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Nigeria attracted $30bn in foreign investments under my watch-Tinubu

Mustapha USMAN
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Nigeria attracted $30bn in foreign investments under my watch-Tinubu

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu said his nine-month-old administration has attracted $30 billion in Direct Foreign Investment commitments to shore up the Nigerian economy.

Tinubu made this known during the 2023 Leadership Annual Conference and Award held on Tuesday, March 6, in Abuja.

The President, who was represented by Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, stated that the Nigerian economy is not in a state of distress as widely speculated but rather faced with challenges.

Acknowledging the various challenging situations, he remarked that the nation has garnered unprecedented opportunities to reshape its trajectory and construct a new, sustainable economy away from the rent-seeking and wasteful practices of the past.

“Since we assumed office in May 2023, we have attracted $30 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) commitments into the real sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, telecoms, healthcare, oil and gas, and others.

“Those investments have already started coming into the country. Just a few days ago, I was in Qatar on an official visit, where the Emir assured that a senior government delegation would visit Nigeria after Ramadan,” the president said.

Read Also: Nigeria’s capital importation drops by 74 per cent within one year as Lagos, FCT account for 96 per cent of investment destination

Tinubu also noted that he has asked the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to directly interface with the Qatari authorities to ensure speedy progress.

According to him, the Nigerian economy exhibited a performance in the last quarter of 2023 that surpassed expectations, with a growth rate of 3.46 per cent, compared to 2.54 per cent in the preceding quarter.

“Capital Importation into Nigeria was up by 66 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023, reversing a 36 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

“In January 2024, the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (ASI) crossed the 100,000 points mark, its highest ever.

“There is no one who looks at this data who will conclude that “distressed” is the accurate way to describe the Nigerian economy,” Tinubu added.

Capital importation is the influx of external resources into the local capital resources for investment, trade, and business production. The NBS divides it into three main investment types: foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio investment, and other investments, each comprising various sub-categories. Others here refer to currency deposits, loans, trade credits, etc.

The ICIR had previously reported that Nigeria generated capital importation figures of $1.13 billion and $1.03 billion in the first and second quarters of 2023, respectively, while for the third and fourth quarters of the year in question, the country attracted $654.7 million and $1.09 billion, respectively.

Meanwhile, the total capital importation for 2023 is about 26.70 per cent lower than what was generated in 2022, which was $5.33 billion.  

The report showed that the lowest capital inflow was generated in Ekiti State, which was $50,000, while Lagos State had the highest inflow, with $2.50 billion.

Police confirm abduction of female IDPs in Borno

Bankole ABE
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Police confirm abduction of female IDPs in Borno

THE Borno state police command has confirmed that Boko Haram insurgents abducted some female internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ngala, Borno State.

Reports on Tuesday, March 5, stated that the women were abducted by the terrorists on Sunday, March 3, when they went into the bush to get firewood.

They were reportedly besieged by rebels in the Bula Kunte Bush in Ngala Town’s western section, where the bandits freed the elderly amongst them and abducted some young boys and girls.

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Speaking to The ICIR in a telephone chat on Wednesday, March 6, the spokesperson of the police command, Nahum Daso Kenneth, said the incident happened, but he has not gotten the details of the occurrence.

” Yes, there was an incident like that in Ngala, but I am yet to be fully briefed on the matter. I will contact you when I get the full details,” Kenneth stated.

This is one of the most significant kidnappings to occur in Borno since the night when 276 girls in Chibok were abducted.

On April 14 2014, the Boko Haram terrorists invaded the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State and abducted 276 school girls. It was a notable incident that attracted global attention.

Ambassadors, human rights activists, popular musicians, and the former United States President, Barrack Obama, along with his wife, Michelle, called on the former government, led by Goodluck Jonathan, to expedite action on the safe rescue of the school girls.

Incidentally, the unfortunate event birthed the BringBackOurGirls movement, co-championed  by the former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili.

For years, the movement consistently advocated, pushing the previous and current administrations to work towards the safe return of the remaining girls. Several solidarity protests were held across the globe.

The ICIR reported in May 2023 that 37 parents of the 276 girls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents from Chibok have died since the incident.

A sibling to one of the abductees, Ayuba Alamson, made the claim in Abuja on Saturday, May 20, at an event organised by Women Radio to commemorate nine years of the abduction and remind former President Muhammadu Buhari of his vow to rescue the girls.

Alamson said the parents of the remaining girls who were yet to return were traumatised and abandoned by the government.

Alamson explained that some of the girls who regained freedom went to secondary schools in Jos, Plateau State, to complete their education.

He claimed the girls who had finished their secondary education have since been at home without anyone helping them get admission into the university. He added that those who were not patient among them had married.

Siemens deal shows signs of failing despite FG’s financial commitments

Harrison EDEH
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Siemens deal shows signs of failing despite FG’s financial commitments

NIGERIA’s Siemens AG deal is showing signs of failure despite the federal government’s ‘counterpart’ financial commitments on the to the deal.

Like several other power projects in the past with signatures of failures, the Siemens deal, although promising at the beginning, currently shows serious signs of collapse.

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Background

In 2019, the then president,  Muhammadu Buhari signed an agreement with a German technology company, Siemens AG to “drastically” improve Nigeria’s power supply by 11,000 megawatts by 2023.

According to the deal, Phase 1 will be completed in two years and Phase 2 in 2023.

The deal was an outcome of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s meeting with Buhari on August 31, 2018.

Buhari, after the deal was signed said,”in partnership with the German Government and Siemens AG, we are making an important move forward in addressing Nigeria’s electricity challenge. Our goal is a simple one: to deliver more electricity to Nigerian businesses and homes.”

He challenged Siemens and other partners to work hard in achieving “7,000 megawatts (MW) of reliable power supply by 2021 and 11,000 megawatts by 2023 – in phases 1 and 2 respectively”.

According to the Nigeria Electricity System Operator (NESO), the highest megawatts generation as of July 20, 2019, was 5,016.50 Megawatts while the lowest was 3,139.80 Megawatts.

This amounts to an average of 4,078 megawatts of power supply as of July 20. Pr66 Buhari as of then said only an average of 4,000 megawatts reliably reaches consumers.

“Despite over 13,000 megawatts of power generation capacity, only an average of 4,000 megawatts reliably reaches consumers,” he said.

“This Government’s priority was to stabilise the power generation and gas supply sector through the Payment Assurance Facility, which led to a peak power supply of 5,222 megawatts,” he added.

Failures, and inconsistencies despite financial commitments

Despite huge investment commitments made in this project by the government, the Nigerian power sector has been on a downward spiral, producing less than projected megawatts of power.

For instance, the System Operator from Grid Performance Dashboard of 18 February 2024 is 4000.70 megawatts peak, and off-peak generation same day is 3,434.97 megawatts. These figures fall shy of the targeted 11,000 megawatts for 2023.

Investments commitments on the project by FG on the Siemens deal

The ICIR has earlier reported that in July 2020, Buhari had approved the payment of €15.21million and N1.708billion as counterpart funding for the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI)-initiated under President Muhammadu Buhari to support the Siemens AG deal.

The former  Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, had said $ 1.9 million would be used for payment of transactions advisors and third-party consultants for the Siemens AG deal.

Nigeria, Germany's Siemens sign agreement to increase power supply
President Muhammadu Buhari in an handshake with Joe Kaeser, President of Siemens. Photo credit: Twitter/@bashirahmaad.

Ahmed also explained that €62million would be used for the procurement of mobile equipment and transformers for the transmission of power across the country.

She said, “The second approval that we got from Council today is still relating to the PPI power project and the memo was seeking the approval of Council for the award of contracts for the procurement of mobile equipment for the transmission power component of the project.

“So, 10 mobile equipment and 10 transformers in favour of Siemens AG. The projected progress for the sector wasn’t met, as the 2023 target was to improve power to N11,000 megawatts,” she added.

Presidency silent on progress report request by ICIR

The ICIR reached out to the Presidential Spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale to give a progress report on the project, despite the President visiting Germany in 2023. However, the Presidential spokesperson did not respond to calls and text messages seeking a response.

The ICIR confirmed that some transformers are coming into the country as a result of the Siemens deal, however, the general progress report on the deal remains elusive, findings have shown.

Siemens deal showing signs of failed power projects like the Mambilla project

The Mambilla project was initially awarded in 2003 to Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited, the proposed 3,050-megawatt plant in Mambilla, Taraba state, is expected to be the largest power-generating installation in Nigeria and one of Africa’s largest hydroelectric power stations.

However, the project has been the subject of decades of legal dispute between the company and the Nigerian government.

In 2008, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who succeeded Olusegun Obasanjo, terminated the project.

Just recently, the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the remand of a former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, in the Kuje Correctional Service over an alleged $6bn fraud in connection to the Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station.

Agunloye served as minister between 1999 and 2003 under the administration of  Obasanjo.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission arraigned Agunloye before a judge, J.O. Onwuegbuzie on Wednesday, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges read to him.

The judge, however, ordered that the embattled former minister be remanded in Kuje Correctional Service pending the hearing of his bail application.

ICIR announces fellows for SPARK 2 project

Nurudeen AKEWUSHOLA
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ICIR announces fellows for SPARK 2 project

THE International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) has announced the selected fellows for the second part of the Strengthening Public Accountability for Results and Knowledge (SPARK 2) Project.

According to a statement signed by her programme Officer, Ayisat Abiona, the project supported by the International Budget Partnerships (IBP), aims to examine factors contributing to the appalling state of maternal healthcare in Nigeria among others.

The project’s focal states are Oyo, Anambra, Niger, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Kano and Ogun states.

Part of the statement reads, “For the agriculture sector reporting, our focus is on the daunting challenges that smallholder women farmers face in terms of lack of access to resources credit, grants, farm inputs, land and information needed for their agricultural business. They frequently lack the resources or capital to farm at a commercially viable scale and have little motivation to do more than is necessary for them to make a living.

“This is mostly due to their restricted access to farmlands, markets, loans, credit and grants, support services and inputs, all of which would have allowed them to boost their output and sales volumes.” 

“For the agric sector reporting, our focal states are Anambra, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Niger, and Oyo. For the health sector reporting, we are concentrating on the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) and the Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) two key interventions of the government in the Nigerian health sector which have been confronted with numerous challenges, particularly because of inadequate budgetary allocations, misappropriation of funds and poor monitoring system. While the government has launched several reform measures to address various challenges in the health sector, basic healthcare services continue to elude ordinary Nigerians, particularly the most vulnerable people who live in rural areas.”

The project also aimed to address significant challenges, and power relations and provide system-level evidence across the two thematic areas on challenges in the delivery of BHCPF, MSS, and the Agriculture Development Projects across SPARK’s focal states – focusing on systemic, political, and economic issues such as inadequate budgetary support, the influence of party politics in policy, gender disparities as well as cultural and other nuanced influences that impact on outcomes.

The project will build the capacity of journalists to hold power bearers, policymakers, and implementers accountable by publishing focused special and investigative reports and documentaries on delivery end at Primary Health Care, Ward Development Committees, and across commodity groups within SWOFON networks in the focal states to report and investigate the health and agriculture sectors.

Twenty (20) journalists were selected from the states of Oyo, Anambra, Niger, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Kano, and Ogun across print, electronic and digital media.

The list of the successful candidates and their respective organisations is below:

1. Vincent Yusuf, Daily Trust
2. John Adams, The Sun Newspaper
3. Justina Asishana, Nation
4. Bawas khadija Ishaq, Liberty TV
5. Nasiru Yusuf Ibrahim, Abubakar Rimi TV
6. Ibukun Emiola, NAN
7. Akinwale Aboluwade, Oyo Reporters
8. Emma Elekwa, The Nation
9. Ikenna Obianeri, Punch
10. Alfred Ajayi, FRCN
11. Nurudeen Akewushola, ICIR
12. Lawrence Nwimo, Ikenga Online
13. Dan Atori, New Telegraph
14. Ibrahim Hamzat Abaga, Transcontinental Times
15.Omoniyi Busuyi Kolawole, Cool Fm, Wazobia Fm, Arewa Radio, Kano
16. Stephen Enoch, Stallion Times
17.Oladejo Adebayo, Pharmanews
18. Royal Ibeh, Leadership Newspaper
19. Agboluaje Rotimi, The Guardian
20. Ojo Isaac Olufemi, Splash FM

Social media apps, Facebook, Instagram down globally

Bankole ABE
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Social media apps, Facebook, Instagram down globally

SOCIAL media platforms, Facebook and Instagram were both down on Tuesday, March 5, with users unable to access their accounts. 

According to reports, the incident occurred between noon and 4pm (UTC+1, West Africa Time), and affected users globally.

Messaging apps, Facebook Messenger, and Threads were also affected. All are under the umbrella of the Meta network.

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Users discovered that Messenger and Facebook had issues when they could not connect to their accounts, even with the correct login information.

Most users confirmed the development and claimed they could not access their accounts.

Meta also confirmed the glitch.

“We’re aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now,” Meta’s Communications Director, Andy Stone, posted on X.

However, The ICIR observed that the disruption was over around 6 pm.

In July 2021, The ICIR reported that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms were hit by major global outages, affecting tens of thousands of users, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.

The social media giants confirmed the outage with messages posted on Twitter.

“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products,” the official Twitter accounts said.

Users trying to access Facebook in affected areas were greeted with the message: “Something went wrong. We’re working on it, and we’ll get it fixed as soon as we can.”

Instagram users who tried to use the application on desktops received a ‘5XX server error’ message.

The company said it was “aware that some people were having trouble accessing the Facebook app,” and it was working on restoring access.

The company did not say what caused the outage.

Downdetector, which only tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform, showed over 50,000 incidents of people reporting issues with Facebook and Instagram. The outage might be affecting a more significant number of users.

WhatsApp was also down for over 35,000 users, while Facebook Messenger was down for nearly 9,800 users.

Video: Kano anti-graft agency cannot investigate Ganduje – court

Bankole ABE
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Video: Kano anti-graft agency cannot investigate Ganduje – court

A FEDERAL High Court in Kano State has ruled that the state anti-corruption agency – Kano Public Compliant and Anti-Corruption Commission (PCACC) – lacked the power to investigate former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje over a dollar bribery video.

The court presided over by Abdulahi Liman, stated on Tuesday, March 5, that the offence was a federal one that only the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) could prefer charges against Ganduje.

Liman emphasised that there were limitations to the Kano anti-graft agency’s power to probe the former governor.

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However, the anti-graft agency’s lawyer, Usman Umar Fari, told reporters after the ruling that the organisation would appeal the decision at the Court of Appeal.

The ICIR reported in July 2023 that PCACC summoned Ganduje, currently the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for interrogation over the controversial dollar bribery video.

The commission’s chairman, Muhuyi Magaji Rimingado, had on Wednesday, June 5, 2023, declared that contrary to Ganduje’s claims, the video was not doctored as claimed by Ganduje.

Rimingado spoke at a ‘One Day Public Dialogue on Anti-Corruption Crusade’ in Kano.

In a video that went viral in 2017, Ganduje was seen receiving bundles of dollar notes offered as bribe from a contractor and stuffing them in his dress.

Rimingado claimed that since the video’s release, he had come under pressure from all sides to establish the governor’s guilt or innocence.

He explained that because Ganduje was immune from prosecution during his time in office, it had been hard to establish his guilt or innocence since the committee started looking into the issue in 2018.

Speaking on Channels TV’s Lunchtime Politics on Thursday, July 6, 2023, Rimingado disclosed that the panel had sent a letter of invitation to the former governor, inviting him to come before it and provide any information necessary for the current investigation.

The Daily Nigerian online newspaper publisher, Jafar Jafar, who leaked the video, insisted that the footage published by the paper was authentic and not manipulated.

Jafar explained that the video was captured by his friend who was a contractor with the Kano State government and who had complained that Ganduje received kickbacks, ranging from 15 to 25 per cent for every project executed in the state.

He said this during an investigative hearing into the allegations by the Kano State House of Assembly in 2018.

After the video was released, the Kano State government said Ganduje never collected bribes from contractors.

The government also described the video as “cloned”, adding that the governor would explore every legal means in seeking redress.

A few days after the publication of the video clip, Ganduje told reporters that he was not worried about the impact the video might have on him and that he was innocent of the accusations.

Despite the viral video showing Ganduje allegedly receiving a bribe from a contractor, a court in December 2019 dismissed a suit by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking to investigate the governor.

The Federal High Court sitting in Kano dismissed the suit filed by a lawyer, Bulama Bukarti, who sought an order from the court to direct the EFCC to investigate the former governor.

The court ruled that the EFCC did not have a record of the forensic analysis of the bribery allegations.

Again, recently, Ganduje asked the Kano State High Court to stop the EFCC from investigating him in connection with the video.

 

Bank of Ghana suspends First Bank, GTB FX trading licences over alleged fraud

Harrison EDEH
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Bank of Ghana suspends First Bank, GTB FX trading licences over alleged fraud

THE Bank of Ghana has suspended the foreign exchange (FX) and trading licences of the First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) and Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) over alleged fraudulent operations.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Ghanaian apex bank said the suspension, which would take effect from March 18, 2024, is for one month.

Read Aslo:

The suspension comes amid a high level of volatility in Nigeria’s FX market and the efforts by the Federal Government to restore stability.

The statement read in part,” Bank of Ghana has suspended the Foreign Exchange Trading Licences of Guaranty Trust Bank Ghana Limited (GTB) and FBN Bank Ghana Limited (FBN), effective 18th March 2024, for a period of one month, in accordance with Section 11 (2) of the Foreign Exchange Act 2006, (Act 723).

“This is due to various breaches of the foreign exchange market regulations, including fraudulent documentation in their foreign exchange operations which have come to the attention of the Bank of Ghana.

“The licence will be restored at the end of the one-month suspension period once the Bank of Ghana is satisfied that they have put in place effective controls to ensure strict adherence to regulations to the foreign exchange market,” the statement added.

The financial regulator called FX market players to heed applicable regulations and guidelines.

Recall that on March 1, 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, revoked the licenses of 4,173 Bureau de Change, BDC, operators for not adhering to regulatory provisions.

The First Bank of Nigeria has yet to issue an official response as of the time of filing this resport.

The ICIR reached out to the official spokesperson of the First Bank of Nigeria, Folake Ani-Mumuney, to get the bank’s reactions to the development, but did not get any response.

Also, the GTB has yet to issue any official statement regarding the development.

Binance pulls out of Nigeria, suspends naira services

Bankole ABE
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Binance pulls out of Nigeria, suspends naira services

CRYPTOCURRENCY trading website Binance has pulled its services out of Nigeria.

 The trading platform asked Nigerians trading on its platform to remove all their naira assets, indicating that it is terminating its services in the country.

To address the extreme volatility in the foreign exchange market, the Federal Government has been taking harsh measures against Binance management in recent weeks. 

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In response to the severe actions taken against it by the Nigerian government, Binance on Tuesday, March 5, deleted all assets linked to the naira.

The platform informed users to trade their naira assets or convert them into crypto before the discontinuation of its services in the country.

Binance stated that from “2024-03-08 08:00 (UTC), any remaining NGN balances in users’ Binance accounts will be automatically converted to USDT based on the conversion rate.”

The action follows the Nigerian government’s accusation that Binance was playing a huge role in the Nigerian foreign exchange crisis.

Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, was threatened with an arrest order on Monday, March 4, by the House of Representatives.

This was after the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) had arrested two executives from Binance in Nigeria last week while responding to an invitation from the Nigerian government.

The company’s representatives were summoned to testify before the House committee, but they did not respond.

The committee’s chairperson, Ginger Onwusibe, stated that the members had decided not to receive any representation from anyone other than the Binance executives.

The government has asked the cryptocurrency platform to pay $10 billion to settle claims that it manipulated foreign exchange rates and depreciated the value of the naira relative to the dollar.

This occurred amid increasing animosity between Binance and the Nigerian government regarding the company’s operations.

Meanwhile, a crypto analyst, Obinna Iwuno, says traders on Binance are not nameless as they can be traced.

Iwuno, the President of the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria, said this while appearing on Channels Television’s breakfast show, The Morning Brief, on Tuesday, March 5.

Iwuno was responding to an allegation by the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, that $26 billion in dubious transfers went through Binance in the previous year.

“I am a certified cryptocurrency investigator. I am also a certified cryptocurrency compliance specialist. I can tell you that these things are traceable. You cannot perform a transaction, as long as it passes through the blockchain, that cannot be traced,” he stated.

Iwuno stated that his organisation had opposed dishonest businesspeople and had developed numerous programmes to suppress those who engage in unethical behaviour.

 

IMF urges Nigerian government to address hunger

Ehime ALEX
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IMF urges Nigerian government to address hunger

EFCC links banks to 70% of financial crimes in Nigeria

Ehime ALEX
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EFCC links banks to 70% of financial crimes in Nigeria

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has accused Nigerian banks of perpetrating about 70 per cent of the financial crimes in the country.

The anti-graft agency’s chairman, Ola Olukayode, revealed this on Monday, March 4, at the 2023 Annual Retreat and General Meeting of the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria (ACAEBIN), The Punch reported.

He lamented the increasing fraudulent activities of the financial institutions and stressed it was raising considerable challenges and concerns for the commission.

Financial crimes include fraud, money laundering, and terrorism financing.

It was not the first time the anti-graft agency had fingered Nigeria’s banks’ involvement in fraudulent acts, The ICIR can report.

In February 2019, the then-acting chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, accused 10 unnamed commercial banks of money laundering.

The issue has assumed a much more significant impact on the Nigerian economy for over two decades and has given the country a bad image in the international finance circle, according to a Nigerian researcher, Onipe Yahaya.

According to the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), a financial research and advocacy organisation operated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian financial institutions have reported N159 billion in losses to fraud cases since 2020.

The FITC, in its latest quarterly report on fraud and forgery issues in Nigeria’s financial institutions, disclosed that fraud cases rose by 276.98 per cent to N9.75 billion in the second quarter of 2023, from N2.58 billion in the first quarter of 2023, which resulted in a N5.79 billion loss, representing a 1,125 per cent rise compared with N472 million lost, The ICIR reported.

Early this year, The ICIR reported that FCMB Group Plc lost nearly N1billion to fraud and forgery for the financial year ended December 31, 2023, and in an earlier report that Access Bank lost N5.46 billion to fraudsters in first six months of 2023.

Bank managers perpetrate many of the fraud and forgery activities, The ICIR had also reported.

The Punch’s report showed that 110 top bank executives and junior staff members had been sacked for fraud-related cases in the past two years.

At its 57th quarterly general meeting held in December 2023, the ACAEBIN chairman, Prince Akamadu, tasked auditors to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) for data efficiency and fraud detection.

He urged the fintechs to be mandated to set up fraud desks and hotlines that could be reached when necessary, while he also suggested stricter measures for the bureau de change operators.

The president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) President, Ken Opara, the umbrella professional body for bankers in Nigeria, had called for the use of technology in internal audit, submitting that it was no longer controversial but was the way to go.

While accusing the banks of the many frauds committed, Olukayode, represented by the director of internal audit at EFCC, Idowu Apejoye, called for concerted efforts by relevant authorities and professionals to tackle the issue.

He said bank-related fraud comprised outright selling of customers’ deposits, authorising loan facilities, forging, and other unhealthy and criminal practices.

There are also those committed outside the banks, which he listed to include hacking, automatic teller machine (ATM) fraud, and conspiracy. 

The absurd one is the collaboration between the bankers and the outsiders, the EFCC boss said, adding “It is estimated that about 70 per cent of financial crimes in Nigeria are traceable to the banking sector, this scenario is disturbing and unacceptable.” 

He charged ACAEBIN to monitor banks’ activities.

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