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Tag: Rasheedat Okoduwa

  • ICPC tasks NASS on transparency

    Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) has urged the National Assembly to remove the secrecy surrounding its budget for the sake of transparency.

    Spokesperson of the commission, Mrs Rasheedat Okoduwa, in a statement on Monday, said Owasanoye made the call during the National Assembly Induction Programme for new legislators in Abuja.

    The ICPC Chairman spoke on the topic; “The Legislature and Fight against Graft and Corruption”.

    He said that the public perception of legislators as being corrupt would not go away until the National Assembly threw open its yearly budget to the public.

    He stressed that the execution of the National Assembly budget which had grown exponentially from N6.9 billion in 1999 to about N139 billion in 2018, for the same number of legislators had remained shrouded in secrecy.

    “This gives room for allegations of abuse and misappropriation of the funds.

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    “It is believed that we have the highest paid legislators representing the poorest people in the world.

    “Since 1999, National Assembly Budget has increased without defensible legal or moral justification.

    “Without increase in membership and addition of only one or two agencies, NASS budget grew from N6.9 billion in 1999 to N139 billion in 2018.

    “The problem is that it is just a single line item; the public is hardly told the breakdown and how it is used. The criticisms will disappear if we are told how it is spent,” he said.

    Owasanoye described corruption as the enemy of development and good governance and the biggest challenge to Nigeria’s development.

    “The Legislature must wake up to its role of oversight over Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to curb the menace,’’ he was quoted as saying in the statement.

    NAN

     

  • ICPC to probe petitions against Oshiomhole

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is to investigate petitions accusing the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of corruption, saying petition against him will be handled just like all others.

    ICPC spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa, who spoke while receiving a petition from a group of protesters on the platform of Coalition of New Nigeria (CNN) assured that the petition will be treated the same manner it handled others.

    Read Also:Saraki describes his resignation call by Oshiomhole as joke

    She said: “I have heard you and we thank you people for the peaceful protest here. You have done what you are supposed to do. I want to assure you that your petition will be treated according to its merit and the same manner we treat others”.

    Convener of the group, Barr. Stanley Ohu, who led the protesters demand the immediate prosecution of the All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

    The protesters under the auspices of Coalition for New Nigeria (CNN), had arrived the ICPC office with posters bearing various inscriptions like ‘Oshiomhole is corrupt’, ‘Oshiomhole must go’, ‘with Oshiomhole, APC will fail’, ‘ICPC must probe Oshiomhole’, ‘Buhari, remove Oshiomhole now before it is too late’, among other and pleaded with the agency to expedite action in the prosecution of the ruling party boss.

    He said: “We are determined in our quest to arrest the danger faced by our party, the governing APC, occasioned by the integrity challenged National Chairman, Oshiomhole. As you are all aware, our party, the APC is in serious crisis following the most reprehensible, divisive and widely condemned primaries across the states.

    “The APC which was gaining grounds and welcoming new members is far from the all-embracing party it was when Oshiomhole took over as National Chairman.

    “Given the various allegations of corruption by respected chieftains and members of the APC, we are here calling on the various anti-corruption agencies to begin a comprehensive probe of not only these allegations, but his time as the governor of Edo state.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, we are well aware that Justice Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence criminal proceedings against Oshiomhole for allegedly diverting state funds into personal use.

    “Therefore, it is expedient that a man that has corruption noose round his neck is not the fit and proper person to lead a party that has President Muhammadu Buhari, a man known globally for his anti-corruption stance, to remain in office.
    “We demand that Oshiomhole resigns owing to the plethora of allegations against him leading to even the DSS inviting him and demanding for his resignation.

    “In the event Oshiomhole chooses to tread the path of the little honour left of him, we urge President Buhari to ask him to leave before he leads the APC down the path of ignominy in 2019.

    “We assure you that this will not be the end of the Coalition for New Nigeria’s protest until Mr. Oshiomhole leaves the exalted office of the National Chairman of the governing APC, the party of Change,” he said.

     

  • ICPC recovers N.325m for defrauded job-seeker

    ICPC recovers N.325m for defrauded job-seeker

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it has recovered the sum of N325,000 lost by a job seeker, Innocent Okpanachi, to a fraudster in 2013.

    In a statement on Monday, the spokesperson of the ICPC, Mrs Rasheedat Okoduwa, said the commission had returned the money to Okpanachi.

    Okoduwa said that Okpanachi was defrauded by one Mohammed Habib, who posed as a senior officer of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    According to her, Habib obtained the money through a third party, now at large with the promise to secure a job for his victim him with the NCS.

    “After receiving the money, the suspect allegedly issued Okpanachi an employment letter, which was later confirmed fake by authorities of the Service.

    “Okpanachi later petitioned the ICPC after trying unsuccessfully to recover his money from Habib over a period of four years.

    “The commission promptly swung into action and investigations revealed that the suspect had indeed fraudulently obtained the money from his victim.

    “The said amount was recovered from the suspect and then handed over to the petitioner,’’ she said.

    Okpanachi reportedly beamed with excitement as the money was handed to him by Mr Tunji Jabaru of the Asset Tracing, Recovery and Management Unit of the ICPC.

    The petitioner, who said he had lost hope of recovering the money, expressed gratitude to the commission for the “wonderful job’’.

  • ICPC plans grassroots training on budget tracking

    ICPC plans grassroots training on budget tracking

    The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is to train citizens at the grassroots on budget tracking in an effort to make budget to respond to people’s needs.

    The ICPC’s spokesperson, Mrs. Rasheedat Okoduwa, said in Abuja on Thursday that the commission had concluded plans for the training.

    She said that the training, to be sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), would begin in June across the six geo-political zones of the country.

    According to Okoduwa, the training will also enable people at the grassroots to take actions that will impact positively on them.

    She added that it would ensure that it would demystify the budget process and engender development at the grassroots.

    “The outcome should be a citizenry empowered with confidence, skills and knowledge to recognise their rights and accept responsibility to demand those rights through constructive engagement,” Okoduwa said.