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Tag: ICPC

  • Court declines jurisdiction on security vote suit

    Court declines jurisdiction on security vote suit

    Justice Adamu Bello of the Federal High Court (FHC), Abuja, has struck out a suit challenging the legitimacy of the Executive (the President and governors) to allocate funds for security, popularly called security vote.

    The practice allows a governor or the President to disburse funds at his discretion.

    The disbursement and allocation of the funds are mostly excempted from probe or inquiry by any agency or body.

    In his judgment yesterday, Justice Bello agreed that the plaintiff and rights activist, Nkereuwem Akpan, was legally entitled (had the locus standi) to initiate the suit.

    The judge, however, declined to determine the issues raised in the suit on the grounds that his court lacked the jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter.

    Incidentally, Justice Bello delivered the judgment on the day he formally stepped out of the Bench, as he attained the mandatory retirement age.

    The case had suffered series of adjournments and the judge had to direct lawyers to re-adopt their final written addresses, when the matter exceeded the mandatory 90 days before a ruling or judgment.

    Akpan sued 36 governors, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the legality of the security vote deductions.

    Justice Bello held that the plaintiff had the locus standi to file the case because the case involved issues of public interest.

    He, however, held that his court lacked the jurisdiction to preside over cases involving state governments and the FCT, which were sued as the first to 37th defendants.

    The judge held that the Federal High Court could not adjudicate the cases involving the states.

    He also held that the inclusion of the EFCC and the ICPC (federal agencies) – as defendants – was insufficient to confer jurisdiction on his court, on the grounds that both agencies were mere ancillary parties in the case.

     

    Justice Bello said: “There is no doubt that the FHC has been empowered to interpret the 1999 Constitution, as it affects the Federal Government and its agencies. The first to 37th defendants are neither the Federal Government nor its agencies.

    “This court does not have the power to exercise jurisdiction over 37 out of the 39 defendants. I cannot assume jurisdiction over the main parties in the suit. The suit, as a necessity, should be struck out and is struck out.”

    Akpan promised to appeal the judgment.

    He said: “We are going all the way to the Supreme Court. As far as I am concern, those monies are being misappropriated.

    “If you stop security vote nobody will want to be a governor anymore.”

  • Generator Government

    Generator Government

    • N.8billion to fuel generators is hardly the way to inspire citizens’ confidence in govt promise of improved power supply

    Coming barely two months after the formal handover of the assets of the erstwhile Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN), subsequent to which the Federal Government has promised Nigerians improved power supply, it must come as a shocker that the Goodluck Jonathan-led government is proposing to spend a whopping N836.6 million to fuel generators in the coming year.

    The details as reflected in the 2004 budget under consideration by the National Assembly shows that the Presidency alone plans to spend N33.47 million to fuel its generators. For the Federal Ministry of Finance, a tidy sum of N76.5 million is proposed; for the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ( ICPC), it is N29.05 million while N16.48 million is earmarked for the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

    For the Office of the Head of Service, the budget is N40 million; Ministry of Interior, N20.75 million. For the works ministry, it is N25.05 million, while the National Population Commission has a budget of N22.53 million set aside for same –fuelling generators.

    The above are just a few of the Federal Government’s departments expected to share in the bonanza that comes close to a billion naira.

    By way of comparison, the same Federal Government budget earmarked N654.02 million to purchase generators in 2013. Just as there may be those who may seek to rationalise the proposed expenditure on the grounds that no vote currently exists for the procurement of generators this year, even then, it is so easy to counter this by the fact that those generators purchased last year are nowhere near their replacement dates yet.

    The issue however isn’t just the absolute numbers in the proposed spend. Rather, it is the attitude of the Federal Government – its preference for the easy and convenient – that we find deplorable. Nigerians should be worried that nothing appears to have changed in any attitudinal sense for the Federal Government, despite its averments to the contrary.

    To start with, President Jonathan is on record to have made promises – not once or twice but severally – that Nigerians would by next year have no need for their generators. How does one reconcile that with the humongous allocation being proposed to fuel the generators at the seat of government for the same period?

    Isn’t it an admission that the administration cannot guarantee uninterrupted supply of electricity to anyone? So, why should citizens take the assurances of an administration that does not appear to suffer diminishing appetite for the use of generators with any pinch of salt?

    Today, despite the promises of vast improvements in services, the reality is one of acute regression. Not that Nigerians expected the new players in the power sector to wave the magic wand for the problems to disappear overnight. While the hiccups that have accompanied the take-over of the old PHCN entities by private investors may not be entirely unexpected, it would seem to have gone a shade beyond normal transition blues.

    Presently, the same recycled excuses about gas infrastructure, capacity issues and systems collapse are still being bandied despite the huge funds sunk into overhauling the chain. Even more worrisome at this time is that citizens do not even know which agency to hold responsible for the current regression.

    While it may seem impracticable to ask the Federal Government to throw away its generators, the point must be made that pooling nearly a billion of scarce public funds to fuel generators is hardly the way to inspire citizens’ confidence in the power sector’s so-called turn-around. Or, is the government saying that the delivery of uninterrupted electricity to the seat of government can only be done by generators?

  • Ports stink, says ICPC

    From the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has come a damning report about the ports: they stink.

    Port operations, the report said, were riddled with corruption, adding that most of the units are manned by unqualified personnel.

    The report, titled: “Corruption Risk Assessment  in Nigerian ports”, was presented to the public in Abuja by the ICPC Chairman, Mr. Ekpo Nta.

    The study was carried out in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms, the Bureau for Public Procurement, the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network, the Nigerian Ports Authority and others.

    It focused on ports in Calabar, Tin Can, Apapa, Warri, Port Harcourt and Onne to identify gaps and vulnerabilities to corruption in the ports and offer remedies to the menace.

    Nta said the ICPC was empowered under Section 6(b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 to “examine the practices, systems and procedures of public bodies and where, in the opinion of the commission, such practices, systems or procedures aid or facilitate fraud or corruption, to direct and supervise a review.”

    Although he said the study was an assessment to prevent corruption and not an investigation, the ICPC boss stressed that the commission would not hesitate to prosecute corrupt persons.

    Nta said: “Corruption Risk Assessment is a preventive tool but it goes hand in hand with the enforcement of sanctions against unacceptable behavior. The study conducted was an assessment to prevent corruption and not an investigation.

    “While all is being done to prevent corruption, the commission will not hesitate to prosecute corrupt persons. In addition, we shall continue to deny corrupt persons the enjoyment of the proceeds of their crime through asset seizures and forfeiture.

    “Nigeria, the international business community, clients and all other stakeholders want to see transparent and clean corruption-prone free processes at the ports.”

    The report indicted Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) officials for manipulating clearance processes at the port to short-change government for personal gain, saying this explains the reason for the apathy displayed by the service towards the exercise.

    At the launch of the report in Abuja, Nta described it as a “corruption prevention tool which is applied in collaboration with organisations’ management to identify vulnerable areas that are prone to corruption and develop integrity plans would strengthen accountability and transparency.”

    Nta maintained that although the Corruption Risk Assessment was a tool to prevent corruption, it was not a substitute to investigation and prosecution function of the anti-graft body, as the Commission would not hesitate to bring anybody found wanting to book.

    “Corruption Risk Assessment is a preventive tool but it goes hand in hand with the enforcement of sanctions against unacceptable behavior. The study conducted was an assessment to prevent corruption and not an investigation. While all is being done to prevent corruption the commission will not hesitate to prosecute corrupt persons,” he said.

    Speaking on the findings of the report, the representative of Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR), Mrs Lilian Ekeangannu, noted poor facilities as well as lack of operational procedure which, she said give “port officials discretionary powers and sometimes inordinately delay the processing of document, often without consequence.”

    She explained that the NCS used ASYCUDA++ (UNCTAD’s Automated Customs Date Management System) to handle Customs clearance related processes to ensure transparency.

    Customs officers, she claimed, often conspired with clearing agents to influence the process which is electronic in nature to involve human contact for selfish interest, noting that officials deceive the public by saying that they had reduced clearing process to 40 per cent manual.

  • Court jails clerk for stealing N8.3m hospital cash

    A Koton-Karfe Division of the Kogi State High Court has jailed an account clerk with the Federal Medical Centre in Lokoja, the state capital, Mrs Modupe Adeyemi, three months for misappropriating N8.3 million

    Mrs Adeyemi, who was charged to court by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), was jailed without an option of fine.

    A statement by the Head of Media of ICPC, Mr. Folu Olamiti, said the convict, between October 2006 and April 2007, defrauded the medical centre of N8.3 million, being part of the revenue accruing to the centre.

    The statement said: “The ICPC, therefore, dragged the accused to court for 30-count charge for allegedly misappropriating N8.3 million belonging to the medical centre while serving as account clerk with the hospital.

    “She was arraigned on November 29, 2009 before the State High Court for using her office to confer corrupt advantage upon herself, altering duplicate copies of various bank tellers with the intent to defraud and making false statements or returns, contrary to Sections 19, Section 15, sub-sections (a) and (c) and Section 16 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

    “The ICPC prosecutor, Henry Emore, informed the trial judge that each time the accused was sent to deposit some money in various banks belonging to the centre, she would deposit only a part of the money and pocketed the rest.

    “She did this successfully by altering duplicate copy of the bank tellers, which she returned to the centre.

    “The prosecutor cited an example of how she altered N202,250 to N2,250 and before going back to the centre, she would alter the duplicate copy to read the actual N202,250. The various amounts in both figure and words were altered.

    “Delivering judgment, Justice Alaba Ajileye regretted the delay in the case and admonished the accused, that her actions were reprehensible.

    “He, therefore, sentenced her to three months’ imprisonment without an option of fine.

    “The accused has been taken to the Okene Prisons.”

  • Corruption thrives in ports, says ICPC

    Corruption thrives in ports, says ICPC

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission yesterday confirmed that corruption is still thriving on a huge scale in Nigerian ports.

    It also said huge red-tape is reported by stakeholders in all the ports.

    The uncovering of large scale corruption is the thrust of a Report of Corruption Risk Assessment in the Ports Sector in Nigeria by the ICPC.

    The report, which was presented by the ICPC Chairman, Ekpo Nta at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, was supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with additional funding from the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN).

    The report reads in part: “Corruption is reported to be a legitimate and accepted tool to promote business interests. Gifts are accepted as normal and expected even in the port agencies.

    “An example is the claim by Immigration officers to the Lagos Port Assessment Team that their law allows for receipt of gifts. This also borders on rationalization of corrupt conduct.

    “No anti-corruption policy, standards or compliance legislation (of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act-FCPA or UK Bribery Act-UKBA type) exist in Nigeria. Companies are not required to put in place integrity system.

    “In practice, the majority of foreign companies operating in Nigeria comply instead with the local rules and traditions in order to sustain their businesses.”

    The report also indicated that there are huge administrative bottlenecks which are promoting corruption at the nation’s various ports.

    The report added: “Huge red tape within agencies operating at the Ports is reported by stakeholders. Seventy (74) signatures are required in Onne from point of entering the port to the ship leaving the port.

    “In Nigerian Customs Service alone, 10 signatures are required to clear a cargo. Similarly, 142 signatures are reported to be necessary for the same transaction in Lagos Ports (Tin Can and Apapa). There does not appear to be consistency in procedure or in its application in these business processes.

    “Payment of facilitation money provides incentives for agency personnel to delay processes so that cargo incurs demurrage which compels agents and their customers to negotiate and offer gifts.”

    In his address, the ICPC chairman explained why the assessment was conducted and how it was done.

    Nta said: “When the project commenced in April, 2013, it seemed a Herculean task. The scope was challenging but the twenty Corruption Risk Assessors, led by a team of consultants and guided by the project Advisory Committee, have proven that when proper plans are put in place, even seemingly daunting tasks can be accomplished.

    “I would like to explain at this point that CRA – Corruption Risk Assessment, is a major function of ICPC as contained in Section 6(b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 which mandates the Commission “…to examine the practice, systems and procedures of public bodies and where, in the opinion of the Commission, such practices, systems or procedures aid or facilitate fraud or corruption, to direct and supervise a review.

  • ICPC chair, others for honour

    The Abuja chapter of the University of Ibadan (UI) Alumni Association will on Saturday honour five of its distinguished members at its End-of-the-Year Dinner at the Rockview Royale Hotel in Abuja.

    Those to be given its “Distinguished Alumnus Award” are Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) Chairman Ekpo Nta; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Dr. Henry Akpan; Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie; legal titan Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN) and former Director-General of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission Peter Igoh. Chairman of the association Ismaila Alasa, in a statement, said the honourees were chosen for their contributions to the country’s growth.

    “These are accomplished individuals, who have done the university proud in their various fields of endeavour,” Alasa added.

  • Procurement law: ICPC set to arraign 156 companies

    The Independence Corrupt Practices and and Other Related Offences Commission, (ICPC) has concluded plans to arraign 156 Nigerian companies for subverting due process under the 2007 Procurement Act.

    The ICPC Chairman, Ekpo Nta made this known on Monday at the State House, Abuja during the public presentation of the final monitoring and inspection reports for the Federal Government’s capital projects executed between 2009 and 2011.

    Nta, who was represented by the Commission’s Secretary, Elvis Oglafa, said the anti-graft body would soon commence the prosecution as part of government’s effort to check abuse of the procurement process through submission of fake tax clearance certificates and fake business registration documents.

    The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Office, Linus Awute, decried the absence of credible monitoring template for Evaluation Officers in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)

    He said: “The absence of credible templates leads to use of discretional approach and this can be avoided through the development of a credible monitoring template for all the evaluation officers in the various MDAs.”

    “Such template will allow for utility to be derived from service provided by government and reduction of resource wastage, which will in turn, improve the quality of lives of the target beneficiaries.”

     

     

  • Court remands suspect in prison over visa scam

    Mr. Matthew Abasi Ifereke will miss this year’s Christmas and New Year festivities as Justice Mariam Anenih of the FCT High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered him to be remanded at Kuje Prison till 21 January 2014.

    The Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has arraigned Ifereke before the court for alleged forging of documents to obtain United Kingdom and India visas.

    The accused was arraigned before the court on December 5, 2013 and pleaded not guilty to the 12 counts charge preferred against him.

    Counsel to the accused person, Mr. Godwin Ofou filed an application for the bail of the accused but counsel to the ICPC, Mr. Isaac Jiya, objected to the bail application.

    After listening to the argument of both counsels, the presiding Judge, Justice Anenih, adjourned the matter till January 21 next year to enable the prosecution react to the bail application made by the defence counsel.

    The arraignment of Ifereke in court is part of the ongoing crackdown on visa scam syndicate by the anti-graft agency

  • Belgore commiserates with Akanbi on wife’s death

    Belgore commiserates with Akanbi on wife’s death

    A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN), has commiserated with a former chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi, on the death of his wife, Alhaja Musatu Aduke.

    Mrs Akanbi, who was 68, died in an Indian hospital last Friday. Her remains were interred yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, according to Islamic rites.

    In a statement yesterday in Ilorin, Belgore, who was the state governorship candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011, said: “This is to commiserate with our father and former chairman of the ICPC, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, and the family on the sudden death of his dear wife and our mother Alhaja Musatu Aduke who passed away on Friday. It is one death too many, although as mortals we have no power over when we are born, which family we are born into and when we desert this transient life.

    “Alhaja was a great and kind personality and we deeply mourn her exit. It is our prayer that the Almighty Allah will grant her eternal rest and be with the family now and always. The fact that some of our beloved people leave us so abruptly is a reminder that we are from God and to Him is our ultimate return and a warner that what matters is what good legacy we leave behind.”

  • NAFDAC, ICPC wage war on corruption in public service

    NAFDAC, ICPC wage war on corruption in public service

    THE National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administrative Control (NAFDAC) in partnership with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) has inaugurated a five-man anti-corruption committee to fight corruption in public service.

    The Anti Corruption and Transparency Unit (AC TU) is expected to assist the agency in the eradication of corrupt practices among staff.

    Speaking during the inauguration, NAFDAC’s Director General, Dr. Paul Orhii, said: “the unit is to assist the agency in the eradication of corrupt practices among staff, clients and other relevant stakeholders.”

    He assured the unit of continuous support.

    Orhii, who was represented by the Acting Director, Special Duties, NAFDAC, Mr. Abubakar Jimoh, said no efforts will be spared to rid the agency of corrupt practices.

    The chairman of ICPC, Ekpo Nta, also assured the committee of full cooperation.

    Nta, who was represented, by Mr. Gaji Barnabas, said: “We are more than ready to partner with you to make Nigeria Public Service the pride of our nation.”