Category: South West

A Federal High Court in Lagos has restrained the Ogun State House of Assembly from using its probe report to initiate a criminal complaint against a former Managing Director of the Ogun Property Investment Corporation (OPIC), Babajide Odusola.

Justice Peter Odo Lifu declared that the procedure through which the Assembly reached the report which it purportedly adopted, constitute an infringement on Odusola’s fundamental rights to a fair hearing.

The judge also declared that the lawmakers lacked the competence to investigate an alleged crime, noting that the probe committee chairman was an interested party, having served together with Odusolu in the previous administration and even inspected some OPIC projects, which he then claimed had not been executed.

Justice Lifu made the ruling while granting an ex parte application filed and argued by the applicant’s counsel, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN and Adetunji Adedoyin-Adeniyi.

He held that all the reliefs would subsist till the hearing and determination of the fundamental rights enforcement suit brought against the Inspector-General of Police and others.

The OGHA during the plenary on September 21, 2012, adopted the report of its Committee on Anti-Corruption and Public Accounts, which allegedly investigated OPIC’s finances and concluded that N2,579,771,717.71 was unaccounted for under Odusolu’s watch.

The Assembly also directed Odusolu to return the N40million that was allegedly unaccounted for in the year 2019, into the state government’s purse within six months.

But Odusolu alleged victimisation, witch-hunt, procedural irregularities and rights violation by the lawmakers.

He filed the suit, numbered FHC/L/CS/1273/2021, listing the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 2, the Commissioner of Police in Ogun State and the Ogun State House of Assembly as respondents.

The applicant is seeking declarations that the OGHA proceedings and the report of the Committee which it purportedly adopted constitute an infringement on his fundamental right to a fair hearing.

At the resumed hearing of the application Friday, there was no legal representation from the police, but F. E. Bolarinwa from the Ministry of Justice represented the Ogun State Attorney-General and House of Assembly.

He prayed for a short date to enable both defendants to file a counter application.But Adegboruwa, who drew attention to the failure of the respondents to appear before the court or file any processes, prayed the court to grant the ex parte application.Justice Lifu upheld his prayer and adjourned till January 13, 2022, for hearing of the substantive suit.

African government have been urged to create jobs for youths and allow them to be more innovative as this will boost African economy and help youths to have a voice in decision making.

Speaking at a 3-day West African Business Forum held for West African countries recently at Lagos Continental Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria, the Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Dr. Vera Songwe made this known.

According to Songwe who spoke on the theme of the Forum “Empowering Women and Youths to spur Africa’s Transformation Agenda”, it is important to have a perfect match between the youths and the employment they need.

The Forum, Songwe pointed out is timely because it is an avenue to discuss issues about women, youths and the crisis they experience in African  countries and see how to support SMEs in order to continue their businesses.

Her words “there is need to support women and youths to create funds for themselves as this will enable them to be more innovative and prosperous” she said.

To collectively make a change across the continent, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Trade, Customs and Free Movement, M. Tei. Konzi, emphasize the need for women and youths to access economic opportunities including education thereby creating a conducive environment for business to thrive. “Empowering women and youths in the only way out of poverty” said Konzi.

The economic forum according to the Minister for Finance, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed would be an effective avenue for empowering women and youth entrepreneurs thereby addressing unemployment challenges and creating jobs.

“The World Bank has  indicated that youth unemployment in Africa stands  at 60% of the Continent”s total unemployment. Rather than a threat because large and fast growing youth population is one of our greatest assets, which must be explored in shaping the development of the Continent” said Ahmed.

Medical doctors in the employment of Kwara State said they have suspended their industrial action. They suspended the strike at 6pm yesterday.

The doctors under the aegis of National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners (NAGGMDP) in the state had on Monday last week commenced seven days warning strike across the state.

The association said it had served the government series of ultimatum concerning member’s welfare.

“This is to give room for engagement with the government on some of their agitation including good conditions of service, especially in the payment of new remuneration to the members of the union.”

State Chairman of the association, Dr Saka Agboola, announced the suspension of the industrial action after an emergency congress of the members.

Dr Agboola said the doctors decided to suspend the strike due to the favorable disposition of the state government to negotiate with them.

He also acknowledged the suffering that patients went through due to the warning strike.

Agboola added that the doctors were not coerced or intimidated to suspend the strike.

Smart DNA, a Lagos-based genetic testing company has unveiled Covid-19 antibody immunity test kit in the country.

The test kit is designed to help individuals tell if their antibodies have potential to fight a potential Covid-19 viral infection.

Justifying the need Covid-19 antibody immunity test kits, Bukola Ijeoma Ogunsanwo, Business Development Manager, said the company decided to introduce the antibody test kit into the Nigeria market in its quest to empower individuals and their physicians make informed decisions about their risk of infection and of spreading the virus.

“The test simply offers peace of mind to Nigerians who are anxious about their health status, especially at this time of ravaging COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

Expatiating, Ogunsanwo stressed that the whole of the antibody test kit is to guarantee wellbeing and wellness for the family against unforeseen ailments.

While shedding more light on the modus operandi, she said a potential client can use antibody immunity test from the company by collecting sample from the privacy of their homes and return same to the company for analysis, which would be done with AlfaBiolabs in the UK, with response time not exceeding seven days.

While warning ahead that the antibody immunity test is not a substitute for cure and care, Ogunsawo reiterated that it is just to provide individuals and healthcare providers with better insights on immunity to Covid-19, whether from the vaccine or a previous infection.”

In other climes including Europe, countries have rolled out antibody testing for a wide range of purposes. Some have made antibody testing a part of their official framework for determining whether someone has had the virus recently and recovered- and can therefore get a coronavirus passport or certificate. In Austria, for instance, people

can take official Covid-19 antibody tests to determine if they are deemed “recovered,” and can get that country’s health pass as a result.

Echoing similar sentiments, the duo of Betty Chukwuka-Otakpar, Country Team Lead and Client Liaison Officer and Rufus Oloyo, Communication Consultant, Smart DNA Nigeria, said Nigerians would be in good standing health-wise, if they take precautionary measures such as carrying out an antibody immunity test.

The test kit which is offered at N70, 000, the company representatives said has already been discounted and at value for money.

A socio-political group, the Southwest Yoruba Integrity Group has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to order soldiers back to checkpoints in Ondo State borders and other blackspots.

No reasons have been given for the withdrawal of the soldiers from checkpoints but the opposition Peoples Democratic Party alleged that it was because of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu refusal to pay the usual stipend to the soldiers.

But Ondo Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, who denied the PDP allegations said Amotekun Corps was the target of the withdrawal.

The group however warned that it would not tolerate any acts that could undermine gains of establishing a regional security network agency, codenamed “Amotekun Corps” in tackling security challenges in the zone.

It said Amotekun Corps has been very effective in collaborating with other conventional security agencies to reduce kidnappings, herders/farmers clashes and other crimes.

The group in a press statement issued in Akure and signed by National Coordinator of the group, Dr Ayodeji Fashina and the National Secretary, Mr Kazeem Olorunfemi, threatened to mobilise youths and women in the Southwest region to protest the action of the soldiers.

According to the statement, “We want to appeal to military authorities, particularly President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene so that the issue of ethnic politics will not be brought into the nation’s security apparatus.

Parents and students of the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital have expressed shock over the hike in tuition fees to be paid by students.

In the new fee scheduled released by the school management, the fees to be paid by non-indigenous students are 59 percent higher than fees to be paid by indigenous students.

Non-indigenous students studying medicine in pre-clinical year are to pay N2.245m per session while indigenous students are to pay N1.320m per session.

The courses with low fees are Biochemistry and Physiology in which non-indigenous students are to pay N400,000 while indigenous are to pay N350,000 per session.

Those to study Dentistry in the preclinical years would pay N2.245m for non-indigenous and N1.320m for indigenous students.

Some parents who spoke on condition of anonymity said they would have to begin preparation to withdraw their children from the school if the published fees schedule was a reality.

One parent simply said, “There will be mass withdrawal.It is not realistic. Mass withdrawal is looming in the school. We were paying N350,000 and it was difficult to pay.

“We know Medicine is not cheap but this is on the high side. Other state schools are running medicine but their fees are not as high as N2m.”

Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, said there was no going back on the new fee schedule.

Fatusi said parents were free to withdraw their children if they could not pay but added that the new fee was for students to be admitted in the new academic session.

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has said his administration is doing everything to make the state the number one investment destination in Nigeria.

He spoke while receiving a delegation of the French Government led by the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Her Excellency, Mrs. Emanuelle Blatmann, at the Executive Council Chambers of the Governor’s Office, Agodi, Ibadan.

Makinde, who appreciated the French Government for its interest in Oyo, said the government is leaving no stone unturned to make Oyo more attractive to investors.

“We want Oyo State to be the number one investment destination in Nigeria and one of the ways we think we are going to do that is to develop our infrastructure so that going around the state, you have easy access.

READ ALSO: Makinde charges teachers, students on digital literacy, ICT skills

“That is why three months into the administration, we awarded the 65kms Moniya-Iseyin road, a major link between Ibadan and the food basket of Oyo State. We are also going ahead with other road networks in the state,” he said.

Mrs Blatmann said France has a long-standing relationship with Oyo, pointing out several partnership efforts between the two in the education, economic and agriculture sectors.

The Apapa Area Command of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) said it generated a sum of ¦ 86.02 billion as revenue for the month of October 2021.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller Malanta Yusuf, said the revenue figure was recorded despite initial glitches that slowed down its operations.

In a statement released in Lagos on Friday by the Public Relations Officer of the Command, Abubakar Usman, Yusuf attributed the figure to the sustained revenue collection through the volume of trade, strategies raising stakeholders’ compliance level, and inter-agency collaboration between the Command and other government agencies.

The statement read in part: “A breakdown of the total collection shows federation and non-federation figures.

”Figures under the federation account are as follows: Import duty at ¦ 38,436,536,897.00; Excise duty at ¦ 199,038,533.00; CET Levy at ¦ 5,625,077,502.00; and Fees at ¦ 401,830,622.00, with a sub total of N44, 662,483,554. 00.

”Figures for the Non-federation Account are as follows: Port Levy at ¦ 2,690,572,938.00; NAC at ¦ 165,872,139.00; 1 per cent CISS at ¦ 4,612,963,465.00; 0.5% ETLS at ¦ 2,688,286,656.00; Sugar Levy at ¦ 598,518,814.00; Wheat Flour Levy at ¦ 488,959.00.

”Others are; Iron Levy at ¦ 47,220,994.00; Wheat Grain Levy at ¦ 7,892,567,890.00; Ness Levy at ¦ 102,989,524.77, with a sub-total of ¦ 18,799,481,379.77.

”For Value Added Tax, the command collected ¦ 22,560,783,616.00 leading to a grand total of ¦ 86,022,748,549.77,” he said.

Comptroller Yusuf lauded the cooperation of stakeholders in the revenue drive of the command, urging them to continue to shun illegal activities at the port and smuggling of contraband.

Palliative works commenced yesterday (Friday) on the Aiyetoro-Gbede-Egbe Federal Road, a section of the abandoned Kabba-Egbe-Ilorin road, which has remained impassable due to the heavy rainfall in the past few months.

The current effort is sponsored by a public spirited individual and business mogul, Engr Sunday Karimi in a move to assuage the sufferings of the people of Yagba Federal Constituency in Kogi State, located in the affected area.

Speaking during the flag-off of the rehabilitation works starting from the River Oyi axis, near Ejiba, Yagba West Local Government which is the most terrible part of the road, Karimi, who served two terms in the House of Representatives (Yagba Federal Constituency) from 2011 to 2019 said while road rehabilitation is not the duty of individuals but government’s, his intervention is borne out of his passion for his people and to alleviate their suffering occasioned by the collapsed road amid clamour for the Federal Government to pay attention to the Kabba-Ilorin Federal Road, which unfortunately has not received any attention.

The bad road from Aiyetoro-Gbedde, 10 kilometres from Kabba and stretching to Egbe along Ilorin, Kwara State has been responsible for heinous criminal activities on the axis including armed robbery, kidnapping and raping of women. It has also hindered the mainly farming community from moving their products to markets.

Although contracts for the reconstruction of the 46-year-old Kabba-Egbe-Ilorin road reportedly have been awarded four times by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Executive Council, such approvals have amounted to paying lip service to the road project as they were not backed with budgetary allocation of funds.

The Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has repeatedly taken up the collapsed road with necessary Federal authorities who have not yielded to the call.

However, Karimi said he could no longer wait to see his people going down

economically owing to the collapsed road.

His words: “I have watched the sufferings of my people each time I travel on that road, which I do often. I have also been told of stories of robberies, killings, kidnappings and raping of women on that axis of the Kabba-Ilorin Federal Road. The Iluhagba -Egbe section is just too bad. Too terrible and my people have suffered this terrible situation for too long. We have made several interventions on this road including that of our Executive Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, which have not yielded any positive fruit. I have decided therefore to undertake this rehabilitation, which is

palliative, so as to ameliorate this suffering.

“Our people, who are mainly farmers can no longer move their farm products outside these areas. They cannot access markets across Okunland. Whatever they produce, which is their mainstay, cannot be sold or purchased again. This is too bad and deserves attention. That is why I have taken it upon myself to intervene in my own little way. I am not a government but this rehabilitation will enable them to move around with their products. We will still continue to mount pressure on the Federal Government to pay the necessary attention to the road”.

He however refused to state how much the project would cost him.

“No I cannot disclose to you how much I am spending on this rehabilitation but you should know that road projects are capital intensive but I cannot be putting cost on what will benefit my people. Whatever I spend to alleviate their suffering is worth it. They have demonstrated an unquantifiable love for me all the time and I cannot close my eyes to their suffering now”, he said.

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has warned parties to a management tussle between the board members of the Eko Hospital, Lagos to maintain status quo ante belum.

Justice Peter Lifu made the order following an application by plaintiffs’ counsel Mr Kemi Pinheiro, SAN.

The plaintiffs in the matter are Dr Sunday Kuku, Uzochukwu Eneli, Ufo Atuanya,  Ikechukwu Eneli, Ify Eneli, Nwamaka Ezekwugo, (For themselves as beneficiaries of the estate of late Dr Alexander Chukwuma Eneli.)

The respondents are EKOCORP PLC,  Geoff Ohen Ltd, Prof J.O. Irukwu San,  Dr Augustine Amaechi Obiora, Greenwich Registrars And Data Solutions Ltd,   Securities And Exchange Commission and the Corporate Afairs Commission.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction, pending the hearing and determination of this suit, restraining the 6th and 7th Defendants/ Respondents, from giving effect to the resolution approving the sale by private placement of 110,000,000 units of shares to the 2nd Respondent or any resolution(s) passed at the 1st Defendant/ Respondent’s purported extraordinary meeting held on the 3rd day of June, 2021,

They are also seeking to, among others, restrain the 6th and 7th Defendants/ Respondents from registering any portion of the 110,000,000 units of shares purportedly approved by the resolution passed at the 1st Respondent’s purported extra-ordinary general of meeting of June 3, 2021 in the name of the 2nd Respondent or altering the register of shares of the 1st Defendant or issuing Shares Certificates to the 2nd Respondent in that regard.

At the resumption of hearing yesterday, Pinheiro informed the court that the 2nd, 6th and 7th Defendants were not represented in court despite hearing notices being served on them, and an affidavit of service was before the court to this effect.

He said in view of that and the fact that the 1st, 3rd & 4th Defendants’ counsel was not ready to proceed, the court ought to adjourn till a date convenient for parties.

“My lord, we are in your hands, the defendants did not respect the pendency of this case in court.

“At the last adjourned date in July the defendants gave an undertaking that nothing would be done until the determination of our motion, but sir, they are not complying with it.

“On the 26th of August, the defendants called a meeting and took some decisions.

“My application this morning is for my lord to order status quo. There should be discipline in our profession, “ Pinheiro said.

But the 1st, 3rd & 4th Defendants’ counsel B.C Akunya who was not robed but was indulged by his Lordship told the court that there had been no meeting and that the only meeting that was held was to inform the directors of the company of the demise of the one of the founding partners (the 4th Defendant).

He also told the court that there was no relief restraining the 1st Defendant, a public limited liability company, from holding their statutory AGM.

But Pinheiro stated that there are both declaratory and injunctive reliefs relating to the chairmanship of the General Meetings and that the statements made by the 1st, 3rd & 4th Defendants’ counsel that the meeting held on the 22nd of August, 2021 was only to notify the company of the demise of a founding partner is false adding that the notice of meeting itself was in breach of the status quo order.

According to him, the notice of meeting stated that: “The acting chairman of the board, Prof. Irukwu SAN has requested an emergency meeting of the board for discussions.”

In a bench ruling, the Court ordered and redirected that parties continue to maintain status quo pending the determination of the suit.

Justice Lifu adjourned till November 12, 2021 for hearing.