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Tag: corrupt

  • LIRS to sanction corrupt tax officers

    LIRS to sanction corrupt tax officers

    The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) said concrete measures are  taken to ensure all eligible taxpayers meet their obligations and sanction  on corrupt tax officers.

    Speaking at the Fate Foundation’s  Alumni Knowledge Building Session held in Lagos, yesterday, the Director, New Growth Areas, LIRS, Mr Adebayo Ayodele  said the Service was  not  ready to  shield its allegedly corrupt officials.

    Central to the achievement of this objective, according to him, is the need to engender a culture that promotes excellence while firmly punishing acts of misconduct amongst staff involved in revenue collection.

    He noted that government aims of providing infrastructure can only be guaranteed when all Nigerians commit to paying their taxes.

    He reiterated that the government is working to improve electronic services ease taxpayers ‘ access to use electronic platforms to handle their tax matters. He pointed out that automation of tax administration services has improved service delivery with regard to indicators for doing business.

    He  said tax avoidance has  become routine, even though it robbed public services of essential funding.

    He  said the service  will continue to put systems in place to ensure its enforcement activities are enhanced.

    The effectiveness of this, he noted, however, is dependent on cooperation from the public as it relates to sharing information on incidents of corruption and illegal activities that are geared at depriving the state of revenue.

    He warned that small business owners  fail to file  returns are  liable on conviction to penalties. He urged small business owners to engage professional and highly skilled tax officers to educate owners of MSMEs and assist with filing of various tax forms.

  • Corrupt officials must face justice, says bishop

    Corrupt officials must face justice, says bishop

    The Federal Government’s anti-corruption war is gathering more support from non-governmental bodies.

     The African Church yesterday backed President Muhammadu  Buhari’s resolve to rid Nigeria of corrupt and unwholesome practices.

    At a news conference at the Cathedral Salem in Ebute Metta, Lagos, the Archbishop of Lagos Province, Most Reverend Julius Ogunseye, said the church would support efforts at cleansing the public service and entrenching uprightness among the citizens.

    The clergy, however, urged the government to be cautious in its fight against corruption, saying the anti-corruption crusade must be executed in accordance with the law.

    Ogunseye said: “Our church is against corruption and we continuously preach fidelity and uprightness to members  and the public. For this reason, we support the anti-corruption crusade of the Federal Government and we are hopeful that anybody found guilty of corruption shall be brought to justice in accordance with the rule of law.”

    The archbishop called for peace and tolerance, urging support for the government in the fight against Boko Haram.

    He noted that the church would back any activity towards the indivisibility of the country.

    Ogunseye said the church saw the agitation for Biafra by some youths in the Southeast as unnecessary, adding that lack of jobs and underdevelopment in the region gave rise to the campaign.

    The archbishopsaid education remained a cardinal programme of the church’s contributions to the nation’s development. Despite the government’s takeover of primary and secondary schools built by the church, the archbishop said the church supported the schools with furniture and learning aid.

    He said The African Church would establish a “highly affordable” university to promote scholarship and the fear of God among youths, noting that a College of Education founded by the church in Ifako, Lagos, would not be abandoned because of the proposed university.

    The conference preluded activities marking the inauguration of its Lagos province and its archbishop.

    The Primate of the church, Dr. Emmanuel Udofia, will, on Saturday, inaugurate the province at the Salem Cathedral in Ebute Metta.

    The creation of the province, Ogunseye said, followed the fifth amendment of the church’s constitution at an event at Ita-Iyalode Parish in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital in May 2014.

    At that meeting, seven other provinces were also created. According the archbishop, the development was for the church’s administrative convenience.

     Ogunseye added: “The event will also be used for raising N250 million provincial development funds to support the work of God in Lagos. Jesus Christ charged his disciples to go and spread the gospel. Our church is engaged in various programmes aimed at winning souls for Christ.”

    The Lagos province, he said, comprised five dioceses, including Lagos Mainland, Lagos Central, Agege, Ifako and Lagos West.

  • Corruption has eaten deep into judiciary, says Fayose

    Corruption has eaten deep into judiciary, says Fayose

    Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose yesterday came hard on the Judiciary, alleging that it is riddled with corruption.

    Its judgments, he claimed, are for sale to the highest bidder.

    He said the institution must be purged for the battle against corruption to be won.

    Fayose spoke at a special service at the Cathedral Church of Emmanuel, Okesa, Ado-Ekiti, to mark the beginning of a New Legal Year.

    The governor alleged that judges now lobby to be appointed to serve in election tribunals to make money and influence judgment in favour of their political friends.

    Fayose said: “The judiciary has the power of life and death but this sensitive arm of government has been compromised and most judgments in Nigeria today are monetised.

    “If the battle against corruption can be won between the Bar and the Bench, it will be won in the society.

    “Due to the cancer of financial inducement that has eaten deep into our judicial system, it is only in Nigeria that a political armed robber will orchestrate the trial of somebody before a corrupt judge, all in the name of waging anti- corruption war.

    “When there are glaring facts on the table of anti-corruption agencies, they will pretend not to see or look the other way, especially if the culprit is a member of their  party or under the directive of the power that be.

    “That is why some judges are timid in giving judgments against the ruling party. Such individuals are judged on the pages of newspaper and consequently confirmed by the willing judges.

    “It gets more worrisome when facts have revealed that most of these judgements were written by lawyers for some compromised judges.

    “Some judges  also have cases assigned to them to do a shoddy job, thereby descending into unwholesomeness.

    “Other instances are when judges have to recommend lawyers to clients.

    “A lot of human rights activist lawyers have been working with some judges to destroy the lives of innocent Nigerians for pecuniary benefits and cheap popularity.

    “I, therefore, want our judges to understand that after here, there  is  another judgement. As for me, I have never and will never  influence judgement for whatever reason. In Ekiti, for instance, I don’t have the telephone numbers of judges.

    “If Nigeria is to move forward and for us to have a just society, the judiciary has a major role to play and must be seen doing so.

    “This address does not imply that the judiciary is totally devoid of some credible and incorruptible judges, whose conducts are commendable.

    “I won’t end this address without referring you to Hebrews 9:27 where is it said that it is appointed for men to die once and after this judgment.

    “We should remember that all human actions will be rewarded by God Almighty.”

    The Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Anglican Communion, Rev Christopher Omotunde, urged members of the judiciary to allow the fear of God to guide them.

    corrupt

  • Corrupt ouster

    Corrupt ouster

    • Econet Wireless paid the stiff price for refusing to play by rotten rules

    The gripping allegations of official corruption in Nigeria, by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of Econet Wireless, Strive Masiyuwa, is numbing.

    Mr Masiyuwa resorted to his blog, to inform the public how his company was frustrated out of Nigeria, following alleged corrupt actions of the former Governor of Delta state, Chief James Ibori, in connivance with a slew of other state officials and smart lawyers in London, led by one Bhadresh Gohil, who acted as advisers.

    According to the CEO, hundreds of millions of dollars may have been stolen from the Nigerian state, through duplicitous dealings in the Econet shares by two state governments.

    The sad experience of Econet Wireless, the technical partner and operator of the first GSM company in Nigeria, requires a revisit by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, considering his government’s avowal to deal with corruption.

    Going down memory lane, Mr Masiyuwa recalled how his company rallied about 22 Nigerian investors, including banks, high net worth individuals, state governments, and other institutional investors to raise the cost of the licence, which stood at $285 million — the most expensive licence ever issued in Africa, as at 200.  The licence grant followed a spectacularly transparent bidding process by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), which afterwards auctioned two GSM licenses.

    Mr Masiyuwa claimed his travails started when he was asked to pay $9 million as bribes to senior state government officials that helped to raise money to buy the licence. He refused.

    He alleged that the former governor of Delta State specifically demanded  $4.5 million in his private capacity. After several meetings could not resolve the impasse, Mr Ibori allegedly threatened: “Pay or I will chase you and your people out of the country”.

    He apparently did — for  when Mr. Masiyuwa refused to pay, the shareholders met and voted Econet Wireless out as Manager of the licence. Mr Masiyuwa and his over 200 staff and family members were indeed “chased out of the country”!

    He alleged that later, he was invited to meet the former Governor of Akwa Ibom, Chief Victor Attah in London, who told him that he wanted to sell the 15% shares owned by the state government, claiming that he would use the proceeds to build an airport.

    The governor then introduced him to one “Mr Bhadresh Gobil, as our legal adviser here in London”, saying that “I have instructed him to handle all our negotiations with you”. Mr Masiyuwa claimed that when he subsequently met Mr Gohil in his office, he proposed that the proceeds of sale be paid into a Special Purpose Vehicle.

    When he questioned the rationale for such a process, Mr Gohil, told him that he was also the lawyer to Governor Ibori, offering that if he accepts the proposal, all the state shares would be sold to his company, to make him majority shareholder.

    Mr Masiyuwa’s reckoned that the sophisticated proposal by Mr Gohil could help the state officials siphon over $100 million dollars, in addition to the $13.5 million already paid by the company that took over the management of the licence, and changed the name to VConnect.

    He claimed to have carefully recorded the entire scenarios in his small note book, and subsequently petitioned the United States Justice Department. He claimed that his efforts to get the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate fell flat, under former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

    If these allegations are true, they would be a sad commentary on the seedy business climate in Nigeria.  That is very sad, and should not be tolerated any longer.

    If a country always hankers after “foreign investment”, by that very logic it should not tolerate influential citizens and corrupt state officials making brazen victims out of those foreign investors.  Yet, that was what Strive Masiyuwa’s cup, for his heroic striving to do business in Nigeria.

    The Zimbabwean’s allegations are yet another set of pressing reasons President  Buhari should crack down on corrupt practices in every sphere of Nigerian life.

    Mr. Masiyuwa’s claim that the Yar’Adua Presidency turned cold on his complaints suggests some illicit influence may have blackmailed that government into culpable inaction. That, if true, was unfortunate.  It should never happen again.

    In institutional terms, however, the solution is clear, if not so simple, if there is no political will: agencies of state, particularly the ones saddled with corruption, should be structurally empowered to do their work as routine — no prompting, no discouragement, just clinical structural efficiency.

    If President Buhari can put such operative reforms in place, the anti-corruption war would not only be easier to fight, it would also become institutionalized, with little or no influence from the sitting government.

    That is the legal regime corrupt Nigeria needs.

     

  • Stop praising corrupt leaders

    Mr. Olabode Lucas, a Prof. of Crop Physiology at the University of Ibadan (UI), has advised Nigerians to stop glorifying corrupt leaders if the current war against corruption must be won. He also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that History and Civic Education are re-introduced and taught at the primary and secondary school levels.

    According to him, glorification of corrupt leaders will only embolden the cancer of corruption, urging Nigerians to collectively fight the ugly trend to enable Nigeria to get to the Promised Land.

    Prof. Lucas spoke during a book launch/presentation to round off his 70th birthday celebration entitled “Snapshots on Some Nigerian and International Events” held at the University of Ibadan Hotels and Conference Centre.

    “Nigeria will continue to wallow in its current parlous state if the present rate of corruption and financial malfeasance continues. We should not allow ethnic and other considerations to colour our attitude towards those who are making all of us, except themselves, very poor in the midst of plenty.

    “They should be ostracised and not encouraged. Corruption is a cancer and it is gradually destroying our dear country. We need concerted efforts to destroy this cancer,” he said.

    The Introduction of Civic Education, he noted, will make the Nigerian child understand the past and have a sense of place and vision for a good Nigeria.

    Prof. Lucas, who noted that Civic Education and History were needed to produce a critical soul, stated that Civic Education was central to producing responsible and good citizens.

    The don said it was a pity that these beautiful subjects; History and Civic Education are no longer taught in our primary and secondary schools, saying that only a re-introduction of the subjects would ensure that Nigerian children know their history and their place in Nigeria and the world.

     

  • As Amosun advocates life sentence for corrupt officials

    There is no denying that it is corruption that has brought Nigeria to its knees today.

    It is, therefore, a welcome development when public office holders are in the forefront of agitation for life imprisonment for corrupt public servants.

    It is in Nigeria that you have people who could not ride a bicycle before coming into government becoming the richest men after a spell of public service.

    But it is also in Nigeria that people believe that everyone that went into government was nobody before. Indeed, there are people who were already wealthy and had accomplished so much in life long before venturing into politics or occupying public offices. This point should never be lost on anyone even as we all rail against corruption.

    By and large, it is corruption that has held Nigeria hostage and stifled its development. The structure and form of government we operate also allow corruption to fester.

    I wholeheartedly congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari for his efforts to deliver Nigeria from the bondage of corruption. I believe also that there is need to amend extant laws so that corrupt public officials (elected, appointed or career civil servants) can get life imprisonment for the sins of corruption as recommended by the governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun.

    It is interesting that every government in Nigeria is trying to imbibe the Treasury Single Account in order to block leakages and end corruption. Governor Amosun actually ordered immediate implementation of TSA when he mounted the saddle of leadership in 2011. It may shock readers to discover that about 300 bank accounts were closed in Ogun State upon the introduction of TSA.

    How could one government either at the state or federal level operate hundreds of bank accounts without some funds ending in private pockets?

    Apart from TSA, which played a vital role in boosting Ogun IGR from a paltry N750m a month to about N3bn per month within just two years, the introduction of e-payment by the Amosun administration also helped to block drainpipes in the finances of the state and curb corruption.

    Finally, both political office holders and career public servants should take a lesson from the submission of Amosun: “It takes two to tango. This anti-corruption crusade is not only about political office holders, government workers too should detest corruption. It is time we all denounced and stigmatised corruption.  If we all come together to kill corruption, we would be the better for it.”

    • By Soyombo Opeyemi

    Abeokuta

  • NYSC may dismiss six for corrupt practices

    The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Johnson Olawumi, yesterday said about six members of the staff of the scheme facing disciplinary actions for conniving with corps members (CMs) to fraudulently abstain from the service would be sacked or dismissed from the service to serve as a deterrent to others.

    This is coming on the heels of its launch of the use of biometric to monitor corps members.

    Olawumi, who spoke at the demonstration of biometric technology for the conduct of monthly clearance of corps members in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday, failed  to reveal the identity of those involved.

    However, he said the exercise would cover all serving corps members starting from 2014 Batch ‘C’.

    He further explained that the biometric clearance would kick off in Lagos State and FCT this month, while extension would be to other states of the federation as from next year.

    [ad id=”403656″]Olawumi while allaying fear of the public and corps members on the exercise, assured them that it is going to be user friendly and not impose additional sufferings on them.

    In his remarks, the Director of Corps Welfare and Inspectorate, Mr Michael Ahile, noted that with the increasing number of corps members annually, “the task of effectively monitoring all the corps members nation-wide has remained a major challenge to the scheme.”

    He said: “With the use of biometric to monitor corps members, the NYSC would be able to effectively check cases of absenteeism, submission of monthly clearance letters by proxy, signing of community development service (CDS) attendance register by proxy and other forms of indiscipline among corps members.”

    The Executive Director of Sigma Technologies, the operator of the biometrics, Mr Hassan Alao, disclosed that the innovation would expose those who registered by proxy online.

    Alao therefore urged corps members to note of the finger used for registration during orientation camp exercise.

    According to him, at the end of the clearance, it will be loaded to the ‘cloud’ for the DG, Finance and other departments in the NYSC headquarter in Abuja to see the number of corps members cleared from each local government in the country for payment.

     

  • Buhari can’t ignore corrupt practices under Jonathan

    Buhari can’t ignore corrupt practices under Jonathan

    The Presidency last night hinted why the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari won’t turn a blind eye on the corrupt practices carried out under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The brazen theft of public assets and an almost empty treasury nearly stalled the new administration.

    The Presidency asked the Association of Ex-Jonathan ministers, to do  self-reflection on the sort of government they handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    By doing this, the Presidency said they should be able to determine for themselves if it would have been right for any incoming government to ignore the brazen theft of public assets, which is perhaps the first of its kind ever witnessed in Nigeria.

    A statement by Mallam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the the President on Media and Publicity, said the earlier statements made that there was no witch hunt or malice against anyone in the pursuit of the county’s stolen assets still stand.

    According to him, the ongoing war against corruption knows no friend nor foe.

    He said: “There is no intention to deny anyone of their good name where they are entitled to it and that President Buhari reserves the highest regards for the country’s former leaders,  including Dr Jonathan Goodluck who he continues to praise to the high heavens for the way and manner in which he accepted defeat in the last election.

    “That singular action remains a feat that has earned the former president and Nigeria befitting commendations all over the world, the latest coming from Mr Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations who visited a week ago.”

    But he pointed out that the issue of fighting corruption by Buhari is non negotiable.

    He said: “It is sine qua non to the overall reconstruction of the economy and social systems  which suffered destruction and severe denigration under the last administration.

    “President Buhari will not be deterred or blackmailed into retreat and surrender. No one in the PDP can accuse President Buhari of undermining the economy when all they handed over to him, at best,was  a tottering economy hobbled by corruption and the absence of due process.

    “Things have become worsened by the continuing fall of oil prices, which is expected to fall even further with the imminent full return of Iran to the market. All he has been doing while around is to put things together, organising to defeat Boko Haram, paying outstanding salaries, cleaning up the mess left behind, improving security and restoring our relationships with neighbours and the world.”

    Wondering what the former ministers are afraid of, he queried if they have become a new trade union overnight.

    He said: “Let this collection of ex-VIPs allow the President the peace he needs to handle the reconstruction of the economy and the nation in a manner that most serves Nigeria’s best interests.

    “President Buhari does not need these types of distraction presented by the so-called association of former ministers.”

  • Prosecute corrupt public servants, Buhari urged

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to prosecute all corrupt public servants.

    NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba told The Nation that over half of the states defaulted in the payment of salaries to their workerss underscored the extent to which the political elite had run the country aground.

    He said: “Workers and the Nigerian people in general are expectant that President Buhari will have the magic wand to turn our country around and safe us from our political elites, who have taken maladministration and bad governance to new height.

    “As organised labour, we are waiting to engage the President as he unfolds his programme. We await his promise to throw open the identities of public officers who participated in the massive looting of our commonwealth, which the President had put at a conservative $150 billion over the last decade alone.’’

    Wabba added that NLC was awaiting the arrest and persecution of the former Minister, who was alleged to have stolen $6 billion, adding that Labour would protest the massive corruption and bad governance of the past administration and push for all the stolen wealth be recovered and those involved sanctioned.

    He said the fight against corruption must begin from somewhere, adding that the anti-corruption agencies and the National Assembly must support the government’s plan to deal with corruption.

    Wabba said: “The feeling and perception of Nigerians is that our anti-corruption agencies are either overwhelmed or do not have the requisite edge to respond to the renewed assault on our collective conscience by those taking advantage of their position to steal and loot our commonwealth without any qualms.”

    He lamented that corruption cases being handled by the anti-corruption agencies are taking too long –some having gone on for as long as seven to nine years – are often thrown out, not for lack of merit or points of law but on mere technicalities.

    “For Nigerians to regain confidence in our anti-corruption agencies and the judicial process, high profile corruption cases need to be more diligently and competently handled and dispensed with more quickly and timely at the level of the courts. The NLC believes that the National Assembly has a key role to play in ensuring that justice is not only done but truly seen to have been done,” Wabba said.

    According to him, one of the most credible ways of doing this is by strengthening the anti-corruption laws so that people who steal the nation’s collective wealth can be brought to justice far much quicker than is presently done.

    He argued that corruption would reduce once people know that there is no hiding place for those who perpetuate it and that corrupt enrichment will not necessarily buy them freedom from the long arm of the law.

    “Conviction of perpetrators of corrupt practices is how corruption is being tackled in other climes where they have fought it and brought it to a standstill,” the NLC President insisted.

     

  • NBA to report corrupt, lazy judges to NJC, says Alegeh

    NBA to report corrupt, lazy judges to NJC, says Alegeh

    •NDIC to review Act

    The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) has set up a committee to monitor the judges and report corrupt and lazy ones to the National Judicial Council (NJC).

    The committee will liaise with local NBA branches through which lawyers can submit their complaints where they have evidence that a judge has been compromised, has delivered a judgment that has no basis in law, or exhibit laziness by sitting late, among others.

    NBA President Augustine Alegeh (SAN) yesterday said the association would send a formal petition to the NJC after reviewing the complaint or questionable judgment.

    He spoke yesterday at a sensitisation seminar organised by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) for its external solicitors, with the theme: “Challenges to Deposit Insurance Law and Practice in Nigeria.”

    Alegeh said besides corruption, the greatest challenge facing justice delivery is ignorance of the law by some judges, some of whom he said belonged to the old school and give judgments according to their beliefs rather than according to law.

    “For the first time, the Bar will be sending petitions to the NJC directly against judges. If any lawyer has a judgment, delivered for or against him and they feel it is not according to law, let them send it to us. Such judges should not be in our judiciary,” Alegeh said

    NDIC’s Managing Director, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, said the NDIC Act, which was last amended in 2006 would be reviewed to further protect depositors.

    Ibrahim, represented by NDIC’s Executive Director, Operations Prince Aghatise Erediauwa, said: “Presently we are proposing new amendments to the Act. One area we are looking at is strengthening the protection of depositors. We want to shorten the time-span within which depositors get paid if a bank should fail. We also want banks to be more responsible generally.

    “NDIC has a very critical role to play, but to achieve this, there are a set of prescriptions which have been laid down by the International Association of Deposit Insurers. We want to amend the Act to bring it in line with international best practices.”

    According to him, depositors of many of the failed banks have been paid in full, while some shareholders and creditors have also received their monies.

    “There are several instances where payments are advertised and individuals fail to show up to collect their payments. We have those isolated cases.

    “We can distinguish the case of Savannah Bank from failed banks because it is not within the control of NDIC. Their licenses were revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), but on court orders, the licenses were reinstated.

    “The next step would have been for the owners of those banks to reorganise themselves and come back into operations so that depositors can access their accounts. Savannah Bank has been unable to do that,” Erediauwa said.