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  • New DSS DG assumes office, pledges covertness, studied silence

    New DSS DG assumes office, pledges covertness, studied silence

    The newly appointed Director General of the Department of State Services, Mr Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi, assumed office on Thursday with a pledge to refocus the Service towards covertness and studied silence.

    This was according to a statement by the Director of PR and Strategic Communications, Department of State Services National Headquarters, Abuja, Dr Peter Afunanya, on Thursday evening.

    The new DG also pledged commitment to surmount challenges confronting Nigeria’s economic, political and security environments.

    “Instructively, the DGSS pledged to refocus the Service towards covertness and likelihood of studied silence over certain matters,” the statement reads.

    According to the statement, Ajayi was warmly received by the immediate past DGSS, Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi, who briefed him on related issues.

    “Both of them recalled moments that they worked together in the past and reflected on the respect and admiration they have for each other. The two of them later addressed Management and Staff of the Service.

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    “While the outgone DG urged all to cooperate with the new one to enable him succeed in the task ahead, Mr Ajayi harped on unity of purpose among staff and enjoined them to remain disciplined and professional in the discharge of their duties.

    “Mr Ajayi assured that he would work with relevant stakeholders with utmost commitment and deep sense of responsibility so as to surmount challenges confronting Nigeria’s economic, political and security environments.

    “The objective, according to him, is to achieve peace and stability necessary for development,” the statement reads

    “It indicated that the highlight of the occasion was the handing over of the Service flag and other insignias of office by the former DG to the new one.

    “Afterwards, Mr Ajayi took a tour of the National Headquarters during which he visited some sections and encouraged staff on duty to remain vigilant, resourceful, dedicated and loyal to the Service, constituted authorities and Nigeria at large,” it reads.

  • College of accountancy gets DG

    The Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) has appointed Dr Kayode Olushola Fasua as the director-general of its training arm, the Nigerian College of Accountancy (NCA), Kwall, near Jos.

    Fasua’s appointment took effect from March 1.

    A letter by the Registrar/Chief Executive of ANAN, Dr Nurudeen Abba Abdullahifr, mni, said Fasua, who has over two decades of experience in the ANAN College. Before his appointment, he served as the Director of Studies of the College.

    A statement in Jos yesterday by Cyril Umoh, the college’s Public Relations Officer, said: “The newly appointed director-general has been largely described and praised as the first home grown director-general of the Nigerian College of Accountancy, having also headed several departments/units of the College, besides his long service and wealth of experience in the system.

    “Dr Fasua, who holds a PhD (Accounting and Finance), has many publications and presentations to his credit, locally and internationally.

    “The new director-general, who also graduated from the College 23 years ago, is the first graduate of the college to head the institution within the 25 years of her existence.”

  • DSS to abide by rule of law, says DG

    Henceforth, operations of the Department of State Services (DSS) will demonstrate respect for the tenets of democracy and the rule of law, the organisation’s new Director-General, Mr. Matthew Seiyefa, has said.

    Speaking with reporters at the DSS headquarters in Abuja yesterday, Seiyefa said his legal background and 34 years’ experience in service convinced him of the need to review various aspects of DSS operations with a view to focusing solely on national interests.

    Speaking in guided but emphatic tones, the new helmsman vowed to vigorously pursue changes, including a review of detainees and past abuses on human rights, an entrenchment of politically unbiased operations, smooth inter-agency partnership with all other government agencies and the appointment of a media spokesman instead of a pseudo character that signs DSS statements.

    Seiyefa signalled that the era of DSS disregard for the National Assembly and disobedience of court-orders may be over and that there may be hope for people, such as detained former National Security Adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).

    “At the moment, we are reviewing all issues that have to do with unhelpful perception of the service in recent times. We are reviewing all cases of detentions, perceived human right abuses, public misperceptions and some of our recent actions in order to learn lessons where we had undertaken actions that have made us to be perceived wrongly,” he stated.

    Emphasising that the DSS is a resilient organisation with an amazing workforce and core values that can overcome past negative perceptions, Seiyefa noted that past leaders of the organisation tended to adopt approaches that were reflective of their personalities.

    Seiyefa, the 11th director-general since the DSS’ formation on June 5, 1986, also solicited the cooperation of the media.

    “The importance of the mass media in nation building, including national security management, cannot be over-emphasised; the media sets agenda and manages perceptions, so it is important that stakeholder in security management should interact with you from time to time.

    “Our core objective is promoting the national interest in all situations. We have diverse interests in contention at every point in time, especially under a democratic dispensation. In an election year, contending interests assume greater manifestations but we must be focused on the national interest.

    “We will redouble efforts on intelligence gathering and intelligence analysis to guide policy formulation and security management.

    “We will strongly partner with all other agencies in the management of security and we will do our utmost in collaboration with all stakeholders towards protecting all law-abiding citizens and Nigeria’s critical national assets.

    “We will not tolerate the abuse of freedom of people; we will respect the freedom of all Nigerians, but we will also not be intimidated, no matter what, even when it seems that some people may be out to demonise the service.

    “Within the tenets of the law, we will protect our mandate for which is to promote and protect the national interest; the peace and security of Nigeria comes first.

    “We will ply our trade within the tenets of democracy and rule of law and in consonance with global best practices; we are cognisant of the fact that anything done is subject to scrutiny and we have responsibility to protect everybody,” Seiyefa stated.

  • SON Act yielding product seizures, says DG

    SON Act yielding product seizures, says DG

    Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Director General Osita Aboloma has described the SON Act as “a revolutionary document”, which has assisted the organisation in delivering on its mandate of sanitising the country of unwholesome products.

    Aboloma stated this at a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop on SON Act 2015 in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

    According to him, within the last few months, the standards body has confiscated fake and sub-standard products worth billions of naira across the country.

    He maintained that it had since embarked on arraignment and trial at the various courts of some of the suspects linked with the impounded goods.

    “We are not resting on our oars. We, therefore, appeal to all to be aware of the Act, comply with its provisions, particularly areas dealing with how operators should do the right thing for their businesses to grow,” he advised.

    He, however, stated that the work of standardisation was to grow Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs), promote agro-allied sector, as well as ensure industrial and economic development.

    This, according to Aboloma, became imperative to engage stakeholders in different sectors of the economy.

    “We need to use the instrumentality of SON Act NO.14 2015 to attain economic development. We are spreading our tentacles to the states and geo-political zones. Product counterfeiters have no place to hibernate. With the re-invigorated monitoring and enforcement strategies we are putting in place, our dragnet will get economic saboteurs anywhere, anytime,” he said.

    He noted that the theme of the workshop: “SON Act 2015: Catalyst for economic development”, was germane and quite in tune with the current efforts by the Federal Government to turn around the nation’s economy.

    “We decided to conduct nationwide stakeholders’ sensitisation workshops on the Act not only in order to enlighten people on the provisions of the Act but equally to strengthen stakeholders’ engagement and collaborations. The positive outcomes and impact of the sensitization exercises in places where they have been conducted so far have been so encouraging. This forum would therefore not be different in eliciting attention and challenging participants on the issues to be raised by our competent facilitators and resources persons,” he stressed.

    A Principal Partner, Agbonhese, Agbonhese & Co, Dr. James Agbonhese, in his presentation tagged “SON ACT 2015: Vehicle For Quality and Standard Products” explained that the new Act was a remarkable improvement on the old Act ,which gave SON extremely limited powers to pursue its mandate.

  • How to avoid gas tanks explosions, by SON DG

    How to avoid gas tanks explosions, by SON DG

    Frequent explosions of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) storage tanks and cylinders across the country are avoidable, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Director-General Mr. Osita Aboloma has said.

    To avoid such incidents, Aboloma urged operators in the sector to subscribe to the SON certification of their vessels.

    He said due certification of LPG storage vessels, proper maintenance and handling of cylinders, safe and ethical practices are necessary steps to avoid explosions and gas accidents.

    According to him, the agency will invoke the provisions of the SON Act No. 14 of 2015 on any operator found to have circumvented the mandatory requirement of certifying its LPG storage vessels, thereby putting the lives of Nigerians at risk of injury and or death.

    He said necessary investigation was being carried out on the recent explosion in Owerri, Imo State with a view to nipping future occurrences in the bud.

    Abaloma gave these safety tips while speaking to reporters in Abuja at the training of 30 SON engineers in the operations of three recently acquired mobile testing equipment for the inspection, testing and certification of LPG storage tanks, pressure vessels and pipelines.

    He challenged the SON officials to ensure that only certified LPG vessels and storage tanks are in operation across the country within the shortest possible time.

    The engineers were trained on the theory and practical of operating the mobile testing equipment to enable them acquire skills necessary to effectively use them across the country.

    This, according to the DG, was in line with SON’s policy to develop required human and material capacity to enable the organisation carry out its statutory mandate, which in this case, applies to the LPG sector.

    He said the LPG storage vessels certification by authorised and competent bodies is an international practice and a mandatory requirement to assure the integrity, effectiveness and suitability of the vessels to store liquefied petroleum gas without failure.

    Aboloma said LPG vessels are certified to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code, Division 1, Section VIII: 2015 by SON.

    The certification, he stated, is one of the requirements of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) for issuing licences to LPG plant operators. He said brand new vessels are certified for five years after which revalidation is carried out every three years.

    Aboloma said another set of 32 engineers were trained in Lagos to ensure that the mobile testing equipment in Lagos (for the Southwest Zone), Enugu (for the Southeast and Southsouth Zones) and Abuja for the Northern Zone can be put to effective use across the country.

    The SON chief said a joint committee of stakeholders in the LPG sector was inaugurated by SON to, among others, work out modalities for a scheme to re-qualify LPG cylinders.

    The scheme, according the SON chief executive, will involve the withdrawal of substandard cylinders from circulation and ensure the production, import, sale and use of only duly certified LPG cylinders.

  • Finance Minister suspends SEC DG, 2 others

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has suspended the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Mounir Gwarzo and two other staff of the Commission in order to pave way for investigation of allegations of financial impropriety leveled against the officials.

    A statement signed by Deputy Director, Press, Federal Ministry of Finance, Patricia Deworitshe stated that the suspension was “to allow for an unhindered investigation of several allegations of financial impropriety leveled against the Director General”

    The statement noted that the suspension was in line with the Public Service Rules (PSRs) 03405 and 03406.

    Also, the Finance Minister has set up an Administrative Panel of Inquiry (API) to investigate and determine the culpability of the Director General and has directed the suspended DG to immediately hand over to the most senior officer at the Commission, pending the conclusion of investigation by the API.

    Also suspended were two management staff of the Commission Mr. Abdulsalam Naif Habu, Head of Media Division and Mrs. Anastasia Omozele Braimoh, Head of Legal Department – who were alleged to have also engaged in financial impropriety at the Commission.

    The suspended officials had earlier dismissed the allegations as handiwork of mischievous persons who were out to victmise them because of their zero tolerance for infractions and general capital market reforms.

    The SEC DG was alleged to have perpetrated several fraudulent activities including collection of N104.8 million as severance package to himself in respect of the end of his appointment as Executive Commissioner, a position he occupied for two years and four months. The suspended DG and the two other staff were also alleged to have used fronts to secure contracts and fret away funds at the Commission.

  • Over $4.5b investment in Ajaokuta Steel ‘ll be recovered, says DG

    Ajaokuta Steel Company Director-General Sumaila Abdul-Akba has said the over $4.5 billion investment in the company would be recovered as efforts are being made to ensure that the plant becomes  fully operational soon.

    He expressed concern that the steel company had been lying fallow for a very long time, adding that the government is determined to resucitate it.

    Abdul-Akba told The Nation in Abuja that about N10 billion worth of steel and allied products were imported yearly. This development, he said, calls for the revival of the steel plant.

    The United Nations (UN) data estimates that every $1 invested in the Ajaokuta Steel Company will yield about $8. Abdul-Akba corroborated this, saying the plant was viable.

    Minister for Solid Minerals Development Dr. Kayode Fayemi said at a forum that the legal impediments surrounding the steel company had been resolved.

    “I believe the development would speed up the plant’s recovery process,” Abdul-Akba said, adding that the plant will go into the commercial stage, which would involve Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

    He added: “It is going to be a public affair. It is going to be as transparent as possible, and we will be looking for investors both locally and internationally. Those that have the right competence and also the financial strength to get the Ajaokuta steel company to where it is supposed to be.

    “So, the government has good intention, and what I intend to do as the Chief Executive is to first of all stabilise the environment, bring my experience and ensure that the governance system within the company is right and also to ensure that this commercial stage we are going into, all due process would be observed, the best practices would be strictly adhered to.”

    Experts, however, said one major problem confronting the nation’s industrialisation drive, especially in solid minerals and obtaining maximum value from them, was insufficient accreditation laboratories in the country where samples could be analysed. This, they said, had hampered their acceptability  outside the country.

    They noted that there are only three accredited laboratories in the country, adding that there is need for samples to be analysed for them to be more authentic and that information on them will based on the authentic report.

    Abdul-Akba said Ajaokuta’s management will be looking at all the challenges and how to fashion a notable roadmap, which will yield the maximum benefit accruable from the steel company in addition to the benefits derived from mining.

  • DG,NCAC tasks Nigerians on national unity

    The Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe has called on people agitating for the breakup of the country to think twice before going ahead with their plan.

    Runsewe made this known at the 30th edition of the National Festival of Arts and Culture held in Kaduna State, with the theme, ‘ our peace and unity… Our pride.

    He noted that the some of the people even agitating for the breakup of the country were not even born when the civil war started and ended,  adding that no one that experienced the civil war would pray for another one.

    ” All those asking that we should divide the country, none of them were born before the civil war,  they did not know what happened, I will help them with a proverb, every mother in the house today should know these, ‘ when a woman backs her child on her back,  that child put on the back does not know the distance from the house to the market, it’s the mother that knows the distance, they should put a stop to these agitations and make the peace and unity of the country their pride,” He said.

    Runsewe disclosed that he was setting up a unity touch, which would be a new beginning for the country, adding that the touch would be sent all over the world, as all the states at the festival represents the country.

  • EFCC invites ex-NIA DG, wife, others

    EFCC invites ex-NIA DG, wife, others

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday invited the immediate past Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Amb. Ayodele Oke, his wife, Mrs. Folashade Oke and others implicated in the  $43.45million recovered at Osborne Towers in Ikoyi, Lagos.

    The others were unnamed.

    But sources close to Oke said last night that the ex-NIA DG was yet to receive any letter from the EFCC.

    A statement by the EFCC, however, said the invitation of the former NIA DG and others was part of the resumption of the investigation of the cash haul.

    The statement said: “In furtherance of its investigative activities to unravel the circumstances surrounding the $43.45 million cash recovered by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Lagos sometime in April 2017, the Commission has invited former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ayodele Oke and his wife, Folashade Oke.

    ”Mrs.  Oke had refused to honour previous invitations by the commission which resumed its investigation into the matter, following the Federal Government’s decision to relieve Mr. Oke of his position as DG.

    ”Besides the couple, other suspects are equally being invited to determine their culpability or otherwise in the humongous cash, in foreign currencies and naira notes, stashed in a residential building at Osborne Road Ikoyi, Lagos.”

    A judge of the Federal High Court in Lagos, Justice Muslim Hassan, had on June 6, 2017 granted a final forfeiture order of the funds since no one appeared before the court to claim them.

    He said:  “I am in complete agreement with the submission of the learned counsel for the applicant (EFCC) that the property sought to be attached are reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities and that by every standard this huge sum of money is not expected to be kept without going through a designated financial institution; more so, nobody has shown cause why the said sum should not be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria. Having regard to the foregoing, I have no other option but to grant this application as prayed.

    “For the avoidance of any doubt, I hereby make the following orders: 1. A final order is made forfeiting the sums of   $43,449,947 found by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at Flat 7B of No. 16 Osborne Road, Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, which sum is reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

     

  • States ignore flood warnings, says NiMet DG

    States ignore flood warnings, says NiMet DG

    he Director-General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Sani Mashi, has advised states and local governments in the country to take the agency’s flood warnings seriously to mitigate its effects.

    Mashi gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    He said government at the state and local levels had failed to act quickly to reduce the impact of flooding in their communities by leaving their responsibilities to the Federal Government.

    “There is so much expectation on the Federal Government, even though we are operating a federal system where we have three tiers of government.

    “Despite that, the obligation and expectation of the Federal Government is much higher than it can bear.

    “We predicted that we were going to receive higher than normal rainfall within certain period and there was going to be flood in different parts of the country.

    “We advised that in communities that are flood-prone, contingency measures should be taken so that, if flood occurs, at least the impact will be minimised.

    “We encouraged people to move away for a certain period because of the raining season (three or four months at most).

    “Before the rain starts, take certain measures; for instance, ensure that access rights of way of the flooding, in terms of drainages, are not obstructed.

    “So the expectation is that the local communities at State and local government levels should be up and doing.

    “Probably, they were waiting for the Federal Government, because the level of preparedness was very low like it happened in Niger.’’