The Nation Newspaper

Tag: blacklist

  • Why re-insurer will blacklist Nigerian airlines, by operators

    Why re-insurer will blacklist Nigerian airlines, by operators

    Nigerian airlines risk being blacklisted unless they pay the backlog of insurance premium owed global re-insurer, Lloyds of London, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) Chairman, Nogie Meggison, has said.

    Captain Meggison said Lloyds threatened to blacklist airline operators because of their inability to  pay premium on aircraft insurance, adding that some were in arrears by four months.

    He said besides blacklisting of operators, the re-insurer may also downgrade Nigeria  into a high risk region where premium on aircraft insurance is prohibitive.

    According to him, failure to pay the monthly premium by some operators was predicated on the difficulty in accessing foreign exchange through the official window of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    Meggison warned that blacklisting Nigeria would have a negative impact on the economy because operators might find it  difficult  to acquire aircraft from lessors without insurance cover.

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) prescribed holding of valid insurance cover as a prerequisite for bringing in and operating any aircraft in the transport category in Nigeria.

    The regulatory requirement also includes valid insurance cover for aircraft, passengers and third party liabilities.

    Meggison said failure on the part of debtor-operators to meet their obligation  could lead to suspension of operations and job loss, adding that apart from scheduled and chartered aircraft operators, helicopters flying to oil rigs, vessels, high rise buildings, airport terminal buildings would also be affected.

    The AON chief said operators may find it difficult to lease aircraft from other countries not covered by Llyods re-insurance on account of the blacklist. He listed China and Russia as other markets where Nigerian operators could acquire aircraft with difficulties due to the Lloyds blacklist.

    He said: “If Nigeria is blacklisted, the premium will rise by 300 per cent due to high risk.

    “We are not keeping to payment dates. Domestic carriers have a four-month’ backlog on payment. It will be funny to wait until there is an incident before the airline tries to pay its premium.

    “We, therefore, use this medium to call on the Minister of State Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to as a matter of urgency come to the aid of domestic airlines operating in the country.

    “One of the ways to achieve this is to forge a joint working group with the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on how the nation can take exigent steps to avoid the downgrade/blacklist in the interest of safety and the economy.”

    Meggison said Nigerian market is grossly unable to effectively underwrite risks in aviation because of its high exposure, stating that airlines require an average of $500 million policy for an airplane to cover hull, war and third party liabilities.

    Meggison said: “When this figure is multiplied by the number of aircraft operating in the country, it becomes clear that Nigerian insurance companies can’t cope, considering the enormous volume of resources needed to cover all those aircraft of which the total coverage value will be in excess of $6 billion.

    “Virtually 100 per cent of the aircraft being operated in Nigeria are re-insured by Lloyd’s, hence, Nigeria can’t afford to be blacklisted as a nation because this will have very grave consequences, as the entire domestic airlines will shut down since airplanes can’t be operated without being insured.

    “It will take some days at best to switch to the secondary market of Russia and China, whose premiums will also have skyrocketed if we are blacklisted by Lloyd’s,” Meggison said.

  • CBN to blacklist fraudulent bank customers

    CBN to blacklist fraudulent bank customers

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is working on a framework that will, before year-end, enable it to blacklist or watch-list fraudulent bank customers across the country’s banking space.

    CBN Director, Banking and Payment ’Dipo Fatokun broke the news at the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) October meeting in Lagos at the weekend.

    He said the framework, when unveiled, would give the regulator the legal backing to use the Bank Verification (BVN) platform to identify, watch-list and blacklist fraudulent account holders in all the 22 banks and Other Financial Institutions (OFIS).

    According to him, the framework, which is at the final stage of its approval, would soon be sent to the Committee of Governors of the Central Bank for examination and exposure to the banking industry.

    “It is a policy issue and therefore, has to go to the Committee of Governors of the Central Bank, which will look at it and do an industry exposure. These will be completed, hopefully, before the end of the year,” he assured.

    Data from the CBN showed that although e-fraud rate in terms of value dropped by 63 per cent last year, after the BVN introduction and improved collaboration among banks via the fraud desks, the total fraud volume rose significantly by 683 per cent within the year compared to 2014 figures.

    Also, the country experienced a total of 3,500 cyber-attacks with 70 per cent success rate and loss of $450 million within the last one year mainly through cross channel fraud, data theft, e-mail spooling, phishing, shoulder surfing and underground websites.

    Fatokun explained that one common thing about electronic fraud was that when money is moved fraudulently from one account to another, it could easily be traced.

    “And so, identifying the owner of that fraudulent bank account using the BVN, will not only be able to identify him or her in the bank he has moved the money to, we also identify him in all the banks where he has accounts.

    “And when legal impediments are overcome, such people could be blacklisted, or watch-listed in the banking system. That will also assist us to a great deal, in curbing the menace of fraudsters,” he said.

    The CBN director, who spoke on the theme: “Exploring new protective measures against social engineering vulnerabilities”, said social engineering has common phenomenon in cybercrime attacks in Nigeria.

    “Almost on a daily basis, a plethora of messages are sent by these criminals with the express intent to con the unsuspecting recipient using techniques that appeal to vanity, greed or authority. It is, therefore, important that we look critically at measures that will protect the industry as a whole from the menace of social engineering attacks.

    “It is often said that people, processes and technology are the tripod on which cybersecurity lies, with discussion ever hovering on which is the weakest link. I must however submit that like what is required in building any chain, we must prepare to forge each link with the same degree of heat – in other words, no link must be too important or less significant in the pursuit of payments security.”

    On the implications of such blacklisting on customers, he explained that for commercial banks, opening an account or having a bank account itself is a contract.

    “It is a contract between a willing customer and a willing bank. So, if a bank notices that a particular customer is fraudulent, or is a criminal, the bank has the right to get out of the contract. And another implication is that if an account is watch-listed, when the framework is finally approved, if there is a credit into that account and every other person is having his credit within two to three minutes, because the account has been watch-listed based on past activities, credit into such account may be withheld for a longer period while investigations are carried on to actually confirm that it is a genuine transfer,” he stated.

    These steps, Fatokun said, would assist the bank, because being able to identify, apprehend and prosecute would go a long way in reducing the problem of electronic fraud.

    On prosecution and apprehension, he said the NeFF is working with the police to create a dedicated electronic payment and card crime unit, which when operational, would help reduce further, electronic fraud.

    He said the operationalisation of a dedicated e-Payment and Card Crime Unit in the Nigeria Police will enable a greater effort in NeFF’s quest to successfully investigate and bring to book through effective and efficient prosecution of cyber-criminals.

  • N116b contracts probe: Fed Govt may blacklist 115 indicted firms

    N116b contracts probe: Fed Govt may blacklist 115 indicted firms

    The Federal Government may blacklist some of the 115 companies implicated in the  N116b “curious” contracts in the Office of the National Security Adviser(ONSA) during the tenure of ex-NSA Sambo Dasuki.

    Also, some of the companies may be handed over to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for prosecution for not paying taxes to the Federal Government.

    But one of the companies, Image Merchants, which had been covertly managing the media  for security agencies since 2013, faulted the report of the AVM JON Ode’s panel.

    It asked President Muhammadu Buhari to be wary of those whose stock in trade is to blackmail and destroy others apparently as a way and means of venting their anger over their past frustration.

    Some of the indicted firms may be blacklisted unless they refund some funds meant for some unexecuted projects, a source told The Nation.

    The source, who pleaded not to be named because he is not allowed to speak on the matter, said: “Some of these companies may be blacklisted from getting contracts from Ministries, Departments and Agencies, unless they refund the contract sums illegally credited to them or collected and get clearance from the government.

    “There are over 115 companies with issues on contracts in ONSA. Some of these firms risk being denied further transactions with the government and its agencies.

    “It is certainly no longer business as usual in the country. The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari will not waiver in its fight against corruption.”

    Besides being probed further, more than 300 persons and companies by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Commission (ICPC) and the police, some of the firms may be handed over to the FIRS for alleged tax evasion and other tax infractions.

    “Do you know that some of the companies were indicted  by the panel for not remitting taxes to the government? Now, they have to face the penalty, “ the source said.

    But one of the companies, Image Merchants, yesterday faulted the panel’s report.

    In a statement by Yushau Shuaibu, the company said: “For genuine reasons and concern, our strategic team managed many humiliating and embarrassing reports from leakages, including alleged terrorists’ attacks in the hometowns of top security officers in the current administration.”

    “We honoured the invitation to serve our nation out of patriotism and we dutifully provided our services as crisis communicators diligently and professionally.

    “While acknowledging the moral support and encouragement from critical stakeholders, we will continue to volunteer, support and render the services responsibly. We would never abandon our clients, partners and friends especially those who are unduly victimised and vilified.”

     ”Meanwhile we will soon be in the court to clear our name from the unfortunate media trial of indictment that has been used consistently to unjustly rubbish reputations of institutions and individuals without following the rule of law or due process.”

    The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Mallam Garba Shehu on Thursday  claimed that the ONSA committee had recovered over N7billion from those indicted.

    The indicted companies are to refund another N41 billion.

    But the investigating agencies, including the EFCC, will determine whether another N75 billion should be recovered from some of the companies.

    Shehu said the ONSA Committee had found out that one of the indicted companies, Societe D’Equipment International was overpaid by 7.9 million Euros and $7.09 million.

    It noted that many contractors were apparently overpaid. Others were paid upfront, contrary to their contract terms and agreements.

    The panel also uncovered evidence of payments to individuals and companies by ONSA without any contractual agreement or evidence of jobs executed.

    The committee discovered that some companies failed to fulfill their tax obligations for contracts executed.

  • NFF to blacklist, prosecute erring referees

    NFF to blacklist, prosecute erring referees

    President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Melvin Amaju Pinnick has vowed to blacklist and prosecute erring referees when the country’s league season begins in March.

    Disclosing this ahead of the NFF’s fourth board meeting slated to hold in Abuja on January 8, Amaju said: “If, after the trips to the United Kingdom to see how things are being done and being engaged in practicals out there, and after our plan to boost their remuneration, we still find elite referees wanting, such persons will not only be blacklisted, they will also be prosecuted.”

    He reiterated that the capacity-enhancing programmes and exposure being given the elite referees now is to ultimately make them better arbiters, failing which they will be harshly dealt with.

    It can be recalled that 17 highly–qualified persons, including renowned coaches and former international players, will also be in the United Kindgom for a three –week match reading and backroom analysis capacity–enhancing programme in a few weeks.

    Pinnick warned that coaches and administrators who fail to identify swiftly with the new vision of doing things differently and in the interest of the nation’s football will be told in no uncertain terms to give way.

    “What we intend to achieve at the end of the day, is in the interest of the coaches, the National Teams, the administrators, the referees and the game generally.

    “Everyone who has the interest of the game at heart will easily key into these programmes. Those who will find it difficult are the people who have been used to impunity and have mortgaged the interest of our football for personal interest over the years. They will be thrown overboard without a second glance.

    “I use this opportunity to call on all the stakeholders of the Nigeria game, including our vibrant media, to support the NFF as we move to arrest the decline and work hard to put Nigerian football on the road to an enviable destination.”