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Tag: faults

  • PwC faults bill seeking compulsory listing on NSE

    PwC faults bill seeking compulsory listing on NSE

    A Bill known as Private Companies Conversion and Listing Bill, 2013, is undergoing legislative proceedings at the National Assembly, Head of Tax at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Nigeria, Taiwo Oyedele, has said.

    In an emailed report, the tax expert, said the Bill seeks to compel private companies to convert to public companies by listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The thresholds for the mandatory conversion are shareholders fund in excess of N40 billion turnover, or total assets of N80 billion, he explained.

    He said that compelling private companies to list their securities, contradicts extant laws, such as Section 25 of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Act which states unequivocally, that “no person who owns, whether wholly or in part, the capital of any enterprise shall be compelled by law to surrender his interest in the capital to any other person.”

    Oyedele said that on its face value, the Bill looks like a good initiative, but a careful analysis suggests otherwise. “Nigeria with a Gross Domestic Product of $510 billion, is the largest economy in Africa, but the country’s capital market with a total capitalisation of about $80 billion is dwarfed by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with market capitalisation of over $1 trillion, as at the end of 2013.

    South Africa did not achieve this by forcing private companies to list, but rather through impeccable regulatory enforcement. The country is ranked first in the world in terms of regulation of securities exchanges in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Survey for 2013 to 2014,” he said.

    He said a private company that meets any of the thresholds, must be converted to a public company and be listed on the NSE within 12 months. As stated in the Bill, the conversion is aimed at promoting growth for both the company and the Nigerian capital market.

    But Oyedele said it is counterintuitive for the sponsors of the Bill to expect an increase in tax revenue by granting tax waivers that do not necessarily increase the country’s tax base.

    He said the Bill indicates that asset value of a company is based on the gross value of the company’s assets as recorded in its balance sheet at the end of the last audited financial year; and annual turnover is based on the gross revenue of the company arising from the sale and rendering of goods and services; and the use of the company’s assets in a manner that yields interest, royalties and dividends.

    Also, the Bill extends the definition of private companies beyond the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) to cover any body corporate, firm or partnership or any other entity. A fine of 10 per cent of annual turnover and imprisonment of at least two years may be imposed for non-compliance.

  • Labour faults NIMC claim on 600  fake workers

    The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has refuted claims by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) that there are 600 “fake members of staff” on its payroll.

    The association, in a statement  by its Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal,  said the hoax raised by NIMC over  the issue was a ploy to sack about 1,000 senior staff penciled down for rationalisation.

    The statement added that for inexplicable reason, the NIMC started a phased retrenchment of many of its staff, which had  led to the weeding out of 5,000 junior workers from the Commission.

    “After the sacking of about 5,000 junior staff, the NIMC management decided to also retrench 1,000 senior employees, who are members of this union. It was at that point that the union intervened, but since the NIMC management shunned all efforts by the association to resolve the dispute amicably, the association took the matter to the National Industrial Court for adjudication,” the statement said.

    The case is being handled by Enobong Etteh, an expert in labour jurisprudence from Rocheba Chambers.

    The ASCSN scribe recalled that the former Department of National Civil Registration (DNCR) under the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs transformed into the present National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in 2007.

    “Initially, the management of the NIMC stated that the senior staff it wants so desperately to dispense with are pool officers, who should be returned to the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,” he said.

    According to the union, when the NIMC could not push the position further, it began to campaign that the 1,000 senior employees do not possess requisite skills and competences and/or have irregularities in their records.

    “How can the staff, who have served the nation diligently for 20 to 33 years, be said not to be fit to work in the commission?  The truth of the matter is that some top management staff of the commission want to throw 1,000 senior employees into the job market in order to replace them with their relations and friends as they did after sacking the junior workers,” the union said.

    It, therefore, urged the public not to believe the lies it was being  fed with by the commission that there are  fake workers  in its workforce. “Moreover, the matter is before the NIC for determination and the court has granted an injunction restraining the respondent, its officers, servants, agents, privies or whosoever from commencing disciplinary process, constituting disciplinary panel, suspending the claimants, issuing any further queries or taking further steps/actions against the workers pending the determination of the suit before the court.

    “ In spite of the court injunction, the NIMC management has continued unabated, the process of removing the 1,000 senior employees from its payroll.  What manner of a society are we running when government agencies do not obey court orders?” the union wondered.

    It urged NIMC to submit itself to court processes that are on-going rather than dancing naked in the market place.

  • Okogie faults search for Chibok girls

    Okogie faults search for Chibok girls

    The Federal Government’s search for the Chibok girls is “more of a talk show”.

    “It is over 100 days now that our over 200 children, God’s special gifts to humanity have been abducted by the Boko Haram insurgents,” Archbishop Emeritus of Lagos Anthony Cardinal Okogie said in a statement yesterday.

    “Unfortunately, the search for these schoolchildren in captivity is more of a talk show and trading of blames than real action,” he said.

    On April 14, Boko Haram militants abducted 276 schoolgirls in Borno State’s town of Chibok, according to official accounts.

    Boko Haram kingpin Abubakar Shekau later claimed responsibility for the abductions, offering to trade the kidnapped girls in return for some of his fighters held by Nigerian authorities.

    Cardinal Okogie, one of Nigeria’s most respected priests, faulted a decision by the Nigerian president to allow foreign military strategists and troops into the country.

    “The father of this state opened Nigeria to the comity of nations on the pretext of helping to rescue the children from captivity. With this decision, is our country still well-secured?” he queried.

    The archbishop’s position is in harmony with many Nigerian intellectuals who had warned that allowing western military troops to set feet in the country poses security risks.

    Cardinal Okogie also expressed doubts on the president’s request for $1 billion foreign loan to fight the insurgency in the northeast.

    “Some people are even insinuating that the president’s request could be in preparation for the 2015 elections,” he said.

    “On our part too, we are asking for the concrete explanation and the rationale for this loan at this critical period,” added the revered priest.

    “Our military personnel need to be well mobilized before emphasizing on the hardware. No hungry and angry military can fight any war,” Cardinal Okogie said.

    The Nigerian parliament has gone on recess, and no indication the lawmakers would call off their holiday, ending in September, to consider the president’s request.

    Northeastern Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states have been under emergency rule since May of last year.

    Tens of thousands have died since Boko Haram launched its violent campaign in 2009 following the extrajudicial murder of its leader Mohammed Yusuf in police custody.

    The group has also been blamed the destruction of public infrastructure, private businesses and displacement of at least six million Nigerians.

  • Amiesimaka faults Fifa suspension

    Amiesimaka faults Fifa suspension

    Former Nigeria international, Chief Adokiye Amiesimaka has expressed surprise over the recent suspension of Nigeria from international football.

    World football governing body, FIFA sent a letter to the Nigeria Football Federation (FFF) last week expressing its concern after the NFF was served with court proceedings preventing its president, Aminu Maigari from running its soccer affairs.

    “As a result of this decision, no team from Nigeria of any sort (including clubs) can have any international sporting contact.

    “During the period of suspension, the NFF may not be represented in any regional, continental or international competitions, including at club level, or in friendly matches,” FIFA announced on Wednesday.

    This development has been met with shock by Amiesimaka who was part of the Nigeria squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1980.

    Amiesimaka,popularly referred to as the Chief Justice of Nigerian football, is a trained lawyer, and he noted that FIFA’s ruling is flawed.

    “FIFA is probably not well-informed. Wasn’t it reported that Congress of the body dissolved it in accordance with FIFA-approved statutes?

    “Regarding earlier reported court order, FIFA can’t query due obedience and compliance. After all, FIFA itself is subject to jurisdiction of Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) which is itself subject to jurisdiction of Swiss judicial system even on sports-related matters especially on public policy, fair hearing, and Jurisdiction,” Amiesimaka told supersport.com.

    He further argued that Nigeria cannot be accused of government interference “on account of supremacy of the constitution, separation of powers, and rule of law.”

    He described the suspension of Nigeria from any form of involvement in football activity with the committee of nations as “blackmail.”

    Adding that the current situation could act as a blessing in disguise and a catalyst for change in Nig eria football.

    “Order of court can’t therefore be said to be government interference on account of supremacy of the constitution, separation of powers, and rule of law.

    “Government can and should demand accountability for disbursed public funds. On no account should Nigeria succumb to blackmail from any source.

    “If FIFA disregards  lawful actions and insists on suspension so be it.It could be the needed impetus to compel overdue restructuring of our football,” he said.

  • Uduaghan faults host communities’ meddling in schools

    Uduaghan faults host communities’ meddling in schools

    Delta State Governor Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan has decried the insistence of host communities of academic institutions on influencing the appointment of key management personnel as an ‘ugly trend’.

    Speaking at the convocation of the College of Education, Agbor,  the Governor said that the practice could only breed incompetence, clannish segregation, crisis and be counter-productive to the pursuit of academic excellence in the Institutions.

    “It is a very dangerous trend for a host community to insist that the head of the Institution must come from the Institution and this must be discouraged.  Competence rather than place of origin should remain the determining factor in the appointment of heads of academic institutions in the country, so as not to destroy the ethos of the academic community,” he said.

    Uduaghan also urged Nigerians to help stamp out cultism in tertiary institutions, described cultism as the root of most social malaise plaguing the country.

    To discourage cultism, he charged the college management and other higher institutions in the state not to award certificates to any cultist in the institution.

    “If you are an identified secret cult member, I insist that you do not get a certificate because a student must be found worthy in learning and character for him or her to receive a certificate as a graduate,” he said.

    As newly-trained teachers, Uduaghan urged them to be committed and contribute their quota to the development of the school system, as the primary school, where the NCE graduates are needed, is the foundation of a child’s development.

    Uduaghan condemned the attitude of some teachers who stay away from the classrooms noting that while government was tackling the problem of out-of-school syndrome with ‘Edumarshals’, the teachers were compounding the issue.

    He warned that henceforth, teachers found wanting would be sanctioned as the government will not tolerate a situation where its efforts to improve the quality of education in the state are frustrated.

     

  • Agumagu’s lawyer faults reports of court proceedings

    Rivers State Chief Judge’s lawyer Akin Olujinmi (SAN) has faulted reports that Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja denied granting an order staying the suspension of his client, Justice Peter Agumagu.

    Olujinmi, former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), in a letter dated April 11, complained about what he described as the “misrepresentation of what happened in court on April 10”.

    He said the issue of suspension did not feature in the proceedings and that the judge “denied nothing.”

    Justice Agumagu was suspended by the National Judicial Council (NJC), after which he went to court to challenge the NJC’s decision.

    Sued with the NJC are Justices Babatunde Adejumo, Jubril Idris and Comwell Idahosa, who are chairman and members of the panel, set up by the NJC to investigate allegations against him.

    The court, on March 31, heard an ex-parte application by the applicant, and granted some of the prayers contained in it.

    The applicant’s lawyer later wrote the NJC, informing it about the orders granted by the court.

    The case came up on April 10 and it was reported on the second day that the judge said he did not grant an order staying Justice Agumagu’s suspension and proceeded to clarify the orders he granted.

    In his letter, Olujinmi said: “Nothing happened in the proceedings, which warranted a denial of anything by Justice Ademola and indeed, his Lordship denied nothing.

    “There was no letter produced in the court which carried any such suggestion. Indeed, nothing turned on the letter throughout the proceedings of the day.”

    A certified true copy of the court’s proceedings of April 10, signed by Justice Ademola and the court’s Registrar, O. A. Akpan, said: “That leave is hereby granted to the applicant to apply for judicial review by way of an order of certiorari, prohibition, declaration and injunction in the terms and on the grounds set out in the statement accompanying this application.

    “That an order of this court is made directing the first respondent (NJC) to produce and file in this court, a certified true copy of the minutes of its emergency meeting held on March 26, containing the decisions taken concerning the applicant, which decisions the applicant is seeking an order of certiorari to quash.

    “The grant of leave shall operate as a stay of proceedings or any further actions by the respondents in respect of the investigation of the applicant for which the first respondent has set up the panel of the second to fourth respondents, until the hearing of the substantive application for judicial review.”

  • Gombe Utd’s boss faults LMC on 2013/2014 season

    Gombe Utd’s boss faults LMC on 2013/2014 season

    Chairman of Gombe United FC, Auwalu Musa Umar has faulted the decision of the League Management Committee (LMC) to go ahead with the 2013/2014 soccer league season, citing the World Cup and league harmonisation saga as reasons.

    He said the LMC should have skipped this season, considering the lingering puzzle of harmonising our football league with most others leagues across the globe and the World Cup break. He observed that the league would soon go on break in order to key into FIFA directive.

    He added that suspending the league will also enable clubs to use it for better preparations financially and otherwise. He regarded resorting to an abridged league as improper because it negates competitiveness of the league as the better clubs may fall under the same group and two clubs would be relegated from both groups at the end.

    “If you ask me, I would say we would not have played the league this season. We should have rested and begin a new one along with the Europeans. That is the only way we can meet up.

    “Unless we are going to play an abridged league, which to me is not a league because to select the teams and divide into two is a very big problem because we may end up having the best teams in one group and the ones that are not so good in the other and in the end you must relegate two teams from each group.

    “Besides abridged league does not support competitiveness because the not so good clubs would have the false confidence and impression of good performance when playing amongst themselves. So, if I were to advise the LMC, I will say let us sit down, prepare very well and begin with the European teams next season because there is the World Cup break that may last for between one and two months.

    “And before the World Cup, I don’t think we are going to play too many matches. We also have the Confederation Cup and some weeks must be reserved for that too.”

    He believes it is still not too late to suspend the season to enable clubs prepare well adding that: “the Europeans’ and most other leagues in the world will start 2014/2015 season immediately after the World Cup and here, we are just trying to start the 2013/2014 season. So, what are we talking about?”

  • Yobe faults Fed Govt’s claim on road project

    YOBE State Government has refuted the claim by the Minister of State for Finance that the Federal Government is building the 31km Gashua-Yusufari road.

    In a statement by the Special Adviser to Governor Ibrahim Gaidam on Information and Press Affairs, Abdullahi Bego, the government said the claim is “stunningly false”.

    The statement reads: “The attention of this office has been drawn to a false claim by the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, that the Federal Government is building the Gashu’a-Yusufari road.

    “The minister made the claim during the 9pm network news of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) last Thursday.

    “Why would the minister ignore the lack of Federal Government projects in the state and instead choose to make desperate and false claims to projects being executed by Governor Gaidam.

    “Coming from a politician desperate to explain the troubling lack of federal presence in Yobe State and much of the Northeast, the minister’s claim, though unbelievable, is understandable,” Bego said.

    The statement noted that Yobe State took full ownership of the road after several failed attempts by the Federal Government to complete the road.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the Gashu’a-Yusufari road, currently under construction, is being built by the Gaidam administration.

    “The road was first awarded for construction by the Federal Government in 2000.

    “Four years later, only a few culverts and first-coat surface dressing of just three kilometers was done.

    “After a series of communications and frustration with the dismal pace of work, the Federal Government terminated the contract and handed over the road to the state.

    “During the campaigns before the 2011 elections, the people of Yusufari Local Government Area appealed to Governor Gaidam to help them build the road.

    “Through a resolution of the State Executive Council, the Yobe State Government awarded contract for the construction of the road with stone-base and asphalt overlay at N3.86 billion to EEC Nig. Ltd. Work is now at 65 per cent stage of progress.

    “This is not the only federal road that the Yobe State Government has either built or is rebuilding.

    “The Gaidam administration has since rebuilt the 109-km Kaliyari-Bayamari-Gaidam Road.

    “The Gaidam administration is only a few kilometers away from completing the reconstruction of the 155-km Potiskum-Jakusko-Garin Alkali road.

    “The administration has just awarded contract for the construction of the 77-km Damaturu-Gujba-Buni-Yadi-Magza road.

    “All these roads are vital to the economic wellbeing of the people. Governor Gaidam knows that rebuilding them is an investment.

    “The Yobe State Government welcomes and is committed to every possible partnership with the Federal Government.

    “But a desperate attempt, such as the one by the minister of state for finance, to try to ram down people’s throats that the Federal Government has done something it actually has not done is low, cheap, un-statesmanlike, unfortunate and counterproductive,” the statement reads.

  • NHRC chair faults report on killings

    Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Prof Chidi Odinkalu has faulted a Human Right Watch (HRW) report ,which blamed the sectarian violence in Plateau and Kaduna states on inaction.

    HRW, in the report of its study of sectarian killings in the two states, between 2010 and 2011, also blamed the ethno-religious violence on government’s reluctance to confront and punish culprits, ineffectiveness of the nation’s criminal justice system and police’ inability to conduct thorough investigation.

    The HRW’s report titled: “Leave everything to God: Accountability for inter-communal violence in Plateau and Kaduna states, Nigeria,” catalogued horrific sectarian violence in both states, in which over 3,000 people have died since 2010.

    In a letter to HRW’s Executive Director Kenneth Roth, Odinkalu faulted the group for ignoring ample materials, which would have helped it to reach a different conclusion.

    He accused HRW of proceeding with a fixed viewpoint that the crises in northern Nigeria was sectarian in nature.

    “The report makes no effort to pursue any alternative or complementary explanation for the crises.

    “Its line of enquiry is thus pre-determined at the point in which it reduces all identity-related violence or conflicts in Nigeria to sectarianism.”

    Odinkalu noted that in its previous writings on Nigeria, HRW recognised the fact that religion was merely being used as a disguise and was not the actual cause of the crises in some parts of Nigeria.

    He argued that the inconsistency in HRW’s position was not explained.

    “This report offers no such material and does not appear to recognise this as necessary.

  • N130b: ASUU faults govt’s claim

    The Ibadan Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday described the claim by the Federal Government that it has released N130 billion to the universities as a lie.

    It said government was only interested in awarding contracts to build a four-bedroom flat at the rate of N8.5 million as against the range of N800,000 and N1.2 million.

    This was part of a communiqué reached at the end of a meeting of the Ibadan Zone of ASUU held at the University of Ibadan.

    The meeting was headed by the Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Ademola Nasir.

    The ASUU Ibadan Zone comprises the University of Ibadan (UI), Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (OAU), Lagos State University (LASU), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), University of Lagos (UNILAG), Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) and Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED).

    It decried the usual deceit by the Federal Government, saying “Nigerians should know that no kobo has been released.”

    ASUU alleged that it has refused to allow the government agents to use the struggle to enrich some people.

    It said although the union rejected it as not part of its agreement with the Federal Government, it (government) was yet to release any part of the amount.