The Nation Newspaper

Tag: indicts

  • FRC indicts NAFDAC for non-remmitance of N1.439b to Federation Account

    FRC indicts NAFDAC for non-remmitance of N1.439b to Federation Account

    The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) has indicted the National Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), for failing to remit N1.439 billion operational surplus to the Federal Account as required by Law.

    Speaking on issues relating to NAFDACs Audited Financial Statements  in Abuja, yesterday, the Head, Policy and Standard of FRC, Mohammed Ola Tijani, said the body has reviewed NAFDAC’s accounts from 2007 to 2009 and has “discovered that you have to pay N1.439 billion to the federation accounts as demanded by law.”

    Tijani said a close look at NAFDAC’s account indicated that the agency generated N491,252 million surplus in 2007, N857,132 in 2008 and N607,680 in 2009, but paid N64, 048 million to the federation account in 2007, N93 million in 2008 and N105,000 respectively.

    He said NAFDAC’s account books also indicated that the 2007outstanding stood at N427,204 million, N763,565 in 2008 and N502,680 millions in 2009.

    In his speech, the Acting Chairman of FRC, Barrister Victor Chinemeren Muruako, said that NAFDAC would be sanctioned if it delays the payments.

    ”I would have appreciated it if the D-G of NAFDAC himself was here, I will only appeal to your management to hurriedly pay this money to government’s purse, failure of which will make us to write damaging reports on your agency,” he warned.

    He said: “The Federal Government needs this monies to build infrastructure and create employment for our youths. We will not relent in our efforts to assist government to recover all monies outside.”

    NAFDAC was however given the grace to come up with a date the money would be paid.

    The representative of NAFDAC and Director of Finance and Accounts, Ademola Mogbojumi, said his entourage will take the message back to the Director-General, Paul Ohi for prompt action on the matter.

    The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007, Section 2, makes it mandatory that government agencies, such as NAFDAC should  remit certain percentage of their operational surplus to the Federation Account.

  • Anyansi indicts coaches for wrong selection

    Anyansi indicts coaches for wrong selection

    Chairman of Enyimba, Felix Anyansi has emphatically declared that his team had a bad day after losing the first Abia derby in the Premier League 1-0 to Abia Warriors at the Enyimba International stadium yesterday.

    Ironically, it was a former Enyimba midfielder, Cletus Itodo who broke the hearts of his former employers and their faithful by scoring the lone goal which gave victory to Warriors who are based in Umuahia, the capital of the state.

    Speaking to SportingLife on phone from Aba after the tension soaked encounter, Anyansi said the undoing of his team was their inability to convert the myriad of scoring opportunities they created during the course of the game.

    “Everything went wrong for us.We simply had a bad day because there is no other explanation to the loss against Abia Warriors,”Anyansi said.

    “You watched the game on television and saw how we created chances which were wasted by our players.I don’t know what else to say.”

    The NFF executive committee member, however, admitted that Enyimba coaches are having a problem selecting the right blend of players for matches this season, a situation he pinpointed may have caused them yesterday’s game against their city rivals.

    “I totally agree that our coaches are not selecting the right players for matches since the beginning of this season,”Anyansi fumed

    Continuing, he said:”It was the same selection problem that made us crash out of the CAF Champions League because the coaches fielded wrong players in our first leg against Real Bamako.

    “We gave them an ultimatum after the shocking exit from the Champions League but lifted it after two weeks but from what happened against Warriors, it is obvious the technical crew are yet to correct their mistakes,” he said.

    Anyansi was more annoyed when asked to comment on speculation that the game may have been an accord since both teams are funded by the Abia State government.

    “Whoever is spreading such speculation should have his head examined.Why would we go into an accord with Abia Warriors when we are in the league to win the title. In this race, every point is important. I think the idea is stupid,”he added.

  • Panel indicts Keshi, Mikel

    Panel indicts Keshi, Mikel

    The panel constituted to probe the circumstance surrounding the bonus show-of-shame in Nambia culminating in the Super Eagles’ players missing the designated flight booked by FIFA to airlift the team to Brazil for the 2013 Confederations Cup has indicted the chief coach Stephen Keshi, John Mikel Obi, Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide.

    SportingLife gathered exclusively that Keshi was indicted for failing to act professionally by directing the players to board the aircraft from Windhoek, Namibia, to South Africa, especially after dicussing with the Honourable Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi, who informed the coach that the controversial bonus had been relased to him on the directives of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The panel frowed at the coach’s aloofness when the players exhibited a high level of indiscipline by refusing to abide by the minister’s promise, the incident members of the panel stated brought shame on the image of country.

    The members were piqued that the players and the team’s techincal crew could so easily forget what President Jonathan, several state governors, distinguished Nigerians and corporate bodies showered on them for lifting the Africa Cup of Nations, only to turn deaf ears to pleas from top government officials over a diffference in match bonuses.

    In the case of Mikel, Enyeama and Ejide, the panel fingered them as the ring-leaders in the bonus show-of-shame and therefore recommended that they must apologise to Nigerians. The panel further advised that the players should also apologise to the sport-loving people of the country for the international embarrasment in Namibia.

    The panel recommended that henceforth eggheads of the NFF should not overpamper Eagles players and officials by paying win bonuses for drawn matches albeit to motivate them for improved performance such as happened at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations held in South Africa.

     

  • Court indicts NLC over sack

    The National Industrial Court (NIC) sitting in Abuja at the weekend awarded damages against the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for unlawfully terminating the appointment of Iduh L. Onah, an Assistant General Secretary, who acted as the NLC’s Head of Information and Public Relations Department, between September 2009 and March 2011.

    This is the second judgment in which the NIC is indicting NLC for violating the rights of its employees.

    In January, the court gave a judgment that re-instated John Odah, who was removed as NLC General Secretary in May 2011.

    The court, presided over by Justice Babatunde Adejumo, delivered judgment in the suit in which Onah sought for a declaration that the termination of his appointment on May 24, 2011 was a ruse and therefore unlawful.

    He asked the court for N10 million damages.

    In the judgment, which lasted one hour, 53 minutes, Justice Adejumo ordered the NLC to pay Onah two years’ salaries as general and aggravated damages as well the payment of three months salaries in lieu of notice to which the claimant is entitled.

    The NIC President further ordered NLC to pay Onah all other entitlements due to employees of the NLC within the last two years and awarded 10 per cent interest on the judgment sum from the date of the judgment until when it is fully liquidated.

    Justice Adejumo lampooned the NLC for its contempt for both its own constitution and the 1999 Constitution.

    “The appointment of the claimant herein was summarily determined in flagrant disrespect and disregard of the cardinal principles of the conditions of service of the claimant as contained in the constitution and conditions of service of the first respondent (NLC).

    “The protection of fair hearing accorded the claimant was contemporaneously jettisoned, thus infringing the claimant’s fundamental rights as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution and made part of the conditions of service of the claimant.

    “This court cannot, and will not, encourage a situation whereby the constitution of this country is treated with contempt or where the constitution of an organisation is treated with contempt.

    “It has a sacred duty to protect and promote its observance. I agree with the claimant (Onah) that his feelings have been affected negatively by the actions of the respondents (NLC and its president, Abdulwahed Omar) in this case more so when his appointment was terminated based on a false reason.”

    Justice Adejumo declared that Onah successfully proved his case that his appointment was unjustly terminated.

    He added: “Flowing from the fact that the appointment of the claimant was wrongfully terminated on the basis that the reason given for the termination was found to be false and that the appointment was not determined in accordance with its (NLC’s) conditions of service, the claimant is entitled to damages.”

    Speaking to reporters after the judgment, Onah said he is “happy that justice eventually triumphed over impunity.”

  • House Dana Air crash probe indicts NCAA, airline

    House Dana Air crash probe indicts NCAA, airline

    The House of Representatives’ investigation into the June 3 Dana air crash, has indicted the Director General (DG) of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Harold Demuren, for incompetence and negligence of duty.

    The Nkiruka Onyejeocha-led House Committee on Aviation report that was considered at the committee of the Whole yesterday recommended that Dana’s Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) should be revoked because it was not issued in compliance with NCAA Civil Regulations Guideline 2009.

    Under his leadership, an NCAA inspector, Suleiman Akwuh, who did pre-arrival inspection on the ill-fated Dana Aircraft, was found to be without pre­requisite professional qualification.

    The NCAA is also said to have allowed an aircraft into the country despite having no rated pilot in Nigeria.

    The report also revealed that while Demuren has overstayed his official tenure by three months before the crash, the country has no functional and well maintained aircraft hanger of international standard.

    The report also discovered that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s N200b Aviation Intervention Fund was used for purposes other than what it was meant for.

    Excerpts of the report state that “Nigeria Airline Operators have problem of accessing money from the bank with stringent collateral conditions and short repayment term”.

    “The Central Bank of Nigeria’s N200 billion Aviation Intervention Fund was used to refinance existing facility with banks instead of improving the services and capital needs of airlines.

    “Air Nigeria through United Bank for Africa, UBA, accessed N35.5b from Federal Government Aviation Intervention Fund and diverted same to other businesses.

    “The Committee found out that there is no functional and well equipped maintenance hanger of international standard in Nigeria.

    “The Airfield Lighting System, which has been the statutory responsibility of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) as stipulated in Part II Section 3 of its Act in Cap F5 Law of the Federation of Nigeria was transferred to Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) by Federal Ministry of Aviation in violation of the provision of the existing law.

    “Ghana Accident Investigation Department has released an interim Report on Allied Airline crash, blaming it on wet runway, pilot error and aqua planning.

    “The Committee found out that the age of the ill-fated Dana aircraft is 22 years.

    The Committee’s recommendations read: “Dana current AOC should be revoked because it was not issued in compliance with Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Civil Regulations Guideline 2009.

    “NCAA inspector, Engineer Suleiman Akwuh, who did pre-arrival inspection on the ill-fated Dana Aircraft without pre­requisite professional qualification should be dismissed from service^

    “The Director-General, who approved and deployed the officer should be sanctioned for professional negligence.

    “Based on the following facts: NCAA under the leadership of the current Director-General, Dr. Harold Demuren, brought in MD83 to operate in Nigeria even when there is no licensed engineer rated on the aircraft.

    “For the period under review, Dana operated 14 air returns caused by system failure, which is a sufficient indication of imminent danger.

    “ Up to the time of this report, NCAA is still without any licensed engineer type-rated on MD83, yet it is going ahead with technical audit on Dana operations with a view to restore its licence. This constitutes negligence.

    “The tenure of the current Director General of NCAA had expired three months before Dana crash occurred on 3rd June, 2012.

    “So the current Director General of NCAA, Dr. Harold Demuren, should be removed from office for professional negligence and incompetence.

    “The staff strength of NCAA should be totally overhauled with a view to injecting technically and professionally qualified personnel to enhance its regulatory role – in line with the international best practices.”

    The investigation report advised that the report of Bellview Airlines and other accident investigation reports should be revisited.

    The lawmakers recommended that “NCAA should compel all airlines, involved in accidents to settle all outstanding insurance obligations and ensure that current operating AOCs have reliable insurance cover as required by the Civil Aviation Regulations.

    “The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) should be properly equipped with modern laboratory facilities to enable it discharge its responsibilities.

    MD83 aircraft should be phased out of Nigeria aviation industry as NCAA has no certified engineer on MD83 in its employment more so that the aircraft has been decommissioned by its manufacturers.

    “The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and indeed Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) should be properly equipped with well trained staff and equipment for the purposes of responding promptly and adequately to air accident in the country.

    “The Federal Government through the Ministry of Aviation should create incentive for indigenous airlines by providing special intervention fund to encourage growth in the aviation industry.

    “The Central Bank of Nigeria should recover the N35.5b, which was extended to Air Nigeria through UBA but was diverted to other uses.

    “The Federal Government should endeavour to put in place a hanger of international standard to reduce cost of aircraft maintenance by airline operators in Nigeria.

    “The Air Field Lighting System should be returned to FAAN without further delay.

    “An age limit of not more than 15 years should be placed for new acquisition for passenger aircraft and 20 years for carao aircraft.

    cargo aircraft.

    “NCAA should carry out post accident regulatory oversight duty on Allied Air immediately after the conclusion of investigation and report by Ghana Accident Investigation Department”.

    The report was adopted by the lawmakers after the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha put it to voice vote.