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Tag: faults

  • Former Reps Whip Wale Oshun faults Southwest APC on power devolution

    Former Reps Whip Wale Oshun faults Southwest APC on power devolution

    A former House of Representatives Chief Whip, Olawale Oshun, yesterday picked holes in the recent decision of  selected leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to back devolution of power to the states as  against wholesome restructuring of the system.

    Oshun, in a statement in Lagos, said the position taken at the Ibadan meeting which was chaired by Chief Adebisi Akande was at variance with the stand of APC followers at two meetings last month, the first at University of Ibadan and the other four days later in Akure.

    He said “the clarion call emanating from the two conferences of the Party in the zone was for a wholesome restructuring of the system and structure of our politics and governance.”

    He added: “that decision certainly transcends the call for mere devolution as it raises the fundamental need for a change in structure of government in order to make even the issue of devolution a sustainable process.”

    He said the Ibadan decision has now put the Yoruba at a crossroad.

    “How the leaders of our Party in our zone whose followers spoke in definitive language can back away from such a decision is totally unacceptable and even in the realm of spirit, not to talk of physical realm, the tail can never wag the dog. And they are the ones we expect would negotiate on our behalf!” he said.

    “It is necessary to clarify that a federation which Nigeria purports to be should comprise of a central government and federating units that are in parity and are mutually agreed as to which powers each should exercise.

    “It is therefore in a federation that you speak of restructuring which is that there is a demand for change in the way things are done.

    “When you speak strictly as was the Ibadan outcome you are asking the almighty central government in a unitary system to allow other levels of government exercise some powers and at its pleasure. The crisis in Nigeria today can only be resolved when all Nigerians have a say in which powers to allow one another.

    “For the avoidance of doubt restructuring entails much more than devolution and it includes the Constitutional reform that will enable the sustainability of the power sharing agreed to.

    “ For instance the Yoruba people at all conferences held to date, including those that led to the production of Yoruba Agenda, the Summit and the All Progressives Congress conferences on restructuring (respectively held in Ibadan and Akure,) agreed that there is need to return to regions as federating units, and that each federating unit would have its own Constitution that would guide how all its internal governance is enabled, particularly other levels of government lower than the federating unit level.

    “Nigerians would agree on what percentage of resources generated by federating units are paid as tax to the federal government and the Yoruba people have indicated that for a virile Central government, taxes paid to the Central government by the federating units should be not more than thirty five percent of all accruals.

    “Only Constitutional reform or restructuring can facilitate this, mere devolution of power cannot. And who is devolving the power by the way.

    “It should be a great tragedy if elected and appointed Yoruba office holders cannot and will not stand up for and in Yoruba interest, the same interest they espoused to catapult themselves into office. What then defined the NADECO struggle which claimed lives and liberty, if not the need for the restructuring of Nigeria?”

     

  • PDP faults Ganduje on polls

    The Caretaker Committee of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has criticised Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje’s comments on the December 10 National and State Assembly rerun in Rivers State.

    Ganduje was quoted as saying that having free and fair elections in Rivers State and other parts of Southsouth “is abnormal”.

    The statement said: “You know in that part of the country, having free and fair elections is not normal and we have to make it normal this time.”

    It added that the Federal Government will deploy massive security for the polls.

    But in a statement yesterday by the spokesperson of PDP Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, the party described the governor’s statement as unfortunate and ridiculous.

    PDP said: “This statement from the governor is not only unfortunate, it is ridiculous and absurd, to say the least. It is highly unbecoming of a governor to make such an unguarded statement that denigrates the people of the state and Southsouth.

    “The (governor’s) statement is also a veiled threat that the coming election in Rivers State will be manipulated as usual by the APC, using Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security apparatus of state.

    “If free and fair elections have been “abnormal” in the region, according to the governor, it is due to the manipulation and the win-at-all-cost attitude of the APC.

    “This desperation of APC to win at all cost was exposed by the recent decision of the Court of Appeal, which upturned the rerun in Opobo/Nkoro State Constituency of Rivers State in favour of our candidate, Mr. Diri Adonye, wherein the Appeal Court emphatically stated that the election was massively rigged. Nigerians can now see who has been manipulating elections and causing the state of abnormality in the region.”

  • N183.7 billion: NDDC faults AGF’s report

    N183.7 billion: NDDC faults AGF’s report

    The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) yesterday faulted the Auditor General of the Federation’s report which claimed that N183.7 billion could not be accounted for by the commission.

    The Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Samuel Ukura, told journalists in Abuja after submitting three special reports to the National Assembly that N183.7 billion could not be accounted for between 2008 and 2012 audit years.

    But NDCC’s  Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Dr. Henry Ogiri said the report by the AGF was premature and did not follow the ethical standards of accounting profession.

    Dr. Ogiri questioned the timeliness of the report and its motive, adding that the AGF was only playing to the anti corruption tune of President Muhammadu Buhari by releasing the report.

    He wondered why the AGF had to wait five years to audit the commission’s account, adding that the report, which covered 2008 – 2012, did not fall under the current management of the commission.

    Ogiri,who spoke on Focus Nigeria, a weekly programme on African Independent Television (AIT), described the queries in the report as ‘ridiculous,’ adding  that the commission will respond to the queries raised by the AGF’s report.

    He said: “The report did not conform with ethical practices in the accounting profession. It is premature because it has not gone through the process yet. For a report to be meaningful for whatever reason management or board or government will need to use, it must be specific, it must be measurable, it must be accurate, it must be reliable and it must be timely.

    “A five-year report will not be very reliable and accurate for making decisions in 2015. And so I believe strongly that the Auditor General’s report is out of tune with the ethical profession of accountancy discipline.

    “This is a 307 pages document with so many queries with some of them trivialities. But we are determined to respond to them to show that we are in good faith; we are managers indeed and we will take responsibility for explaining the records as far as the records are available.

    “Can we be able to say for certain about the allegation of extra budgetary allocation from which from his report they actually traced the projects done but that money were spent when budget has not been passed. He has reported that as part of the missing money, N90 billion. His argument in his report is that while these payments were made there was no budget.

    “Let me go to some of the other specifics from which clearly we have replied as well; the N70 billion. Now the auditor general has reported that N70 billion was diverted by that management, not our management. “We have a compendium of projects where advance payment guarantees (APGs) were applied. The total APG value covered by this report is in excess of N70 billion. Of that N70 billion, only N11.7 billion is the amount as at when we concluded our audit, our forensic investigation, from which monies have been paid to  the bank but the contractors are yet to mobilise to site. The N11.7 billion is not missing, it is in the bank. We held a meeting and involved our legal department to write to the contractors to refund the monies if they fail to mobilize to the site.

    “We have started the recovery the money. We have dedicated a special account in Heritage Bank on all recovery of APGs. We are not spending it. These are issues we met on ground. The issue of N70 billion pocketed or diverted or missing is completely out of place even though it was done by previous management. The N70 billion is not missing that I can say with all degree of certainty.

  • FHA Home MD faults suspension

    FHA Home MD faults suspension

    The Managing Director of FHA Homes Limited, the mortgage subsidiary of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Roland Igbinoba, has faulted his suspension on the alleged instruction of the Managing Director of the FHA, Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin.

    He has also initiated contempt proceedings against Al-Amin and Haytuddeen Atiku (appointed to act in Igbinobia’s place) for their refusal to obey an order made by the National Industrial Court, Abuja on June 19 this year, directing his reinstatement.

    Igbinoba, in his originating processes, accused the Board of Directors headed by Al-Amin of not according him fair hearing and opportunity to defend himself against allegations raised against him before he was purportedly suspended.

    He stated that he was summoned to an emergency board meeting of the FHA Homes Ltd at the instance of Al-Amin and that he was, at the meeting, served with a letter dated June 2, 2015 and containing unsubstantiated and frivolous allegations on his person and office without being given the opportunity to defend himself or at least be heard.

    He, therefore, asked the court to order his reinstatement and declare his suspension as illegal, null, void and of no effect.

    Shortly after Igbinoba filed the suit, the court heard an ex-parte he filed along with it and granted an order for interim injunction directing Al-Amin to reverse Igbinoba’s suspension and Atiku to vacate the position pending the determination of the substantive suit by Igbinoba, challenging his suspension.

    Igbinoba, in the contempt proceedings initiated against Al-Amin, the FHA and FHA Homes Ltd, stated that despite the service of the interim order made on June 19 by Justice M.N Esowe of the NIC on Al-Amin and others, he (Al-Amin) has refused to reverse the suspension contained in a letter dated June 2, 2015, while Atiku has refused to vacate the position of Acting MD of FHA Homes.

    In the application for an order of committal dated June 30, 2015, Igbinoba is praying the court to commit both Al-Amin and Atiku to prison for disobeying the court order which had been served on them on June 22, 2015.

    His lawyer, Chukwunweike Okafor, stated as part of the grounds of the application that Al-Amin had in various paid advertorials and interviews in newspapers “acknowledged being aware of the court order of June 19, 2015.

    “The said Haytudeed Awal Atiku refused to vacate the position of the Managing Director wherein he said the 3rd respondent (Al-Amin) has informed him not to vacate the said position.”

    He is, therefore, seeking “an order of committal to prison custody of the 3rd respondent (Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the FHA) for disobedience to an order of the court made on June 19, 2015 wherein the respondents were mandated to reverse all the steps they have taken, relinquishing and restoring the control and powers vested in the claimant/applicant as Managing Director of the 2nd respondent.”

    In the second prayer, the applicant asked for “an order of committal to prison custody of Haytuddeen Awal Atiku (Acting Managing Director, FHA Homes Ltd)” for the same reason of disobeying the June 19, 2015 order of the court.

    Justice Esowe has fixed July 8 for the hearing of the application.

  • Aregbesola faults NMA over open letter

    Aregbesola faults NMA over open letter

    Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, yesterday faulted an open letter written  by the the state chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association( NMA) wherein it claimed that the state government has  been paid its allocations up till March this year.

    In a statement signed by the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Semiu Okanlawon, the state government disputed the allegations made by NMA, describing it as unsubstantiated.

    “The attention  of the government of the State of Osun has been drawn to an open letter purportedly written  by the state branch of the Nigeria Medical Association over unpaid salaries of its members.

    In its open letter, the NMA claimed that it has information that Osun government has been paid its allocations up till March this year and cannot therefore understand why salaries of its members and those of other workers are not paid.

    The NMA needs to be reminded that when a state that was receiving N4.6billion as monthly allocation began to experience sharp decline down till about N1.1billion monthly, it is instructive that the state’s N3.6 billion salaries and other compulsory payments would suffer delays.”

    The state government linked its poor financial situation to the drop in allocations from the FederaL Government.

    “Since July 2013, the shortfall in revenue had started showing its ugly face and since then, the state had been augmenting allocations from the Federal Government with resources from its savings.

    This was why even at the time when the Federal Government could not pay its workers, the Osun government still continued to fulfill its obligations up until it exhausted the reserve.”

    “In case the NMA is unaware, the FAAC meeting for the distribution of the March allocation was held less than two weeks ago while the states await the funds to drop in their coffers.

    That also presupposes that the claim of six months salaries being owed must be checked properly. If workers in Osun have been paid up till November, it is therefore appropriate to take cognizance of the fact that December, January and February are being owed since neither the allocations for March or April has been paid into the coffers of the government.

    The NMA has also claimed that it is aware that “contractors and political office holders have been the beneficiaries of the available revenue accruing to our state from the federation account”.

    While it is regrettable that workers’ salaries have suffered delay, it is equally germane to remind the NMA leadership and its members that the claim of the little revenue coming to the state going into satisfying the needs of political appointees and contractors is false and cannot be substantiated.

    Osun took bonds for various development projects and financial literacy tells us that bonds are issued based on projects attached to them which are monitored by the appropriate regulatory bodies in the financial sector. This means proceeds of bonds taken for construction of schools and other  development projects cannot be diverted to the payment of salaries according to the wishes of the NMA.”

    “As late as last Wednesday April 29, 2015, representatives of the government, led by the Head of Service, Mr. Sunday Owoeye, still had a meeting with the leadership of the NMA, led by the National President, Dr. Kayode Obembe.

    Therefore, the claim that the Governor of the state “was unexplainably unavailable for mediation and dialogue with all negotiating teams”with the association cannot be true.

    In addition, the state government has been having very fruitful meetings with the Osun State Association of Medical and Dental Officers (OSAMDO) which is the trade union that covers the interests of members of the NMA.

    Governor Aregbesola will continue to do its best in the interest of workers’ welfare while hoping that an end is in sight to the shenanigans that brought about this unfortunate situation in the first place,”the statement added.

    Meanwhile, in his message to Osun workers on the occasion of  Workers Day celebration, Gov Aregbesola described them as the engine room of any administration, urging them to direct their professionalism towards the realisation of the goals and aspirations of the in-coming government.

    “With transparent handling of national resources, the days of revenue crisis in Nigeria would soon be over and workers would once again be assured of their place of priority. We are committed to furthering our achievements in Osun as far as the welfare of workers are concerned.”

  • CBN faults payment for services in dollars

    CBN faults payment for services in dollars

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has condemned rising cases of currency substitution and dollarisation of the economy.

    CBN Banking Supervision Director Mrs. Tokunbo Martins said the Naira remain the only legal tender in this country.

    “Please be reminded that Section 15 of the CBN Act 2007 provides that the unit of currency in Nigeria shall be the Naira.  Section 20 (1) of the same Act provides that the currency notes issued by the Bank shall be legal tender in Nigeria at their face value for the payment of any amount and Section 20 (5) further provides that a person who refuses to accept the Naira as a means of payment is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or six months imprisonment,” she said in a statement.

    Martins warned the general public that it is illegal to price or denominate the cost of any product or service (Visible or Invisible) in any foreign currency in Nigeria and no business offer or acceptance should be consummated in Nigeria in any currency other than the Naira.

    She advised deposit money banks operating in the country to desist from the collection of foreign currencies for payment of domestic transactions on behalf of their customers and the use of their customers’ domiciliary accounts for making payments for visible and invisible transactions like fees, charges, licenses among others originating and consummated in Nigeria.

    This however is without prejudice to foreigners, visitors and tourists who are encouraged to use their cards for payments or exchange their foreign currency for local currency at any of the authorised dealers’ outpost including hotels.

    “Appropriate sanctions shall be meted on any bank that breaches this regulation. Please note that this circular supersedes the provisions of Memorandum 16 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Foreign Exchange Manual and Paragraph (XI) Section 4.2.1 of the Monetary, Credit, Foreign Trade and Exchange Policy Guidelines for Fiscal Years 2014/2015,” she said

  • Supreme Court faults ex-LP Rep’s defection

    Supreme Court faults ex-LP Rep’s defection

    The Supreme Court yesterday faulted the 2011 defection of a House of Representatives member, Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde, from the Labour Part (LP) to the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    Abegunde, representing the Akure South/North Federal Constituency, had defected to the APC in 2011, citing division in his home state’s chapter of the Labour Party and insisted on retaining his seat.

    In a unanimous judgment yesterday, the court’s seven-man bench gave reasons why it upheld the earlier concurrent decisions of the Federal High Court, Akure and the Court of Appeal, Akure to the effect that Agunbiade was no longer protected by the proviso to the provision of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution when the division in his former party (LP) when he defected, was only at the state level.

    The Supreme Court had, in its earlier decision on March 19, upheld the decisions by the Federal High Court and the Appeal Court on the issue, but promised to give reasons for its decision on a later date.

    Yesterday, the court held that by the combined interpretation of sections 68(1)(a) and (g) and 222(a),(e) and (f) of the Constitution, “it is only a dispute or crisis which affects/consumes the national leadership of a political party that entitles the appellant (Abegunde), who had defected from the party that sponsored him, to retain his seat.”

    Abegunde had, shortly after his defection, went before the Federal High Court, Akure on January 26, 2012  seeking to restrain the leadership of the LP in Ondo State and the leadership of the House of Representatives from tampering with his seat.

    In a judgment on May 30, 2012 in the suit marked: FHC/AK/CS/31/2012, the trial court upheld the argument of the Ondo State House of Assembly, the Clerk of the House and its Speaker (sued as 1st to 3rd defendants) that Abegunde was no longer entitled to his seat having defected solely on the basis of a division/crisis in the Ondo chapter of the party.

    The court also granted the 1st to 3rd defendants prayer that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declare the seat vacant and conduct a bye-election for the vacant seat.

    On Abegunde’s appeal to the Court of Appeal, the appellate court in a September 15, 2014 judgment, upheld the trial court’s decisions, forcing Abegunde to appeal to the Supreme Court.

    In the lead judgment prepared by Justice Musa Datijo Muhammad, but read yesterday by Justice Clara Bata-Ogunbiyi, the Supreme Court held that the principles it enunciated  in the two cases of FEDECO vs Goni (1983)LPELR-1266(SC) and Abubakar vs AG Federation (2007) 10 NWLR (Part 1041) at 178 are to the effect that it is “only such factionalisation, fragmentation, splintering or division that make  it impossible or impracticable for a political party to function will, by virtue of the proviso to Section 68(1)(g), justify a person’s defection to another party and the retention of his seat for the unexpired term in the house in spite of the defection.

    “Otherwise, as rightly held by the courts below, the defector automatically loses his seat. In the instant case, the two courts are right that the LP that has continued to function as a political party by meeting the conditions required under sections 221 and 222 of the Constitution.

    “The interpretation of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution in relation to sections 221 and 222 of the Constitution, to arrive at the same conclusion does not derogate from the position.  The lower court must be commended for its consideration of several clauses of the Constutition and coming out with the harmonious conclusion it has and by so doing, enthroning the real intention of the framers of the Constitution,” the court said.

    Other members of the seven-man panel that heard the appeal – Mahmud Mohammed (the Chief Justice of Nigeria), John Fabiyi, Ogunbiyi, Bode Rhodes-Vivour, Suleiman Galadima and Kudirat kekere-Ekun – agreed with the opinion as contained in the lead judgment.

  • Fashola faults Almajiri schools

    Fashola faults Almajiri schools

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday picked holes in the establishment of Almajiri schools in the North by the Federal Government.

    He said the schools have no end gains.

    The governor spoke at a forum tagged ‘Support Our Schools Breakfast Meeting’, at the City Hall in Lagos.

    According to him, the purpose of training a child is for him to use the knowledge gained and the skills acquired for his benefit and the society, adding that there is no competitive advantage for graduates of Almajiri schools.

    He said: “If you train people to acquire certain skills, you must develop avenue where the skills will be used, that will be the end gain.

    “We have thought this through and  this is why graduates of our technical and vocational colleges will become our major contractors.

    “And so, it worries me on what is the end gain of products of the Almajiri schools? Will you put your child there?

    “Will prospective employees consider graduates from Almajiri schools?

    “What chances will the products of the Almajiri schools have to work in a multinational company?

    “Are we giving the children a fighting and survival chance when we segregate them into Almajiri schools; think about it.”

    The governor said as part of measures to encourage vocational and technical education, his administration has issued over 600 contracts of annual maintenance projects of Lagos schools.

    “We have issued about 600 contracts of annual maintenance of our schools and they ranged between N2million to N4million per annum.

    “Our graduates in technical and vocational colleges will be the substantial beneficiaries of the contracts.

    “We now want to ensure that every school in Lagos has regular and uninterrupted power supply.

    “Ideally, if you build a school and you don’t have provision for electricity, then  you have taken electricity for granted.

    “What we have done is to engage a strategic partner and we are installing solar panel in 172 schools in the first round after which we will begin the second round.”

  • Shell faults Bayelsa youths for blocking facility

    Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)  has faulted the reasons behind the barricade of its Gbaran-Ubie Integrated Gas Plant in Bayelsa State by community youths.

    Aggrieved youths from Obunagha community were said to have blocked access to the SPDC’s joint venture multi-billion dollar facility to protest alleged neglect by the company.

    SPDC spokesman Mr. Joseph Obari yesterday debunked the allegations against the company, saying SPDC had never neglected its host communities.

    He said the oil firm had progressively fulfilled sustainable community development projects under the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU).

    “Some youths from Gbarain have blocked access to the processing unit of SPDC JV’s Gbaran-Ubie Integrated Oil and Gas Plant in Bayelsa State over alleged failure by SPDC to provide amenities to the host community.

    “It is not true that SPDC has neglected host communities of our Gbaran-Ubie facility. We have progressively fulfilled agreed sustainable community development projects under the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU).

    “For example, in 2014, projects worth over N100 million were completed in the GMoU cluster, covering 10 communities. The Bayelsa State government is leading discussions with the youths to end the protest.”

    Obari said: “The well was closed-in about 15 hours later, once it was safe to do so and the impacted area boomed off to prevent further spread of the spill.

    ”A Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) has been conducted, but it only determined the quantity of oil spilled and mapped the area of impact to the environment. A follow-up JIV is being planned to lift the line from underwater.”

  • Ebola: Study lauds, faults media role

    A study conducted by the Urban Action Group of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos (UNILAG), has lauded media coverage of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Nigeria for playing a role in checking its spread.

    Although the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Nigeria Ebola-free on October 20, last year, the study recommended that the media should continue reporting the disease to serve aa a tool for effective prevention and control of the virus in the country.

    The study also revealed that the frequency and prominence of the reports by the media played a great role in curbing the spread of the virus in Nigeria.

    The group, which gathered and analysed data on the reportage of the outbreak in four national dailies, isolated a total of 719 published reports within the six-month period under study.

    The analysis also revealed that an average of four news items was published per day.

    It concluded that the national dailies fulfilled their social responsibility functions of informing the public about the outbreak of EVD and revealing precautionary measures to curtail the spread.

    However, the study discovered that interpretative reports on the EVD was low as only 26 per cent of articles  was devoted to the interpretation and analysis of the disease, rating it significantly low considering the  high mortality rate (90 per cent) of the disease.

    Besides, only 11 per cent of the newspaper reports were on the front and back pages, which the group implied that “Nigerian newspapers did not attach much prominence to the coverage of the EVD, probably because of other news items contending for attention, such as insecurity and politics.”

    Prior to the outbreak of EVD in Nigeria, only 0.1 per cent was devoted to the reportage of the disease. The implication, the study reasoned, might be responsible for the haphazard response of approach the government and entire populace reacted to it.

    The study stated: “It also reflects the lack of proactiveness by Nigerian newspapers because EVD was already prevalent in West African countries close to Nigerian borders.”

    In the month that the index case was recorded (July, 2014), only two per cent of reports were on the EVD, while 50 per cent of the total news coverage of the six-month period studied was published in August after the Federal Government addressed a press conference on the outbreak. The reportage dropped to 30 per cent in September after the index case had died, and 17.9 per cent in October in which month the WHO declared the country Ebola-free.

    “By October, prior to the World Health Organisation declaration of Nigeria as Ebola-free, news reportage dropped to 17.9 per cent, which should not have been so, because Nigeria was still at a critical point since the vaccine/cure for the virus had not been found. Our land borders also remained porous, making the country still susceptible to a re-emergence of the EVD,” the statement noted.

    Based on the findings, the study recommended that Nigerian newspapers should step up their role in interpretative and investigative reportage on disease outbreaks.

    Other issues highlighted included the need for proper training of journalists, with continuous capacity building on social development issues;  encouraging communities to establish local print media with up-to-date functional libraries for information access and dissemination; government should also take keen interest in health management by providing appropriate policies that can ensure easy access to medical aid at subsidised rate.