow anyone to assassinate the character of the House in an attempt to deflect accountability for their conduct in office,  Gbajabiamila said.

“Such mendacity as was witnessed at the public hearing will not be tolerated from anybody no matter how highly placed.”

“This morning, I asked the Clerk of the House of Representatives to engage the services of legal counsel, and instruct them to initiate a criminal complaint of perjury against the minister. At the same time, we will instruct counsel to explore the possibility of a civil defamation suit against the Minister,” the Speaker added.

Akpabio had last week alleged that over 60 per cent of NDDC contracts were awarded to members of the National Assembly.

He made the allegation during the probe by the House Committee on NDDC.

Gbajabiamila, however, said that such allegation was meant to deliberately mislead the public in order to escape being accountable for the various criminal allegations levelled against the minister and officials of the commission.

“Last Tuesday I issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs to substantiate his allegation that over 60 per cent of contracts awarded by the NDDC went to members of the National Assembly. I said then that the Minister owed it to himself and the country to provide evidence to support these serious allegations,” the Speaker said.

He added that Akpabio’s failure to respond to his request defeated the false claim.

But in a swift reaction, the Minister wrote to the lawmakers denying the claim  he had made on a live national television broadcast.

During the broadcast, Akpabio had claimed that 60 percent of NDDC contracts were awarded to members of the National Assembly. He would later denied, saying that he was referring to old contracts awarded by the NDDC.

Meanwhile, several allegations have recently been raised against Akpabio especially on operations of the NDDC.

Joy Nunieh, the former acting Managing Director of the NDDC particularly urged the police to arrest and probe the minister for his alleged illegalities and threats against her.

She told the lawmakers how the minister allegedly asked her to swear an oath and sack some employees of the commission.

Among others, between 2007 and 2015, the Minister was accused to have diverted over N100 billion of the state fund.

Azura power deal: Nigeria to lose $1.2b for $237m loan

Seun DUROJAIYE
-
0
Azura power deal: Nigeria to lose $1.2b for $237m loan

NIGERIA is set to lose $1.2 billion if the Federal Government rescinds the Pull Call Option Agreement (PCOA), a power agreement deal, it signed in 2015 with Azura. 

Azura is a power generation company and operator of Independent Power Plants (IPPs) across Africa.

The present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2015 signed a deal with Azura to secure a $237 million loan to finance its 450MW project in Edo State.

The deal birthed the Azura-Edo Power Station, a natural gas powered electricity generation plant.

However, the threat of losing the country’s resources follows the Senate’s recent proposal to review the power agreement which has obligated Nigeria to pay Azura $30 million monthly whether or not power is evacuated from the generation company.

Despite the power station having operational capacity to generate 461 megawatts, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is unable to evacuate the electric power generated, causing inadequacy to wheel it to distribution companies (DisCos) and thus further compounding the problem already crumbling the Nigerian power sector.

On Thursday,the Cable reports that Ovie Omo-Agege, Deputy Senate President, called for outright cancellation of the agreements between Nigeria and Azura Power and Accugas, which he submitted has placed enormous strain on the country’s resources.

Nigeria is also committed to paying Accugas $10 million monthly with or without power supply to the Calabar GenCo, owned by Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) Ltd.

“We cannot review that agreement, we will need to cancel that agreement outright. We have another P&ID in our hands clearly,” Omo-Agege said, following deliberations on the report of the Senate Committee on Power on addressing the country’s power sector issues.

According to the deal, if Nigerian Government fails to meet these monthly obligations, the World Bank partial risk guarantee (PRG) of up to $1.2 billion can be called by Azura’s creditors.

Alternatively, if Nigeria chooses to end the deal, a payment of $1.2 billion fine would be charged.

Describing the magnitude of the fix, Gabriel Suswam, Chairman of the Committee on Power said that the agreement signed between the country and Azura was done without ‘due diligence’, adding that competent lawyers be given the duty to make assessments and recommendations.

Also in his report, Suswam suggested that since the privatised power sector is currently insolvent, the government should use its 40 per cent share to get it solvent by providing meters for the DISCOs to distribute to electricity consumers, Premium Times reports.

Meanwhile, Nigeria recorded a total debt stock of N28.63 trillion in the first quarter of 2020.

Despite the drastic increase in foreign debt,  Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, had earlier claimed that Nigeria does not have a debt problem but a problem of revenue and that Nigeria’s debt is not high.

Olonisakin, Sadique pay last respects, as Arotile’s body laid to rest in Abuja

Ihuoma ILO
-
0
Olonisakin, Sadique pay last respects, as Arotile’s body laid to rest in Abuja

FAMILY, friends and colleagues wept uncontrollably Thursday morning as the body of the late Tolulope Arotile, Nigeria’s first combat helicopter pilot arrived Military Cemetery  Abuja to be committed to mother earth.

The interment had in attendance Gabriel Olonisakin, Chief of Defence Staff,  Abubakar Sadique, the Chief of Air Staff and air force personnel.

A Nigerian Air Force ambulance marked AF 442 conveyed her body to the Military Cementery along Airport road.

The body was lowered into the grave at exactly 11.05 am followed by a barrage of 21 gunshots.

Arotile who died last Tuesday from head injuries sustained from a road traffic accident at the NAF Base in Kaduna State, according to the Nigerian Air Force, was accorded full military honours as the hierarchy of the Nigerian Military led by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin paid tributes.

 

 

In a series of tweets  last week, Abubakar Sadique, the Chief of Air Staff  had described Arotile as a disciplined, intelligent and courageous officer whose loss is irreparable for the force.

The CAS submitted that the late 23-year-old officer was a shining star.

“I recall meeting her at the Minna Airport, while on operational visit, after one of such missions and seeing her eagerness to contribute towards the restoration of lasting peace to the affected areas. Her death is a huge loss to NAF family and indeed the entire nation,” he said.

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Abubakar Sadique. [ Photo Credit; Punch]
Also present at the funeral were Yahaya Bello, Governor of Kogi State and his wife, Bala Ib’n Nalla, the Chairman Committee Chairman on Air Force and the family members of the deceased.

 

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello and Wife
[Photo Credit; Punch]
Ar0tile was said to have been “inadvertently hit by the reversing vehicle of an excited former Air Force secondary school classmate while trying to greet her.”

She died eight months after she was commissioned as Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot.

She graduated as the best flight student from her set in 2017.

According to NAF, the late combat pilot helicopter pilot contributed significantly to the war against banditry in North Central and other criminal elements by flying several combat missions under Operation GAMA AIKI in Minna, Niger State.

Arotile had just ended a programme at the Starlite International Training Academy, South Africa.

Unpaid N-Power beneficiaries’ account details exist with other MDAs, says minister

Lukman ABOLADE
-
4
Unpaid N-Power beneficiaries’ account details exist with other MDAs, says minister

THE Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, SADIYA Farouq, said N-Power beneficiaries are unable to receive their allowances because their account details exist in other federal agencies’ records.

Farouq said this in a statement released on Thursday signed by the Deputy Director of Information in the ministry, Rhoda Ishaku Iliya.

According to the minster, following the receipt of reports of non-payment, the ministry wrote to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) who said that out of the list of 516,600 beneficiaries only 502,580 were paid.

Farouq said in the statement that the OAGF response to the letter stated that 14,020 beneficiaries were not paid because their account details exist in other federal agencies.

“However, after receiving a complaint of non-payment by some beneficiaries who did same through the ministry, the OAGF (GIFMIS) officially wrote informing the ministry that out of a total of Five Hundred and Sixteen Thousand, Six Hundred (516,600) N-Power beneficiaries data sent to OAGF for migration in April 2020, only a total of Five Hundred and Two Thousand, Five Hundred and Eighty (502,580) data have successfully migrated to the GIFMIS platform.

“While a total of Fourteen Thousand and Twenty (14,020) beneficiaries were returned because the beneficiaries’ account details already exist in other MDAs, which is against the established rule of the N-Power Programme. This is verifiable,” the statement read.

The ICIR had reported that some beneficiaries of the scheme said after fulfilling all requirements, their stipends have not been paid for four months.

The unpaid beneficiaries lamented about their living conditions during the state lockdown on account of COVID-19.

C/River govt manipulates COVID-19 results, say lab scientists

Lukman ABOLADE
-
0
C/River govt manipulates COVID-19 results, say lab scientists

THE Cross Rivers State branch of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists in Nigeria has alleged that the state government and Lawrence Henshaw Memorial Hospital (LHMH)are manipulating COVID-19 results in the state.

The association made this allegation in an open letter seen by The ICIR which was signed by the Branch Chairman, Ndem Benedict and Secretary, Dennis Ekpo.

The letter was addressed to the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu.

In the open letter, the association said 53 samples were collected between July 6 and 8 by the LHMH and many of the tests came back positive, leading to the state government issuing a directive to stop sample collection.

The scientists stated that it was ‘surprising’ when the NCDC reported only one case on July 14, against the test results.

The association said the reported numbers represent ‘misinformation, gross underreporting and distortion of facts’.

“In our view, such data represents gross underreporting, misinformation and deliberate distortion of facts, which may not only lead to inappropriate response but portends serious health crisis for the inhabitants of the State,” the association wrote.

According to the scientists, the Cross River state commissioner of health, Betta Edu and the LHMH connived to influence the number of cases in the state.

“It is obvious that the State Epidemiology Unit, in connivance with the Commissioner of Health, who doubles as the chairman of the State’s COVID-19 task force, intend to perpetuate the culture of deception hitherto nurtured during the pre-testing era in the State,” the letter further read.

The association, therefore, charged the NCDC and Presidential Task Force to order a forensic audit into the testing kits provided to the LHMH.

“We are therefore requesting the NCDC and Presidential Task Force to perform a forensic audit of test results at the LHMH testing Centre, to ascertain the level of compromise and/or distortion, after all, records and documents can be mutilated or altered but the hard disc drive of the GeneExpert system will give a true picture of results generated at the LHMH Centre,” the letter further read.

As at the time of filing this report, the number of confirmed cases in Cross River State is 29 according to the NCDC.

Abuja DSS boss breaches security protocols, assaults FAAN official

Ihuoma ILO
-
0
Abuja DSS boss breaches security protocols, assaults FAAN official

THE Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria has condemned Safiyanu Abba, the Head of Department of State Security at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport for deliberately obstructing airport security process, and slapping an Aviation Security Officer.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday afternoon, the airport authority disclosed that the incident occurred on  July 17 at about 15:25 hours.

Abba breached security procedure by obstructing further searching of a visitor who had just walked through the metal detector and activated the alarm and the DSS boss had reacted by slapping the officer who was performing his duty by calling on him to desist from doing so.

The statement read –”We note with dismay that Mr Safiyanu Abba, the Head of DSS at NAIA deliberately obstructed airport Security process, and slapped an Aviation Security Officer who was performing his duty by calling on Mr Safiyanu Abba to desist from doing so.’

”This happened on the 17th July at about 15:25 hours. He breached security procedure by obstructing further searching of a visitor who had just walked through the metal detector and activated the alarm.

”The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria strongly condemns this abuse of power and the Security process in our airport. This has also been duly escalated. FAAN committed to our core values of safety Security and comfort.”

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria in its statement strongly condemned the abuse of power and the security process in the airport.

AU denies endorsing Egyptian candidate Mamdouh for WTO top job

Seun DUROJAIYE
-
0
AU denies endorsing Egyptian candidate Mamdouh for WTO top job

CONTRARY to widely-shared belief, the African Union (AU) has disclosed that it is yet to pick a consensus candidate for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General position, denying the claim that it was throwing its weight behind Abdel-Hamid Mamdouh, the Egyptian candidate.

In a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria( NAN) on Tuesday, the AU said it was yet to endorse any of the three candidates from the African continent.

“As at present there is no African- Union endorsed candidate for this post,” the statement read.

Mamdouh, a trade lawyer and a former senior official of the global trade body, during a conference held in Geneva said he had been endorsed by the Union, registering an upper hand against the other African contenders – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria and Amina C. Mohamed of Kenya.

According to the AU Commission, the ministerial committee saddled with the responsibility of selecting a consensus candidate failed to meet on three scheduled occasions due to varying circumstances and thus, was unable to agree on who to support for the elections.

NAN also reports that the Nigerian Permanent Mission to the UN in a letter to the WTO, said the process of selecting and endorsing a single candidate for the DG post was still ongoing.

“This has put to rest claims that the a particular candidate has been endorsed by the AU, therefore rendering other African candidates illegitimate,” the letter read in part.

The WTO elections are happening a year earlier than expected due to the premature resignation of the current DG, Roberto Azevedo , who is set to step down on August 31.

Eight candidates from five continents, including Africa, are vying for the top managerial position.

In an earlier report, The ICIR considered the odds against Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala, who made her individual presentations to the WTO Council on Wednesday, July 15.

If appointed, she would become the first woman and African to lead the most  influential global trading organisation.

Lagos Lawyer sues Buhari over delay in supreme court justices’ appointment

Ihuoma ILO
-
0
Lagos Lawyer sues Buhari over delay in supreme court justices’ appointment

LAWRENCE Nnoli a Lagos-based lawyer has filed a lawsuit against President Muhammadu Buhari to compel him to appoint more Supreme Court Justices without further delay.

The suit filed before Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court in Lagos pointed out that Buhari’s failure to appoint more Supreme Court Justice was “a serious breach of Section 231(2) of the 1999 Constitution and poses a grave danger to the course of justice in Nigeria.

Following continuous retirement of supreme court justices without conforming replacement the number has reduced to 12 as against twenty-one (21) slots as provided by the Nigerian constitution while the number of cases going to the court from all over the country keeps increasing.

Currently, there are 16 Justices of the Supreme court of Nigeria, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria. The Justices are often recommended by the National Judicial Council to the President , and they must be senior advocates, who will send the names to the Senate for confirmation.

According to reports by PUNCH, the lawyer said the National Judicial Council had in October last year recommended four justices of the Court of Appeal identified as Adamu Jauro, Emmanuel Agim, C. Oseji and Helen Ogunwumiju to Buhari for appointment as Supreme Court Justices, but the President negated to forward their names to the National Assembly for onward consideration.

Nnoli in the suit marked FHC/C/CS/897/2020 further stated that Buhari’s avoidance of his statutory duties and inaction “poses a grave risk to the peace and progress of Nigeria as citizens’ confidence in the Supreme Court towards dispensing justice in a timely manner may be eroded owing to the insufficient number of Justices of the Supreme Court available.”

The defendants in the lawsuit are Buhari, the National Judicial Council, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, and the Senate President of Nigeria.

The date for a hearing is yet to be fixed by the court.

NBA Election: EFCC files lawsuit against two lawyers for rigging in 2018

Ihuoma ILO
-
0
NBA Election: EFCC files lawsuit against two lawyers for rigging in 2018

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has filed a 14-count charge lawsuit against two lawyers — John Demide and Sarah Ajibola  for allegedly rigging the August 2018 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) national election.

The anti-graft agency filed the fraud charges against the duo before the federal high court in Lagos state on May 5.

In a report by TheCable, Demide and Ajibola were accused of influencing figures of the election in favour of Paul Usoro, the NBA president who had a total of 4,509 votes as against his opponents Okafor Obi and Ernest Ojukwu who recorded 4,423 and 3,313 votes respectively.

The lawsuit signed by Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC counsel, marked FHC/L/118c/2020 alleged that the defendants had tampered with the phone numbers of 1004 eligible voters including email addresses and cast votes for Usoro by impersonating them.

“That you, Sarah Omeigha Ajibola and John Ozovehe Demide sometime in August 2018, knowingly altered the email addresses and phone numbers of about 1004 eligible voters of the NBA 2018 National elections and… thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 13 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015,” the lawsuit read.

The suit also alleged that the lawyers of falsely using the supreme court jurisdiction to access the enrollment numbers of some lawyers to vote “with the intent of gaining an electoral advantage” in favour the incumbent president.

“That you, John Ozovehe Demide sometime on the 19th of August 2018, within the Jurisdiction of this court fraudulently used the unique identification features such as Name and Supreme Court Enrolment Number SCN043280 of one Gabriel Abijo Oladipo to vote as the same Gabriel Abijo Oladipo through your Smile modem on IP address 169.159.65.190, to vote with the intent of gaining an electoral advantage in favour of Mr Paul Usoro (SAN) who was one of the Presidential Aspirants during the 2018 Nigerian Bar Association elections and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(2) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015 under the same section.”

“That you, John Ozovehe Demide sometime on the 20th day of August 2018, within the Jurisdiction of this Court fraudulently impersonated one Bankole Isaac Toyin to vote as the same Bankole Isaac Toyin with Supreme Court Enrolment Number SCN024643 by voting as such through your Smile modem on IP address 169.159.65.190 to vote with intent of gaining electoral advantage in favour of Mr. Paul Usoro (SAN) who was one of the Presidential Aspirants during the 2018 Nigerian Bar Association elections and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22 (3) of the cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015”

Okafor had challenged Usoro’s victory and pleaded that the court  verify voters and review the electoral process that led to the results announced, although Abubakar Mahmoud, former president of the NBA, had described the election as the fairest held so far in the history of the association.

Abubakar Malami Attorney General of the federation was also petitioned by a group of lawyers under the umbrella of concerned faithfuls of the Nigerian Bar Association, over the election which they described as “illegal and unconstitutional”.

The NBA election which is held every two years has been slated to hold on July 24.

Nigeria has accessed $1.2bn Global Fund grant to fight Malaria, but many children still die of parasite

Lukman ABOLADE
-
0
Nigeria has accessed $1.2bn Global Fund grant to fight Malaria, but many children still die of parasite

THE Federal Government of Nigeria says the country has accessed US$2,436,371,946 of the Global Fund towards fighting Malaria, Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and for Resilient Systems Strengthening for Health since 2002. And nearly $1.2 billion of this fund has been spent to end malaria.

Despite spending about half of the fund to fight the disease, Nigeria has been the epicentre of Malaria in the world according to a 2018 study by the World Health Organisation (WHO), The ICIR had reported.

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire said this while addressing journalists on Tuesday in Abuja on the receipt of a fresh $895 million by the Global Fund for the purpose.

Ehanire said the Nigerian Government has so far taken possession of US$2,436,371,946 out of the $2,585,537,824 dedicated by the Global Fund to operations in Nigeria.

According to him, this represents 94 per cent of the funds as dedicated by the Global Fund since its inception.

He noted that the funds were split into four programs including Malaria, Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Resilient Systems Strengthening for Health.

“A breakdown of the funds disbursed to Nigeria so far is as follows: HIV/AIDS: $874,801,962; Tuberculosis: $338,655,681; Malaria: $1,168,613,356; RSSH: $44,178,974; TB/HIV:  $10,421,972, Ehanire said.

The minister further noted that the Global Fund has approved a fresh $21.9 million dollars to Nigeria as a grant to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Global Fund also approved a grant of US$21.9 million to support Nigeria’s COVID-19 response, the new grant being the result of a proposal Nigeria CCM submitted to The Global Fund a few weeks ago,” He noted.

According to him, the approved grant would assist the country test about 1 million Nigerians in 12 months.

“The new grant will be specifically used to procure test kits to support COVID-19 testing with the GeneXpert machine and other molecular laboratory equipment. Overall, The Global Fund grants for COVID-19 will support testing for about 1 million Nigerians over the next 12 months,” the minister said.

1...2,0472,0482,049...3,440Page 2,048 of 3,440