The Nation Newspaper

Tag: fight graft

  • Buhari renews pledge to boost economy, fight graft

    ALL Progressives Congress  (APC) leaders yesterday took their message of hope and better future for the country to Sokoto State. They were led by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    It was at the party’s presidential campaign rally at the Giginya Township Stadium in Sokoto, the state capital.

    At the rally were APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole, the party’s Presidential Campaign Council Co-Chairman Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and a leader of the party in the state, Senator Aliyu Wamakko.

    They were received by a mammoth crowd of supporters who thronged the stadium.

    President Buhari renewed his promise to strengthen the economy, fight corruption and guarantee security.

    The President, who arrived at the stadium amidst cheers, promised to re-engineer the machinery of governance to make life more comfortable for all, especially, by boosting agriculture.

    According to him, farmers now enjoy better yield through the government responsive patronage and investments in agriculture programmes.

    “It has afforded a number of them the legitimate means of responding to their financial needs and sustained food security,” the President said.

    He explained that insecurity, particularly in Borno and Yobe states, and the entire Northeast, was being tackled with appreciable successes.

    “We are doing our best and Borno people can testify to that,” Buhari added.

    Acknowledging the efforts of Senator Aliyu Wamakko in uniting the party in the state, the President pointed out that his administration was doing everything possible in  fighting corruption, adding that “we are not relenting and any one established to be guilty will face appropriate penalty”.

    Tinubu told the audience about President Buhari’s and the APC’s determination to make Nigeria a better place for all.

    According to the former Lagos State governor, Buhari has always been the best and trusted candidate to steer the ship of governance at the centre.

    Tinubu said: “He (Buhari) has the moral character, honesty and zeal to move the country to the ‘Next Level’ of prosperity.

    “Farmers in Nigeria have never had it good like under this APC government, being led by Buhari. I am convinced that Nigerians will vote for him to move the country in the right direction.”

    Oshiomhole said Nigerians were ready to give their votes to Buhari who he described as “a man of the people” with national acceptance across the states.

    According to Oshiomhole, “that is why we are behind the voice of the people to ensure his re-election”.

    On the opposition Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) outcry over alleged plot to rig election, Oshiomhloe reassured that APC’s grand support was enough to send a signal to the opposition.

    He said: “It is clear that since their defeat in 2015, the PDP has lost ground and the machinery of rigging, which they were used to, hence the allegations.”

    Presidential Campaign Council’s Director-General and Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi explained the need renew the President’s mandate, saying that doing so will put the country on the right pedestal of good governance that would ensure the transformation of the  economy.

    The former Rivers State governor announced that a blueprint was being developed for the implementation of the concluded rail lines designed to link Jibia- Gusau- Sokoto and Kebbi.

    In his welcome address, the party chairman in the state, Sadiq Isah Achida, told the rally that the love for the President and the APC by Sokoto people remained unprecedented, describing the coming of Buhari as a home visit and not one for soliciting votes.

    He spoke of the Sokoto business community’s plea for the President to approve the reopening of the Illela border, as they were willing to pay duties.

    Wamakko, who doubles as the Northern Senators’ Forum Chairman, assured the President of the resilience of Sokoto people whom he said were ready to vote Buhari and all APC candidates.

    Also at the rally were: Interior Minister Abdulrahman Danbazau, Minister of State,Trade & Investment, Aisha Abubakar; Zamfar State Governor Abdulaziz Yari; Senators Ahmed Sani Yariman Bakura; Senators Ali Modu Sherif and Abubakar Umar Gada.

    National Women Leader Hajiya Salamatu Baiwa, Sokoto State APC Campaign Council Director-General Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi and Musa Bashar were there. Shiekh Malam Badhir Gidan Kanawa led the opening prayer.

    The campaign team also stopped over in Birni Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital.

  • ‘Fed Govt needs forensic auditors to fight graft’

    THE Federal Government needs forensic auditors in the ongoing anti-graft war, Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors (CIFIA) has said.

    Its president, Dr. Victoria Enape, said traditional auditing had become obsolete considering that fraudsters had gone sophisticated.

    She told reporters in Abuja yesterday that methods employed by fraudsters had rendered traditional auditing helpless in tracking fraud.

    According to her, forensic and investigative auditing emerged on the realisation that fraudsters had taken advantage of the 21st digital revolution to perpetrate what used to be undetectable by conventional and statutory auditing.

    She said the need to have a professional body like the Chartered Institute of Forensic and Investigative Auditors in Nigeria couldn’t be overemphasised.

    Enape said CIFIA represented a global paradigm shift from traditional auditing practice to skillful deployment of science and technological tools to prevent, detect and resolve fraud.

    She said: “It is a useful addition to the enormous task of checkmating the unremitting influence of corruption, fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes.

    “CIFIA also exposes possible criminal activities concealed in financial accounts.”

    She noted that if Nigeria must make progress in the fight against financial fraud, the standard of advanced auditing system that engender integrity , objectivity and trust must be increased.

    Enape said the CIFA Bill, which passed through its Second Reading in the National Assembly on January 31, would be beneficial to Nigeria.

  • Procurement bureau asks surveyors to fight graft

    The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has charged members of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) to tackle corruption in the industry.

    Its Director-General, Mamman Ahmadu, spoke when the institute’s  executives, led by its President, Mr. Femi Onashile,  visited him in Abuja.

    The BPP chief praised the NIQS for its readiness to partner Federal Government’s agencies to reduce construction costs and ensure compliance with best practices.

    According to Ahmadu,  corruption cuts across ministries and agencies, saying it was high time professionals, particularly cost experts in construction, did more than talking to check corruption.

    He urged professional bodies to punish members found guilty of corruption.

    Onashile canvassed the adoption of stricter project monitoring.

    He said by limiting BPP’s oversight to due diligence at pre-award stage of projects and not  monitoring the projects, corruption would thrive.

    “For BPP to make better impact in delivering value-for-money, it must take its oversight influence beyond the pre-award of contracts; even throughout the construction phase of the projects. This is to ensure that approvals are not circumvented through the possible corrupt compromise of either quality standards or the specified sizes of such projects or both to reduce the actual costs without passing the cost reduction to the government,” Onashile said.

    He implored the BPP to develop an alternative contract form, adding that while the one they are using is working well in civil engineering projects, it is not in building projects.

    Acknowledging BPP’s effort in fast-tracking due diligence and ensuring faster take off of projects, the NIQS chief called for the engagement of more quantity surveyors in the agency to enable it discharge its oversight effectively.

    “We believe as experts in cost and procurement management of capital projects from conception to completion, we have vital roles to play in prudent costing of projects, procurement management and project monitoring to ensure better earned value for money,” Onashile added.

    Meanwhile, BPP has employed a transaction adviser on  contracts.

    By this, BPP hopes to cut the cost of construction projects.

  • Enugu APC: allow Buhari to fight graft, revamp infrastructure

    Enugu APC: allow Buhari to fight graft, revamp infrastructure

    The Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has backed President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to revamp the nation’s dilapidated infrastructure, fight corruption and use the state’s coal to generate electricity.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mrs Kate Offor, the Enugu APC reaffirmed its unequivocal endorsement of President Buhari for a second term in 2019.

    The statement reads: “President Buhari should be allowed to actualise his laudable programme of revamping our dilapidated infrastructure, stamping out corruption and using the Enugu coal to generate electricity.

    “We wish to inform the media to disregard the malicious statements issued at times on behalf of Enugu State chapter of the APC by unauthorised persons. The truth is that the authors of such statements had been suspended for anti-party activities, fictionalisation and breaking into the state chairman’s office and carting away vital documents.

    “They are yet to show remorse or repent for their outright breach of Section 21(5) and (6) of APC’s constitution. They remain suspended and should not be dressed in borrowed ropes.”

    The party said it was at “a loss about how the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, after series of advice by stakeholders, was still associating with unauthorised persons allegedly working to hijack APC’s structure in Enugu State, to feature the 2019 presidential ambition of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar”.

    It added: “Therefore, the major sin of our state chairman, Ben Nwoye, committed is his resistance to this obnoxious ambition to hand over APC structure to Atikur Abubakar. No wonder the minister is singling out Nwoye in his so-called probe of party finances, especially when he was neither in Enugu during the elections nor participated in APC affairs before his appointment.

    “In sum, it is ironical that while many Nigerians are condemning the Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Hassan, when she made an open support for Atikur, little did they know that …Geoffrey Onyeama is covertly pro-Atiku.”

     

  • Nigerians urged to fight graft

    THE Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Public Petitions, Sanai Agunbiade, has urged Nigerians to rise against corruption.

    He said Nigerians should stop treating corruption and misappropriation of public funds with sentiments and ethnic prejudice.

    Hon. Agunbiade stated this when he was speaking with reporters  on the N255 million armoured cars scandal rocking the Ministry of Aviation.

    The lawmaker frowned at some groups defending the action of the embattled Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah.

    He said corruption only thrives where people are indifferent to the act or  declare support and show solidarity with those accused of corrupt practices.

    ”My position has always been that corruption in Nigeria is not sectoral, it is rather systemic. It has pervaded every sector of the society as it is not limited to any particular tribe or government sector.

    “As regards the car scandal, I want to say that we should look at issues and not sentiments”.

    “I have seen a lot of people trying to give support to the woman at the centre of this crisis and it is uncalled for. The issue of ethnicity should not come into issues like this.

    “The matter should be investigated and those found culpable should be brought to justice”, he said.

    The lawmaker said Oduah was not appointed based on tribal affiliations and that neither has she denied the allegations.

    “But one thing is clear, if anybody is in a mess, he or she will want to find a way out of that mess. And if corruption persists in a society, it is because the society itself is corrupt.

    “ If the society scorns and punishes corrupt persons, there will be reduction in corrupt practices”, he said.

    Hon. Agunbiade appealed to religious organisations, traditional rulers and the society at large to assist in the fight against corruption by rewarding only hardworking and honest individuals in the society and desist from praising and acknowledging corrupt individuals.

    This, according to him, is the only way we can achieve a greater degree of measure of success in the war being waged against the hydra-headed monster.

    “When somebody is corrupt and it is that same person that is given chieftaincy titles in the mosques, churches and celebrated by the society while hardworking and honest ones are scorned, then that is an empowerment for people to be corrupt,” he said.