The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PUBLIC

  • Nigeria’s unending public holidays

    SIR: Nigerians as a people are the most pleasure loving people in the world. Nigerians have the penchant for easy life and merriment and would stop at nothing in creating any opportunity simply to fully enjoy themselves.

    It is inconceivable and the height of absurdity that in this period of global economic meltdown and at a time when other nations are struggling to put their economy back on track, the Nigerian authorities seem to be oblivious of the economic catastrophe facing the nation by still embarking on what could rightly be described as frivolous public holiday jamboree. A common adage says “A person whose house is already on fire does not go about pursuing rats in his house”.

    There is no gainsaying the fact that the Nigerian economy is in dire distress and in the doldrums due to the sharp fall in oil price in the international market. Many state governments are already on the verge of insolvency even as they are presently incapable of discharging their statutory obligations to their people including the payment of the workers monthly salaries in their employment.

    The Federal Government on the other hand is presently in a precarious situation as to how to implement the budget for the 2016 fiscal year.

    The present economic woes facing the nation are legion and therefore, any responsible and responsive government that is conscious of its obligations to the people must be able to adopt certain stringent measures that would encourage and promote the optimum level of productivity so as to stimulate and sustain the economy rather than engaging in unnecessary and frivolous celebrations of public holidays.

    Nothing illustrates the lack of seriousness and gross insensitivity on the part of the federal government than the recent declaration of one additional day to celebrate the Moslem festival of Id-el-Fitri which was earlier celebrated for two days running. It is indeed heart breaking that Nigeria lost billions of Naira due to the abrupt stoppage of economic activities during the three long days of public holidays at a most critical period when the nation’s economy is already fast grinding to a halt and needed urgent measures to revitalize it.

    It has become imperative for the nation to make a choice either to rapidly develop her economy through increased level of national productivity or remain perpetually a consumption nation with stunted growth and grossly underdeveloped. Should the nation therefore decide to speedily diversify her economy, then it must be prepared to work very hard for its realization since no meaningful success could ever be achieved in life without hard work, dedication and the spirit of perseverance.

    In the light of the foregoing, the nation must be prepared to jettison the observance of certain public holidays which are unnecessary and inimical to optimum productivity in the nation’s economy. The nation must equally move back to the observance of the religious public holidays originally adopted at independence in 1960 namely: the Christmas and Easter celebrations for the Christian faithful as well the Id-el-Malud and Id-el-Fitri for the Islamic adherents.

    Only very important events in the nation’s history ought to be observed as public holidays such as the independence or national day anniversary. Other events such as democracy day among others should be completely abolished. The workers’ day otherwise known as May Day as well as children’s day celebrations should only be observed as work free day and after the traditional march past ceremonies, the workers should immediately return to their duty posts.

    In the same vein, the aforementioned public holidays must be strictly observed on the days which they fall on and the idea of shifting the holidays to any other working days whenever the holidays happen to fall on weekends as is the common practice must be stopped forthwith.

    Nigeria cannot afford to the remain slavish to certain unproductive traditions or practices such as the observance of unnecessary and utterly ridiculous public holidays in the face of the current extremely harsh economic realities and uncertainties in the country.

     

    • NzeNwabuezeAkabogu (JP),

    Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State.

  • NASU decries poor funding of public libraries

    The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational Institutions (NASU)  has warned that the decline in the funding of public libraries and the National Library of Nigeria is detrimental to the development of the educational sector.

    NASU made this observation at their regular meeting in Benin, the Edo State capital at the weekend. They decried the concession of e-libraries by some state governors to private operators, as against their administration by Library Boards.

    The group, in the resolutions jointly signed by the Deputy President, Adegoke Adeniyi, and  the Secretary, Damola Adelekun, noted with dismay the derelict state of public libraries due to paucity of funds.

    It, therefore, called on all tiers of government, philanthropists and organisations to devise a steady means of ensuring increased inflow of resources to the sector.

    The group said: “For the country to develop and for the present government’s clamour for eradication of illiteracy to materialise, proper attention must be given to the resuscitation of libraries in Nigeria.

    “The Council-in-Session, therefore, calls on all stakeholders to prioritise adequate funding of this important area of the educational sector and also implore the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to intervene in funding public and national libraries as it does for public institutions’ libraries.”

    The union decried the low funding of examination bodies over the years.

    It warned that this may have adverse effects on examinations conducted by the bodies as well as on the training and creativity of the youth.

    It called on the federal and state governments to increase budgetary allocations to examination bodies, such as WAEC, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Examinations Council (NECO), and National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) to strengthen them and secure the future of the nation’s youths. The union lamented that, Nigeria has continued to remain under-developed in spite of being blessed with mineral resources, large area of arable land and rich cultural heritage due to corruption.

    Commending the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari onthe fight against corruption, the group advised that it should cut across board. “Moreover, the fight against corruption should cut across the three tiers of government”, it added.

    It also charged the government to publish the amount collected so far and the names of the looterss.

    The resolution stated further: “The Council-in-Session also canvassed for a living wage for civil servants in order to stamp out unofficial ways of supplementing their incomes and urged all Nigerians to join hands with the government to fight corruption.”

  • Policeman, tricyclist fight in public

    There was pandemonium at Canoe in Isolo Local Council Development Area of Lagos yesterday as a policeman and a tricyclist engaged in a free-for-all.

    The incident which occurred around 8:30am, close to the tricyclists’ park was said to have been triggered by a policeman in multi who slapped the commercial rider.

    It was gathered that the tricyclist was heading toward Ajao Estate when he almost hit a man standing by the road side.

    In anger, the man was said to have slapped the operator several times, leading to retaliation.

    Not knowing that the man was a policeman, the tricyclist retaliated, beating him to a pulp before onlookers intervened.

    The Nation gathered that it was in the course of the fight that the rider knew he had attacked a policeman and fled, abandoning his tricycle.

    Policemen from Ajao Estate Division were said to have stormed the area in two patrol vans in search of the operator.

    According to eyewitnesses, the policemen carried the tricycle as well as their beaten colleague away, but no one has seen the operator after the fight.

    An eyewitness said: “The policeman was not on uniform. He was the one who slapped the tricyclist first for attempting to hit him and then, the operator retaliated. That was how the fight started. People around tried to separate them. The operator fled after he knew that the man was a police officer. He abandoned his tricycle. It was people around who showed the police when they came that the tricycle belonged to him and they took it away.”

  • How to create efficient public service, by HoS

    Lagos State Head of Service (HOS) Mrs Olabowale Ademola has urged public servants to continue to provide quality service in line with the government’s policy of inclusion.

    Mrs Ademola was briefing reporters over the weekend, to kick off the 2016 Public Service Week Celebration in the state, with the theme, “Inclusiveness and Public Service Delivery”.

    The celebration, she said, was significant because it is an opportunity to reflect on the progress made so far in transforming the civil service into a modern, innovative and effective instrument of governance and development.

    The commemoration of the Public Service Day, the HoS noted, is in pursuance of the Tangier Declaration of the Conference of African Civil Service Ministers which in 1994 mandated African countries to observe June 23 as the African Day of Administration and Civil Service.

    “The primary objective of the celebration is to acknowledge the contributions that the civil service makes towards the development of our dear state and to highlight the vital role it will play in meeting the challenges which the 21st century promises. The day is also meant to draw attention to the working conditions and quality of public servants who devote their lives to service diligently,”Mrs. Ademola said.

    According to her, Lagos is one of the few states consistently observing the Public Service Day and the government has lined up activities stretching over a week which would end on Thursday, in order to show how important the day is to the Public Service Office.

    She added: “As it is our tradition, a lot of activities mixed with pomp and ceremony have been lined up in a week-long exercise that will climax June 23 to commemorate the day. Such activities include Jumat service’, interdenominational service, walk for Fitness, parades by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAS), visitation to charitable organisations, health screening and public lecture, among others.”

    The HoS urged public servants to participate in all the activities to ensure a successful week-long celebration.

    Earlier,Ven. Femi Taiwo Presiding Chaplain of the Chapel of Christ the Light, Alausa, Ikeja, advised the workers tobe diligent in their duties.

    He gave the advice at an Interdominational Thanksgiving Service to commemorate the celebration.

    Speaking on the theme: “Faithful servants & reward of hard work”, Ven. Taiwo said public servants must be assiduously in their assignment, distinguish themselves and exhibit exemplary service.

    He said: “Hard work is the antidote to poverty’ adding that God created people to work, give service to humanity and care for others hence public servants must always work hard.

    The thanksgiving service was attended by the governor’s wife, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for the Environment, Dr. Babatunde Adejare, the Chief Judge, Justice Olufunmilayo Atilade, who was represented by the Chief Registrar of the Lagos, High Court, Mr. Emmanuel Ogundare; Mrs. Ademola, a former Head of Service, Mr Adesegun Ogunlewe, and  Permanent Secretaries.

  • Senate passes Public Procurement Bill

    The Senate yesterday passed the Public Procurement Act, 2007 Amendment Bill .

    The bill, if assented to by the President, will, among other things, give priority to locally made goods in all government procurements.

    Presenting the report at plenary, the Chairman of the Procurement Committee, Senator Joshua Dariye said the essence of the bill was to provide for and adopt the local content policy.

    According to him, certain sections of the 2007 version of the Act had been amended to favour local manufacturers and ensure speedy completion of projects.

    Said he: “Similarly, the issue of disposal which is an integral aspect of procurement has been aptly captured by the amendment in the new sub-clause 1(e).

    “The committee has equally sustained the amendment to section 34(1,2) sought by the bill for the purpose of patronising made-in-Nigeria goods; this will go a long way to encourage our Nigerian manufacturers.

  • Ekiti labour leaders slam Fayose for ‘feeding public with lies’

    Ekiti labour leaders slam Fayose for ‘feeding public with lies’

    Ekiti State labour leaders have accused Governor Ayo Fayose of feeding the public with lies to whip up sentiment against the workers’ strike.

    In a statement after an emergency meeting yesterday at the Labour House in Egbewa, Ado-Ekiti, they denied being part of a meeting, where money coming from the Federation Account was shared sector-by-sector.

    The statement, which was in response to the governor’s claims during his monthly media chat, was jointly signed by Paul Olayemi of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), John Adebayo (Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Blessing Oladele (Joint Negotiating Council (JNC).

    It blamed the governor for mentioning just four of the 10 demands presented to him by the unions. According to the workers’ leaders, no solutions were given to even the four.

    They said the governor’s resort to divide and rule to break the strike won’t work since they were resolute to ensure that the five months arrears of salaries are paid.

    They said: “The ongoing strike is not an ego trip or politically-motivated, but about the rights of workers and pensioners who are dying daily out of hunger and frustration”.

    The labour leaders berated the governor for deciding to go on strike too, noting: “This (decision) leaves much to be desired”.

    They said contrary to the statement by the governor that he incorporated representatives of labour unions in the state’s monthly cash allocation meetings, “the meeting is only a briefing and not a cash allocation meeting”.

    “So, the idea of labour leaders sharing monthly cash allocation and the governor approving does not arise. There has never been any advice or suggestion given to government by the organised labour at this forum that has ever been taken,” the statement said.

    They added that there was ever a time they reached accords with government to pay only net salary, which would exclude cooperative deductions, bank loans and union dues.

    The labour leaders expressed regrets that the governor himself had condemned net payment when he came on board.

    They added that Fayose dismissed same as a “fraud” during his election campaigns.

    The organised labour expressed shock over the internally generated revenue (IGR) figures reeled out by the governor, which they said were contrary to that ever declared by the state’s accountant general at any of their meetings.

    According to them, while the accountant general gave figures, which ranged between only N150 million and N200 million, except that of N268 million for April, the governor during his media chat gave N267 million for September 2015; N252 million for October 2015; N195 million for November 2015; and N181 million for December 2015.

    They added that the governor said for January, February and March, the accruals were N389 million, N381 million and N302 million.

    “Labour was embarrassed to hear the monthly IGR read on air by his excellency,” the statement said.

    The leadership of the unions berated the governor for planning to pay only the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), a section of workers in the state, which had decided to pull out of the ongoing strike action.

    They urged workers to remain in their houses until otherwise directed by their unions.

    Their words: “On the issue of outstanding salary, it is common knowledge that workers have performed their duties efficiently and effectively for the period of January to May 2016 and hence, they deserve their pay without further delay.

    “Therefore, contrary to government’s decision to pay the sector that opted out of the struggle is tantamount to divide and rule tactics usually employed by government in situations like this.

    “It should be noted that labour has neither suspended nor call off the ongoing industrial action. Hence, we are using this medium to implore the workers to stay at home and observe the strike action until the leadership of organised labour gives further directives.”

  • Presidency: why recovered cash can’t be made public yet

    Presidency: why recovered cash can’t be made public yet

    The cash recovered from former public officers under probe by anti-graft agencies will not be made public yet because it will be used as evidence against them in court, the Presidency said yesterday.

    Presidential spokesman Mallam Garba Shehu said much as President Muhammadu Buhari would have liked to let Nigerians know how much has been recovered, it will be impossible for now.

    He said the money recovered is in the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), adding that “the issue of how much has been returned has been there. The money retrieved has to be used as evidence in court. The President said two things; we will recover and we will prosecute. So, as it is now, you don’t go and bring all these billions returned out.

    “I am aware that there is an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where some of these funds are being kept and are evidence for a judge to see. It is not for public display. I think that is the challenge we have at the moment.”

    Shehu said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will soon hit the road travelling around the country to address town hall meetings, explaining government policies and actions. The town hall meetings, he said, will hold in the first instance at zonal levels before going down to state capitals.

    Shehu said: “ Government realises that there is a need to take information to the people and there are steps that are being taken in order to ensure that this is done.”

    Explaining the delay in the reconstituting government agencies, Shehu said President Buhari wanted to be fair to every chief executive of government agencies. “If he wanted to fire people on assumption of office, he would have done it and would not have violated any rule. But he decided to give everyone a chance to see whether they would imbibe the change mantra, and  be prepared to come along.”

    He said with offices in the 774 local governments and state offices, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) needed to do more to enlighten Nigerians on the government’s policies.

    “I will say with all sincerity that I know that the NOA has worried us in government. The people and the leadership never believed in what we are doing; they never believed in change and so, they just folded their arms and watched us in the last eight to nine months. When they are there, I believe the new leadership will begin to formulate things for agencies like that.”

    While admitting that the government needs to do more in public enlightenment, Shehu said “to be fair to Minister of Information Lai Mohammed, I have never seen somebody as hardworking as that gentleman even as minister.  You find out that he doesn’t miss the talk shows on radio, from one radio station to another and then he will move to a television station, to a newspaper and all of that.

    “I believe that more needs to be done. I agree with you. We have an agency like NOA with 774 offices nationwide; each has not less than five to seven officials and well-equipped. But you know also, sometimes democracy has its own dark side.”

    On the fight against insurgency, Shehu congratulated Nigerians on the achievements so far recorded by the Buhari administration, adding that at the moment, no city in the country is under curfew, while military road blocks have been dismantled.

    He said the biggest challenge facing the government in the fight against insurgency is rebuilding damaged facilities, adding that now that the budget has been passed into law, the much- expected implementation of the government’s campaign promises will begin to unfold.

    “So, in effect, money available will be spent from the moment the budget is signed. I believe that those who have fasted can now begin to enjoy, I mean money would be unleashed into the country and there would be a lot of activities that would go forth the moment the budget is signed”, he said.

    Speaking on alleged secret recruitment by some government agencies, Shehu said: “ I would stay out of this because I know that the parliament is investigating this and I believe we should wait for the outcome of the investigation  by the House of Representatives.

    “I have been approached by a number of people who say ‘can you give me a note to so or so agency?’ A lot is happening in this country and I keep saying that Buhari’s government is not a government of notes. I guess that whoever is found doing that would get himself in trouble. He is not a nepotist and I think you know that.

    “So, I think that the parliament should be allowed to look into it. I have personally called one of these agencies mentioned to ask whether it is true that they are recruiting and he said no, but the parliament can call for any documents and testimonies from anybody and they can determine whether it is true .”

  • Public mood, expectations and anger

    The  revelations of blatant misuse of public funds by the EFCC at the trial of former  Chief of Defence Alex  Badeh was  the most provocative and nauseating one, in the orgy of looting  of  public funds  that has been let loose on the Nigerian public in recent times. The details are  suffocating and will  not be repeated here,   but suffice it say  it has dented the image of not only the Nigerian air force,  as I told a friend who happened to be  a retired AVM   a  few  days ago  but  that of the entire  Nigerian  military. My  military friend’s defence was   a feeble retort   after  which  he kept  thunderously    quiet    and  ponderous  in my company.  His   reply  was that politicians too are corrupt to which I told him that that was well known and that was why Nigerians welcomed the military in the several coups  that have truncated our fragile  democracy.  I  told   him  bluntly   that today the military’s  image or capability  for such welcome intervention has become an  abomination and a thing of the past given the way top Airforce  bosses  have used  money  meant   for ammunition and fighter jets,  to buy properties  and  had kept such  money with  their  wives  who  are now returning the loot to  in millions  of naira and  dollars  to  the   emptied  treasuries  of  a  raped nation. That  reply or  rebuke  of the military  is  the mood I am  in as I  tackle  the topic of  the day.

    Public  mood is a human  phenomenon that  moves with the times, with no apologies to those unleashing it or those  at its receiving end. It  is like a fashion  or  fad, here today, gone tomorrow. That is the context in which  I want to  look at the issues and personalities  I want to deal with on this page today.

    The  first  is  the meteoric rise  of the Donald  Trump presidential candidacy  for the Republican party in the US and  the concern of that party leadership  and hierarchy,   with   the  disturbing prospect  of the possibility  of not only a Trump Republican  presidential  candidacy  but the prospect  of a Trump victory and presidency in the November presidential  elections  in the US .

    The  second was  the news  that the Brazilian Police have raided the home  of former President Lula  da  Silva as  part of the Inquiry into  corruption  at  Petrobas the Brazilian oil giant  and equivalent of our own  NNPC. The  inquiry code  named – Operation  Car  Wash-is following trails that Lula  bought  houses  for his son like  our Badeh  who also renovated the house with 60m naira of looted funds.  In addition the Police  in Brazil are working on the intelligence that Lula’s  famous ranch had been built from bribes from  contractors handling Petrobas sprawling and lucrative oil  business.

    Let  me  now  go back  to the greedy  use  of public funds  by the  former Airforce Chief and Defence boss  Alex  Badeh. I  go  into the archives  to recall some utterances of this military  leader in order  to reconcile them with the exposures by the EFCC.  First  it was under this man that some Nigerian military officers  and other ranks were put on court  martial for cowardice  and refusing to fight because they  complained of lack of equipment or supply  of poor and inferior  ammunition. Badeh  insisted then on the trial and but for people like Femi  Falana  some of these people would  have been summarily executed.

    Yet at Badeh’s military retirement pull out ceremony he revealed that he fought the  Boko  Haram insurgency   during his tenure without adequate arms and ammunition. If  you look  back at the court  martial and the admission  of inadequate equipment by  this Air  Marshal  and compare that with the acquisitions  he made with money meant for arms to fight Boko  Haram, you see such inconsistencies, greed and unbridled acquisitive tendencies  that propels you  to want  to register his name in the Guinness Book  of Records for acute mendacity and  you can imagine the public  mood of rage  and fury over the   sordid  and  ongoing   revelations  at his trial.

    Next  is the Donald  Trump prospect  for US presidency which has  sent  jitters around the US  and indeed the  entire  world  including Nigeria.  My friend Eric Teniola an ace and veteran journalist himself sent me a text early one morning this week ,which said – It  looks as if America will  not accept a possible  Donald  Trump presidency. I  replied Eric who I fondly call Erico – Nobody  can stop an idea or a man whose  time  has come.  That  really is my view on Donald  Trump  and his present  robust  foray into presidential politics in the US . I have written  this way before and  I stand by it even now that Mitt  Romney the last  presidential candidate of the Republican party has   come  out to condemn Trump  as  a ‘fraud‘ and as phony.  I will explain.

    The  fact  that Mitt  Romney  has used such  words on Trump showed  that Trump is important in the presidential  race  for  people like Romney to want him abused and disgraced out of the way. Unfortunately Romney has used language that Trump had  been condemned for and that makes them birds  of the same feather.  So  if Romney could contest for the Republican Party why  cant Trump who  is richer than him in a party of the rich and wealthy and who also  has the gift of the garb which Romney obviously lacked against  Obama when they contested for  the presidency last  time around in 2012, when Trump endorsed  Romney?

    More  importantly,  the public mood in the US is for a  change  from the usual  politics of business as usual,  as well  as  the   dynastic politics of the Kennedys, the Bushes and the  Clintons. That  explains why Hillary  Clinton  is finding it tough suppressing Bart  Sanders in the Democratic Party Presidential  candidacy race  as  widely anticipated  before. This is because  Sanders is presenting himself as an outsider like Trump and both are campaigning on the rhetoric  of failure of leadership  by the present political establishment of the two major parties in the US. That  coincidence of strategy, the politics of the outsider in both parties , is the dominant and resonant theme in this 2016  US presidential  elections and the reason is not far  fetched.

    It  is  simply a reaction  to the performance of the Obama Administration in the last 8 years. The  record  is there for all to see. Poor performance of the US economy, the  global  rise of Islamic  State and  Boko  Haram, global  hatred and  mistrust of Americans and feeling of insecurity  by Americans in their home land. That  is the Obama legacy which Hillary is sworn  to continue if elected president. That to me alone is enough to make Donald  Trump the sweet  bride of the majority of the US  electorate especially as he was  bold to call  a sitting US president a security risk  and he got even more popular for saying that . Surely  Donald  Trump  may be a very  crude  maverick yet it seems that the time and tide are made for his brand of politics and rhetoric and that would be difficult for anyone to change or stop at the 2016 presidential campaigns  and elections in November.

    Lastly we  come to  Lula da  Silva my favorite  Brazilian President till  now.  Lula  was a trade unionist and working class person but he made it to become president of his nation. He  was much  loved  for his common and simple background. The  nearest  thing to Lula in terms of  oratory and defence of workers  rights in Nigeria is Adams  Oshiomole, the fiery  governor  of Edo  state and  I wish him  the same  trajectory   as  Lula, minus the present unfortunate Petrobas  debacle.

    Lula  was a president after my heart for  bringing the 2014  World  Cup  and the 2016  Olympics  to Brazil. He  canvassed  personally  for the two bids and defeated bids from the US and  Britain even when US President  Barak  Obama  and   Britain’s  Prince of Wales, Prince  Charles  were present at such  bids. He  also  had the leadership  foresight to pick his successor Dilmar  Rusself who is the present president of Brazil in her second term. Dilmar  was Lula’s  Chief of staff  when Lula  was president of  Brazil. Now  things have turned sour over corruption charges  against  Lula in a Dilmar presidency and that is politics. The  Brazilian public mood  has  changed as in Nigeria and there is anger against corruption in high places no matter  whose  ox is gored.

    For  Brazil the misfortune started with the 2014  World Cup  when Brazilians  who normally love  football  took to the streets to protest the inflated and exorbitant prices of construction of stadia for the World  Cup as well as the corrupt and expensive life styles of Brazilian soccer  officials. That disrupted the soccer fiesta and earned Brazil a bad name in terms  of organizing successful sporting events. The  worst  part was that  Brazil, the host nation confident of lifting the World Cup built a fragile  team around an even more fragile  and much inexperienced Neymar and  got knocked out in disgrace  by Germany who  beat them by 7 goals  to  one.  Now  the government of Dilmar is probing  her  former  boss in what they have called Operation  Car  Wash  which  is the equivqlent  of our Dasuki gate.  Except  of course  for  the fact  that  we  are yet  to  muster  the courage to question  the  man on whose  table  the buck  stopped while  the  NSA reportedly gave out funds  meant  for arms for  campaigns  during his tenure as Dilmar  has done on her predecessor.  Again  long live the Federal  Republic  of Nigeria.

  • The New Diplomat goes public today

    The New Diplomat is out today for sale with a cover price of N200.

    Its publisher and Group Chairman is Mr. Oma Djebah, a Harvard trained public policy entrepreneur and seasoned international journalist with over 25 years’ media experience.

    He described The New Diplomat as “a fortnightly newspaper, which serves effectively as Nigeria’s global voice in business, political and diplomatic reporting while at the same time providing strong and pragmatic platform for effective interaction between innovation, leadership and public policy”.

    Its major revealing stories in the latest edition include how sack dangles over the head of Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, as the crisis trailing the naira and Nigeria’s monetary policy worsens.

    The report captures behind the scene scheming and political intrigues fuelling the call for reforms in the nation’s monetary policy and the call for Emefiele’s sack.

    Also in the edition is an exclusive marathon and revealing interview with Lagos fiery lawyer and human rights crusader Mr. Femi Falana, SAN.

    He revealed in details for the first time, why he is suing former National Security Adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki and former Finance Minister and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and others at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    Some of the newspaper’s consistent Advisory Board writers include award-winning Cambridge University trained Economist Dr. Ayo Teriba; one of Africa’s foremost media scholars and founding father of Highway Africa in South Africa, Dr. Roland Stanbridge; poet, activist and lawyer Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo and former Acting Assistant Secretary General at the United Nations(UN) and Harvard trained Economist, Ambassador Eloho Otobo.

    Others are immediate past Chair of the School of African Studies at the prestigious Hunter College City University, New York Prof. Ehiedu Iweriebor and Djebah, who is also former Delta State Commissioner for Information.

  • ICAN visits Adeosun, supports Public Finance Reforms

    The ongoing reforms in the nation’s public finance sector received a boost on Thursday when the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) endorsed the measures being undertaken. It passed a vote of confidence on the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, during a courtesy visit to the Ministry of Finance in Abuja.

    The leader of the delegation and President of the Institute, Otunba Olufemi Deru, commended the efforts of the Minister and her team thus far, said ICAN is solidly behind the Federal Government in its efforts to rid the civil service of grafts and other fraudulent activities.

    He lauded the effort of the Minister to achieve cost savings and eliminate ghost workers, saying money recovered from these exercises could be invested for the benefit of the Nigerian people.

    He disclosed that in a bid to key into the government’s programme, ICAN is training its members on forensic investigation so as to assist the Federal Government to trace illicit funds in Nigeria and abroad.

    Mrs. Adeosun said the present administration is resolute on its resolve to plug all loopholes and ensure judicious use of the nation’s resources.

    She explained that the Federal Government is committed to reforming the public finance of the country as one of the levers to unlock the nation’s economic prosperity. She stated that the government plans to introduce a risk-based internal audit system and implement adequate controls.

    She said efforts are being made to present a bill to the National Assembly so as to pass the proposed internal audit into law.

    Mrs. Adeosun also spoke about efforts being made to strengthen the capacity of small and medium enterprises, explaining that the Federal Government is introducing a programme that will mandate big accounting firms to partner with small firms as a condition to be eligible for government business.

    Mrs. said the programme would yield significant benefits including the desired knowledge of the local context that small scale accounting firms would bring to bear across the country, as well as the capacity enhancement that the small scale firms would gain from partnering with their more established counterparts.