The Nation Newspaper

Tag: submit

  • ‘Don’t submit your authority to anyone’

    The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Adul-Rasheed Adewale Akanbi, has advised traditional rulers not to submit their authority to anyone.

    He enjoined them not to look for help from spiritualists but to seek divine wisdom in leading their domains.

    Oba Akanbi spoke at the installation of Ashiru Ogundokun from Oloola Compound as the Parakoyi (Baba Loja) of Iwo.

    The monarch said God installs kings and give them authorities to lead their domains, warning them not to indulge in acts that would make them incur the wrath of God.

    He said: “God had told me to warn those in authorities to lead with his fear and to trust him alone if they want to succeed as kings. If by their acts they are misled into thinking that they can be secured by going to other places apart from God that made their installation possible, they would lose their authorities.

    “The beaded crowns on their heads would become mere caps and authorities would not come forth from their lips.”

  • N40b debt: Unity Bank to submit defaulters’names to CBN

    It the end of the two weeks deadline for its debtors to pay up, Unity Bank has threatened to submit the names of defaulting debtors to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to have them blacklisted.

    The bank has also vowed to publish the names of such debtors to name and shame them thereby ensuring that they no longer would be able to access future loans from other banks in the country.

    Its Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Henry James Semenitari who spoke during the bank’s celebration of customer service week in Abuja, said the debt owed the lender was huge.

    Semenitari said the value of the debts owed the bank was “in excess of N40 billion about N40 billion to N50 billion, with the interests unserviced over the years.”

    He said: “So what we have said is that the official guideline is simple. But some (debtors) are willing to pay as well. You know how Nigerians relax until you put a threat then they will take it serious.”

    He said everything will be done within the law, but that “luckily, 90per cent of our customers are Nigerians; they are here; they are in this country and we know them, we know where they are.

    “While we were not going after them, everybody became complacent, I can tell you. But some are doing businesses in other banks. “And the good news for the industry today is that the current management of CBN is very serious.”

  • ‘Alison-Madueke, NNPC to submit documents to House panel’

    ‘Alison-Madueke, NNPC to submit documents to House panel’

    Ahead of the April 28 probe into the alleged spending of N10billion on chartered jet, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) yesterday said it has been working with the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke on documents required by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts.

    The corporation said it has no plan to thwart the ongoing investigation by the House into the chartered jet.

    It also said there is no rift between the Minister and the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Engr. Andrew Yakubu on the chartered jet.

    The NNPC made the clarifications in a statement by its Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, against the backdrop of allegations that the Minister of Petroleum Resources was trying to frustrate the probe.

    The Minister was yet to respond to queries from the House Committee on Public Accounts as at press time.

    But NNPC said neither it nor the Minister has anything to hide.

    It expressed confidence that the Minister and NNPC would be vindicated at the end of the investigation by the House.

    The statement said: “The Minister of Petroleum Resources and Chairman of NNPC board, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke and the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Engr. Andrew Yakubu are in harmonious working relationship and dismissed insinuations in some quarters of a phantom frosty relationship between the two key figures in the oil and gas industry. The reports on the rift are a figment of the overheated imagination of the authors.

    “The Minister of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC in the last few months have heeded countless number of summons from the National Assembly wondering why the media would go to town with the report that the Petroleum Minister was doing everything to thwart the proposed investigation into the alleged N10billion purportedly expended on the charter of jets by the Corporation.

    “The Minister and the Corporation are putting together all the documents that the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts had requested for. At the end of the probe, the Minister and the Corporation would be vindicated.

    “The GMD of the Corporation was in London last week for the board meeting of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, saying the NNPC would remain focused on its core mandate of guaranteeing energy sufficiency for the country.

    “The NNPC dismissed the reports in its entirety and implored media practitioners to adhere to the ethics of journalism which holds facts as sacred and recommends that when in doubt, leave out.

    The statement said the Minister of Petroleum Resources has reeled out measures to ensure round-the-clock availability of premium motor spirit across the country.

    The statement added: “Under the arrangement, the Minister has approved the allocation of a total volume of 1, 854, 314 metric tonnes of premium motor spirit known as petrol as supplementary volumes for first quarters 2014 and second quarter 2014 June only delivery.

    “The supplementary volume for Q1 quota is 750, 000 Mt and the Q2 June only volume is 1, 104, 318.

    “Whilst the first quarter supplementary volume is designed to complement the earlier allocation in addition to covering any under delivery by marketers due to unforeseen financial challenges, the Q2 (June only) quota is in consonance with the national consumption pattern of 40 million litres per day.

    “The Q2 quota also captures a 23 percent upper tolerance in the event of default or slippage into July.

    “There are 27 oil marketing companies with proven performance records enlisted in respect of Q1 deliveries. For Q2 (June only), there are 40 marketers with good performance records and whose facilities are functional.

    “The idea of June only is to revert to the normal quarterly sequence, i.e. July-September and October-December,’’ he said.

    On measures to ensure zero fuel queues, NNPC said: “Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency(PPPRA), the body with the statutory responsibility in this regard has inserted a provision in the allocation document which allows for the deduction of equivalent volume from the defaulting marketer’s subsequent allocation in event of slippage or default.”

  • Ribadu committee, two others to submit report

    Ribadu committee, two others to submit report

    •Presidency: we’ll not spare anyone

     

    President Goodluck Jonathan has directed the Nuhu Ribadu Committee on Petroleum Revenue to submit its report on Friday.

    A statement by the presidential media aide, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the directive is to show the administration’s commitment to transparency, probity, and accountability in the petroleum sector.

    The Committee, set up in February, is required to, among others, determine and verify all petroleum upstream and downstream revenues (taxes and royalties, etc,) due and payable to the Federal Government and to take necessary steps to collect debts due and owed.

    The committee is also to obtain agreements and enforce payment terms for oil industry operators.

    The presentation of the Committee’s report will take place on Friday at the State House, Abuja.

    Also, President Jonathan is expected to receive two other reports on the petroleum industry.

    They are the committee established to design a new corporate governance code for ensuring full transparency, good governance and global best practices in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other oil industry corporations with Dotun Sulaiman as Chairman.

    The other committee, headed by Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, is to conduct a high-level assessment of the nation’s refineries and recommend ways of improving their efficiency and commercial viability.

    The Presidency said it would prosecute those indicted in the report.

    It warned that the Federal Government is determined to fight corruption at all levels.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, said the Presidency has assured that there would be no cover up in the findings of the Ribadu Report.

    He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the President has neither seen nor received any copy of the Ribadu Committee Report.

    “Essentially, what appears to have been irregularly released prematurely to the media is a draft copy, which still requires full accent of all members of the committee and clarifications and due process from the originating ministry before the official handing over to the Presidency.

    “President Jonathan should be hailed for his personal resolve to fight institutionalised corruption in Nigeria.

    “He ordered the probe of the oil industry from 2002 – 2011, which also covers the tenure of his administration.

    “No President in our history has gone this far and this explains why the rot in our system has persisted.

    “The President approved the appointment of a well–known anti-corruption crusader, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu,who contested against him at the presidential poll on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    “It is also noteworthy that the Secretary of the Committee, Supo Sasore, was a former Attorney General of Lagos State in an ACN government.”

    Okupe said the President’s unwavering and commendable determination to fight corruption is demonstrated by his appointment of credible Nigerians, anti-corruption crusaders and members of the opposition in the committee.

    He also said his efforts has helped in exposing the fraud in the petroleum subsidy regime dug up by the Aig Imokhuede Committee and that the indicted persons are being tried in the courts.

    “For the purpose of clarity, President Jonathan’s resolve to fight corruption and dig out all the rot in the system should not be misconstrued or politicised by the opposition as if it is his administration that is guilty of corruption.

    “Rather, he should be commended for taking the step that will ultimately sanitise the policy and the system,” he said.