The Nation Newspaper

Tag: funds

  • Repatriating looted funds

    •All countries must cooperate to make the global war on money laundering successful

    We identify with the frustration of the Federal Government as expressed by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, over the challenges it faces in repatriating funds looted from our country by some of the past leaders. Of note, under municipal laws, receiving stolen property with the knowledge that the goods are stolen, exposes the receiver to the same punishment as the thief. Unfortunately, under international law, this is not the same, as some countries duplicitously create the enabling legal regime for laundering of stolen assets.

    Such ignominious lacuna has enabled countries, especially developed countries, to connive with thieving public officials from Third World countries, to create safe havens for warehousing humongous resources stolen from the developing countries. This is sad, and we urge the international community to redress this anomaly.

    Vice President Osinbajo raised Nigeria’s frustration in repatriating looted funds, when he declared open the 18th Ministerial Committee meeting of the Inter-Governmental Action Against Money Laundering in West Africa (also known as GIABA).

    GIABA is an agency established by ECOWAS with the responsibility for facilitating the adoption and implementation of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) protocols in West Africa. In his address, Osinbajo said: “Permit me to raise a matter of considerable importance to many of our nations. It is the difficulty we experience in repatriating proceeds of corruption from financial institutions of the more developed nations.” Indeed, it is strange that while developed countries harass developing countries to sign the conventions, their conduct over looted funds undermine the objectives of those protocols.

    As noted by the Vice President, the challenges exist despite the numerous international organs established to fight international money laundering. As he noted: “despite numerous mutual legal assistance treaties and conventions, it is obvious that we are not making the sort of progress we expect to see.” He went on: “It is unconscionable to have stolen funds in a bank within the jurisdiction of an FATF (Financial Action Task Force) country and to have to go through a rigorous obstacle to retrieve the funds and even when such funds are to be returned after several years, humiliating conditions are attached.”

    Nigeria has been unlucky with some of its leaders with respect to public corruption. For instance, during the regime of Gen. Sani Abacha, humongous national resources were stolen and siphoned out of the country by the rogue regime, through one guise or the other. Again, some influential Nigerian leaders have perfected the practice of using anonymous corporate entities to salt away the nation’s resources to European countries or other countries that operate opaque tax regimes, in their effort to hide their ill-gotten wealth and avoid payment of taxes. Considering that kleptomaniacs and rogue regimes are not the exclusive preserve of Africans, there is the need for a global approach to find a solution to this menace.

    The view of the Nigerian government as expressed by the Vice President that: “FATF countries must ensure the smooth repatriation of proceeds of corruption to the economies from where they were stolen,” should be made international economic policy and pursued with vigour at all international fora, by all nations. It is double standards when western democracies promote FATF to fight funding of terrorist activities, but create safe-havens for Third World elites to hide the stolen common wealth of their people.

    As observed by the Vice President: “the Panama Papers and now the Paradise papers clearly illustrate the global scale and spread of this problem (dangers posed by anonymous corporate ownership).” As he correctly posited: “We cannot have anonymous ownership of companies, trusts and other arrangements designed to cover ownership of assets and at the same time expect optimal results from anti-money laundering measures.”

  • NUBIFIE urges Fed Govt to inject funds into banks

    The National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) has appealed to the Federal Government to inject funds into the banking sector to boost its activities.

    Its President, Mr Musa Danjuma, who spoke at the sixth Quadrennial Delegates Conference in Lagos, said the financial sector has gone through fundamental transformation in all areas of its activities.

    According to Danjuma, there have been policy interventions by the government, evolving innovations in ICT-driven operations and new employment system and its impact on economic and social status of workers among others.

    He said the government should put back some of the money realised from Treasury Single Account (TSA) with a proviso that it should be deployed to critical sectors of the economy.

    He said the financial sector has been under close watch for some years through various intervention measures by regulatory authorities and this has impacted on socio-economic development and issues in work place.

    The union leader said the issue of mergers and acquisitions also led to job losses as consequence of re-alignment and restructuring of banks and insurance industry weakened the capacity of the union to engage employers on the issue of condition of service.

    On TSA, Danjuma said the union supported its introduction, but the policy created liquidity challenges for financial institutions, which now relied on government funds to manage their business and generate income.

    He further said that government should ensure that it sustains the process of whistle blowing policy to ensure that it succeeds in the fight against corruption.

    “As a union we pledge our support for the policy and commend the National Assembly for a bill to institutionalise the war against corruption and discourage any attempt to abuse the policy for self seeking purpose,” Danjuma said.

  • Workers urge govt to vote more funds for infrastructure

    Workers in the construction sector have appealed to the Federal Government to allocate more funds for infrastructure development.

    National Union of Civil Engineering, Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFW) President Amechi Asugwuni  made the appeal when the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) leaders toured  some  affiliate unions.

    NLC leaders, led by its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, were on a tour of affiliate unions to partner and find solutions to their challenges.

    According to Asugwuni, infrastructure development is slow and any country that does not build its infrastructure, the growth and employment creation will be stagnated.

    He advised the government to ensure the establishment of a fund for infrastructure development and fast track the construction of roads and other infrastructure.

    He called on the government to pay employers in the sector money owed them.

    The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, said the construction sector was the pillar of every economy, adding that, no country could develop without adequate infrastructure in place.

    “How can we encourage small and medium scale enterprise if there is no steady power supply and good road network? The cost of doing business in Nigeria is higher than any other country.

    “The conditions of the roads are a nightmare, especially from Lagos to the Southsouth, and Southwest and the North. They are all in dire need of rehabilitation,” he said.

    Wabba said it was sad that the government did not prioritise development of infrastructure in spite of deficit in the budget.

    He said labour was focused on social justice in the system because without it, workers would not have decent lives.

    He said the NLC would ensure that the government committed enough resources to building important infrastructure in the country.

  • N249.6b ‘hidden’ funds: Fed Govt urges banks to deny in court

    N249.6b ‘hidden’ funds: Fed Govt urges banks to deny in court

    Banks denying their alleged link to the hoarding of funds due to the Federal Government have been asked to direct their denial to the court.

    A Federal High Court in Lagos, on Thursday, granted an ex-parte application by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) for an order directing the banks to remit the funds to the Federal Government.

    Justice Chuka Obiozor, who gave the order, warned that it  would be made permanent on August 8, unless the banks show cause why the order should not be made permanent.

    The office of the AGF, through its lawyer, Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), accused seven banks  of unlawfully withholding $793,200,000 (about N249,659,700,000.00) in breach of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.

    The banks listed in the court documents filed by the office of the AGF are: United Bank for Africa (UBA), Diamond Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, First Bank Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, Keystone Bank Limited and Sterling Bank Plc.

    Sterling Bank, Fidelity and UBA have denied wrongdoing.

    Court documents stated that $367.4 million was hidden by three government agencies in UBA; $41 million was kept in a National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) fixed deposit account with Skye Bank.

    Also, $277.9 million was found in Diamond Bank, $18.9 million in First Bank, $24.5 million in Fidelity Bank, $17million in Keystone Bank and $46.5 million in Sterling Bank.

    Since the court’s order was reported in the media on Friday, many of the banks have continued to deny any wrong doing.

    But, a senior official in the office of the AGF faulted the banks for rushing to the media with their denial.

    According to the official, since the court has adjourned to August 8 and given the banks up till then to show cause why the order should not be made permanent, their concern should be how to convince the court that they acted legally.

    The official, who wouldn’t want to be named, said: “Don’t mind them. Let them continue to deny. They should file their processes and we will meet them in court. They appear not to know the extent of evidence we have against them.

    “There were even some accounts that were dormant, yet millions of U.S. dollars were found in them. Some of the accounts were opened without names.

    “How do you keep dollars in accounts and yet fail to ascribe names to them? Is that a standard banking practice? I suspect what they are doing is not regular banking.

    “We are waiting for them to file. They can start filing by Monday. This case will be interesting. This case will lead us to a lot of other things. I don’t want to say more than that.

    “They should tell us the government officials and agencies that authorised them to breach the government’s TSA policy and why. We are waiting.

    “Those agencies and officials will have to explain to the court where they got their powers to disregard the government’s TSA policy and encourage banks to hoard government’s funds in coded accounts.

    “The government is determined, this time, to ensure things are done well. We will do all it takes to sanitise the banking sector and free money for the government to fulfil its many promises to the people.”

  • ‘Give widows 5% social investment funds’

    As the world celebrates International Widows Day (IWD), a non-governmental organisation, Helpline Foundation for the Needy, Abuja has advocated 5 percent of the federal government Social Investment Programme funds to be dedicated to widows to address the poverty and injustice they and their children face.

    The group observed that the four social investments programmes of the federal government did not capture the interest of widows in the society, just as the group called on government at all levels to dedicate special funds for establishment of small scale business for widows.

    Addressing journalists in Abuja as part of activities to mark this year’s International Widows Day, President of Helpline Foundation for the Needy, Mrs. Jumai Ahmadu stressed that there are over 245 million widows worldwide, nearly half of which live in extreme poverty and are subject to cruel violence.

    Speaking on the 2017 theme: “Given as Never Alone”, Mrs. Ahmadu affirmed that 5 percent of the Social Investment Funds if dedicated to widows will go a long way of solving problems like social intolerance and financial adversity faced by widows especially in the rural communities, while commending the federal government on the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme.

    “We want to use this occasion to commend the federal government Social Investment Programme aimed at creating jobs for unemployed graduates and address other social issues. However, Helpline Foundation for the Needy is also using this occasion to call on the federal government to set aside 5 percent of the funds to tackle the numerous problems faced by widows and their children in Nigeria.

    “This clarion call to set aside 5 percent of the social investment funds to widows is in line with our core objective to support and encourage the vulnerable widows in our midst through economic empowerment and skill acquisition and scholarship scheme for their children.

    “The plight of widows around the world, estimates that there are 245 million widows worldwide, 115 million of whom live in poverty and suffer from social stigmatization and economic deprivation purely because they have lost their husbands. Regrettably, a higher percentage of widows in Nigeria live in extreme poverty and are subject to cruel violent. The main reason to celebrate this International Widows Day is to spread the awareness among the people on the troubles of the widowed women and Helpline is at the forefront of this campaign”, Mrs. Ahmad stated.

    June 23 has been set aside to mark the International Widows Day globally create awareness on the plight of widows and their children who become victims of social injustice, literacy, HIV/AIDS, and conflict.

    On the 22nd December 2010 at the 65th UN General Assembly, the United Nations recognized 23rd June as International Widows Day. The day was launched by the Loomba Foundation at the House of Lords in London in 2005. The date, 23rd June, was chosen because on this day, Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba, Lord Loomba’s mother became a widow.

  • Looted funds weakening financial system, says ASSBIFI

    Looted funds weakening financial system, says ASSBIFI

    The Association Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has said looted funds  are affecting the financial system.

    The union said the financial system remained weak in liquidity and undercapitalised because stolen funds were in private vaults and were accounted for in the financial system.

    In a statement signed by its President, Comrade Oyinkansola Olasanoye, the union said the wealth of the nation, the basic infrastructure that the people have been denied, the healthcare that the people lack are in the funds locked up in private vaults of privileged individuals who have their way into the nation’s treasury whether named or not.

    “Nigerians of all tribes and languages have been continually caught by surprise at every instance of cash piles and dollar caches discovered in various private vaults, safes, underground and surface tanks and in private locked up shops across the nation.

    “In some interesting cases, the ownership of the cash is left to the speculation of the public with laughable accusation and counter accusations.

    “The cash which comes in foreign currencies and our local higher denominations was even abandoned at the airport lounge on an occasion in a most dramatic fashion,” she said.

    Olasanoye urged  the government to continue to strengthen the relevant anti-corruption institutions and build a strong system around strong values and beyond personalities, adding  that government should encourage people to speak the truth to power at all levels, whether through citizens’ media or the regular mass media.

    She said  the government should go beyond the financial reward to whistleblowers, and put in place laws that will protect the whistleblowers against any form of retaliation.

    “We also encourage our members in the insurance and banking sector to get involved in the whistle blowing of any person or persons known to them to be involved in the practice of cash racketeering. This is intended to save our system

    “That ASSBIFI shall continue to support the efforts of government to rid the financial system of corruption at all levels. We therefore demand that anti-corruption agencies should intensify efforts into preventive activities by working hand in hand with the financial system operators and regulators in ensuring that access to such cash is prevented at the commercial banks and the CBN.

    “The government must not mistake the shocked silence of the populace for ambivalence as the people shall demand in due course a more proactive approach to anti-corruption as against the present reactionary trend,” she said.

    She said the people shall desire to see a more diligent prosecution of corruption cases and a stem in the tide of corruption cases being lost to lack of diligent prosecution.

  • Unutilised N60bn UBE funds

    Unutilised N60bn UBE funds

    •It’s high time the idea was reviewed to maximise its benefits

    Nigerians must be shocked that about N60billion meant for the development of primary education is lying idle with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), given the terrible state of the education sector across the country. The Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, who made the disclosure at a meeting with education correspondents in Abuja said the money has remained unutilised because many state governments are not able to provide their counterpart funds and that this was hampering the growth of basic education.

    This is obvious.

    N60billion may appear small considering the number of primary schools it is meant for; but then, it would have gone a long way in addressing some of the problems in the schools, especially by the time the state governments add their counterpart funds to it. Bobboyi said: “On the issue of matching grant to states, if we provide N1billion to a state, the state is expected to bring its own N1billion and this expands the resource base available to the basic education sector. This is the reason why I feel very worried that after the Federal Government pays its own matching grant, the state would withdraw its own counterpart fund.”

    Since each state government is to add the equivalent of whatever the Federal Government provides under the UBE arrangement, what we are talking about is in the region of N120billion. We can only imagine how far this can go in ameliorating the challenges in the primary schools.

    Unfortunately, many state governments cannot provide the counterpart fund  because most of them are in dire straits  due to the country’s economic downturn. Many are unable to settle their monthly wage bills; they cannot even continue ongoing developmental projects not to talk of starting new ones.

    Statistics from the commission on the un-accessed matching grant from 2005 to 2016 as at March 31, showed that only two states – Borno and Rivers – had so far accessed last year’s grant while Ebonyi, the least performed state in terms of access and utilisation of the fund has about N4 billion un-accessed fund with UBEC. Enugu and Ondo states have over N3 billion each un-accessed, while Bayelsa, Niger, Ogun and Oyo has N2.8 billion un-accessed fund each.

    This, as Dr Bobboyi observed, is really demoralising. But more worrisome is the diversion of the money by some state governments to their main accounts and even illegal withdrawing of their counterpart fund after the Federal Government would have provided the matching grant. Some states even went ahead to fix the money in banks. According to the commission’s boss: “There are many states that were involved in the withdrawal of funds over a period of time. We don’t go out to embarrass anybody but we take action. The kind of action we take is that if we notice gross violation, we close down the matching grant account, we freeze it and then ask the state to come and tell us exactly what had happened with the fund”.

    It would appear that the fact that state governments continue in their ‘iniquitous’ ways in spite of the sanctions is indication that the arrangement has outlived its usefulness. The localised issues that made some state governments to shun the fund are a clear marker of the conflict of federalism in the country. For instance, the Babatunde Fashola administration in Lagos had issues accessing the fund a few years ago because the state government needed money for infrastructure in the schools whereas the UBEC insisted it must spend it on classroom projects. Why would a central government that is so far away be in a position to assess what the needs of primary schools are in the states?

    Perhaps it is time for the Federal Government to come up with a new model if it wants to continue with the arrangement. Clearly, the present system has become counter-productive.  Money should not be lying idle when there are problems to solve.

  • Forex: CBN to inject more funds

    Forex: CBN to inject more funds

    There are strong indications that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is unrelenting in its move to ensure liquidity in the interbank foreign exchange (Forex) market, as it will inject more funds into market this week.

    This is according to information gathered by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja from market operators.

    Confirming the proposed additional foreign exchange injection into the system, the acting Director, Corporate Communications of the CBN, Mr Isaac Okorafor said the CBN was determined to sustain the provision of liquidity in the Forex market.

    Okorafor cautioned dealers in foreign exchange not to engage in any unwholesome practice that could be detrimental to the smooth operations in the market.

    He also warned that the CBN would impose heavy sanctions on any organisation involved in such acts.

    The CBN had, as at last week, injected over 1.4billion dollars into the interbank Forex market for both wholesale and retail interventions. (NAN)

  • CBN directs banks, MfBs, DFIs to disburse N220b agric funds

    CBN directs banks, MfBs, DFIs to disburse N220b agric funds

    • Anchor Borrowers’ Programme guidelines out 

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday appointed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Microfinance Banks (MfBs) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to disburse N220 billion targeted at the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP).

    The apex bank also released guidelines for the implementation of ABP which it said was established in line with its developmental function.

    According to the CBN, the ABP fund shall be provided from the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF). Loan amount for each farmer shall be arrived at from the economics of production agreed with stakeholders.

    “Interest rate under the ABP shall be guided by the rate on the N220 billion MSMEDF, which is currently at nine per cent per annum (all inclusive, pre and post disbursement). The Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) shall access at two per cent from the CBN and lend at a maximum of nine per cent per annum,” it said.

    The guidelines also said banks that fail to apply the nine per cent interest charge on the loans shall reverse the excess fees/interest charged and will be issued a warning letter to the and outright ban from participating under other CBN Interventions after two infractions.

    “The tenor of loans under the ABP shall be the gestation period of the identified commodities while repayment loans granted to the farmers shall be repaid with the harvested produce that shall be mandatorily delivered to the Anchor at designated collection center in line with the provisions of the agreement signed. The produce to be delivered must cover the loan principal and interest,” it added.

    In a circular, the CBN said the ABP, which was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2015 was intended to create a linkage between anchor companies involved in the processing and small holder farmers (SHFs) of the required key agricultural commodities.

    It said the programme thrust of tABP was the provision of farm inputs in kind and cash (for farm labour) to small holder farmers to boost production of these commodities, stabilize inputs supply to agro processors and address the country’s negative balance of payments on food.

    It said at harvest, the SHF supply his/her produce to the Agro-processor- the Anchor who pays the cash equivalent to the farmer’s account.

    The ABP, the CBN added, evolved from the consultations with stakeholders comprising Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, state governors, millers of agricultural produce, and smallholder farmers to boost agricultural production and non-oil exports in the face of unpredictable crude oil prices and its resultant effect on the revenue profile of Nigeria.

    “The broad objective of the ABP is to create economic linkage between smallholder farmers and reputable large-scale processors with a view to increasing agricultural output and significantly improving capacity utilisation of processors.

    “Other objectives include:  Increase banks’ financing to the agricultural sector. It was also meant to reduce agricultural commodity importation and conserve external reserves  Increase capacity utilisation of agricultural firms and create new generation of farmers/entrepreneurs,” the CBN said.

  • Ekiti workers to EFCC: monitor bailout funds

    Ekiti workers to EFCC: monitor bailout funds

    Civil servants in Ekiti State have called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Organised Labour to monitor the bailout package to be released soon.

    An interest group, Enlightened Workers’ Forum (EWF), claimed that only N5 billion of the N9.6 billion received from the Federal Government last year was used to pay one month salary to workers while pensioners’ benefits were not paid.

    In a statement in Ado-Ekiti yesterday by EWF Coordinator Mike Bamidele, the workers advised the Federal Government not to pay the new bailout funds into the state’s account.

    The workers suggested that the funds should rather be paid into a dedicated account that will have the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and the Accountant General as signatories.

    Besides the EFCC, other bodies that should be represented in the disbursement are the national secretariats of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC).

    “The team should demand from the state the salary vouchers and order payments directly into the accounts of individual workers and the same should be done for pensioners.

    “The fund should be protected in such a manner that no governor would have any form of control over it.”