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Jonathan Sets Up Committee To Investigate Aviation Scandal

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Jonathan Sets Up Committee To Investigate Aviation Scandal

As pressure mounts for a probe into the alleged purchase of armoured vehicles by the minister of aviation, Stella Odua, at an inflated cost of N255 million, President Goodluck Jonathan has set up a three – man administrative panel to investigate the scandal.

The special adviser to the President on media and publicity, Reuben Abati, disclosed this while briefing journalists at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting on Wednesday.

The three-man panel is to be chaired by the immediate past head of service, Sali Bello, while other members include the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, a colonel and Dik Iruenebere, an air vice marshal.

“Indeed Mr. President considers this very a weighty matter and that is not true as some people have been alleging that no action has been taken. Let me assure you that President Jonathan will like to assure the general public that nobody no matter how highly placed will be shielded or exempted from this inquiry that he has directed and that appropriate action will be taken against any person or persons who maybe found guilty of misconduct or misappropriation of public funds either in this respect or in any other respect,” Abati said.

He explained that the panel of enquiry set up by the President is to investigate whether the procurement of the vehicles followed due process or not. The panel is also to look into the main reasons for procuring the vehicles.

“President Goodluck Jonathan has taken the initial step of asking the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, for explanations and that is in public domain and so it will not be right to say that the President is not aware of the matter. But, also, President Jonathan has also today taken a step further and you will probably be the first set of Nigerians to hear this, by setting up a three-man administrative panel of inquiry,” he said.

While Abati did not state if the minister would step aside while she is being investigated, he noted that the panel which has a time line of two weeks would also give the President the necessary advice on the matter.

The President was earlier reported to have issued the minister a query on Monday, to which she is expected to respond before his return from Israel.

In the query, Jonathan is said to have directed the embattled minister to provide him a detailed report on the procurement of the controversial bullet-proof cars, especially the cost, procurement processes and other issues relating to the transaction that have been raised by the media.

However, it was gathered that the aviation minister was already in Israel ahead of the President’s pilgrimage and state visit, even though she is not officially listed on the President’s team.

She was absent at today’s FEC meeting.

 

 

 

EFCC Declares Italian, 2 Nigerians Wanted Over N1.09 Billion Scam

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EFCC Declares Italian, 2 Nigerians Wanted Over N1.09 Billion Scam

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has declared an Italian, Mariani Albino, wanted in connection with a case of obtaining money by false pretence, stealing and money laundering to the tune of N989,288,400.00.

The agency also declared wanted two Nigerians, Nsika Usoro and Steve Bajo, for fraudulent conversion of the sum of N107million belonging to So Energy, a subsidiary of Sahara Group.

Information provided by the commission in astatement issued by its spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, stated that Albino is 53 years, 5ft 3inches in height and fair in complexion and that he speaks Italian and English languages fluently.

In a telephone chat, Uwujaren told our reporter that the Italian collected close to a million naira from a Nigerian for an interior decoration job but disappeared after being paid. All efforts by the commission to trace him have failed so he is believed to have returned to his home country.

His last known address is 9B, Ezekwuese Close, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

Usoro and Bajo are directors of Rigel Energy and Maritime Limited and obtained the money from the oil firm but failed to deliver.

They have since disappeared. The EFCC instituted a case against the duo and they were to appear today but they did not turn up.

 

National DIalogue: Gov Aliyu Calls For Grassroot Participation

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National DIalogue: Gov Aliyu Calls For Grassroot Participation

Nma Shekwolo – Minna

Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum, NSGF, and chief governor of Niger State, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has thrown his weight behind holding a national dialogue, suggesting the constitution of  a 910-man conference committee with a larger chunk of the delegates elected  from the grassroots.

Aliyu made the suggestion when members of the presidential advisory committee on the national conference led by its chairman, Femi Okunrounmu, paid him a courtesy call in Minna,the Niger state capital.

The NSGF leader said the existing institutions especially those at the grassroot should be used as the basis of the electing delegates to the national dialogue conference.

“I suggest that 774 delegates should be elected from the local government areas in the country, 100 delegates from special interest groups and 36 from traditional rulers representing the traditional institutions in the 36 states in Nigeria,” he said.

Aliyu backed the position of President Goodluck Jonathan that the final decisions of the national dialogue should be sent to the National Assembly for further ratification.

“As long as the National Assembly is on the ground, the decision reached by delegates at the national conference must be taken into the National Assembly for framing into the constitution,” Aliyu said.

Okunrounmu had earlier said that his team was in the state to consult and have the input of the governor on the national conference.

He assured that the committee would ensure the views of all Nigerians are accommodated.

Data Journalism Course Opens To Reporters

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Data Journalism Course Opens To Reporters

Journalists around the world who are interested in learning about using data to tell great, compelling stories can register for an online course being offered by the European Journalism Centre, EJC titled Doing Journalism with Data: First Steps, Skills and Tools.

This five-module introductory course will take participants through data journalism in the newsroom, finding data to support stories, finding story ideas with data analysis, dealing with messy data and telling stories with visualization.

The course will be taught through video lectures, tutorials, assignments, readings and discussion forums and any journalist with Internet connection anywhere in the world can be part of it.

Data Journalism, an increasingly popular genre uses data of all sorts to tell stories in innovative ways using technological tools.

Instructors include Simon Rogers, data editor at Twitter; Paul Bradshaw, head of the online journalism master’s program at Birmingham City University; Nicolas Kayser-Bril, co-founder and head at data journalism start-up Journalism++; and other leading experts in the field.

The course will begin in early 2014.

For more information, click here

Army Claims It Killed 37 In Attack On Boko Haram Camp

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Army Claims It Killed 37 In Attack On Boko Haram Camp

Nigeria’s military on Monday claimed it killed 37 suspected Boko Haram fighters during a ground and air attack on an insurgent camp in a Borno village.

A statement issued by its acting deputy director of public relations, Aliyu Ibrahim Danja, said the onslaught was on the terrorists’ camp in Alagarno village.

According to the statement fewer than 37 suspected terrorists were killed while several others fled with gunshot wounds.

“Based on available intelligence, troops of the 7 Division, Nigerian Army launched an attack on terrorists’ camp in Alagarno. The operation which commenced on Monday 21st October, 2013 involved a coordinated ground and air assault by our troops in conjunction with 79 Composite Group, Nigerian Air force Maiduguri destroy the terrorist’s Camp,” Danja stated.

He said that arms, ammunition as well as three Hilux trucks and motorcycles belonging to the insurgents were also recovered by the troops.

The military said the operation was restricted to the isolated camp of the terrorists and that no innocent civilian was hurt or injured during the three hours operation.

Danja also confirmed Boko Haram attacks on motorists and passengers on Sunday in Logomari villages in Gamboru- Ngala- Dikwa local government but dismissed the figure reports that 20 people were killed, insisting that only four civilians were killed and two persons injured in the process.

“In the early hours of Sunday, 20th October, 2013, Boko Haram terrorists numbering over 50 armed with AK 47 Rifles, and Rocket Propelled Launchers blocked road at Gamboru -Ngala- Dikwa in Logomari village killing four civilians and injured two,” the spokesman stated.

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He added that the terrorists also set ablaze four civilian trucks loaded with provisions before they attacked members of the vigilante youth known as Civilian JTF who were returning from a funeral and that three of them were killed and their vehicles set ablaze.

Danja noted that the vigilante youths who escaped however reinforced pursued the terrorists and destroyed their hideout killing several terrorists while others escaped.

He said the troops of the 7 Division are currently conducting aggressive patrols to trace and destroy Boko Haram elements within its area of responsibility.

EFCC Challenges Report Ranking It Among Most Corrupt Agencies

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EFCC Challenges Report Ranking It Among Most Corrupt Agencies

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has described as false and misleading, a National Crime Victimization and Safety Survey report which indicted it as one of the highly corrupt government agencies in the country.

The commission referred to a news publication in Thisday and Leadership newspapers of October 22, 2013 that lumps the among agencies of government touted as highly corrupt, citing a 2013 survey carried out CLEEN Foundation in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation.

EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement that the agency had toiled relentlessly to sustain its integrity and reputation as an effective law enforcement organisation with zero tolerance for corruption and therefore will not allow “arm chair researchers desperate to justify a grant use the result of a spurious survey to cast aspersion on its integrity”.

Uwujaren also challenged the authors of the survey to publish the parameters used in conducting the survey and arriving at the conclusion and stigmatisation of an agency as corrupt.

“For a country with a population of over 160million, it is the height of irresponsibility for some NGO to sit in their cosy offices, design survey questionnaires and administer to their friends and cronies only to publish the result as a national aggregate of opinion,” the EFCC said.

“How many people in  Borno, Ekiti , or Cross River states have come in contact with operatives of the EFCC to be able to make informed opinion as to whether they are corrupt or not? Which towns, local governments and wards did the survey cover? What questions were asked; what response evaluation methods were used?” it further questioned.

The EFCC said it is proud of its record when it comes to integrity, as operatives of the Commission cannot easily be induced, explaining why cases of impersonation of operatives of the Commission by fraudsters are rampant.

Uwujaren said matters of discipline and integrity of its officers are not treated with levity, adding that there is a full-fledged directorate of the agency, the Department of Internal Affairs, saddled with the responsibility for ensuring that staff of the agency abide  by it code of ethics.

He also asked members of the public who encounters any officer of the commission who requests for gratification to report such matters to its director, Internal Affairs Department at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja or call any of these numbers: 097831798, 097831799, 08036076316, 08191534236 and 09-4604628 or send an email to: dia@efccnigeria.org.

They could as well send a message through the EFCC facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Official-EFCC/509762239046271”.

“It is no longer sufficient for any faceless person to claim they have come in contact with some bribe-seeking operatives of the Commission, such claims must be justified by naming the operatives in question and the circumstance under which the gratifications were demanded and received, the objective being to clean up the system, if it requires cleaning,” Uwujaren stated.

Other agencies that made it to the top of the corruption list of the survey are the police and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC.

According to the report, some of the states leading in the corruption index include Rivers, Borno, Cross River, Niger, Gombe, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Anambra and Kwara, while the lowest incidents of corruption were recorded in Katsina, Ogun and Akwa Ibom States.

Some federal government agencies listed and their rate of propensity to bribery include the police – 33%; Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS – 26%; ICPC – 25%; Nigerian Customs Service, NCS – 24%; Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN – 23%; EFCC – 23%; Federal Roads Safety Commission, FRSC – 20% and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC – 19%.

Others are tax/revenue officials – 18%; municipal/local government councillors – 18%; State Security Service, SSS – 18%; National Assembly members – 17%; local government officials – 16%; lower court officials – 15%; higher courts officials – 14%; and lecturers and professors of tertiary institutions – 10%.

The report also identified a weak and corrupt judiciary as one of the constraints militating against the fight against corruption.

Organisations, officials and agencies that scored below 10% on the index include post office, gas/petrol attendants, prison warden/officers, primary and secondary school teachers, and doctors and nurses.

The Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Kemi Okenyodo, said the survey was conducted with 11,518 respondents drawn from all the states of the country and was aimed at tracking patterns of crime in the country and finding solutions to them.

Okenyodo said findings of the survey showed that bribery and corruption among government officials in Nigeria remains high.

“Nearly one out of every four respondents admitted having paid a bribe or having been asked to pay bribes by government officials before services could be rendered to them,” she said.

The 2013 survey also showed that bribery and corruption among public officials such as the police, customs officers, court personnel, tax officials, anti-corruption agencies and PHCN employees were higher in Rivers, Borno, Cross River, Niger, Gombe, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Anambra and Kwara states.

The lowest incidents were recorded in Katsina, Ogun and Akwa Ibom states

 

MEND Claims Responsibility For Warri Refinery Fire

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MEND Claims Responsibility For Warri Refinery Fire

From Jessica Tamaradonye, Warri

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, has claimed responsibility for a fire that broke out at the Warri Refinery and Petrolchemical Company, WRPC, Tuesday morning.

The huge fire, it was gathered, started around 11:00am in one of the refining plants and was at the verge of spreading but for the timely intervention of fire fighters.

MEND claimed that the “sabotage” was done in protest against the unsustainable and alleged fraudulent Niger Delta Amnesty Programme that has gulped billions of naira.

According to a statement signed by the group’s spokesman, Gbomo Jomo, “Hurricane Exodus” was intended to burn down the entire refining facility.

However, the prompt intervention of fire fighters from Chevron Nigeria Limited, Shell Petroleum Development Company, the state fire fighters as well as the standby fire fighters from the WRPC, spared the nation from another disaster of huge magnitude.

The group warned that as long as President Goodluck Jonathan continued to rely on “an unsustainable and fraudulent Niger Delta Amnesty programme”, peace and security will continue to elude his government in the region.

The raging inferno was successfully put out after about two hours battle and calm has since returned to the area

Borno Tackles VFF, Calls For More Support

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Borno Tackles VFF, Calls For More Support

By Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri

The Borno State government has called for concerted efforts from traditional rulers and stakeholders, including governments at all levels, to find a lasting solution to the increasing cases of Vesico Virginal Fistula, VVF, in the country.

Speaking at the flag off of a one – week training programme on rehabilitation and reintegration of 40 treated VVF patients in Maiduguri on Tuesday, the commissioner for women affairs, Inna Galadima, stressed that Nigeria must not be left behind in the fight to completely stamp out the ailment.

Galadima who was represented by Ladi Bappa, the permanent secretary in the ministry, expressed the belief that the scourge can be dealt with through community sensitization and mobilization to eliminate deeply rooted traditions and practices that encouraged its prevalence.

She said that the training was organized by the ministry with support from the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, to rehabilitate 40 already treated VVF patients in the state and to reintegrate them with the society.

The commissioner noted that obstructed labour, prolonged second stage labour, ignorance, poverty, illiteracy and some cultural practices like female genital mutilation and the application of salt during labour popularly known in northern Nigeria as Yankan gishiri, are major causes of VVF.

She said that an estimated 800,000 women and girls suffer VVF, adding that the training is central to human capacity development as its absence breeds ignorance and hinders meaningful development and change.

Galadima lauded UNFPA, the donor agency, for its support. She said the organization contributed greatly, through the federal ministry of health and Fistula Care, to develop a comprehensive referral document used to train health workers to serve as guide in the provision of holistic, respectful, simple and affordable, quality and evidence – based care for obstetric fistula.

The guest speaker from the Centre on Enhancement of Small Scale Businesses in the federal ministry of science and technology, Mohammed Zarma, urged those benefiting from the rehabilitation programme to develop good entrepreneurial skills and wisely invest the monies given to them.

“You will need to be prudent, determined and focused,” he counselled even as he urged the women not to use the monetary assistance given to them by the state government to buy clothe, foods or other things but to start small businesses so as to earn a living.

22 Arrested For Electoral Offences, As APC Wins Edo Election

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22 Arrested For Electoral Offences, As APC Wins Edo Election

From Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

The Edo State Independent Electoral Commission, EDSIEC, has announced candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Sam Oboh, as winner of the Esan North-east local government bye-election with a sweeping 12, 672 votes against his closest rival John Yakubu of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP who got 3, 314 votes.

It would be recalled that the election was cancelled twice due to violence perpetrated by rival political parties.

However, 22 persons, including the APC chancellorship candidate for Isi-south ward 8, in Uhunmwonde local government area, Ehis Abijie, have been arrested for various electoral offences by the police.

Abijie was said to have beaten up and injured several journalists at Atani primary school, along Ubiaja Road, and even forcefully seized a camera belonging to an editor with TELL magazine, Adekunbi Ero.

Others arrested included a policeman in mufti who was caught along with two persons with two ballot boxes containing already thumb-printed ballot papers.

The election was marred by violence and late arrival of voting materials, which got to most wards and units around 2pm, while accreditation of eligible voters was also delayed.

Election was stalled at Ivue primary school due to alleged irregularity in voters’ register.

Voting lasted beyond 6pm in some polling stations and intending voters who could not wait the long hours left feeling very disappointed.

Nasarawa Introduces Mobile Courts For Environment Law Offenders

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Nasarawa Introduces Mobile Courts For Environment Law Offenders

By Godwin Ojoshimite

The Nasarawa State government is set to introduce mobile court that would prosecute defaulters of waste disposal regulations.

The state governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, disclosed this through a press statement signed by his senior special assistant on media and press affairs, Sani Mairiga.

He said the mobile court would also prosecute those found guilty of parking vehicles by the road side thereby hindering free flow of traffic.

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Al-Makura, therefore, warned citizens residing in urban areas, particularly along Keffi- Abuja dual carriage way and Lafia metropolis, to desist from any acts that would constitute environmental hazards, stressing that “a clean environment produces healthy people and health is wealth”.

The statement further urged residents to ensure that they dump their refuse only at designated points to aid easy evacuation by men of the Nasarawa State Urban Development Board, NUDB.

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