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  • Court resolves Ekiti communal land dispute

    An Ekiti State High Court, Ido-Ekiti Judicial Division, has resolved the lingering ownership crisis surrounding Agamo, Iludun Ekitiland in Ilejemeje Local Government Area of the state.

    The court held that Agamo is a communal land belonging to the entire Iludun Ekiti and not individuals, groups or families.

    Justice Adekunle Adegoriola Adeleye delivered judgment in a suit by Rev David Adeosun and five others on behalf of themselves and their families.

    They sued the Owa of Iludun Ekiti, Oba Kayode Akinola, and three others over the ownership of Agamo.

    The judge held that title to Agamo land is vested in the whole Iludun community.

    Justice Adeleye said: “I find as a fact that the claimants are not the first settlers at Agamo and therefore not owners of the land in dispute.

    “Agamo belongs to the Iludun indigenes as a communal land since the land has not been partitioned. This is a fact pleaded, and led in evidence by the counterclaimants, but not disproved by the defendants.

    “Consequently, a reigning Owa of Iludun is entrusted with the management custody, control and supervision of the Agamo farmland in conjunction with other principal or prominent indigenes of the town for the benefit of the entire community,” the judge held.

    Read also: Ekiti set to implement Supreme Court’s verdict on council relocation

    The applicants had in the suit filed on June 28, 2017 sought among others “a declaration that Agamo farmland belongs to Oke Iludun Quarter under the headship of Joseph Adeosun and Daniel Kolawole families,” seeking declaration as null and void sale of Agamo and other farmlands amounting to 100 hectares belonging to the applicants but sold by the defendants.

    The applicants had also sought “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants whether by themselves, their agents or privies from further trespassing on the plaintiffs’ land at Igbo Oge, Agamo, Eyin Eran”.

    But the defendants, the Owa of Iludun and others, in their joint statement of defence/counterclaim, denied the claims and prayed the court to dismiss them.

    The defendants sought, among others, “ a declaration that the entire parcel of land situate, lying and being at Agamo farmland, Iludun Ekiti, Ekiti State exclusively belong to the Iludun community as a communal land same having not been partitioned”.

    They also sought “declaration that none of the three principal quarters constituting Iludun Ekiti community – Oke Iludun, Oke Ilomo and Ojomoko can lay sole claim of ownership on any part of Agamo farmland, same having not been partitioned.

    “A declaration that the incumbent Owa of Iludun is entrusted with the management, custody, control and supervision of the entire Agamo farmland as the head of the community in conjunction with other principal or prominent indigenes or members of the town for the benefit of the entire community,” the defendants had sought.

  • Herdsmen kill 16 at naming ceremony in Nasarawa community

    GUNMEN suspected to be militias on Sunday attacked Numa village in Andaha community, Akwanga Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, killing 16 Mada natives during a naming ceremony.

    The incident came barely three weeks after some suspected herdsmen raped a Mada girl to death, sparking off a confrontation between the herdsmen and the natives.

    Confirming the incident to reporters in Akwanga, the headquarters of Akwanga Local Government, the senator representing Nasarawa North, Philip Aruwa Gyunka, said the celebrators, made up of the father, mother and the baby boy, were killed during the attack.

    The Nasarawa senator described the killings as “unfortunate, barbaric and uncalled for”.

    Gyunka said: “The unfortunate thing is that both the celebrators – the father, the mother and the boy – were killed. A pregnant woman and an aged person, who was above 100 years was also involved.

    “They did not spare women or children. These were the people that didn’t have arms.”

    The senator recently moved a motion on the floor of the Senate, calling on the Federal Government to establish a military base in Akwanga. According to him, people from Calabar and Maiduguri meet in Akwanga on their way to Abuja.

    “You can see incidents of kidnapping and robbery on the Akwanga-Abuja road. This is as a result of people moving with weapons unchecked,” Gyunka explained.

    Read also: Herdsmen attack: Abia to offset medical bill of victim

    A resident of Numan-Chuko, Maiwuya Bahago, also narrated how she lost a pregnant daughter and three other children to the herdsmen attack.

    According to her, at about 9p.m., some persons suspected to be herdsmen invaded the vicinity, shooting sporadically.

    She said: “Four of my children were killed by the herdsmen. One was pregnant, another one was a mother of three and two others were unmarried.

    “They came for the naming ceremony and that was how they met their demise.”

    Bahago called for assistance from the government and well-meaning Nigerians to cater for the children left behind by the deceased.

    “How do I take care of these children they left behind? I do not have anyone to help me bring them. I need prayers and help from well-meaning Nigerians,” she said.

    Also, the paramount ruler of Mada, HRH Samuel Gamu-Yare, while speaking to reporters in his palace on the attack, said: “This thing happened like a thunder strike in the night and the terrain was too accessible and when we informed the police, the perpetrators had vanished.”

    Gamu-Yare, who is the Chun Mada, confirmed that 16 people died in the attack.

    “Sixteen people died and several others were critically wounded. The militias interacted with the celebrators during the naming ceremony before they suddenly started shooting sporadically.

    “Some of the assassins were identified and some names were mentioned and handed over to the security agents,” the monarch said.

  • Osinbajo advises stakeholders on cyber security

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has advised all stakeholders in the nation’s cyber space, including the National Assembly, cyber security experts, security and other related agencies, as well as the private sector to collectively share cyber security best practices and ensure speedy implementation of requisite policies, to curtail the activities of cyber crooks.

    Osinbajo, who spoke in Abuja while declaring open Cyber Secure Nigeria 2019 conference with the theme:  Implementing Cyber Security and Data Privacy Practices in Nigeria, said no individual, organisation or entity is immune to cyber-crimes because of the sophistication and severity of cybercrimes, hence the need for all to jointly end the menace to ensure a secure Nigeria, otherwise every internet user would be a victim.

    According to him, cyber security has become essential as individuals and national development increasingly rely on Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools. This, he said, calls for stringent regulations to ensure that criminal elements do not succeed in taking advantage of hapless internet users.

    “The collection and processing of personal data raises significant privacy and data protection concerns for every citizen; the legal remedy to this problem is data protection to ensure privacy,” he said, adding that the conference was apt and a welcomed development in line with the key policy thrust of the government through the Ministry of Communications in view of the rampant activities of the cyber criminals and internet scammers, popularly known as yahoo yahoo.

    Prof Osinbajo urged the participants to come out with  ideas to combat cyber threat, curtail cyber-crime and ensure data privacy practices in Nigeria, as well as produce useful outcome for submission to the government.

    He promised that the government shall surely articulate various submissions emanating from the conference and put them to use.

    Earlier in his address, Cyber Security Experts Association of Nigeria President, Remi Afon called on the government to establish a national cyber security center that will be saddled with the responsibility of co-ordinating and implementing cyber regulations.

    He expressed worry that cyber security threats landscape has evolved rapidly and increased in number and sophistication, which needed to be quickly checked to attain a regime of secured cyber space in Nigeria through concerted efforts from all critical stakeholders.

  • Fed Govt pays $1.5b cash call arrears

    The Group General Manager (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, yesterday said the corporation has paid $1.5billion out of the $5billion cash call exit to Joint Venture (JV).

    He said the Joint Venture Cash Call exit settlement was negotiated for 2016 , adding that the state-run oil firm also championed indigenous cash exit, self- funding. Baru said so far, over $1.5billion out of the $5.1billion cash call arrears to date has been paid.

    The development, according to him, has not only restored the confidence of International Oil Companies (IOCs), JV partners in the country, it has also led to reserves growth and improved oil production.

    Represented by the Chief Operating Officer at NNPC, Mr. Bello Rabiu at the 12th Annual International Conference of the Nigerian Association for Energy Economics (NAEE),  in Abuja, Baru said: “In 2018, which was the second year in the roll, we concluded the fiscal year without any cash call arrears.”

    Read also: ‘Kachikwu, Baru have transformed oil sector’

    The theme of the conference was: Energy Access and Efficiency Imperatives  for Sustainable Development in Emerging Economies.

    Baru said  the development resulted in the corporation not recording any cash call arrear last year.

    Meanwhile, NAEE President, Prof. Wumi Iledare, who had at the weekend advised Nigeria to heed the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stop oil subsidy, said it was to forewarn the country of retrogression.

    He said: “In my opinion, benefits from petrol subsidy of over 40 years compare to the cost are not comparable.  I stand to be corrected that the cost to the economy of petroleum subsidy is significantly higher to benefits. Subsidy is a gorilla to the Nigeria economy and something has to be done. Otherwise, Venezuala is knocking at the door and it is not a good experience.”

    Baru said in the last year, Nigeria’s national average daily crude oil production stood at about 2.019 million barrels.

    This volume, according to him,  translates to an increase of nine per cent above the 2017 average of 1.86 million barrels and comes as significant improvement from the unimpressive production levels recorded on my assumption of office in July, 2016.

    To underline this, Baru said the the NPDC last year posted a production growth of 52 per cent compared to 2017, from an average of 108mbod in 2017 to 165mbod in 2018.

    Commenting on petrol supply, the NNPC chief said the corporation was able to arrest the petrol scarcity that attended the rumoured plan to increase pump price by last Friday,  as the corporation flooded the retail outlets nationwide with the product.

  • Confronting dangers of pre-registered SIM cards

    To reduce and possibly eliminate the various security challenges associated with the use of fraudulently-activated Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, efforts must be intensified to stop the practice. LUCAS AJANAKU reports on various regulatory interventions and the need to do more.

    To ensure security and protect consumers of telecoms services, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has continued to robustly engage various stakeholders towards curbing the dangers posed by  pre-registered and improperly-registered Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards being used to commit crimes.

    A pre-registered SIM card is a fraudulently-activated or improperly-registered SIM card, whose registration runs foul of the regulatory requirements as stipulated by the Commission. Users of such SIM cards do so either out of ignorance or  with deliberate intent to commit crimes.

    While the Commission has developed the Telephone Subscribers Registration Guidelines 2011 and stringent SIM replacement procedures to protect telecoms consumers, the sale, purchase and use of pre-registered SIM cards are still being witnessed in some corridors across the country.

    Therefore, the Commission’s move to curb the ugly trend, which constitutes grave dangers to individuals and potential threat to national security, has necessitated continuous stakeholders’ engagements in the industry and collaborations with other agencies of government.

    Partnership with agencies, stakeholders

    Apart from constant enforcement activities carried out by the Commission’s Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement (CME) team, which has resulted in securing convictions against more than 200 individuals arrested for indulging in sales of pre-registered SIM cards, the NCC has  partnered a number of government agencies/organisations with a view to ridding the economy of this scourge.

    Such government agencies include the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA);  the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); the Nigeria Police Force; the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); the judiciary; Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and telecom consumers, among others. This is in addition to ongoing consumer awareness programmes across the six geo-political zones of the country to sensitise the consumers on dangers of patronising pre-registered SIM cards.

    According to the Commission, due to fraudulently-activated SIM cards, many genuine subscribers have become victims of armed robbery, kidnappings and financial crimes or SIM swap fraud, requiring concerted efforts to address the menace.

    To date, the Commission has had several meetings and sensitisation workshops with various stakeholder groups across the industry at different points in time. Flowing from these consultations and the extensive activities of the NCC, the Commission has issued several directives to the MNOs and imposed various sanctions on them at different times.

    For instance, following several reports on the preponderance of pre-registered and improperly-registered SIM cards in the market and several challenges raised by the security agencies on the difficulties in tracking criminals using them, the Commission met with all relevant stakeholders in 2017 to set up an inter-agency Task Force to address the menace.

    In September 2018, the Commission co-ordinated a meeting to bring MNOs and the NSCDC together to help drive enforcement against agents involved in the release of fully-activated SIM cards from the MNOs side. This engagement and others have produced key resolutions aimed at sanitising the industry of pre-registered SIM cards.

    Tough SIM replacement procedures

    As a proactive measure, the Commission in 2017 came up with SIM replacement guideline, which makes the process of replacing lost, stolen or damaged SIM cards more stringent in order to protect telecoms consumers.

    Speaking on the reason for such stringent condition, the Commission’s Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said before replacing a SIM card, consumers are required to identify themselves properly through court affidavit, national identification card (or other valid IDs) and SIM pack, among other requirements, saying this is to ensure that telecom subscribers are well protected from being victims of SIM swap fraud.

    According to him, at times, a subscriber might be having issues with his or her phone number, thinking that it is a network issue.

    He said: “Unfortunately, by the time the subscriber discovered what is happening, money would have been fraudulently taken out of his or her bank account. SIM swap or replacement has a lot of issues attached to it because, often times, a lot of people, who are not the owners of some numbers, do SIM swap at various customer centres of the service providers.”

    Danbatta said there have been cases of fraudulent activities done on people’s bank accounts as a result of SIM swap and the victims often complain to the Commission, expecting that NCC will compensate them.

    “To stop this SIM swap fraud, the Commission, in 2017, developed guidelines on SIM replacement, which set water-tight rules for telecoms consumers to replace their SIM card when there is a need for it,” Dambatta said.

    While noting that the regulatory body has observed that consumers often frown at being asked to bring court affidavit, national identification card (or other valid IDs), SIM pack, among other requirements, the CEO explained that the likelihood of subscribers thinking that network providers are putting them through stress to have their SIM replaced is possible.

    “But what telecoms consumers should know is that they must appreciate the fact that information being required from them is to establish that anybody coming for SIM swap proves that the number requested to be swapped belongs to him/her. In this case, we enjoin consumers to immediately report to their respective banks to block their accounts or place a notice ‘no withdrawal’ on such account linked to the stolen, damaged or lost SIM cards,” Danbatta advised.

    Meanwhile, industry observers agreed that issues concerning subscribers’ registration or re-registration are central to national security and thereby require severe regulatory framework to keep them under firm control as well as ensuring a high level of compliance, which is a routine exercise by the CME team of the Commission.

    Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) President,  Olusola Teniola,  said  the stringent measures adopted by the NCC should be appreciated by the consumers against the backdrop of the dangers posed by a loose or casual SIM card registration and re-registration process. This, he said, has raised all sorts of security concerns in the country.

    Tackling SIM swap fraud

    One of the fallouts of fraudulently-activated SIM cards is the SIM fraud. SIM fraud, which is also aided by the use of some software technology to commit crimes, have made many unsuspecting bank customers to lose their hard-earned money to crooks.

    SIM fraud is fueled by indulgence of criminally-minded individuals, who engage in illegal SIM swap. Today, the SIM Swap fraud trend has become more prevalent because their mobile numbers are directly linked to their bank accounts.

    One of the dividends of innovation is that today, through the SIM cards inserted into the mobile devices and even through online platforms, apps installed on the phones and the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code, consumers can carry out financial transitions without having to physically visit their bank branches.

    Determined to address the dangers this could bring, the Commission in January this year, held a stakeholders’ forum on financial fraud, using telecoms platforms in Abuja. The event, which featured participants from the CBN, the MNOs, the banks, law enforcement agencies and the consumer groups, aimed at furthering inclusive discourse on how to proffer solutions to the issue of pre-registered and improperly-registered SIM cards being used to defraud bank customers.

    Speaking at the financial fraud forum, Danbatta said despite advances in technology, human intervention is still required to prevent SIM swap fraud.

    According to him, controls and processes by network operators have, to a degree, failed and led to instances of human error in retail branches in distributing SIM cards, noting that banks were still trying to find effective ways of identifying when a customer’s mobile number has been fraudulently swapped and ported onto a new device.

    “With fraudsters continuing to exploit these weaknesses, putting better authentication processes in place is vital. Of course, consumers have a responsibility to be vigilant and take their own precautions as well,” he said.

    The financial fraud forum subsequently produced a 13-point communique, whose implementation by the Commission, MNOs, the banks, the consumers, law enforcement agents and other concerned stakeholders will help to encourage proper SIM cards registration, diligent adherence to SIM swap procedures by the MNOs and their agents, towards preventing further losses incurred by unsuspecting subscribers/bank customers through SIM swap fraud..

    Sensitisation programme

    Unrelenting in its quest to tackle the problem, the Commission, through its CME team, has commenced a nationwide sensitisation programme that will hold across the six geo-political zones in the country to educate stakeholders, especially telecoms consumers, on the dangers of pre-registered SIM cards.

    The sensitisation programme, which already held in Enugu for the Southeast and Nasarawa for the Northcentral will be hosted in Southwest, Northeast, Southsouth and Northwest geo-political zones in the coming weeks.

    Speaking during the Enugu edition of the programme, Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Mr. Sunday Dare, stressed the importance of educating all stakeholders on the dangers of pre-registered SIM cards.

    According to him, “the availability of improperly-registered SIM cards in any corner of Nigeria is a threat to the security of all of us. Such SIM cards make it possible to commit financial crimes whose victims are ordinary hardworking citizens like you and I.

    “Also, pre-registered and fraudulently- activated SIM cards, if left unchecked, make it difficult for our law enforcement agents to apprehend persons involved in major criminal activities and they can be used in the perpetration of horrible crimes such as terrorism, kidnapping and similar felonies, making suspect virtue untraceable.”

    Dare said the Commission is in the process of sponsoring legislation in the National Assembly to directly criminalise certain SIM registration infractions to deter persons wishing to commit such infractions.

    Collaboration

    While the efforts of the Commission, as exemplified in all the afore-mentioned regulatory interventions, have been commendable, stakeholders have called for effective collaboration of other government agencies and concerned stakeholders with the NCC in order to support the telecoms regulator’s drive at curbing and possibly eliminating the scourge of pre-registered and improperly-registered SIM cards in the country.

  • Adelabu, APC get tribunal’s nod to inspect election materials

    THE Election Petitions Tribunal in Oyo State yesterday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the March 9 governorship election, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, to inspect materials used in the poll.

    The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Seyi Makinde, was declared winner of the election after polling 515,621 votes to defeat Adelabu, who had 357,982. Joined in the case as respondents are the PDP and the INEC.

    The tribunal chairman, Justice Anthony Akpovi at yesterday’s hearing,  ordered INEC to allow the petitioners and their agents to inspect and obtain all polling documents used during the election.

    Justice Akpovi also directed INEC to make available all ballot papers, voter registers and copies of all election materials in all polling units.

    Counsel to Adelabu Mr. Olajide Ola had prayed the court to grant his motion ex parte to inspect the governorship election materials.

    Adelabu and his party had filed a petition at the tribunal against INEC for declaring Makinde winner of the governorship election.

    They are seeking, among other reliefs , a declaration that the commission is wrong to have declared Makinde winner of the election as well as a declaration that the election is marred with violence and irregularities.

  • You don’t need WAEC certificate to become President, says Keyamo

    Spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign, Festus Keyamo (SAN), has said a presidential or governorship candidate does not need to have the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) certificate to contest an elective position.

    Keyamo was reacting to the certificate scandal of Ademola Adeleke, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State.

    Several politicians have been caught in certificate scandal. There was a controversy involving President Muhammadu Buhari’s WAEC certificate before this year’s general elections.

    A High Court sitting in Abuja, the nation’s capital, had nullified the candidature of Adeleke over allegations that he does not have a senior secondary school certificate (SSCE).

    The certificate is required for an elective position, according to Section 177 (d) of the 1999 Constitution.

    The section reads: “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if:

    (a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth;

    (b) he has attained the age of thirty-five years;

    (c) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and

    (d) he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.” For the position of President, Section 131 (d) stipulates that he should have been “educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent”.

    Keyamo argued on his Twitter handle that a School Certificate in the context demanded by the Constitution is “Primary 6 School Leaving Certificate plus the ability to just speak, write, understand and communicate in English language to the satisfaction of INEC. No WAEC certificate is needed”.

  • Oil prices dip over production cut deal fear

    Despite signs of continued tightness in supply, oil prices dropped early yesterday on some profit taking and a Russian minister suggesting that Russia and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could abandon the production cut deal.

    Early yesterday,  WTI Crude was down 0.77 percent at $63.40 while Brent Crude was trading down 0.61 per cent at $71.11.

    Read also: ‘No deal on supply cuts extension with OPEC, allies’

    Last week was the sixth straight week of gains amid tightening supplies due to OPEC and Russia’s production cuts, the collapse of Venezuelan production, and fighting in Libya which could disrupt the African nation’s oil industry again.

    Libya’s oil production is still under threat from renewed fighting between warring armed groups, and the situation could become as bad as it was during the 2011 civil war, the National Oil Corporation’s chairman, Mustafa Sanalla, told the Financial Times in an interview last week.

  • Unions protest at Lagos airport

    Aviation union members yesterday protested at the Lagos Airport, Ikeja, over alleged brutality of their members by officers and men of the Nigeria Police, at Caverton Helicopters Company.

    They alleged that the management of the company directed the Rapid Respond Squad (RRS) to brutalise and molest their members, who last week protested non-payment of the redundancy benefits.

    The protest made passengers and motorists to be stranded on the roads leading to the local and international airports.

    The protesters chanted solidarity songs, urging the police to stay within their limits.

    The National President, National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Comrade Ben Nnabue, said it was unacceptable for the police to be involved in the matters of the unions when they were unaware of the genesis of the issues.

    He alleged that the protest was to express their displeasure about the brutalisation of their members and because Caverton Helicopters Company refused to fulfil the agreement reached with them on the redundancy benefits.

    The Secretary-General, Association of Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Comrade Francis Akinjolie, said the involvement of the police in the matter was uncalled for, adding that the unions were “irked about this development and they will not take it lightly with the police for dabbling in matters that do not concern them, to the extent of injuring our members.”

    He alleged that the unions had it on good authority that it was the tradition of the company to embark on redundancy exercise and later re-absorbed the employees as casual workers.

    The union leaders said the Caverton Helicopters Company management scheduled a meeting with the unions this morning to discuss with a view to ending the continuous picketing of the company.

    The company is said to have pleaded for six weeks to garner funds to offset what was owed the disengaged workers.

    The unions also picketed two catering companies, ASL and Servair.

    Officials of the Lagos State Task Force were deployed to man the gates where members of the unions protested.

    Comrade Nnabue alleged that the two companies prevented their workers, who were interested in joining the unions, from doing so, adding that some of them had been suspended.

    He said the unions would not take it lightly with any organisation, which threatened, harassed or stopped any of their members interested in unionism.

    The unions involved in the protest were the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP), National Association of Air Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) and Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Services Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE).

  • Foundation praises Senate on Police Fund Bill

    A non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria (CRIVIFON), has praised the Senate for the  passage of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Bill.

    The Foundation’s Executive Director Mrs Gloria Egbuji, in a statement, said the National Assembly  demonstrated great concern for the Police.

    The House of Representatives had earlier passed the Bill.

    CRIVIFON, which has pushing for the law, expressed appreciation to the lawmakers for ensuring the passage before the expiration of the eigth Assembly.

    Mrs Egbuji had  accompanied the former Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to present the Bill to the National Assembly about two years ago.

    The Foundatione urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to delay in giving assent to it when it is transmitted to his office.

    It said this was necessary because Nigerians have been waiting eagerly for its implementation.

    “For an organisation that has trained no fewer than 18,000 Officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force on human rights, the passage of the bill into law would go a long way in resolving many hindrances associated with the funding of the police,” she said.

    She pointed out that it would also provide the legal framework for the management and control of the special intervention funds to be established in accordance with the Act for the training of policemen.

    “This would certainly be different from the Police Equipment Fund initiative championed in the early days of the Fourth Republic by some private Nigerians.

    “The initiative eventually collapsed due to non-existence of an enabling law that would have guided the actions of the managers of the Fund.

    “With the passage of the Bill, CRIVIFON would want the Presidency to act expeditiously because the police would have been relieved of the many challenges that inhibit their operational efficiency once there is adequate fund to take care of its recruitment, training, equipment, welfare and so on via the special intervention funds,” the statement added.