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Tag: Account

Lawmaker gives account

The lawmaker representing Ibadan North East/South East in the House of Representatives, Adedapo Lam-Adesina, has given account of his stewardship in the last six months.

The event which was held at the ancient Mapo Hall, Ibadan, tagged “My Stewardship till date”, Lam-Adesina said the programme was organised not only for members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) but for his constituency to know their needs and to improve his representation.

He said: “Since we were sworn in on June 9, I have not sponsored any bill but I have moved a motion on how to generate employment for the youth.

“I was in the United Kingdom and Sweden to know ways on how to empower the youth and people in my constituency.

“I am a member of nine committees, which include labour, productivity, special duties, agriculture, Niger Delta, poverty alleviation and health care.

“I have opened two constituency offices to be more accessible to my people.

“I have also distributed 350 GCE/WAEC forms to indigent pupils.

“I also distributed free writing materials and built a block of eight toilets in a market within my constituency.”

Lam-Adesina said he would continue to collaborate with the Community Development Council (CDC) within his constituency to know their needs.

The lawmaker promised to ensure massive vocational training and empowerment for the youth.

December 28, 2015
How MediaReach OMD lost Dano Milk account

FACTS have emerged on how MediaReach OMD lost the multimillion dollar Dano Milk account to Vizeum Nigeria, a member of Media Fuse Dentsu Aegis Network, following a pitch involving Vizeum Nigeria, PhD and MediaReach OMD.

The pitch for the business, according to industry experts, was among three media agencies -MediaReach OMD, PHD and Vizeum Nigeria.

It was gathered that Arla Foods tested the agencies’ capacity in handling multimillion dollar accounts in the Nigerian and Senegalese markets with the pitch which took place over one month.

Arla tested the agencies with a brief to run a campaign for Dano Milk in both countries, after which Vizeum Nigeria was chosen to manage the firm’s brand portfolio across sub-Saharan Africa.

In a statement, Arla Foods listed the yardsticks used in picking the best agency for the advertising business.

”The client made the announcement last week after an exhaustive review of the performances of all the agencies involved in the process and cited best in class strategic direction, superior planning recommendations, best cost submissions and Dentsu Aegis Network African foot print as some of the key reasons for selecting the agency,” the statement read.

The Business Lead for Vizeum Nigeria, Gbenga Orimogunje, who led his team to the pitch, said “we are very happy to have been selected via a very rigorous process as partner for Arla Foods across sub-Saharan Africa and we are committed to helping the client’s brands grow in the region.”

Transition meetings are expected to take place this month, with campaigns planned to begin in the first quarter of next year.

Vizeum is an independent media planning and buying agency. It is a market-leader in digital media solutions.

With over 70 offices in 49 countries, the Vizeum network leverages the creative power of media to connect brands and consumers.

Vizeum has made giant strides since it made its debut in Nigeria last year. It handles global brands, such as MatersCard, Total, AG Mobile and others.

Arla Foods, the fifth largest milk producer in the world, said the new agency is expected to oversee its advertising-media strategy, planning, buying for Arla across sub-Saharan African markets, including Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroun and Cote D’Ivoire.

December 4, 2015
Senate panel to probe Treasury Single Account operations

The Senate yesterday asked its committees of Finance, Banking and other Financial Institutions and Public Account to investigate the operation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) regime.

Although the Upper Chamber commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the introduction of TSA, it said its designated committees should look into the operations of the policy and report back in four weeks.

This followed the adoption of a motion entitled “Abuse and Mismanagement of the Treasury Single Account Regime” sponsored by Senator Dino Melaye and 31 others.

Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (Lagos West) in his contribution commended the mover of the motion.

He said the fact that an All Progressives Congress (APC) senator is sponsoring the motion is a clear indication of the commitment of APC as a party to the fight against corruption.

Adeola said the appointment of consultants to collect revenue is a global practice which is not new in the country.

The senator said he does not believe that any thing went wrong with the implementation of TSA until after investigation.

He warned the Senate not to put the cart before the horse by making unsubstantiated assumptions until proper investigation is conducted.

Adeola who said there was no doubt that the government was making money through the TSA noted that in one transaction alone almost half of the country’s annual budget was paid into TSA from banks.

He said even though government accounts are known through the TSA policy, a particular bank still concealed an account containing N40 billion.

He said the bank had already been fined N4 billion by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Senator Bassey Albert Akpan (Akwa Ibom Northeast) who supported the motion said if President Buhari failed to do something about the N25 billion allegedly given to a private firm under the TSA, he would personally lead a national youth protest against the government.

Akpan said through out his seven and half years as a banker and as a former commissioner for finance, he never saw such huge sum of money handed over to a private firm for doing nothing.

He insisted that the country does not need a third party to enforce Federal Government directive on TSA.

Melaye in his lead debate said the importance of the introduction of TSA is in compliance with the provision of Section 80 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

He said the Senate should appreciate President Buhari for taking the bold step at introducing the TSA.

Melaye said he is aware that the essence of the TSA is to prevent a situation where the revenue of the Federal Government is handled and kept by different bodies or spread in various accounts outside the CBN.

He said he is also aware that in pursuant of the TSA, the Federal Government on September 15 directed all its ministries, departments and ministries (MDAs) to close their various accounts with commercial banks and pay all revenues into its account with the CBN under the policy of TSA.

He added that by the policy, all revenue generating agencies of the Federal Government such as the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerians National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) are enjoined to pay all revenues collected for and on behalf of the Federal Government into the Consolidated Revenue straight away.

He said: “In the course of the operations of the TSA, the Federal Government on the September 15, mopped up N2.5 trillion through its E-collection agent called REMITA who charges one per cent of all monies passing through it, the implication of which 15 (per cent) of the N2.5 trillion mopped up on September 15 alone amounted to N25 billion (paid) to REMITA for doing nothing.

November 12, 2015
Unauthorised withdrawal from my Sterling Bank account
SIR: Kindly use your good office and acclaimed medium to prevail on the management of Sterling Bank Plc to urgently investigate the unauthorised withdrawal of N110, 000 (one hundred and ten thousand) from my salary account on two different occasions – September 18, and September 30, and get them to pay me back my money.

I work in Lokoja, Kogi State, while the said withdrawals took place via Sterling Bank ATM (20 Marina-Ref: 34114237 to 34114240), in Lagos State. My account 0026724219 was debited N20, 000 (twenty thousand), five different times on September 18 between 7.16am and 7.19am and N10, 000(ten thousand), from the same location on September 30 12:48pm via ATM-20 Marina Lagos -Ref: 34124487″.

I did not receive any SMS alerts of both fraudulent withdrawals, until after I made a withdrawal of N17,000 (seventeen) on September 30 -15 2:33pm via ATM-Adankolo New Layout, Lokoja -ref:99991034, after which a (SMS) alert of the last unauthorised withdrawal of N10,000 of that same day was received by me.

While I received instant alert on an over-the-counter (OTC) withdrawal by me at the Lokoja branch on September 16, the (SMS) alerts for the unauthorised multiple withdrawals of September 18, came while I was at the branch on Friday October 2, to formally report the incidents.

Prior to the experience, I reported not receiving alert on the payment of my (August) salary and sought to have the SMS facility restored, but was told that can only be done from head office.

This is my predicament. Kindly assist me as the money was earmarked for child school fees.
- James A.
Lokoja, Kogi State
October 5, 2015
NULGE wants local govt joint account probed

The National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the local government joint account.

The union said the probe has become imperative because the account was being used to siphon billions of tax payers’ money by unscrupulous Nigerians.

NULGE President Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel made this call while addressing reporters in Abuja at the end of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.

He said the union had resolved to throw its weight behind the fight against graft, expressing its readiness to serve as a whistle blower.

NEC, he said, resolved to mobilise its members across the 774 local councils to Abuja to participate in the forthcoming anti-graft rally to be convened by the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC).

Khaleel said the war against graft would have impact if extended to the other tiers of government, which he claimed “also stinks with filth”.

He said: “We pray that President Buhari will also take the fight against corruption to the grassroots , looking into all the issues surrounding the local government operations, particularly the operation of state and local government joint accounts, which have been bastardised by many state governments.

“The money that has been hijacked completely over the years by state governors should also be of great concern to Mr. President and his government. As a union operating at the grassroots, we are ready to avail the new administration first hand information that will enable it unearth some of the sharp practices that take place there.”

NULGE, he said, would re-strategise to pursue local government autonomy under the Buhari administration.

He said the union would hold a retreat on the best form of local government administration for the country.

September 11, 2015
Court awards N5m against EFCC for illegally freezing firm’s account

The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday awarded N5million damages against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for sealing a company and freezing its accounts without a court order.

Justice Ibrahim Buba held that the commission acted irrationally. He delivered judgment in a suit by Rana Prestige Industries Nigeria Limited and its director Gnanhoue Nazaire against the EFCC, Mrs Alice Bulus and Mrs Rachadatou Abdou.

Through their lawyer Chief Rickey Tarfa (SAN), they filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit and prayed the court to order the opening of the company’s business premises.

They also prayed for an order unfreezing its accounts with Diamond Bank, Ecobank, and Access Bank, as well as an order of perpetual injunction restraining EFCC from violating their rights.

Rana Prestige and Nazaire sought N100million damages, and N10million as cost of the action.

Justice Yunusa granted all the reliefs sought, except the damages and cost. He awarded N5million to the applicants and made no order as to cost.

The judge said the EFCC wrongly exercised its prosecutorial discretion in sealing the company.

“There is no evidence that the order of court was obtained prior to sealing the company,” the judge held.

Besides, he said the commission did not do a preliminary investigation before it moved against the company after receiving a petition against it and the director.

“It is clear that the first (EFCC) and second respondents did not exercise their discretion properly.

“There is nothing in the record that they did any preliminary investigation. The first and second respondents acted irrationally,” the judge held.

The EFCC had filed criminal charges against the applicants, which is still pending before the court.

Also charged with forgery and “uttering” of forged documents (presenting a forged document as genuine) are the company’s General Manager, Senou Modeste and and a staff Ferdinand Egede.

EFCC said they allegedly conspired on May 28, 2007 to forge Rana Prestige’s ordinary resolution which they purported to have been signed by Mrs Rachadatou Abdou, who co-owns the company.

The commission said they allegedly forged a Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Form 7 dated November 22, 2005, claiming it was signed by Mrs Abdou.

The four-count charge includes conspiracy to commit a felony, forgery and uttering of false document, which violate sections 516, 467 and 468 of the Criminal Code, Cap C17, Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2003. They are yet to be arraigned.

In a supporting affidavit, an EFCC investigating officer said the board resolution was purportedly signed and passed by the directors appointing Egede as the company secretary while Mrs Abdou was out of the country.

The commission said Nazaire fraudulently converted the company’s share to his use and to Mrs Abdou’s prejudice, as well as “converted huge sums of money” belonging to the company “to his own use.”

he Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday awarded N5million damages against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for sealing a company and freezing its accounts without a court order.

Justice Ibrahim Buba held that the commission acted irrationally. He delivered judgment in a suit by Rana Prestige Industries Nigeria Limited and its director Gnanhoue Nazaire against the EFCC, Mrs Alice Bulus and Mrs Rachadatou Abdou.

Through their lawyer Chief Rickey Tarfa (SAN), they filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit and prayed the court to order the opening of the company’s business premises.

They also prayed for an order unfreezing its accounts with Diamond Bank, Ecobank, and Access Bank, as well as an order of perpetual injunction restraining EFCC from violating their rights.

Rana Prestige and Nazaire sought N100million damages, and N10million as cost of the action.

Justice Yunusa granted all the reliefs sought, except the damages and cost. He awarded N5million to the applicants and made no order as to cost.

The judge said the EFCC wrongly exercised its prosecutorial discretion in sealing the company.

“There is no evidence that the order of court was obtained prior to sealing the company,” the judge held.

Besides, he said the commission did not do a preliminary investigation before it moved against the company after receiving a petition against it and the director.

“It is clear that the first (EFCC) and second respondents did not exercise their discretion properly.

“There is nothing in the record that they did any preliminary investigation. The first and second respondents acted irrationally,” the judge held.

The EFCC had filed criminal charges against the applicants, which is still pending before the court.

Also charged with forgery and “uttering” of forged documents (presenting a forged document as genuine) are the company’s General Manager, Senou Modeste and and a staff Ferdinand Egede.

EFCC said they allegedly conspired on May 28, 2007 to forge Rana Prestige’s ordinary resolution which they purported to have been signed by Mrs Rachadatou Abdou, who co-owns the company.

The commission said they allegedly forged a Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Form 7 dated November 22, 2005, claiming it was signed by Mrs Abdou.

The four-count charge includes conspiracy to commit a felony, forgery and uttering of false document, which violate sections 516, 467 and 468 of the Criminal Code, Cap C17, Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2003. They are yet to be arraigned.

In a supporting affidavit, an EFCC investigating officer said the board resolution was purportedly signed and passed by the directors appointing Egede as the company secretary while Mrs Abdou was out of the country.

The commission said Nazaire fraudulently converted the company’s share to his use and to Mrs Abdou’s prejudice, as well as “converted huge sums of money” belonging to the company “to his own use.”

September 9, 2015
Amaechi debunks link with foreign account

Former governor of Rivers state Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has denied the allegation that he has bank accounts in Switzerland and Minnesota, United States.

A statement from Amaechi’s media office said the allegation was concocted by those bent on ridiculing the achievements of the former governor.

It reads: “The stories are all what they are-concocted and failed attempts to ridicule the person and achievements of Rt. Hon. Amaechi. Our initial reaction was to ignore them, but to clear the doubts of those concerned we have decided to issue this statement.

“There is absolutely no truth in the fabricated story saying Amaechi has an account with a Bank in Minnesota, USA; same as the concocted write-up alleging that CNN’s Christiane Amanpour accused Amaechi of corruption.

“They even went ahead to say Amaechi wrote to Bancorp and another bank in Switzerland stating that the said funds were deposited in error. This is absolutely false.

“It is important for the public to note that no such account or accounts exists. There is also no story of Amanpour linking the former governor with any corruption issue or case whatsoever, not on CNN or any verified news source or website associated with Amanpour.

“These are all lies, concocted in an attempt to put the public against the acclaimed people’s governor whose achievements as governor of Rivers State speaks volumes and drew admiration and accolades from within and outside Nigeria.

“All these fictitious stories are the product of the ill imaginations of wicked and unscrupulous people opposed to Amaechi; those jealous and unease with his continued rise in the country and beyond; And those whose life ambition is to pull-Amaechi down.

“We therefore urge the people to discard and disregard the unfounded rumours. They are all fake.”

September 4, 2015
Conspiracy of silence on Local Governments’ Joint Account
SIR: “Are campaign promises meant to be fulfilled or they are just tricks used by crafty politicians to win the votes of unsuspecting public?”

Anytime I watch the Bauchi State Governor lamenting about the lack of financial discipline and transparency in government business. I always ask myself whether the man is aware of the clear double standard in what he is doing.

All the arguments about having issues of confidence with the civil service are unrealistic and untenable. Whether His Excellency likes it or not, the civil service remains the engine room and translators of any government vision. The earlier His Excellency realises the futility of his actions in sidelining the career civil servants, the better for him. The civil service is a necessary evil and a cross any head of government must carry.

Therefore, the best any chief executive can do is to try and reposition the service through showing leadership by example. I hope His Excellency will borrow a leaf from the unfolding scenario we are witnessing in the federal government.

Let His Excellency engage himself in retrospection and carry out a prioritisation exercise. I believe, if something like this was done in the early stages of this administration, a revelation in the transition committee report where the immediate past governmentt is accused of misappropriating the colossal sum of N114 billion in eight years from the controversial JAAC account would have made the government to see the wisdom in addressing this very important issue.

Moreover, the promise made by His Excellency during the campaign has giving people hope that this issue will be addressed with dispatch. The unpopular decision by His Excellency to keep a deafening silence over this issue is been interpreted in very uncharitable ways. The rumours making the rounds are that his silence is meant to buy time. While others are alleging that His Excellency is more comfortable with maintaining the status quo, even though that is in breach of his earlier promise to end the scourge of running the JAAC as an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of the governors. But with the way things are going, nobody will have the moral right to blame the people making those allegations.

The present arrangement of JAAC is highly centralised, highly dictatorial and highly exploitative. Thus, it is high time for any honest governor to appreciate the bigger picture in the overall interest of his people and say no more to these gross violations of human rights and shameless double standard.

The way to go is by reaching out to all major stakeholders like ALGON, Bauchi State House of Assembly Committee on Public Accounts and the House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. Others include anti-corruption agencies residing in and outside our state, civil society organisations and the media both within and outside Bauchi State, in order to form a formidable coalition that will be capable of pressing our Just and Simple Demand for Transparency.
- Aminu Abdu Azar
aminuazare75@gmail.com
September 3, 2015
Court stops EKO Disco from operating parallel account

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has restrained the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) from operating a parallel account under the Credit Advance Payment Meters Implementation (CAPMI) in violation of an agreement with Momas System Nigeria Limited.

Presiding Justice Mohammed Yunus gave the order in a ruling on an ex parte application filed by a Lagos lawyer, Wahab Shittu, counsel to Momas System Nigeria Limited, against EKEDC operating a parallel account under the CAPMI meter installation scheme with Ecobank.

The order, which was carried out through ex-parrte motion stopped EKEDC from operating a meter account number 2562128948, which was domiciled with Ecobank Plc pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

The court directed Eko DISCO to direct all its electricity customers in the area exclusively assigned to Momas to pay fees for the supply and installation of meters into the Escrow CAPMIbank account controlled by EKEDC and Momas .

MOMAS maintained a joint account with EKO Disco as signatories pursuant to Credit Advance Payment (CAPMI) scheme. MOMAS said the company was contracted to supply and install various meters to six business units under EKO DISCO, which comprises of Ijora, Lekki, Island, Apapa, FESTAC and Surulere under the CAPMI scheme.

MOMAS said contrary to their agreement, the distribution company operates another parallel account without informing it who is also a signatory to the joint meter account with Eko DISCO.

According to Momas, rather than consider its plight in the installation of the meter, EKEDC contracted the job to a company which imports pre-paid meters. The act was a breach of contract and guidelines on CAPMI committed by EKEDC.

‘’We suffered technical crisis including pile up of unsold meters and spare parts. The effect has caused our inability to service our loan facilities obtained from banks at high interest.

“This has also affected the Company from paying his workers and contractors. The frustration of the contract with his foreign technical partner and payment of high repudiation cost paid to the foreign partner, who has denied a number of benefits of the agreement with transfer of technology,” the company said.

The company also said Bank of Industry (BoI) has written to the Ministry of Power on the huge debt owed by Momas, which caused imminent collapse of the bank’s investment and business.

August 27, 2015
NDDC denied us 16 months access to audit account, says AGF

Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation (OAuGF) has said that it took the Office 16 months to ensure records and projects of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) were audited.

It said aside from repeated reminders sent to NDDC, the Commission delayed its response to the outcome of the Audited report beyond the usual 30 days limit before it was eventually submitted to the National Assembly (NASS).

NDDC had earlier faulted the report submitted by the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF), Samuel Ukura.

The AGF submitted three special reports to the NASS, indicating that N183.7 billion could not be accounted for between 2008 and 2012 audit years.

However, the NDDC described the report as premature and did not follow the ethical standards of accounting profession.

In a statement issued by OAuGF Head of Media and Public Relations, Olawunmi Ogunmosunle at the weekend in Abuja, the special periodic check reports conducted on NDDC was part of statutory mandate of the Office.

Ogunmosunle, said on 9th December, 2011 a request letter with ref. no. 764/90/CONF/VOL.II/94 was sent to NDDC to conduct the periodic check, stating that a similar letter was resent on 15th March, 2012 without response.

According to the statement, on 19th April, 2013another letter with ref. no. 764/90/CONF/VOL.II/96 was written to NDDC stating that their refusal of the exercise was a breach of the Office legal responsibilities.

“It was at that point that the team was reluctantly allowed to commence the assignment on May 6th 2013,” she stated.

The statement reads: “From the foregoing, it is clear that it took the Office 16 months to be allowed to commence the said exercise. The conduct of the periodic checks which involved examination of records and physical verification of projects took seven months to be completed. The delay in the inspection of timely completion of the exercise was caused by the NDDC’s outright restriction of access to vital documents and untimely provision of other documents that were finally accessed by the Auditors.

“The inspection of projects after the paper work by the Auditors was jointly conducted with NDDC Engineers. Therefore, the outcome of the inspection which was reflected in our report should not be a surprise to NDDC since their engineers were expected to have briefed their management after the audit inspections.”

It read further, “On 24th April, 2014, the inspection report was forwarded to NDDC through our letter ref. no. 764/90/CONF/VOL.II/99 in which they were given 30 days within which to respond, otherwise the report, which was acknowledged by them will be duly finalised by the Office.

“72 days from the receipt of the first report, our reminder letter with ref. no. 764/90/CONF/VOL.II/100 was forwarded and acknowledged by NDDC on July 18th 2014. Paragraph 3 of the letter of reminder states thus: ‘Failure to respond to the report will be taken as acceptance to all the issues raised in it and the Office could proceed with further actions.”

Meanwhile, another 30 days of grace was allowed for NDDC to respond. In the letter, it was also stated that failure to respond within the grace period, the Office would finalise the report and forward same to the appropriate authorities.

“On 26th January, 2015, a final reminder letter with ref. no. 764/90/CONF/VOL.II/101 was forwarded to NDDC, allowing an extra 14 days within which to respond again. From the above, a total number of 13 months during which three reminder letters were forwarded to NDDC were without any response.”

However, the Office noted that the periodic check was not meant to witch-hunt any corporate organisation, adding that any law abiding organisation that conducts its activities in a transparent manner should willingly submit its books for audit.

“The way and manner NDDC has violently reacted to the report has put the-would-be staff of (OAuGF), who are to carry out subsequent periodic checks on the Corporation in fear considering the volatile nature of the Niger Delta region,” it said.

August 24, 2015