The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian Newspapers

  • Edo production center initiative attracts more SMEs

    The Edo Production Centre, an initiative of the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration, has attracted more Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to the facility, revving up the state’s light manufacturing sector and providing jobs to residents.

    The Production Centre was conceived by the Obaseki-led administration to drive industrial development in Edo State and provide job opportunities for youths and improve the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    The entrepreneurs operating at the Centre, which is located at the old Magistrate Court Complex, on Benin-Sapele Expressway in Benin City, commended the foresight of Governor Obaseki for setting up the facility, which has transformed the state’s light manufacturing sector.

    Chairman, Welding and Fabrication section at the Production Centre, Rev. Lugard Ekhosuehi, said the provision of regular electricity at the facility has helped entrepreneurs to increase profitability, adding that they are now able to meet demands and job orders.

    “The constant electricity at the Production Centre has reduced the cost of production, increased efficiency and improved profitability,” he noted.

    Read Also: Edo Poly set to hold Technology, Innovation Day

    Ekhosuehi urged residents to patronise artisans operating at the Production Centre, as such would encourage them to scale up production.

    He also commended Governor Obaseki for providing infrastructure, stable power supply and other necessary support structures which have helped members of the section to operate seamlessly.

    Chairman, Polythene producers in Edo State, Solomon Omofoman, said the guarantee of stable electricity supply has motivated more artisans to relocate their operations to the Production Center.

    He appealed to the management of the Benin Electricity Distribution (BEDC) to review the billing and payment process for the electricity provided at the center.

    He said artisans are anticipating financing instruments promised by the Bank to Industry to complement the role of the state government and boost their businesses.

    Another artisan at the Centre, who manufactures footwears, Osawe-Edoh Valerie, said the initiative has assisted her to expand her customer base as she has been able to build trust among her clients which have translated to more patronage.

    “Production is more fulfilling as electricity is constant. I am able to improve my delivery rate to four days from 10 days,” she said.

  • Ikpeazu inaugurates committee on payment of salary, pension arrears

    Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia on Monday inaugurated an 8-member committee to articulate the modality for the payment of the arrears of salaries, pensions and allowances owed to civil servants and pensioners in the state.
    Speaking during the event at the Government House, Umuahia, Ikpeazu said that his administration was committed to the welfare of Abia workers.

    The governor, represented by his deputy, Chief Ude Oko-Chukwu, said that the administration was determined to maintain a robust relationship with the organised labour.

    According to him, the task of taking the state to the next level of development is reliant on the contributions of workers.

    He charged the committee to come up with modalities that would make nonpayment of salaries, pensions and allowances a thing of the past in the state.

    He said that the committee had 14 working days to complete its assignment and hand in its commendation to the government .

    Responding, the Chairman of the committee, Mr Onyii Wamah, assured the governor that the committee would work hard to evolve workable recommendations.

    Wamah, who is the Abia Head of Service, said that the committee was poised to put an end to the issues of unpaid arrears of salaries, pensions and allowances.

    Members of the committee on the government side included Mr Okey Ihedioha, Mr Kelechi Imeoria and Dr Anthony Agbazuere, a former state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

    Others were the leadership of the organised labour in the state, including the Chairman of NLC, Mr Uchenna Obigwe, Chairman of the Trade Union, Mr Sunny Onwuma, Chairman of the Joint negotiating Council, Mr Chris Okoro and Mr Umah Kalu. (NAN)

  • We’re not aware of Oyo-Ita’s purported retirement-Presidency

    The Presidency on Monday declared that it was not aware of the purported move of the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, to retire from service.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had last week Tuesday grilled Oyo-Ita over alleged N3bn scam.

    Read Also: Oyo-Ita absent at Presidential Retreat

    The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a text message said that the Presidency was not in possession of any letter of intent from Oyo-Ita to retire from service.

    “Thanks. We have no such letter here, in the event that such a letter exists. This is our position,” he stated

  • Identify, solve problems in your spheres of influence, youths urged

    Youths have been encouraged to identify problems in their various spheres of influence and solve them, as this would shoot them up on their way to greatness.

    This was the assertion of panelists at the celebration of the 2019 International Youth Day, and the launch of the second edition of the 40 first jobs book which took place in Victoria Island, Lagos on Monday.

    According to the Managing Director/CEO of Poise Nigeria, Mrs. Ebele Chukwujamah, it is not the environment that defines an individual; it is rather the person that creates the environment that he or she wants to see.

    “It is therefore important for a youth to learn from the base of their career, acquire skills and give themselves to critical thinking,” Chukwujamah added.

    In her words “It is not the about the environment, it is about you creating the environment you want.

    “Learn to start small. Do not look down on your small beginnings. It is the soft skills that you learn at the base of your career that will take you to the top. You must also learn to speak up and let your voice be heard.”

    Speaking on how Poise Nigeria empowers the youth, Chukwujamah said “At Poise Nigeria, we teach entrepreneurship, that these little steps to success are real.”

    Read Also: Are Nigerian youths prepared for leadership?

    For Martins Abraham, the Associate director, Group talent development at HIS Towers, Nigeria is not a disadvantage. It is a blessing that youths should take advantage of.

    “It is however sad that the biggest problem we face today are that people are blocked in their minds,” he noted.

    He told his audience, made up mostly of young people that the times are changing and any youth that wants to fly high in career should invest their time positively on technologies, statistics and the internet.

    Abraham also added that “the ability to be multi-lingual would be an added advantage to youths as it would also make them valuable sources in future.

    Speaking of her success story, Mrs. Nkem Okocha, founder of “Mama Money” said that she started out because she saw women and children around her jobless, broke and hungry, and she decided to do something about it.

    “I started based on my empathy with people, I started with free vocational trainings with women, and giving them money to start up a business after the training,” she said.

  • Woman arraigned over alleged N22.9b received from ex-NSA Dasuki

    A woman said to be based in the United States of America (USA) Mrs. Isabella Oshodin was arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday on a 25-count charge bordering on money laundering to the tune of N22,964,228,414.

    Mrs. Oshodin, who was arraigned along with a company, Oshodin Organisation Ltd, was accused of unlawfully receiving the money from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), while Colonel Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (rtd) occupied the office.

    In the case brought against Mrs. Oshodin by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), it was alleged among others, that she, on 16 occasions, received N500,000,000; N750,000,000; N125,000,000; N350,000,000; N170,000,000; N85,000,000; N60,000,000; N50,000,000 and others which totalled N2,366,000,000 from the office of the NSA.

    The EFCC also alleged that the defendant, on eight occasions received from the office of the NSA funds amounting to $57,217,301.15 into the Escrow accounts of Bob Oshodin Organisation Ltd.

    A count in the charge reads: “That you, Mrs. Isabela Mimie Oshodin, Bob Oshodin Organisation Ltd and Mr. Robert (Bob) Oshodin (still at large) on or about 22nd June, 2014 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this honourable Court directly transferred the sum of $7,712,598 (Seven Million, Seven Hundred and Twelve Thousand, Five Hundred and Ninety-eight Dollars) to one Portfolio Escrow Company with account number 3102004330 domiciled in California Republic Bank, United States of America which sum you reasonably ought to have known to be proceed of an unlawful act of Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the then National Security Adviser to wit: criminal breach of trust and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15 (2) (b) of the Money Laundering (Provision) Act, 2011as amended in 2012 and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”

    The defendant pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to her on Monday, following which her lawyer, Osahon Idemudia informed the court about a pending bail application filed by the defendant.

    Read Also: Dasuki Gate: Court admits Metuh’s account of N400m expenditure in evidence

    Upon the court’s permission, Idemudia moved the bail application, during which he stated that the prosecution was only trying to portray a purely civil contract transaction as a criminal matter.

    Idemudia said: “This has to do with a civil contract transaction. It is either a misunderstood commercial transaction or someone is being mischievous.

    “The defendants sold their furniture factory to the Federal Government for $55million.

    “They have only paid half of the money, which the prosecution has calculated as N22.9b.

    “The money stated in the charges, which they claimed is money laundering, is actually payment for the purchase of the furniture factory.”

    Idemudia noted that a copy of the contract for the sale of the factory has been exhibited before the court, and that the prosecution admitted its existence in the counter-affidavit it filed.

    The defence lawyer prayed the court to grant his client bail on liberal terms on the grounds that she was a decent person, who is troubled by the current turn of event.

    He denied the prosecution’s insinuation that the defendant may not be available for trial if allowed on bail.

    “She is not a flight risk. She is available to stand trial. She is someone, who is ready and eager to clear her name,” the lawyer said.

    Idemudia, who told the court that his client was suffering from some health conditions and needed medical attention, having been kept in custody for 70 days by the EFCC, drew the court’s attention to the order it made on August 9, 2019 directing that the defendant be taken to a medical facility.

    He said the EFCC was yet to comply with the order and sought the court’s intervention in that regard.

    Prosecution lawyer, Mrs. Aisha Habeeb, faulted Idemudia’s argument and urged the court to be guided by the need to ensure that the defendant was available to stand trial.

    Mrs. Habeeb noted that Mrs. Oshodin’s husband was in America, and argued that it could be difficult to have the defendant return to stand trial if proper precautionary measures were not taken and she is granted bail and allowed to travel to the United States.

    After listening to arguments from both lawyers, Justice Taiwo Taiwo ordered that Mrs. Oshodin should be taken back to the custody of the EFCC pending the ruling on the bail application, scheduled for August 21.

    Justice Taiwo rejected Idemudia’s suggestion that Mrs. Oshodin be taken to a medical facility, in furtherance of the court’s August 9 ruling, where she should remain until the day set for ruling.

    Instead, the judge directed that both lawyers should work out ways of ensuring that the August 9 order is complied with by the prosecution pending the date set for ruling.

  • Original sin

    It is easy to say Ibraheem El Zakzaky played a fast one on the Buhari administration.  With both legal and medical feints, the man wove out of detention, flew first-class to India, asked for a first-class hotel, evaded a pre-test with a pretext, roped both the Nigerian and Indian government in a conspiracy charge, decided the whole sojourn was a dud, and returned to Nigeria.

    As he touched down on his home soil, he was back where he began his travail: in jail. The rigmarole could have been funny, except that on both sides, we have witnessed a theatre snap the ribs with laughter. But so absurd was the drama that anyone who laughs should be laughed at. It is what Nobel Laureate Samuel Beckett designated as Risus purus, a laugh laughing at itself.

    But at the bottom of it all is the concept of the original sin. The federal government thinks El Zakzaky ate the forbidden fruit first. The Islamic Movement of Nigeria thinks Buhari’s men, especially the army, played Adam and Eve. Some observers may think the sins coeval. The forbidden fruit is the breaking of the Edenic purity of the rule of law.

    Buhari’s men time the sins differently. They say the group has been an outlaw forever. They have been predators predating Buhari’s ascent to power. In its flashback, The IMN dates it to a scene in the early days of the Buhari administration when soldiers rammed into their rampart in bursts of gunshots that snuffed out quite a few. It was a revenge action at an earlier act of bravado. The IMN fomented a standoff when its men defied the chief of army staff and his convoy and would not allow them a right of way on a major national artery.

    The IMN thought in the language of Prophet Isaiah. They saw the road as not only a highway but their way of holiness. The army was unclean and should not pass over it. But it belonged to them, El Zakzaky and his faithful, though regarded as fools by those who err.

    The original sin, in other quarters, is more recent. It tracks from the decision of the federal government not to release the IMN leader when the court gave the order. The order has hung over the Buhari administration like Banquo’s ghost. They charged the man to court. They refused to obey court order. It is, in the eyes of many, the original sin that cancels other sins.

    So when El Zakzaky acted defiant in India he was acting under the cover of absolution from his own original sin. He probably believes his sins have been forgiven, and the federal government’s sins have washed away his. After all, without the washing of blood, there is no remission of sin. The soldiers have shed some of their blood. He may even believe he has not committed any sins at all.

    If the law court says to unlock him, then when he went to India, he acted as the law’s free man. When he sought his own doctors, he did it as a free man. He exercised that liberty when he demanded the luxury of a five-star hotel. It’s because that is what an IMN leader deserves when he is receiving treatment. He sees himself as a sort of national leader like the president of Nigeria. So, if Buhari could receive five-star treatment when crippled by an ailment, then EL Zakzaky feels entitled to the same honour and languor of comfort. He was acting in defiance of the administration but in obedience of the court. He has capsized the tale: the jailbird has made an outlaw of the jailer. Like Asa’s immortal song Jailer, in which she says of the jailer, “you are a victim, too.” The Sheikh was saying in earnest, if the DSS would not obey the court order, he (El Zakzaky) would. He felt a triumph at it. He felt he had made his statement. He returned satisfied he had titillated the DSS into a tizzy.

    The DSS did not know the mind of the reticent mystic. They probably thought him naïve. A man who reigns over the minds of men and women? For him they would make an abattoir of themselves, overthrow the system, wrack the National Assembly, pelt stones at the president, throw fear in the hearts of governors and dread in the populace. Such a mystic is cunning, a craft master of the mind. He conned the government and coddled his followers. He slighted the DSS with his sleight of hand. It is a case of counter-intelligence.

    Reports confirm that the man is, in fact, ill. The diagnoses unveiled a raft of afflictions. But the political one was that pellets of bullets had not dissolved in his mystical blood. That is an accusation that the soldiers indeed shot at him and his wife. His followers must believe he is a living miracle. That inspires their hatred and invigorates their rage.

    So if the man took his illness seriously, why did he not forget the politics and accept to be treated? Obviously, the mystic wanted to grandstand more than he wanted to live. He did not want any treatment. He is a mournful comedian, playing a game in which laughter is possible but not permitted, a theatre where he fires his followers with his sense of martyrdom and sways the neutral public his way. The government, too, should have obliged him the doctors he sought under close observation.

    Even if the Sheikh was clever, it was the DSS who made him so. His aura has provoked a lack of cheer in most of the north. He had been a rogue presence on northern highways, a big, irritant gadfly, a cenacle of unrelieved devotees, and an omen around law and order. The law was going to eventually catch up with the fellow. But the DSS lionised him, just as they did the phony revolutionary. He has looked more blessed than he is. He has turned the moral raft upside down. He now looks like the prophet wronged by a profane system.

    He has committed the original sin of culture and faith. He has prosecuted his belief with the reckless conviction of a zealot and subvert. The Sheikh and his group also offended against the law in its original sin with the episodes of brigandage and street disruptions. But on his matter, the federal government has executed a protracted fest of flying in the face of the law by being the law giver in a democracy.

    An original sin is an inlet into other sins. Since this standoff wears on with both sides priming its arsenal and soldiers, we cannot guarantee how this will end. For now, El Zakzaky claims a moral victory with his sect members while the federal government wears the badge of a taskmaster. To Nigerians, the best each side can claim is what the Roman general said after a victory that seemed like a defeat. Pyrrhus said glumly: “Another victory and we are done for.” We seek no further victories, just justice.

    Golden at 75

    Turning 75 is not about being three scores and 15 but about what you scored in those years. Senator Anthony Adefuye has just marked that landmark age.

    While his party beamed with celebrities from political and social circuits with the ageless Sunny Ade singing luminously, few can forget that this Senator has been one of Nigeria’s most consistent progressives, especially in the quicksand politics of the Southwest.

    For the ages, he will count as one of the Trojans who stopped IBB from making this country a hunting ground for dictators. Still spry, agile and engaged, he still has a few more muscles to flex for his fatherland. Congratulations

     

     

     

  • Presidency queries FIRS boss Fowler over tax cash

    THE Presidency is expecting a comprehensive explanation today from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on the “variances between budget and actual collection” of taxes between 2015 and 2018.

    Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Mr. Babatunde Fowler, got a query from Chief of Staff to the President Abba Kyari. He was given today’s deadline to respond.

    The query, titled: “RE: Budgeted FIRS Collections and actual collections” reads: “Your attached letter (FIRS/EC/ECW/0249/19/027 dated 26 July 2019) on the above subject matter refers.

    “We observed significant variances between the budgeted collections and actual collections for the period 2015 to 2018. Accordingly, you are kindly invited to submit a comprehensive variance analysis explaining the reasons for the variances between budgeted and actual collections for each main tax item for each of the years 2015 to 2018.”

    Following the dwindling intake from oil sales and the determination of the government to expand the nation’s revenue base, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Fowler as FIRS boss on August 18, 2015 on a four-year renewable tenure. Questions are being raised in some quarters about the query, coming at a time the FIRS boss’ tenure is due for renewal or termination.

    Under Fowler, the FIRS in three years – 2016, 2017 and 2018 – collected over N12.6 trillion in taxes.

    It collected N3,307 trillion in 2016, N4,027 trillion in 2017 and N5,320 trillion in 2018. The 2018 collection is the highest amount of taxation ever collected in a year by the federal government.  In 2015, N3.2tr was raked in.

    In January, Fowler announced that the agency was targeting N8 trillion for 2019.

    The FIRS boss could not be reached on Sunday but sources close to him said he would send his response before the expiration of the deadline.

    Read Also: Presidency keeps mum over alleged deployment of Ita Enang

    The query marked: “Restricted” added, “we observed that the actual collections for the period 2015 to 2017 were significantly worse than what was collected between 2012 and 2014. Accordingly, you are kindly invited to explain the reason for the poor collections.

    Mallam Kyari directed Fowler “to respond by 19 August 2019.”

    Before the 2018’s N5.320 trillion collection, the highest was N5.07 trillion, which was generated in 2012 under Ms. Ifueko Omogui.

    Fowler had said in January: “FIRS’ generation of N5.3 trillion is significant as it was at a period when oil prices averaged $70 per barrel. Oil price was at an average of $100 to $120 per barrel between 2010 and 2013.”

    In realising the milestone, the FIRS boss noted that the non-oil component accounted for N2.467 trillion (about 53.62 per cent) of the N5.320 trillion.

    The oil element accounted for N2.852 trillion (46.38 per cent). From audit alone, the FIRS collected N212, 792 billion from 2,278 cases with a huge reduction in audit circle.

    Fowler added: “While we have been steadily increasing revenue collection over the years, our cost of collection has actually been going down in 2016 it was 2.6 per cent, in 2017 it was 2.49 per cent while in 2018 it was 2.14 per cent.”

    The FIRS is entitled to four per cent cost of the total collection.

    He said: “The Service has been making tremendous efforts in also increasing the amount of non-oil revenue it collects. Non-oil collection has contributed 64.99 per cent in 2016, in 2017 it contributed 62.25 per cent and in 2018 it contributed 53.62 per cent. This represents the government’s focus on increasing non-oil sources of revenue and the diversification of the economy.”

  • El-Zakzaky didn’t seek asylum in India, says IMN

    THE Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has said a recent statement credited to the Federal Government that its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, planned to seek asylum in India before his repatriation, is campaign of calumny by the government to cover up its “gross misconduct” in a foreign land.

    The Shi’ites group also accused the government of going beyond its role of supervision to giving instruction on which doctors the IMN leader and his wife could see.

    It accused the government of refusing to allow them access to their own doctors.

    A statement on Sunday by the President of its Media Forum, Ibrahim Musa, said El-Zakzaky was brought back to Nigeria because the government’s “evil schemes” could not be executed.

    Read Also: El-Zakzaky back after shunning treatment in India

    The statement said: “Sequel to the Nigerian government’s sinister operation that frustrated the treatment of the revered Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky and his wife, Mallama Zeenat, in India, which led to the repatriation of the couple, the Nigerian government, in its effort to deceive the general public, has concocted contradictory statements and lies to colour its acts of violating the order given by the Kaduna High Court allowing the sheikh to seek treatment in India, with the government only supervising.

    “The facts are that the government mischievously went beyond its role of supervision to the level of maliciously interfering in the medical process, instructing on which doctors the sheikh and his wife must see, while refusing to allow them access to their own doctors. Apparently, the government had a hidden mission, the details of which they had detailed specific doctors to execute. The sheikh was forced to either accept their choice or return home within two hours…”

  • ‘Presentation of certificate to INEC not mandatory’

    PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have faulted a core argument by Atiku Abubakar and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in their petition that the President was not qualified to contest the last presidential election.

    The petitioners allegedly that President Buhari allegedly failed to submit his secondary school certificate to the Independent National electoral Commission (INEC).

    The President and the APC argued that the Constitution does not mandate any candidate seeking to contest an election for the office of the President to attach his school certificate among documents to be attached to the Form CF001 to be submitted to INEC.

    “Section 131(d) of the Constitution provides that a person shall be qualified for election to the office of President if ‘he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent’.

    “From this clear constitutional provision, the question of tendering a certificate, or the mountain, which the petitioners have unfortunately made out of the molehill of a particular certificate, does not arise.

    “All that the Constitution requires and demands is education up to school certificate level or its equivalent. While this section of the Constitution is very clear and unambiguous, giving no room for no conjecture, the Constitution goes further to define what ‘School Certificate or its equivalent’ means under Section 318,” they said.

    This formed part of the arguments by President Buhari and APC in their final written addresses filed before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in reaction to similar final addresses filed by Atiku and the PDP.

    The President and his party, while arguing that the petitioners failed to lead evidence in support of their claim that President Buhari lacked the academic qualification to stand for election, noted that they failed to call witnesses to ground the claim, except only one, who even admitted that President Buhari was qualified.

    “The only witness who claimed to have had any intimacy with the respondent amongst the petitioners’ witnesses is PW1 – Buba Galadima – and his evidence, in his examination-in-chief and cross-examination, amounts to evidence against interest in several respects, including the fact that he was the Deputy Director General, Director of Operations and National Campaign Secretary of the respondent, in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

    “His only alibi was that he never saw the respondent’s first School Leaving Certificate. Assuming there was even no cross-examination of this suspect witness, his evidence, rather man assisting the petitioners, supports the respondent.

    “Under cross-examination, he (Galadima) told the court that he believed that the respondent was qualified to vie and contest for the office of President at the four times he supported him in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015; that respondent was military Head of State between 1983 and 1985; that respondent used to address the nation in English language.

    “What else does one need to establish the fact that the second respondent (Buhari) was/is eminently qualified to contest the election than the evidence of PW1, a former close aide of the respondent, who has confessed falling out with him? It is an admission against interest, which is the most potent weapon a party can use against his adversary in litigation,” the respondents said.

    Read Also: INEC withdraws C’River REC’s powers

    They cited cases, including the recent decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, in the appeal brought against the decision of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by the candidate of the PDP in the last governorship election in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, who was disqualified on ground of not possessing a secondary school certificate.

    “It is apt to draw the court’s attention to the fundamental fact that the decision in the Adeleke v. Raheem (supra), was arrived at while this Honourable Court was sitting on an appeal on a pre-election matter, which challenged the educational qualification of Adeleke, as well as the presentation of his Form CF001 to INEC, pursuant to the provision of Section 31(4) and (5) of the Electoral Act, which makes the subject a pre-election matter and not a post-election matter, as the petitioners have done in this case, for reasons best known to them.

    “May we further draw the attention of the court to the fact that in the Adeleke case, supra, the main reliefs sought against him relate to his disqualification under and by virtue of Section 177(d) of the Constitution on the grounds that he gave false information in his Form CF001 submitted to the INEC, claiming to have met the constitutional requirements, whereas, in the detailed result submitted by him, he only sat for English Language, where he failed woefully, scoring F9, and failed to turn up for any of the other subjects.

    “The West African Examination Council (WAEC) certified that he registered for the examination, sat for only one subject and failed to attend the other subjects. Adeleke did not have any other qualifying certificate or public service experience, be it in the Armed Forces, teaching service, or anywhere at all.

    “Unlike the respondent, who has shown his certificates qua result at the Secondary School level, apart from being commissioned into the Nigerian Army as 2nd Lieutenant in 1963, he attended the Nigerian Military Training College (now the Nigerian Defence Academy) for 12 months; the Officer ‘Cadet Training Course at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England; the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, India; the War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, United States of America, rising through the ranks to attain the rank of Major General; former Military Head of State, a man, who can communicate and who has been communicating effectively in English language.

    “With much respect, it is preposterous, and very unfortunate that the petitioners would make the educational qualification of the respondent an issue in this petition. On the flip side, it is submitted that this shows that the petitioners have nothing to urge on the court, thus, holding to any available straw,” the President and APC said.

     

  • NEITI, AuGF to partner on data sharing

    THE Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has pledged to work closely with the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) to promote integrity in data collation, validation and management on revenues from extractive industries.

    NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Mr Waziri Adio, gave the assurance in Abuja while receiving the AuGF, Mr. Anthony Ayine, during a visit to seek collaboration and partnership.

    Adio expressed concerns over poor sectoral linkages in data generation, collation, management and dissemination on revenues generated or expended from oil, gas and mining.

    In a statement on Sunday, the organisation said the Executive Secretary identified poor linkages among relevant agencies as major constraints in national planning, natural resource governance and public finance management.

    He said: “Our doors are quite open. NEITI is ready and willing to work with sister-agencies on information and data sharing, capacity and manpower development. We are also ready to collaborate and partner with the Office of the Auditor General in particular and other similar agencies in general to promote data integrity, openness, standards and uniformity in data collation, validation management and utilisation.

    “It is not just enough to be transparent; it is about being comprehensively transparent to ensure that the information is understood. Anything that will bring about transparency in the management of revenues we will give you all the support.

    Read Also: NEITI to engage NNPC regularly

    “We are working for the same purpose. We have to leverage on the strengths of the different agencies. We have done this for 15 years and we have the information that will guide you in the extractive industry.”

    The NEITI chief reminded the AuGF of the agency’s statutory responsibilities.

    Ayeni called for closer cooperation in data management and knowledge sharing towards efficient implementation of a World Bank-funded programme on fiscal governance.

    He said: “The World Bank-funded programme is to address fiscal management issues, which will help to strengthen accountability process of the nation’s economy. Five ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are participating. They include Auditor General’s Office, Ministry of Budget and Planning, National Bureau of Statistics, Bureau of Public Procurement, among others.

    “It is essential that the integrity of our national statistics is enhanced.”

    Ayine described NEITI as an institution of integrity, excellence on data generation, management and dissemination in the extractive industries.

    “It is very important and necessary that as institutions of the Federal Government that we create a structure whereby we collaborate and do our internal reconciliation of these figures for the integrity of our national data statistics,” he said.