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Tag: minister

  • ‘Labour Minister Wogu has no link with firm’

    ‘Labour Minister Wogu has no link with firm’

    Messrs Masters Energy yesterday clarified the ownership of Pinnacle Contractors. It said the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emaka Wogu, has no link with the firm.

    Its clarification followed speculations that the minister’s relationship with the company has compromised the ongoing probe of oil subsidy.

    But the company, in a statement, described the claim as a falsehood, which it blamed on detractors

    The statement reads: “In recent times there appears to be a sustained media campaign to smear the image of our company Masters Energy and its subsidiary, Pinnacle Contractors on one hand, and that of the Honourable Minister of Labour & Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, on the other hand.

    “It is not in our policy to join issues with our detractors on the pages of the newspapers.

    “In keeping with the spirit of our policy, we have maintained a dignified silence on the assumption that the facts will speak for itself.

    “However, we have now decided to break from our usual tradition of silence and speak up in order to lay the facts out to the public, lest falsehood will be dished to unsuspecting members of the public as facts.

    “We are somewhat amused that Mr. Dino Maleye, who after his failed re-election bid, has suddenly become the new crusader against corruption in Nigeria. Who is fooling who? How interesting? Well, there is actually nothing wrong if an idle mind tries to engage himself. But there is everything wrong when a man who cannot take personal responsibility for his action attempts to take on a moral high ground to launch attacks against others who clearly stand shoulder above him on the moral pedestal.

    “The Management of Masters Energy Oil & Gas Limited wishes to, and hereby refutes the false, misguided, malicious and misleading reports in the media linking the Wogu family with Pinnacle Contractors Ltd and state that we duly acquired Pinnacle Contractors Ltd from the Wogu family on March 23, 2010. The business sales/takeover agreement between Masters Energy Oil and Gas Ltd and Pinnacle Contractors Ltd is hereby attached.

    “The Honourable Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, has no stake in Pinnacle Contractors. For the avoidance of doubt, let us restate here that he has NO HAND in the company and he is NOT a signatory to Pinnacle Contractors’ account.

    “The political opportunist and perpetual election losers, who have joined the fray to call for the minister’s resignation without checking the facts should look for credible issues to use against the minister and not the issue of ownership of Pinnacle Contractors.

    “All those making desperate efforts to smear his name and drag him down, using the so-called subsidy scam, should understand that using the issue of alleged subsidy scam to attack Pinnacle Contractors or the Minister cannot withstand elementary scrutiny in the face of hard facts. It is unfortunate that some people will do anything to smear other people’s reputation without even considering the implication on their businesses.

    “The Presidential Committee on the Verification of Subsidy payment deems this clarification necessary in view of the public interest generated by the false reports and the purported indictment of the company.

    “While we will not join issues with the committee, it will also be of public interest to note that the attached extract of the report of Ernst & Young, a reputable audit firm hired by the committee, did not indict Pinnacle Contractors Ltd.

    “We also wish to state further that contrary to the reports you may have read, our company Pinnacle Contractors Limited is a registered company with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) with RC No: 419968

    “The petroleum products for which the subsidy claim was made was actually imported into the country and sold in the country as evident in the bill of lading, certificate of clearance and reports of the various regulatory agencies.

    “Pinnacle Contractors is not a faceless organisation. It has employees; it pays its taxes; it pays VAT and also has its own bank account. You cannot have all these in place if your company is not registered. You cannot have a tax number if you are not a registered company; you cannot have a VAT number if you are not a registered company. Except our detractors would want Nigerians to believe that it is possible to do all these without having the appropriate registration in place.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Over three million Nigerians live with HIV/AIDS – Minister

    Over three million Nigerians live with HIV/AIDS – Minister

    The Federal Ministry of Health has disclosed that over three million Nigerians are living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, made the disclosure on Friday in Abuja during a press briefing to mark World AIDS Day.

    The theme of this year’s event is – “Resourcing the National Response towards Getting to Zero AIDS Related Deaths.”

    The minister, who was represented by the Acting Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Mansur Kabir, explained that the virus has claimed over 20 million lives globally, with an estimated 33 million people living with it.

    He said: “Globally, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has claimed over 20 million lives, with an estimated 33 million people living with the virus.

    “Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 25 million of these people and Nigeria is home to about 3,130,000 infected with the virus. Presently, Nigeria bears the 2nd highest burden of HIV/AIDS, next to South Africa and third in the whole world after South Africa and India.”

    To achieve this year theme, the minister explained that efforts will be stepped up towards successful passage of the HIV/AIDS and anti-stigma bill and the upscaling of awareness creation strategy.

    “The current national HIV/AIDS prevalence figure of 4.1 per cent conceals regional variations ranging from 1 per cent in Kebbi state to 12 per cent in Benue state. However, all the states are affected. In all, 17 states and the FCT had prevalence rates of over 5 per cent and young adults aged 15-29 years are mostly affected.

    “In order to achieve zero new infections, Nigeria has placed much emphasis on prevention with specific focus on prevention Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT) which is a proven, cost effective intervention with the ability to ensure 100 per cent interruption of vertical transmission of HIV infection from a positive pregnant woman to the unborn child,” Prof. Chukwu stated.

     

  • Reforms coming, says Minister

    MINISTER of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama, has said reforms were in the offing in the insurance sector to challenge the old ways of doing things.

    According to him, the reform will seek to promote ‘out of the box thinking’, to empower the professionals to log into international best practices and position the industry to play its pivotal roles in the economy.

    He spoke a lecture to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB).

    In a lecture the Managing Director, CKRe, London, Mr Peter King, said creativity and adaptation to clients’ needs are the panacea for promoting insurance broking in Nigeria.

    He said even though insurance broking has a bright future in the country, professionals must adapt to the changing trends in a global regulatory environment and pace up to the needs of the nation’s population.

    On the international scene, King said the world’s overall concept is changing dramatically towards Africa, portending that operators, including insurance brokers would face new and exciting challenges for which only fit, and ethically sound professionals would survive.

    He said given the huge international interest in Africa and the need to attract foreign investments, the international interest, a client or an international broker, must adhere to rules.

    “It is interesting to note that for many years, people outside Africa are looking towards the continent as a trading partner, which they believed have competitive advantage over the emerging markets in the Middle East and parts of Asia where political instability and terrorism are now endemic,” he said.

    King, who identified the merits of regulation to include protection of the practice of insurance broking and growth of business, protested over regulation, noting that it could discourage good brokers.

    In her welcome address, NCRIB President, Mrs Laide Osijo, noted that group has appealed to the government to assist the growth of insurance through its adherence to and encouragement of mandatory laws.

    She said governments at all levels should ensure the maximum insurance of their assets against losses, noting that some recent human and natural disasters in the country would have been taken care of if the government placed greater premium on insurance.

    In a good will message, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, advised brokers to comply with the PENCOM Act on Group Life, noting that such would boost businesses for the operators and make them relevant.

    He advised the Council to assist its members in meeting new regulatory challenges, such as its counterpart, the British Insurance Brokers Association, which has well- laid out programmes for assisting its members to meet the requirements of the financial services regulations.

    Highpoint of the celebration was the conferment of fellowship awards on Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Governors Rauf Aregbesola and Olusegun Mimiko as well as the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Fola Daniel.

  • Minister linked with N2.7bn subsidy scam

    Minister linked with N2.7bn subsidy scam

    • Tension in presidency as EFCC probes unregistered firm

     

    There is disquiet in the Presidency over a ‘close’ relationship between a serving minister and a firm which was indicted for N2.7billion oil subsidy claims.

    The firm, Pinnacle Contractors Limited, is unknown to law as it was not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) before engaging in phony fuel importation and smiling to the banks with N2.7billion.

    There were strong indications that the company was used for slush funds by some powers that be for “a certain purpose.”

    The ‘strange’ company is one of the 25 firms recommended for criminal investigation by the Federal Ministry of Finance.

    The company received subsidy payments in 2011 without importing any fuel.

    It was gathered that anti-corruption agencies are currently probing the status of the company and those behind it.

    But it was learnt that preliminary findings have shown that the affected agencies are also looking into a “close link” between a minister and the ‘strange’ company which was 22 on the list of firms due for criminal investigation.

    A reliable source in one of the anti-graft agencies, who spoke in confidence, said: “Pinnacle Contractors Limited is one of the firms we are probing as part of the fuel subsidy scam. There are issues concerning its ownership, registration by CAC and its legal existence.

    “We are also trying to unravel the directors of the said company in order to establish those who will face trial for the N2.7billion subsidy scam. We are still on the case.

    “What we are doing is to investigate these companies in batches because many issues were involved in tracking the subsidy fraud.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “There have been insinuations that a member of the Federal Executive Council has links with the company but we are still probing this angle.

    “The challenge at hand is that in terms of ownership, there seems to be a link with a member of the Federal Executive Council. But on the surface, it is a flat situation. We are to dig beneath the surface and that is what we are doing.

    “At the end of our investigation, we will be able to clarify whether the said firm is owned by a serving government official or not and how it came about the N2.7billion fuel subsidy claim.”

    Another source added: “A search in CAC has so far confirmed that only Pinnacle Company Nigeria Limited is registered.

    “It was actually registered on September 18, 1981 with registration number RC. 8740. Its registered office is given as 12, Iwehen Street, Benin City, Edo State. The directors are Samuel Okhorutomwen Uwadie and Samuel Omorodion Uwadie.

    “Certainly, it is not an oil firm but it is in business for general goods. Therefore, it has no relationship with this Pinnacle Contractors Limited that we are investigating.

    “Whatever is the case, we are determined to unravel those behind Pinnacle Contractors Limited which claimed N2.7billion as subsidy in 2011.”

    But findings revealed that investigation might have suffered a setback because the suspected minister was one of those mandated by President Goodluck Jonathan to draft white papers on the three reports meant to clean the oil sector.

    One of the sources said: “There is that suspicion against the minister but since we have not reached a conclusive bend, you cannot say he or she should not perform his or her statutory duties as a member of the Federal Executive Council.

    “All I know is that we are looking into issues bordering on those behind the ‘oil’ company.”

    The President had raised white paper committees on the reports of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, the National Refineries Special Task Force and the Governance and Controls Special Task Force.

    The Anti-Corruption Network, a non-governmental organisation headed by a former member of the House of Representatives, Dino Melaye, had protested to the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja to ask for the legal status of the company.

  • Minister tasks farmers on dry season farming

    Minister tasks farmers on dry season farming

    The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, has urged farmers to embrace dry season farming to boost food production in the country.

    Ochekpe gave the advice in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin.

    She said the government had set aside sufficient funds to boost agricultural production for the dry season.

    “Nigerians should not only rely on farming during the rainy season but explore other opportunities. “People are doing farming on a small scale but we want more people to be involved in this dry season farming.

    “That way, we are also creating more jobs, getting many people busy,’’ she said.

     

  • House invites minister, four airlines over Kano airport row

    House invites minister, four airlines over Kano airport row

    The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation has summoned the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah and four international airlines denied flights into the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport.

    They are Ethiopian Airlines, Turkisk Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Asky Airlines.

    The minister invited the airlines because of their inability to respond to some issues raised by the Ministry of Aviation during an investigative hearing yesterday.

    The committee arrived at the decision when contradictions in the submission of the ministry and correspondences between the airlines and the ministry became obvious.

    A member of the committee, Aliyu Madaki, who presented documentary evidence to support his position, said it was regrettable that there was a deliberate policy to discriminate against the airlines to the detriment of economic activities in Kano.

    The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Aviation, Ms Anne Ene-Ita, who represented the minister, denied claims by one of the airlines that its request to ply Abuja, Kano and Lagos was denied by the ministry.

    “We had a Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) agreement with the airline and all it needed was to activate it. We do not have to deny it because we had an agreement.

    “As for the second airline, it was a bilateral agreement. We have met in Abuja but we need to go there in return and we have scheduled that for next month,” she said.

    The committee, however, adjourned the meeting when the permanent secretary claimed that the airline in question did not apply for Lagos and Kano routes. There was no representative of the airline to respond.

    The Chairman of the committee, Nkiru Onyejeocha, said it has become inevitable for the parties involved to be present at the next meeting to respond to the issues raised.

     

  • Minister commiserates with Omagbemis, Adeshinas

    Minister commiserates with Omagbemis, Adeshinas

    The Honourable Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Bolaji Abdullahi has commiserated with the Omagbemis over the death of the patriarch of the family, Jimmy Omagbemi who passed on recently.

    The Minister recalled that the late Omagbemi was a deputy director of sports at the National Sports Commission, who contributed greatly to the development of sports in Nigeria, especially the discovery and development of talents.

    He described the deceased as “a dedicated and thoroughbred sports professional whose passion was the development of Nigerian sports. It is no surprise that he left enduring legacies and his children are into sports.

    “He would be deeply missed by the sporting community in Nigeria and the world at large. I pray that his soul rests in peace.”

    In a similar vein, the Minister has also commiserated with the Commissioner for Youth and Sports in Oyo State, Hon. Dapo Lam Adeshina whose father and former Governor of Oyo State, Lam Adeshina just passed on.

    He noted that the late Adeshina was a patriot whose contributions as a governor and democracy activist are greatly appreciated by the people of Oyo State and the nation.

  • Three new domestic  carriers coming, says Minister

    Three new domestic  carriers coming, says Minister

    The Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, has said plans are afoot to establish three new domestic carriers.

    The entities, intended to bridge the existing gap in the number of carriers in service, would be private sector driven.

    Princess Oduah said operations of the entities would follow after the completion of the on-going remodelling of the 11 designate airports.

    She spoke in an interview as part of plans by the government to stimulate the growth and development of the aviation sector, in the master plan for infrastructure development.

    She said after delivering the completion of the remodelling, the next line of action would be to deliver private sector domestic carriers that stimulate the growth and development of the economy, using air transport as a catalyst.

    The minister explained that the coming of the new carriers was a direct fall out of the recent investment drive to Canada, China  and the United States, which were held with aircraft manufacturers including Boeing and Bombardier.

    She said the government’s role in the emergence of the new carriers would be to create an enabling environment by facilitating the lease and purchase of aircraft from the manufacturers under conditions that were not too stringent.

    Among the carriers that are planning to leverage on the network established by the government to facilitate aircraft leases, are Medview Airlines, TopBrass, a charter firm on scheduled operations and an unnamed carrier, that would operate from the Southsouth region.

    The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA), it was learnt, was considering the applications of the new carriers to ensure that the promoters meet the requirements of the industry.

    Under the new regulation, NCAA is to issue certificates to operators to acquire at least two aircraft, before the air operators certificate could be issued.

    The government, investigations reveal, is considering supporting some private sector players to assist a flag carrier, to compete with foreign carriers on the 64 bilateral air services’agreements it has signed with some countries.

    While carriers from some European countries including British AIrways, Virgin Atlantic AIrways, KLM, AIr France, Lufthansa Airlines, Iberia, Turkish Airlines , operate into Nigeria, only Arik Air flies to London and America.

    The lack of reciprocity by Nigerian carriers to operate into the affected countries is due largely to failure of capacity, one of the reasons that is driving the government to facilitate a strong carrier that could compete.

    Investigations further reveal that efforts to build new international terminals at airports in the country without strong domestic carriers will not achieve the desired  results if plans by the government to use air transport a catalyst for socio-economic development is anything to go by.

  • Cameroon’s ex-minister bags 25-year jail sentence

    Cameroon’s ex-minister bags 25-year jail sentence

    A court in Cameroon has sentenced former presidential hopeful and senior minister Marafa Hamidou Yaya to a 25-year jail term on embezzlement charges related to the botched purchase of a presidential plane in 2004.

    Reuters says the court handed down the sentence early on Saturday morning after a marathon overnight trial.

    The court handed the same sentence to a former director of defunct state air transport company CAMAIR, Yves Michel Fotso.

    Hamidou Yaha was minister of territorial administration until he was sacked in December in a cabinet reshuffle by President Paul Biya.

    He was widely believed to harbour ambitions to succeed the 79-year-old Biya.

    Biya, who has been in power since 1982, launched “Operation Sparrow Hawk” in 2006 to combat corruption in the central African nation.

    The drive has seen several of his former aides brought to court but critics say the anti-corruption campaign has been used to target opponents.

    The court in the capital Yaounde found the two guilty of embezzling 24 billion CFA francs that was meant for the purchase of the presidential plane called “Albatross.”

    In letters published after he was arrested in April, Hamidou Yaha denied he participated in any attempt to embezzle public funds and said he was a victim of a political plot.

    “Investigations show that the 24 billion CFA francs … for the purchase of the aircraft were diverted by Yves Michel Fotso for personal interests,” the presiding judge said in sentencing.

     

  • Before we crucify or applaud Nnaji

    Before we crucify or applaud Nnaji

    In a country not accustomed to probity and accountability especially in public office, the resignation or sacking of a public officer over conflict of interest in the discharge of his or her official duties calls for serious reflection.
    The departure of Professor Barth Nnaji as Nigeria’s Minister of Power last week offered an opportunity to assess the commitment or otherwise of the Goodluck Jonathan administration to transparency in governance and how far or close we are to achieving that goal.
    Although it remains unclear whether the former Minister left voluntarily or forced to resign (another name for sack), his exit, coming on the heels of the administration’s new drive to promote performance in government through the recently introduced Performance Contract Agreement by Ministers could be an indication that the government was finally ready to deliver on its promises to Nigerians. And one of those promises is the provision of no fewer than 10,000 Megawatt of electricity to the national grid, a task Professor Nnaji was expected to achieve, and I think he was well on the way to doing just that. Given the very low level of electricity generation in the country prior to assuming office, achieving the present 4,400 Megawatt was no mean achievement by Nnaji and nobody could deny that things were looking up in the power sector under the former Minister. So, what went wrong? Why did he resign or given the boot?
    The man at the centre of it all said he had done nothing wrong, including the controversial conflict of interest accusation and left to protect the integrity of the Jonathan administration in the face of some powerful interest groups interested in manipulating the ongoing power sector reforms to their advantage. He had stepped on the toes of these groups in the course of his assignment.
    President Jonathan has equally defended Nnaji claiming he had done well but for a certain conflict of interest involving a company in which the former Minister had an interest showing active interest in the ongoing power sector reform.
    Depending on which spin on the sack/resignation you want to believe, the fact remains that something fishy has happened or is happening in the power sector which if not fished out and addressed immediately could affect the ongoing reform and our ability to generate enough Megawatts to power our economy. No fewer than 40,000 Megawatts of electricity, according to experts is needed to achieve this. How do we achieve this and in what way would the exit of Nnaji help?
    If truly the sacking of the former Minister was due to the conflict of interest as alleged by the Federal Government, then his exit could help on the long run as it is expected that nobody in government with interest in the power sector no matter how remote and no matter how highly placed would be allowed to participate in the ongoing reform in the sector. This expectedly should also include some serving state governors who are alleged to be eyeing some of the successor companies to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
    The Federal Government would do well also to look beyond the issue of conflict of interest and address Nnaji’s allegation that some powerful interest groups whose toes he might have stepped on were behind his decision to quit. Although it is not uncommon in Nigeria for us to blame everybody but ourselves for our woes, the allegation should not be swept under the carpet as it is not unlikely that was the situation given the culture of insider abuse in Nigeria by people in position of authority in the country.
    Rail transportation that was once the backbone of haulage business in Nigeria is in ruins no thanks to what the people believe to be the activities of some powerful individuals within and outside the government with interest in road transportation. Have you ever asked why Nigeria Airways died and some of our private airlines are still flying even in the face of harsh economic environment? The same could be said about the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) and privately owned Nigerian shipping lines. The truth is that here we promote more of our selfish interest above that of the nation and protect same. So if Jonathan could kick out Nnaji to protect his flagship power sector programme, he should also not hesitate to fish out and punish those others bent on thwarting the programme or manipulate it for their selfish interest. Can he do it? On the evidence of his swift move against Nnaji, he should not find it difficult to deal with this powerful enemies within. But as it is with Jonathan, don’t expect anything and if it happens, then you are lucky.
    Gauging from the reaction of members of the public to Nnaji’s departure from Jonathan’s cabinet, one could safely conclude that the former Minister is a man of integrity, but how he got caught up in this conflict of interest mess is still a surprise. More surprising is Jonathan’s feigned ignorance of Nnaji’s subsisting interest in the power sector even as a serving Minister.
    It is public knowledge that the former Minister had substantial interest in a company, Geometric Power Limited which is a major player in the power sector. I am sure Jonathan made him a minister with a view to tapping his expertise and experience garnered over the years in the sector, including his years at Geometric. As it is the practice elsewhere,the man put all his interest in his company in a blind trust, severed all relationship with Geometric and headed to the Ministry of Power to serve his fatherland with love and strength and faith. But how ‘blind’ do we expect this trust or even the Minister to be when a business venture that will naturally interest the company comes up in the Ministry? This is where the problem lies and I think this gave rise to the doctrine of conflict of interest. I think putting private interest in a blind trust while serving the public was a legitimate window to insulate a public officer from the accusation of conflict of interest. This Nnaji did and I think Jonathan knew about it before appointing him a Minister. The SSS must have discovered this during their investigation the report of which must have influenced the Senate confirmation during his screening. With this known to those who should know, at what point did Nnaji violate his oath of office? Did he do anything while in office that was not known as at the time he was being made a Minister or did he do anything that was anticipated then? If he had not done anything new or unknown to Jonathan before to warrant being sacked on account of conflict of interest then the charge of conflict of interest cannot stand. There must be something else behind his sack; there is more to it than we are being told. Could it be those big toes that Nnaji stepped on that are behind his sack? Only Jonathan knows, but the president will not tell us. What a shame? And if the media talk now he will say we are biased.
    Nnaji himself is not without blame in this matter. How can he be so naive to think that he can eat his cake and have it? The law on this conflict of interest thing we are told is very clear, to allow a breach is like allowing insider trading on the stock exchange; it is unethical. If anyone had assured him that “nothing will happen”, now he knows better. You don’t trust the promise of a politician. Now as for those calling for his reinstatement, it is rather too late as the Federal Government has conveniently placed this charge of conflict of interest on his neck and except he or Jonathan opens up on it and tell us the truth, the charge is enough to keep him away from public office at least for now.
    That pipeline fire in Lagos
    Lagos has again experienced another pipeline fire due to activities of vandals. And at the rate this thing happens we might need a dedicated security outfit to protect this important economic facility. And since our security agencies appear incapable of doing this who is better placed to do it than the vandals themselves; the pipeline thieves. If we could hand over the protection of pipelines in the Niger Delta to ex militants and pay them millions of dollar every year, then the vandals here deserve the same thing, don’t you think so? This is the implication of implementing stupid policies. Jonathan over to you.