As part of the Muhammadu Buhari administration’s resolve to install probity and accountability in governance, the president has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate allegations that officials of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA and the National Malaria Elimination Programme, NMEP, mismanaged grants from the Global Fund for the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Two high-powered committees have also been set up to investigate programmes under the fund and all financial transactions carried out by the two agencies between 2014 and now during which the international funding organization disbursed over $1.1 billion to them.

The first panel, headed by the health minister, Professor Isaac Adewole, will review all the programmes under the fund and make recommendations to the government within the next four weeks.

The second panel is headed by the Auditor General of the Federation, Samuel Ukura, will review all financial transactions within the period.

A statement by the minister of health, which gave details of the government’s decision, also stated that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, had been ordered to review previous audit reports on the use of donor funds in the fight against HIV/AIDS and Malaria.

Adewole added that all officials involved would be given fair hearing while those found culpable in the scandal would receive appropriate sanctions.

The www.icirnigeria.org had in a report published on Sunday, disclosed the suspension of the disbursement of the grant by Global Fund, after the Geneva – based donor agency said an audit report on the grants showed evidence of massive fraud perpetrated by officials of recipient agencies..

Global Fund has committed more than $1.4 billion to the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria in Nigeria since 2003, with over $800 million disbursed between 2012 and 2016-making it the largest donor in the campaign to end AIDS scourge and malaria.

In a country where government’s contribution to the campaign is less than 10 percent, suspension of donor funds would spell doom for the campaign to end the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria in the country.

Not less than 3.4 million Nigerians are said to be leaving with HIV in the country but only 750,000 are able to access anti-retroviral therapy due to insufficient funds.

By Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri

The twin sister of a Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, pastor murdered by Boko Haram in Borno State has called for his children, who were abducted by the insurgents but believed to have been released, to be located and returned to the family as a way of preserving the late pastor’s legacy.

Esther Kehinde Adesuyi said her family is worried about the whereabouts of the three children, whom she said have been missing for two years but are believed to be in Borno, Edo, Kaduna, or Edo state.

The pastor, Taiwo Noah, was in charge of a local RCCG parish at a village in Askira-Uba, Borno State, when Boko Haram insurgents attacked in 2014.

In a letter titled “Compassionate Appeal for Assistance in Preserving the Legacy of Late Pastor and Mrs. Taiwo Noah” and addressed to Funso Odesola, a pastor and Special Assistant to Enoch Adeboye, the head of the Redeemed Christian Adesuyi said the children had been released by the insurgents and taken to an internally displaced persons camp in Yola, Adamawa State, but when the governors of the above states visited the camp, the orphaned children were shared among them for safekeeping.

“It was gathered from his interpreter (Pulngwa Jacob Peace) at Askira-Uba that the children upon their release were taken to IDP camp in Yola. The Governors of Bayelsa, Kaduna, Edo and Borno states came to the camp at Yola and the children who have lost their parents were subsequently shared amongst these states. Proper record of the children that were shared was not kept and as such the trail of the children went cold.

“I would like the church to assist in using her resources in locating these children as they are the only legacy of this late couple. The Children and their ages are Temilayo 8, Titilayo 6 and Toluwani 4. This request is coming because I have exhausted my limited resources in this attempt. This will bring solace to my family as we are finding it difficult to live with the reality of the demise of this Pastor and the loss of the Children,” Adesuyi said.

On receiving the letter, Odesola asked the pastor in charge of Borno and Yobe regions to relate with other pastors in charge of Bayelsa, Kaduna and Edo states to find out more about the situation.

“The Mission is desirous of doing whatever is possible to locate these children and rehabilitate them,” Odesola noted.

According to the late pastor’s sister, their foster parents had not been told about his death because of the impact it might have on their health.

“The family members that took care of him while growing up have not been informed of his death till now because of what the shock might cause the ageing people. Our dad died like 28 years ago while our mother died in 2004 and the care of the late pastor was left to our aunt. Taiwo was taking care of our aunt and many of our siblings too he assisted in terms of payment of their school fees and even sending them feeding allowance,” she explained.

Taiwo’s wife too died in the hands of Boko Haram when she was abducted alongside other villagers.

The www.icirnigeria.org had exclusive reported on March 25, 2015 that she died from the terrible condition she was held in as she suffered diabetes and was on a special diet.

Adesuyi said the family was still recovering from the pastor’s death when news of the wife’s death filtered in.

She said that the late woman had a still-birth a week before the attack and that Taiwo had planned relocating his family to the South west before his death.

Olusona Johnson, also a pastor with RCCG in Borno State, recalled how the attacked happened, adding that Taiwo had confided in him two weeks earlier of his desire to move his family out of the state.

“At the time of the incident I was at Strong Tower Parish, Gajali village in Askira-Uba local government, just about 20 minutes’ drive to Dille, where Pastor Taiwo Dokun was the shepherd. Two weeks to the incident, he told me he was planning to relocate his family to the South-West that he was waiting to submit his mandatory monthly remittance to the church.

“Where I was in Gajali, I saw people fleeing from Dille and we heard series of bomb blast and when we asked from those fleeing we were told the insurgents have entered Dille. I was so concerned about his welfare and started calling his mobile, from morning till the next day I could not get through to him, I equally got in touch with one of our senior pastors in Lassa who informed me that he had been trying his number without success.

“We were later told on the second day by some that escaped the town that he had been killed with his family abducted, they equally told us that his house was burnt along with his property. We continued as a church to pray for the family,” Johnson explained, adding that they church was later informed by some of abductees who escaped that the late pastor’s wife had died.

“The church was later told by some that escaped from Sambisa Forest that she was unable to escape when they did because she had an injury that could not make her to run. We were equally told that immediately they got to Sambisa Forest, she was separated from her three children,” he said, adding. “Some other people that escaped at a later date told us that the woman was now dead, that she died because of illness, that she was diabetic.”

While the church is doing everything it can to locate Taiwo’s missing children, Johnson said there were conflicting reports about their status.

“We were hearing different tales about the children, some said they are still with the insurgents, some said one of the children was killed by the insurgents and they dumped his corpse by the water bank. Up till now we are still not sure where the children might be, though the soldiers have rescued many children from Sambisa Forest, we have not been able to see those children,” he pointed out.

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The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, has condemned the recent attacks on oil facilities by a new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers, asking the federal government to deal decisively with the perpetrators.

The spokesman of the Congress, Eric Omare, said on Monday in Yenagoa that there could be no justification for destroying oil facilities and causing environmental problems for the people of the region.

He urged the government to investigate the attacks and ensure that real perpetrators are brought to book instead of unleashing security agencies on innocent people of the affected communities.

“We do not see the justification in the Niger Delta Avengers embarking on destruction of oil facilities, Omare declared, noting that former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, has denounced the group.

“I think Tompolo did the proper thing by coming out to inform the entire world that he was not part of the NDA when there were insinuations to the effect that he was behind them.”

He noted that the people and the environment in the region are usually the ultimate victims of any attack on oil installations in the area, adding that “irrespective of their grievances, there are better ways of expressing them rather than contributing to the further destruction of the already massively degraded Niger Delta environment.”

The IYC spokesman said that even as the Congress does not support the attacks,  it does not want them to be used as an excuse to go after innocent residents of the affected communities.

“From our experience, the security personnel in a bid to impress their superiors and justify the huge amount of money budgeted for the purpose, always attack innocent communities and people.

“This must not be allowed to happen this time around . We would also advise the Federal Government to be prompt in directing security agencies to deal with insurgent groups all over the country including the Fulani herdsmen who have been killing innocent Nigerians just like they have just directed in respect of the Niger Delta Avengers.” Omare added,

The Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta, including the ones on the SPDC platform at Forcados, the Chevron Okan platform at Abiteye in Escravos, and the crude oil pipelines.

Reacting to the attacks at the weekend, the federal government directed the military to do everything in its power to halt any resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta.

The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, John Odigie-Oyegun has said that the federal government would make the execution of railway projects one of its priorities in 2016.

Noting that 30 per cent of the 2016 federal budget is devoted to capital projects, Odigie-Oyegun said the railway projects would form the focus of the administrations investment in critical infrastructural.

The APC chairman made these remarks on Saturday night at a dinner held in his honour by the Old Boys Association, Abuja Branch, of Saint Patrick’s College, Asaba, from where he graduated in 1957.

The association honoured Odigie – Oyegun with an achievement award at the ceremony.

“As at today, the economy is in the process of being reflated; meaning that money is being put into the system. Contractors are being mobilised to go back to work. New contracts will be awarded. The railway will be one of the very first priorities. We will for the first time go from Kano to Lagos through Benin City all the way to Calabar by rail.” Odigie-Oyegun said.

He called on Nigerians to be patient with the administration as it tries to ease the current hardship being experienced by many, assuring that everything was being done to turn around the economy.

“We are not shutting our eyes to the pains of the Nigerian people because it is real. It is genuine. We can only plead for patience. Thank God the APC government has its very first national budget and the implementation of that budget will be passionately pursued,” he stated.

The APC chairman said that the result of the initiatives being taken to diversify the economy and take care of the poor and vulnerable in the society would be a more vibrant nation that all would be proud of.

Odigie – Oyegun thanked the association for the honour bestowed on him and pledged to support efforts taken to develop the St. Patrick College

The President of the Abuja branch of the association, Tony Anyameluhor, praised Odigie – Oyegun for his focused leadership which led to his party’s victory in the last general elections, while also urging Nigerians to be patient with the Buhari – led administration as it tries to rebuild the economy.

“Many Nigerians will appreciate what God has done by bringing in a party with zero tolerance for corruption, a party that upholds the principle of one person one vote grounded in free and fair elections at all levels.

“Less than one year of this administration, looted funds are being repatriated and they are going to be judiciously used for the benefit of all Nigerians. No doubt, the APC administration is faced with many challenges which it inherited. What is required from Nigerians is patience as it is easier to destroy than to rebuild.”

In his own remark, the National President of the association, Paul Ogbebor, who delivered a dinner lecture identified technology as a key driver to achieving economic transformation in the country.

He urged the Buhari administration to establish a national construction bank in line with the infrastructure drive of the administration, which he said will check corruption in government payment processes for awarded contracts.

“When it takes a whistleblower to sound the alarm, it is cause for even greater concern. It signals that democracy’s checks and balances have all failed,” – John Doe, whistleblower behind the Panama Papers.

The whistleblower behind the biggest information leak in history, the Panama Papers, has called for whistleblowers to be given immunity from prosecution or government retribution.

The anonymous source, simply referred to as John Doe, says he is ready to make more documents available to interested governments but only as far as he is comfortable.

In a statement titled “The Revolution Will Be Digitized” and issued to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, ICIJ, Doe says the only way for more people to report corruption is if they know they will not be hounded by government or law enforcement agencies.

“Legitimate whistleblowers who expose unquestionable wrongdoing, whether insiders or outsiders, deserve immunity from government retribution, full stop. Until governments codify legal protections for whistleblowers into law, enforcement agencies will simply have to depend on their own resources or on-going global media coverage for documents,” the source said, mentioning the likes of Edward Snowden, Bradley Birkenfeld and Antoine Deltour, who are all accused of leaking sensitive documents.

According to the statement, there is an income inequality affecting the world, which is caused by corruption, as revealed by the Panama Papers.

While saying he does not and has never worked for any government or intelligence agency, the whistleblower justified his decision to make the documents public. According to him, he understood the implication of the contents of the documents enough to know that they form part of the problems facing the world.

He said that while the media coverage has focused on the individuals in the documents and the attendant scandal, there is need to also look at the company that made everything possible, Mossack Fonseca.

This law firm, the whistlblower noted, is able to use its knowledge of the law to help the rich and powerful in the society bend it in their favour. He also called for their prosecution.

He blamed the judiciary for siding with the rich in perverting the course of justice.

“Those able to pay the most can always find a lawyer to serve their ends, whether that lawyer is at Mossack Fonseca or another firm of which we remain unaware. What about the rest of society?

“Hopelessly backward and inefficient courts have failed. Judges have too often acquiesced to the arguments of the rich, whose lawyers—and not just Mossack Fonseca—are well trained in honouring the letter of the law, while simultaneously doing everything in their power to desecrate its spirit. The media has failed,” he notes.

In spite of the role played by the media, particularly Süddeutsche Zeitung and the ICIJ, the source accused some sectionS of the media of refusing to report on the documents. This is in spite of being invited as part of the investigation.

“Many news networks are cartoonish parodies of their former selves, individual billionaires appear to have taken up newspaper ownership as a hobby, limiting coverage of serious matters concerning the wealthy, and serious investigative journalists lack funding.

“The impact is real: in addition to Süddeutsche Zeitung and ICIJ, and despite explicit claims to the contrary, several major media outlets did have editors review documents from the Panama Papers. They chose not to cover them. The sad truth is that among the most prominent and capable media organizations in the world there was not a single one interested in reporting on the story. Even Wikileaks didn’t answer its tip line repeatedly,” he claims.

The problem associated with taxation and imbalance of power, the whistleblower says, has an historical origin that includes revolution.

But while leaders in the past used the state coercive apparatus to silence people, these days leaders have devised a more potent and bloodless way of achieving the same result: curtailing access to information.

However, as he notes, the situation is not all that hopeless, especially with technological advancement.

“We live in a time of inexpensive, limitless digital storage and fast internet connections that transcend national boundaries. It doesn’t take much to connect the dots: from start to finish, inception to global media distribution, the next revolution will be digitized,” he concluded.

The Federal Government on Friday said it may not be possible to achieve full implementation of the 2016 budget.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the budget.

According to the minister, who was joined by the Minister of State, Zainab Ahmed, despite government’s intention to fully implement the document, the fact that almost half of the year is gone makes it impossible.

“Our aim is 100 percent implementation because the budget is a law that must be implemented. But the reality is that we may not achieve this because we are starting late,” Udoma told journalists.

To forestall a reoccurrence, the minister said the government is working to ensure that the National Assembly gets the 2017 budget by October, as this will allow its passage before the end of the year and give the government the opportunity to begin its implementation from January 2017.

President Muhammadu Buhari has finally signed the 2016 budget, giving way for its implementation and revival of the troubled Nigerian economy.

The signing took place on Friday at the Presidential Villa in the presence of Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, and others.

The N6.06 trillion budget, which was presented by the President before a joint session of the National Assembly on December 22, 2015, has generated so much controversy, the latest being the allegation of inclusion and removal of projects by committee leaders in the National Assembly.

The President had refused to sign the budget passed by the legislature, insisting that first the details be made available and later that the padded items be removed. This caused a lot of hardship on Nigerians, leading to calls that he could not handle the economy.

Obviously pleased with the reworked document, he has now appended his signature almost five months into the new year.

The Kano State Police Command has arrested two key suspects in connection with the murder of one Bridget Abahime who was extra-judicially murdered in the State for alleged blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed.

According to a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, those arrested were Dauda Ahmed and Subeiru Abubakar.

The statement added that the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, has called for calm while reassuring the family of the deceased and the general public that justice shall be done in the case.

The IGP has also directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in- charge of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, FCII, to deploy the Homicide Section of the Department to immediately take over the investigation of the case and ensure speedy prosecution of the arrested suspects.

“IGP Arase has directed the Commissioner of Police of Kano State to sustain the various engagements with all stakeholders and community leaders in the State in order to douse already rising tensions.

“In addition, enough police personnel has been deployed to the state to protect citizens and prevent the incident from degenerating into a major security threat and as well as to continue with the search for the other suspects who are at large.”

The police chief assured that the members of the public will be updated on progress of investigation into the case, and also called on all citizens to imbibe the culture of tolerance and peaceful co-existence and to cooperate with the police in the discharge of its constitutional responsibility.