The Nation Newspaper

Tag: punish

  • Punish electoral offenders

    The Awori Traditional Rulers and Awori Native Coalition (ANC) have urged the government to prosecute electoral offenders.

    A joint communique signed by Olota of Ota Oba Adeyemi Obalanlege and ANC President Oye Taiwo, said doing so will stem the tide of impunity in the system.

    According to them, the three-year imprisonment without option of fine as penalty for any electoral malpractices by electoral officials as provided in the constitution was not sufficient enough as a deterrent to prospective perpetrators.

    They called for a stiffer penalty. They noted that the on growing tendency towards political intolerance in the nation was anti-progress and enjoined politicians to “eschew politics of do or die affair.”

    Any politician who encouraged violence, they said, shall be cursed with the spirits of their ancestors.

    They warned electoral officials especially the ad-hoc workers to avoid falling into temptation of corrupt politicians.

     

     

  • Lagos to punish two sanitation officers for ‘misconduct’

    Two Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) officers arrested last week in Apapa will be punished for alleged misconduct, Commissioner for the Environment, Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti said yesterday.

    Oduyomi Oluwakemi with Oracle Number 193886 and Ofoesuwa Oluwayemi – 194375 – were said to have conspired with some traders to display their wares on the road median.

    The officers, the commissioner said, would be dealt with in accordance with the laws to deter others.

    Durosinmi-Etti said: “Officers of L AGESC must maintain discipline and integrity in carrying out their duties, as they are ambassadors of the Lagos State Government. The state government has a policy of zero-tolerance on street trading, display of goods on road medians and roadside hawking. The government has given the LAGESC officials the mandate to effectively clamp down on all violators of the environmental laws. It is disheartening to discover that some officers still indulge in manipulating and contravening these laws. It is regrettable that some officers, even after thorough training on how to go about their duties, have decided to disregard their training and flout laid-down rules and regulations.”

    He said street traders and hawkers were found to be responsible for vandalising and defacing the environment.

    The commissioner warned LAGESC and other officers in the environment sector to adhere to the public service code of conduct, as government would not hesitate to prosecute anyone found contravening the laws.

    Durosinmi-Etti urged residents to be wary of overzealous officers or those with dubious character.

    He asked the public to report the activities of such officers to the ministry.

  • Forex repatriation: CBN to punish non-compliant exporters

    Forex repatriation: CBN to punish non-compliant exporters

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-backed Bankers’ Committee yesterday announced the commencement of sanctions against exporters who fail to repatriate foreign exchange (forex) proceeds from their business into the economy. The sanctions will be implemented by the apex bank.

    Addressing financial journalists at the end of the Bankers’ Committee meeting in Lagos, Citibank Nigeria Managing Director/CEO Akin Dawodu spoke of a provision in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Foreign Exchange Manual that mandates all exporters to repatriate export proceeds back to the country to support the local currency and the economy.

    There is a 90-day grace period during which all proceeds from non-oil exports must be repatriated to the country and all arrears cleared. Dawodu said after the moratorium, non-compliant exporters will be blacklisted and banned from accessing banking services as well as forex from the CBN.

    He said repatriating export proceeds will boost Nigeria’s balance of trade.

    Also speaking, CBN Director, Banking Supervision, Abdullahi Ahmad, said the apex bank is monitoring non-oil exporters and assessing compliance levels. “The period of grace is gone and now is the time for heavy sanctions against defaulters. Defaulters will be banned from accessing banking services,” he said.

    Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves have hit $42 billion, according to Ahmad, who added that the economy remained at its lowest risk rating at present.

    “Nigeria’s capital market is the best in the world; inflation has been coming down, even as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is expected to be sustained above two per cent,” he said.

    External reserve was $40.4 billion as at last December. The last time the foreign reserves hit the $40 billion mark was January 2014, about five months before the crash in global oil prices. In September 2008, the country’s foreign exchange reserves hit $62 billion, with the Federal Government spending $12 billion from it to settle external debts.

    FSDH Merchant Bank Managing Director Mrs. Hamda Ambah said the Bankers’ Committee also adopted a unified rate N360/$ for all Personal Travel Allowances (PTAs), Basic Travel Allowances (BTAs), school fees and transactions without commission.

    She said the committee also urged bank customers to report any defaulting lender for appropriate sanctions. The banks are to buy dollar from the CBN at N357/$1 and sell to end-users at N360/$1.

    According to the CBN manual, proceeds of oil and non-oil exports are to be repatriated into the export proceeds domiciliary accounts of their exporters’ accounts within 90 days for oil exports and 180 days for non-oil exports. Where this policy is violated, the collecting bank will be liable to a fine of 10 per cent of the Free On Board value of the transaction, including other appropriate penalties as provided in the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA).

    Likewise, where the exporter fails to repatriate the proceeds into the domiciliary account within the stipulated period, the exporter will be barred from participating in all the segments of foreign exchange market in Nigeria.

    Ahmad said many exporters, who benefited from Federal Government support scheme, have continually failed to comply with this directive. The defaulters will be barred from accessing other banking services.

    To Ahmad, since the CBN is taking strategic steps to ensure that Nigerian exporters’ businesses thrive, not sending earned dollar back to the economy is not proper.

  • ‘Fed Govt should punish marketers diverting fuel’

    ‘Fed Govt should punish marketers diverting fuel’

    The Vice President of Industrial Global Union, Comrade Issa Aremu, has urged the Federal Government to ensure marketers diverting fuel are punished.

    Aremu spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at a special lecture to mark his 57th birthday.

    The labour leader said the nation was grappling with multitude of problems because it has been enmeshed in governance crisis and not fuel crisis as being insinuated.

    He identified the crisis in the petroleum as fundamental, saying it requires sustainable domestic supply with availability of refineries in the country.

    He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to rein in on cabals in the oil industry, who he alleged, were all out to inflict hardship on the entire populace.

    Aremu said: “Better late than never. I commend the two stakeholders meetings recently convened by President Buhari and the Senate leadership on the petroleum crisis. I follow the deliberations keenly.

    “Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu listed the problems facing the downstream petroleum sector, as lack of sufficient reserve, low clearance speed of petrol at the ports, diversion of products as some of the reasons for the ongoing fuel crisis being experienced in the country.

    “All the identified problems show that Nigeria does not have fuel crisis but governance crisis. It is government through the NNPC that must have enough product reserve. It is the government that must clear products timely at the port. It is the government that must fix refineries at home. It’s the government that must put an end to criminal corruption ridden products imports for which Nigeria spends as much as $12 billion annually.

    “The Federal Government should not only make marketers responsible for every tank of fuel up until point of delivery, but there must also be severe consequences for product diversions. Diversion of critical inelastic indispensable product like petrol must be treated as an act of terrorism.

    “The current fuel crisis shows that there is no substitute for good governance. As we can see near deregulation over the years means nothing but fuel price increases for the masses, trillions Naira reaps off for the cabals.

    “The point cannot be overstated; President Buhari should know that market dogma in terms of deregulation, is no substitute for governance. There is the need for national as well corporate governance in both the upstream and downstream petroleum sector. There should be prompt sanctions for non-compliance and rewards for those who play by the rules. The National Assembly must make oversight function routine. Legislators must be more proactive. Notwithstanding their latest commendable efforts, their action is still reactive not proactive. Never again should government at all levels be off duty. Marketers are in business to make profit, which they would do through padded fuel price template or blatant products diversions as revealed not long ago by Minister of State, Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

    “However the government is there to ensure the prosperity of the nation and the welfare of the citizens. It is wrong for government officials to privilege marketers who are just interested in profit making with special exchange rate with utter disregard for the real sector of the economy and welfare of all.

    “The challenge facing the petroleum downstream sector goes beyond pricing. The fundamental issue is sustainable domestic supply, which can only be made possible through reinvention of the existing domestic refineries and building of more.

    “Nigerians want to see the President and Vice President commissioning new refineries in line with the promise of Economic Recovery and Growth Plan that Nigeria will refine 80 percent in 2018. We don’t want to see Executive petroleum fuel attendant but Executive service and product delivery.

    “Unfortunately Nigerians have not seen much activism on the part of the government in this direction.”

  • Punish perpetrators, says MSSN

    The Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) Lagos State Area Unit yesterday described the incident as shocking and worrisome.

    Its President, Dr Saheed Ashafa, in a statement, urged the government and security agencies to secure schools to ensure pupils’ safety.

    He said pupils were the victims of insecurity in the state, noting that the perpetrators must be brought to book.

    Ashafa said: “We are shocked to witness a repeat of this ugly situation within a very short span of time. We advice the government to take a decisive step to put a stop to the occurrence of this kind of experience subsequently. We suggest that well-equipped security personnel should be permanently stationed in our schools, in addition to other intelligence measures.

    “As we sympathise with the families of the victims, we urge the state and security agencies to deplore all necessary apparatus to regain freedom for the victims.

    “This occurrence should serve as a charge and reminder that even at 50 years of creation, everything is not perfect yet. The Lagos State Government needs to intensify effort in improving the state and the standard of education.

    “We equally urge members of public to complement the efforts of government in ensuring adequate security in our schools by making necessary information available.”

  • Fed Govt to punish perpetrators of Ife crisis

    •Blames crisis on thugs

    The Federal Government, at the weekend, said perpetrators of the crisis in Ile-Ife, Osun State, will be punished.

    The crisis, which ignited hostilities between Hausa and Yoruba communities, claimed many lives and destroyed property.

    Speaking with State House correspondents, Minister of Interior Abdulraman Danbazzau said the perpetrators would be prosecuted.

    He said: “I visited Ife upon my arrival from South Africa, where I went in company of  Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss with the South African government on the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.

    “The incident happened when we were away. The deputy governor received me and my entourage because the governor was away in Abuja.

    “We saw the extent of the damage and met the leadership of the community and we discussed with them.

    “We emphasised the need to remain in peace and that revenge and reprisal should not come to anybody’s mind because the government is handling the situation.

    “We made them understand that the government will ensure it protects lives and property,” he said.

    Stressing that the crisis was not caused by ethnicity,  the minister said the Hausa and Yoruba communities had lived peacefully in the last 200 years.

    According to him, some thugs took the law into their hands and killed innocent people and destroyed property.

    Danbazzau said: “It is very clear that this issue is not about crisis between Hausa and Yoruba.

    “The Hausa community has been living in Ife close to 200 years. I understand that the first settlers arrived in 1820 and this is about the fourth or fifth generation.

    “They have never experienced this kind of thing until now.

    “So it is not about ethnicity. It is about a bunch of people who decided to constitute themselves as nuisance to carry out this dastardly act. Quite a number of them escaped from the community.”

    The minister said he held another meeting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, to advise the Hausa community to continue to live peacefully in the Southwest.

  • Obasanjo, Utomi, others: punish treasury looters

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Prof. Pat Utomi and other experts yesterday called on managers of public institutions to punish treasury looters, revamp African value system and strengthen institutions in the drive to develop Nigeria and the continent.

    They proferred the solution at the opening of the third biennial international conference entitled: “Polity Debacle and the Burden of Being in Africa”.

    The conference was organised by the Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

    Obasanjo advised President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure there was no hiding place for treasury looters.

    The former President enjoined other African leaders to do the same so the continent can overcome its developmental challenges.

    Obasanjo was represented by the Deputy Coordinator, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Mr. Ayodele Aderinwale.

    According to him, “there should be no respite, there should be no hiding place for treasury looters. And good people with ideas must come forward to be counted, get elected or supported by good people to grow the economy and provide solid infrastructure.”

    Obasanjo noted with dismay that the focus of African leaders has always been on material resources rather than human capital, adding that African political leaders must make changes to reduce corruption and generate laws, policies and practices needed to catch up with the world.

    He added: “Africans will have to create the popular pressures that will make African leaders address the challenges of leadership, fiscal and economic, managerial, infrastructure, industrial and technological deficits”.

    “The town and gown must collaborate to make Africa the best.

    He said: “Those in political leadership position must enthrone a framework to provide public infrastructure.”

    “There is need to restore social justice issues around resource control, citizenship and governance. Let me state unequivocally that our standards of living will rise the moment we take our destiny in our hands. I know we have what it takes.”

    Utomi, former presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, Prof Emeritus Ayo Bamgbose of the University of Ibadan and representative of Senator Binta Garba representing Adamawa North also spoke.

    Utomi attributed declining fortunes in Africa to collapse of culture, weak institutions, wrong policy choices and unfavourable disposition of leadership to human capital development ,among others.

    He explained that the collapse of culture has changed the orientation of people from delayed gratification to immediate gains and greed.

    Effective leadership, according to him, is all about shaping culture and the way things are done.

    The keynote speaker, Prof Akanmu Adebayo, a professor of History and Conflict Management, Kennesaw State University, United States of America (USA), noted that the cost of governance in Nigeria and other African countries was  too high and unsustainable.

    The don said Nigeria and other African countries must fight corruption, but emphasised the need to review the strategies for anti-graft campaign, stressing: “Anti-corruption strategies that have not worked include public shame and execution, special tribunals and/or the court and so on.”

  • SEC to punish 94 firms

    SEC to punish 94 firms

    NINETY-FOUR inactive companies which could not comply with the new minimum capital base for capital market functions are to lose their licences.

    In a circular issued at the weekend, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) directed the 94 firms to state on or before December 4 why “their registration as capital market operators should not be cancelled”.

    Extant capital market rules require the regulators to give quoted companies and operators notices before delisting them. The circular at the weekend served as both a pre-notice on the cancellation of the certificates of registration of the 94 firms as well as a notice to the investing public on the status of the firms.

    The Commission stated that the capital market firms “have consistently failed to render their statutory returns to the Commission and may have been unable to comply with the new minimum capital requirements before the deadline stipulated by the Commission which expired on 30th September, 2015”.

    SEC had started post-recapitalisation audit of capital market operators with a view to providing a final list of active and well-capitalised bona fide capital market operators by the end of this year. It had earlier released the preliminary list of firms that had met the September 30, 2015 deadline for recapitalisation.

    Both the SEC and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) are engaged in coordinated concerted efforts to weed out poorly capitalised capital market firms, which they had fingered as sources of several infractions. The regulators had argued that well-capitalised firms would be able to retain competitive technology, human resources and capital to operate effectively without recourse to infractions and pilferage of investors’ funds. But, some operators said infractions were not limited to small firms, noting that stockbroking service, as an agency service, requires no such huge capital but rather the integrity capital of the professionals. They warned that muscling out small firms might inadvertently hinder the spread and depth of the market since they are easily approachable by small-scale retail investors.

    The Nation noted that revocation of licences of the inactive firms as well as small-size firms may not have any significant impact on the operations at the stock market. There are 220 active broker-dealers on the NSE, but less than 15 per cent of the operators account for more than three-quarters of trading turnover at the market.

    The SEC circular confirmed several reports by The Nation that the NSE and SEC planned to delist poorly capitalised and inactive firms. The NSE is verifying compliance with its Minimum Operating Standards (MOS), which became effective on January 1, 2015.

    The MOS requirements were introduced last year by the management of the Exchange. The MOS requirements relate to all the dealing members of the Exchange and they address the five broad areas of manpower and equipment; organisational structure and governance; effective processes; global competitiveness; and technology.

    A new rule on the revocation of dealing licences and expulsion of inactive firms, which came into effect on June 29, empowers the Exchange to revoke the licence of any dealing member that has been inactive for six consecutive months.

    According to the rule, under no circumstances shall a dealing member cease to carry out its day-to-day business activities for which it was licensed to operate without any reasonable cause. A dealing member may be deemed inactive voluntarily and involuntarily.  Voluntary inactivity occurs where the firm has not recorded any trading activity without being suspended by the Exchange or SEC. Involuntary inactivity occurs where the firm has been suspended by the NSE or SEC for any infraction.

    Also, under the new amendments, the suspension of any stockbroking firm by SEC will lead to immediate suspension by the NSE. Revocation of any broker’s registration will lead to expulsion of the firm by the NSE.

    ”Where a Dealing Member’s registration is revoked by the Commission, as soon as the Exchange  is  notified,  it  shall  immediately  commence  the  process  of  expulsion  of  the dealing member,” the rules states.

  • Delta to punish environmental offenders, says deputy governor

    Severe sanction awaits environmental offenders in Uvwie, Udu and Warri South Local Governments, Deputy Governor Amos Utuama said at the weekend.

    Utuama, who is the chairman of the 21-member ad-hoc committee set up by the government to clear the local governments of filth, spoke at Enerhen Junction during an inspection tour of Uvwie council.

    The deputy governor, who accosted a trader who displayed her wares on the road at Enerhen Juction, wondered why the trader would choose to convert such a spot to her shop. Ordering her to remove her wares, Utuama told other traders who displayed their wares in unauthorised portion of the road that offenders would henceforth be punished severely.

    “This place is not a market store, and it is not built by government to be a market place. This place is built to make commuting a pleasurable experience. Now you have turned it to a shop. That is illegal. Remove them and never try to do it again. Anybody who abuses our environment by converting any space to what it is not meant for will face the wrath of the law”.

    Earlier, Utuama led some members of the committee to visit the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwase 11, where he said the government had put in place measure to recruit 1000 environmental marshals to maintain a clean environment in the three council areas.

    “Part of our visit, your Royal Majesty is to inform you that we have in the last 10 days embarked on aggressive environmental clean-up of the state, starting with these three council areas. Besides, we are going to recruit 750 men and women traffic warders to enforce traffic laws and ensure traffic sanity in these areas. All illegal structures will have to give way and all forms of street trading will no longer be allowed”, he said.

    The exercise which is billed to last for two weeks continues tomorrow

  • Berger; Rich Nigeria; Anti-corruption plan; Punish bad advisers; Passing Amnesty and TI exams

    Berger; Rich Nigeria; Anti-corruption plan; Punish bad advisers; Passing Amnesty and TI exams

    Ogere lanes are trailer-free at last! But for how long? Berger, RCC and FRSC must manage traffic better with only very senior, not lowly, officers making plans and taking traffic closure and diversion decisions. Berger and RCC are known for their high contract fees and Nigerians, their employer, expect to be treated with respect on the road in 2012.

    Nigeria is rich but some lie that Nigeria is poor. But check first class in any plane for ‘poor’ government officials and politicians. Presidents can steal 50% of the budget and other corruption takes 50% of the rest and Nigeria still manages to survive on the 25% remaining and the survival strategies of our daily-paid market women and hawkers. Ever hungry, the greedy Nigerian leadership captures the struggling taxed person in cashless systems to ‘chop their money’ also.

    Imagine what Nigeria would have become if every corrupt scheme revealed since 1999 had been nipped in the bud by a vigilant computerised bank police or EFCC or ICPC? What has Nigeria budget to do with the $700,000,000 or N105,000,000,000 – N105billion or N1050/Nigerian Abacha loot and all other stolen loot? The mothers it was meant to save are now dead, the youth it was meant to save are now despondent and recruited for trafficking and prostitution or unemployed, the hospitals lack that equipment, the libraries and laboratories in schools are empty, the Lagos-Ibadan and Ore-Benin and the East-West Highway lack their third lane or rehabilitation or completion, 10m deadly potholes remain unfilled. These and free health, free education, free non-toll roads, cheaper agricultural products, reduced taxes, toll free roads were all expected from that money.

    When generals get greedy and politicians get peckish, they, like locusts, lay bare the land. Horrifyingly, Abacha’s name still survives on a stadium as a monument to his corruption suspected to be in excess of $7,000,000,000, N1,050,000,000,000/ N1,050billion or N10,500/Nigerian. Remember the First Gulf Oil Windfall $12.5b, N1,875,000,000,000 or N1,875billion or N18,750/Nigerian believed by the Financial Times of UK to have been ‘lost’ under Babangida. The most recent examples of colossal corruption being N275b petroleum subsidy scandal, multibillion naira pension debacle, unascertained corruption in Customs, unfathomable ignored un-investigated corruption in NPA where ‘saint’ PDP leader Bamanga Tukor held sway, when a private $5m non-refundable loan for a ship was believed to have been floated and set sail, the nation’s real tax cheats and any bribe-demanding FIRS and their local state counterparts, the FRSC and LGA touts who have replaced Police checkpoints and the new improved wole-wole environmental enforcement monsters, and you can see why we have such little faith in Nigeria.

    Corruption thrives in an audit vacuum. Every Nigeria based public and private organisational head can today ‘nip corruption in the bud’ with a Department-based anti-corruption ‘Early Warning Keeping It Clean Policy’. In every office introduce this ‘Six Point Anti-corruption Plan’: 1. Anti-corruption Regular Weekly Internal Auditing. 2. Anti-corruption Monthly not Annual External Auditing. 3. Anti-corruption Compulsory Cellphone Bank Account Alerts to 10 senior staff in event of money movement in or out of the account. 4. Anti-corruption employment and training of anti-corruption staff. 5. Anti-corruption Signatures, increase to 4 to 5 on all accounts. 6. Anti-corruption Invitation to EFCC and ICPC, in short anti-corruption rotation randomly chosen by ballot, to staff a desk in the organisation.

    Since 1999, we are still ‘surprised’ at corruption. Of course elimination of fertiliser fraud and the nauseating sums of money being made public are a step, but prosecutions and subsequent convictions are in order but government paradoxically reduces the judiciary budget. Happily the NASS is seeking an upward revision of this. What does the judiciary need to reduce our court case times by 50%? As the budget is being discussed NASS should note that the Israelis are building 3000 homes –just like that- while we arrogantly demolish 300 home estates in a 14,000,000 home deficit country. Don’t look at the politics. Look at the facts. In a country where 80% live on less than $1 /day, how dare anyone budget N7-9,000,000,000 for the Vice President’s compound and a further N2,200,000,000 for an Aso Rock extension to the Presidential banquet hall? This totals more than N10,000,000,000 or N100/Nigerian available for low income housing.

    The crazy civil servants and Special Advisers responsible for these outrageous plans should be identified, exposed, censured and probably sacked. Only punishment will caution others. They cannot claim anonymity for their stupid decisions. For example, which civil servants stopped the Lagos-Ibadan road from being made three and four lanes over the last 40 years? Someone must have been ir-responsible. The ministry already has approved plans by the World Bank contractor in 2008. How much was he paid for government’s ‘breach of contract?’ The contract should have been returned to that same contractor.

    And yet the leadership lectures young Nigerians on ‘sacrifice’ and why free education is not possible and why they should be patient because ‘Rome was not built in a day’. Well Rome was eventually built and if the Roman leadership was as greedy as Nigeria’s, there would be no Rome today and there may be no Nigeria tomorrow. Success is not achieved by vitriolic political complaints against Amnesty International and Transparency International methodology and conclusions. Nigeria should learn to pass this annual exam, honestly with PQPs and a ‘Pass Examination Formula’ and national strategy –better human rights, a better coordinated anti-corruption drive.