News
Nigeria’s largest independent power plant (IPP), Azura Edo Power Plant, exposed for suspicious use of offshore funds, is allegedly enjoying preferential treatment from the Nigerian government.
In the Paradise Papers global investigation, the firm was found to be moving millions of tax-free dollars through a network of Mauritius-incorporated offshore shell companies to a number of trusts and private equity firms. Azura has since denied any wrongdoing, saying it violated no law.
A new law suit by older power generating companies in Nigeria, however, accuse the firm of enjoying unfair advantage.
The suit filed by the Power Generation Companies in Nigeria, GENCOs, accuse the Nigerian government of conferring preferential treatment on Azura Power West Africa Limited, owner of the power plant, as well as Accugas Limited, to the detriment of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) and the power sector as a whole.
Phillip Iheanacho, Nigerian investor and a close ally of Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, has stakes in both Azura and Accugas, a subsidiary of Seven Energy.
The suit filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, has the GENCOs represented by Mainstream Energy Solutions Limited (“Mainstream”), Transcorp Power Limited (“Transcorp Power”), Egbin Power Plc (“Egbin”) and Northsouth Power Company Limited (“Northsouth”) who are all Plaintiffs in the suit.
Sued as defendants in the suit are the Federal Government of Nigeria (1st defendant), Central Bank of Nigeria (2nd defendant), Minister of Power, Works & Housing (3rd defendant), Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, NBET, (4th defendant), Azura Power West Africa Limited (5th defendant) and Accugas Limited (6th defendant).
According to the suit, the GENCOs are contending that the Nigerian government and its agencies have treated and intend to continue treating the GENCOs, their investors and suppliers unfairly and in a discriminatory manner.
This, the plaintiffs said, was despite the fact that the GENCOs have been bending backwards to continue generating electricity for the national grid.
They said they had been bearing the huge burden of not being paid for electricity generated and sold to Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc. (NBET), and facing the risk of going under due to their huge indebtedness to banks and financiers who provided the foreign currency-denominated acquisition loans with which the power plants were acquired from the FG during the privatization exercise in 2012.
HOW GENCOS CAME ABOUT
On November 1, 2013, after the disintegration and privatisation of the state-owned power company, PHCN, its separate pieces consisting of 10 power distribution companies (DISCOS) and four generation companies (GENCOS) were handed over to new owners in a coordinated exercise.
The development, considered the biggest event that changed the course of the power sector in Nigeria, began earlier in 2012. The power utilities acquired by various investors with foreign and local partners were part of the 18 core electricity asset grouped into Discos and Gencos of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
In 2012, the privatisation efforts in Nigeria were heightened beginning with how the preferred bidders made a 25 per cent advanced payment of about N73 billion ($469.032million) to the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE).
Following the success recorded in payment earlier, former President Goodluck Jonathan handed over the 25 per cent share certificates to the preferred bidders for Geregu, Sapele, Ughelli, Shiroro, Kainji Gencos.
The Discos, including Benin, Enugu, Kano, Ibadan, Yola and Abuja, Ikeja, Jos, Eko, Port Harcourt, also received the certificates having paid the 25 per cent.
The preferred bidders received heavy pressure in August that year, following a deadline issued by the BPE handling the privatization exercise to pay up the 75 per cent balance of about $3 billion (N480 billion) before they could take over the plants.
Meanwhile, the handover of the power utilities was officially done by Mr. Jonathan amidst strikes and kicks from the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) over unpaid severance benefits to the workers.
This was, however, tackled with the signing of an agreement in late October 2013, to pay all such benefits and other claims of the workers before the end of November.
THE N701 BILLION INTERVENTION FUND
In its determination to ensure improved electricity supply, the Nigerian Government in July 2017 announced disbursement of N701.9 billion intervention funds to the GENCOs.
The N701 billion was approved for NBET under the Power Purchase Guarantee Funds to enable it pay for power purchased. In other words, the GENCOS would receive the money for power generated whether or not the power was transmitted or distributed by other appropriate firms.
According to the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Fashola, the payment was part of various measures being taken to address liquidity crisis in the power sector.
But in their suit filed before the court, the GENCOs claimed that NBET has consistently defaulted in paying them for all electricity generated and put on the national grid, in breach of its contractual obligation, which required that the GENCOs be paid fully not later than 45 days of invoice submission, and in the event of delay in payment, be paid with interest at the agreed rate.
By reason of the failure of NBET to pay the GENCOs, they said they have in turn been forced to default in meeting their obligations to their lenders.
The GENCOs put the amount owed them for electricity generated and supplied by them at approximately N800 billion, adding that together with capacity and interest payments due to them, they are owed in excess of N1 trillion.
The suit alleged that while the GENCOs are getting very close to a point where their plants may not be able to generate power again and be shut down, the federal government entered into certain engagements with Azura and Accugas.
Under the agreement, they said, the firms were given the preferential treatment of having a World Bank Partial Risk Guarantee supported by the Sovereign Guarantee of the FG securing all payments due from NBET to Azura for power generated by the new Independent Power Plant and to Accugas for gas supplied to the Calabar NIPP, a facility government did not provide for GENCOs at the inception of the privatisation exercise when the risk was enormous.
ACCUGAS
In 2016, Seven Energy International Limited, signed a $112 million World Bank, partial risk guarantee (PRG) with the Federal Government for the supply of natural gas, to be delivered by its wholly owned subsidiary, Accugas.
The PRG is a financial instrument that would secure the supply of up to 130 million cubic feet per day (“MMcfpd”) of natural gas to the NIPP, thereby enabling the consistent generation of an additional 560 MW of electricity to the national grid, approximately 10 per cent of current power generation in Nigeria.
The arrangement, which guarantees payments to Accugas for gas supply, was backed by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the World Bank and reputed as the first of its kind for gas supply in Nigeria.
Commenting on the agreement, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo described the initiative as a very “significant” event that will encourage investment in gas infrastructure and result in positive multipliers.
Mr. Iheanacho, then Chief Executive Officer of Seven Energy, said the initiative was the first gas-to-power guarantee that the World Bank has provided for encouraging investment in the gas sector in Nigeria.
AZURA
In December 2017, Azura first turbine was synchronized to the national grid and began producing electricity for distribution across the country. The development signalled a positive omen for the country’s first large-scale, project-financed, independent power plant.
The Edo State government reacting to the development said the Azura Edo Independent Power Project (IPP), which begun generation of electricity seven months ahead of schedule, attracted investors to the state.
Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osage, in statement, said that the influx of investors and the “outstanding success” recorded by Azura-Edo Power, is a testament to the numerous reforms undertaken by the government.
![The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki. [Photo credit: YouTube]](https://i0.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2017/09/Gov.-Obaseki-e1504796063853.jpg?w=600&h=338&crop&ssl=1 "Gov. Obaseki")
Similarly, while inspecting the Azura project earlier this year, Mr. Fashola described the plant as a proof of the federal government’s commitment to improving power generation and experience for the purpose of diversifying the nation’s economy.
The minister also described the project as a statement about the commitment of the administration “to do everything it can to enable the Private Sector to deliver on its own specialty which is to make investments such as this.”
Earlier in November 2017, an investigation by PREMIUM TIMES and the International Consortium of Investigative journalist (ICIJ) revealed that Acura Edo Power plant might be a huge suction pipe set up to siphon millions of tax-free dollars through a network of Mauritius-incorporated offshore shell companies to a number of trusts and private equity firms.
The Paradise Papers global investigation revealed that Azura Power West Africa, owner of the plant, has two undated organisational charts. One of the charts, which appeared to be the original structure of the company, shows that Azura Power West Africa was wholly owned by Azura-Edo Limited, a Category 1 Global Business Company (GBC1) incorporated in Mauritius.
Azura-Edo Limited is further completely owned by Azura Power Holding Limited, a Category 2 Global Business Company (GBC2) also incorporated in Mauritius.
Azura Power Holding is then jointly owned by two GBC2 companies – Amaya Capital Limited (86.23 percent) and Hollyhock Limited (13.77 percent). Hollyhock Limited is the GBC2 subsidiary of the private equity firm, American Capital Limited.
Amaya Capital is jointly owned by The Principal Investment Trust (40 per cent) belonging again to Mr. Iheanacho, the co-founder of Investment firm, Afrinvest, and an ally of the governor of Edo State, Mr. Obaseki, with whom he co-founded Afrinvest.
The Rasa Trust, on the other hand, owns 40 per cent of Amaya Capital. The trust belongs to Sundeep Bahanda, a former top executive at Deutsche Bank, London, while David Ladipo, the founder of Lintstock, a corporate advisory company and a former adviser to the Nigerian government on energy, owns 20 percent of Amaya Capital.
The second ownership chart, showed that the Edo State government was also brought on board as marginal co-owner of the company with 2.5 percent stake.
The company explains on its website that the 2.5 percent equity was given to Edo State for providing 1100 hectares of land on which the company is built.
It is unclear whether the ownership structure of the company had any influence in the preferential treatment it allegedly receives from the Nigerian government.
When contacted, Edu Okeke, Deputy Managing Director at Azura Power West Africa Limited, said the company had little time to react to such allegations as it is committed to completing its power project.
“Building a large-scale electricity power plant is a challenging undertaking and we are currently in the final stages of the plant’s commissioning,” he said.
“All our energies are currently focused on this activity. Accordingly, it would be a poor use of our time to comment on the merits, or demerits, of any alleged claims made by other generating companies against the Federal Government or agencies thereof.”
Mr. Okeke also argued that a number of media outlets have published articles mentioning the Azura-Edo IPP, saying the facts and dates cited therein are occasionally incorrect or misleading. He, however, did not comment further on the allegations.
WHAT THE GENCOS WANT
Meanwhile, in the suit filed by the GENCOS, they want the court to stop any payment to Azura And Accugas that would be more than what the GENCOS themselves are paid.
The generating companies are asking for an interim Injunction and the hearing has been fixed for April 16 by Justice Binta Nyako of Federal High Court, Abuja.
When contacted, Hakeem Bello, spokesperson to Mr. Fashola, said what is expected is that the government and the minister will be served and will respond when the time comes.
Mr. Bello explained that there have been consultations with the GENCOs on different platforms, aside that they attend the monthly power sector stakeholders meeting. He hinted that a power sector stakeholders’ meeting has been scheduled to hold in Uyo on Monday and they (GENCOs) will be there. He, however, said that if there are additional updates, he will get back to our correspondent.
“If they sue the minister and the government, I think they will respond as appropriate,” he told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview.
PT
Prominent Nigerians and groups on Sunday took a swipe at the National Assembly over the N13.5m running cost being paid to senators.
The Campaign for Democracy, senior lawyers, including Mr. Femi Falana, Mr. Yusuf Ali and Prof. Itse Sagay, in separate interviews with The PUNCH also commended Senator Shehu Sani for the disclosure.
Sani had, in an interview with TheNews, revealed that each senator received N13.5m monthly as running cost apart from the N700,000 consolidated salary and allowances paid to each of them.
Sagay said Sani’s revelation had vindicated him on his criticism of the lawmakers.
Sagay said. “I’ve always said they earn too much. This figure by Sanni does not include constituency allowances, which is in billions of naira.
“We still have budget padding from which millions are made by them. By the time you put all that together, you can see that these people are collecting a huge chunk of the Nigerian budget.”
The CD, in its reaction, said the N13.5m running cost could employ over 100 graduates in the country.
The CD President, Usman Abdul, in an interview with The PUNCH, said the huge earnings by the senators contributed to the bastardisation of the economy.
He said, “You can take good care of over 100 graduates from a senator’s salary. The legislature should deliberate on the abject poverty and unemployment in the country.”
Also speaking, Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, said Sani must be commended for his courage.
Ogunye said, “What Senator Shehu Sani said has confirmed the long-held fears of Nigerians that Nigerian legislators, both at the state and national levels, have been short-changing Nigerians.
“They are not expected to use that elevated position to serve their own interest at the expense of public interest. They are not expected to allow their self-consideration to override their commitment to abiding by the law.”
The Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Monday Ubani, said Nigerians must demand a review of the lawmakers’ earnings.
Ubani, “It means that Nigerians have not been getting a fair deal from our legislators. If a single person will be earning that kind of money in a country where the minimum wage is N18,000; something has to be done. We need to insist on a review of these jumbo allowances.”
The Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Mr. Debo Adeniran, said Nigerians had a right to be displeased because they had not been getting a fair deal from the lawmakers.
Adeniran said, “The outcry wouldn’t have been if the legislators have been living up to the expectation of their constituents. Nigerians don’t see the lawmakers as people who are representing their interest.”
Falana said Sani’s revelation had proved that Nigerian legislators were the highest paid in the world.
Falana, in a statement on Sunday, said, “Apart from the monthly package of N13.5m, each senator is given the opportunity to execute constituency projects to the tune of N200m per annum. However, the disclosure made by Senator Sani does not cover the allowances for cars, housing, wardrobe and furniture running to several millions of naira approved for each senator.”
Also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Yusuf Ali, said the allowance was insensitive given the state of the economy and the minimum wage of the workers in the country.
He said, “Even if there were no mass unemployment and if the economy were buoyant, suchallowance is totally unrelated to our circumstances; it is very insensitive.”
The Head of Abuja office of Social Action, a non-governmental organisation, Mrs. Vivian Bellonwu-Okafor, said the revelation was another sad commentary in the history of political offices emolument in Nigeria.
A former Managing Director of Unity Bank Plc, Mr Rislanudeen Mohammed, said there was no justification for the N13.5m monthly pay.
But the Senate said there was nothing new in what Sani said.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Aliyu Sabi-Abdullahi, in a statement said the figures Sani disclosed were in the public domain.
“Senator Shehu Sani, on the salaries and funds for running of offices of Senators, did not disclose anything new as the figures he gave out about running cost of the offices of senators were contained in various line items and expenditure heads of the budget of the National Assembly, which has been made public,” the statement said.
Also, the House of Representatives on Sunday said the issue of the total earnings of legislators had been “over-flogged” in Nigeria.
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, who spoke to one of our correspondents, said, “The legislature had addressed the issue several times.”
Namdas, who spoke for the House, also declined to give what each members of the House earned as running cost.
Punch
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved an amendment to the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco with effect from June 4, 2018.
In a statement in Abuja on Sunday, Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, said the new excise duty rates were spread over a three-year period from 2018 to 2020 in order to moderate the impact on prices of the products.
The minister said the new excise duty regimes followed all-inclusive stakeholder engagements by the Tariff Technical Committee of the Federal Ministry of Finance with key industry stakeholders.
According to her, the upward review of the excise duty rates for alcoholic beverages and tobacco was to achieve a dual benefit of raising the government’s fiscal revenues and reducing the health hazards associated with tobacco-related diseases and alcohol abuse.
“The Tariff Technical Committee (TCC) recommended the slight adjustment in the excise duty charges after cautious considerations of the Government’s Fiscal Policy Measures for 2018 and the reports of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Technical Assistance Mission on Nigeria’s Fiscal Policy.
“The effect of the excise duty rates adjustment on trade and investment was also assessed by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and it adopted the recommendations of the TTC.
“Furthermore, peer country comparisons were also carried out showing Nigeria as being behind the curve in the review of excise duty rates on alcoholic beverages and tobacco.”
Following the president’s approval, Mrs. Adeosun said the new excise duty rate on tobacco was now a combination of the existing ad-valorem base rate and specific rate while the ad-valorem rate was replaced with a specific rate for alcoholic beverages.
“For alcoholic beverages, the current ad-valorem rate will be replaced with specific rates and spread over three years to moderate the impact on prices,” she said.
“This will curb the discretion in the Unit Cost Analysis (UCA) for determining the ad-valorem rate and prevent revenue leakages.
“For tobacco, the government will maintain the current ad-valorem rate of 20 per cent and introduce additional specific rates with the implementation to be spread over a three-year period to also reasonably reduce the impact on prices.”
Under the newly approved excise duty rates for tobacco in addition to the 20 per cent ad-valorem rate, each stick of cigarette will attract a N1 specific rate per stick (N20 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2018; N2 specific rate per stick (N40 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2019; and N2.90k specific rate per stick (N58 per pack of 20 sticks) in 2020.
The Minister explained that Nigeria’s cumulative specific excise duty rate for tobacco was 23.2 per cent of the price of the most sold brand, as against 38.14 per cent in Algeria, 36.52 per cent in South Africa and 30 per cent in Gambia.
The new specific excise duty rate for alcoholic beverages cuts across Beer & Stout, Wines and Spirits for the three years 2018 to 2020.
Under the new regime, beer and stout would attract N0.30k per centiliter (Cl) in 2018 and N0.35k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020.
Wines would attract N1.25k per Cl in 2018 and N1.50k per Cl each in 2019 and 2020, while N1.50k per Cl was approved for Spirits in 2018, N1.75k per Cl in 2019 and N2.00k per Cl in 2020.
The minister added that the new excise duty regimes are in line with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) directive on the harmonisation of member-states’ legislations on excise duties.
It would be recalled that the ECOWAS Council of Ministers had at its 62nd and 79th Ordinary Sessions in Abuja in May 2009 and December 2017, respectively, issued directives on the harmonisation of the ECOWAS Member States’ Legislations on Excise Duties.
The directives seek to harmonise member-states’ legislations on excise duties of non-oil products and also stipulate the scope of application, rate of taxation, taxable event and amount.
PT
The Senior Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari did not promise an absolute crime-free Nigeria while campaigning for the presidency in 2015.
Shehu stated this on Sunday while reacting to criticism triggered by the death of several persons from the herdsmen-farmers crisis and other security issues in some parts of the country.
“I think that nobody, no politician should try to deceive Nigerians by saying that there is a country without lawlessness,” he said during his appearance on Channels Television’s SundayPolitics.
“Even when he campaigned – the President, yes, committed to ridding the country of terror but he would never have said that this country would be 100 per cent without criminality,” he added.
Shehu, however, said that the Federal Government is working hard to ensure the safety of the lives and property of Nigerians in all parts of the country.
As part of efforts to find a lasting solution to the killings, he further gave a brief on President Buhari’s scheduled visit to Benue State on Monday, March 12, having visited Taraba.
The presidential aide recalled that a statement was issued to the effect that the President was embarking on the visits after he had received all the reports he had commissioned.
He added that President Buhari believed it was time to go around and see things on the ground and make important decisions on what to follow.
On the President’s engagement in Benue, Shehu said: “The programme, as it stands now, is as we had it in Taraba. There will be a meeting of stakeholders in the State House.
“The President will listen to all the parties in the conflict and thereafter, he will deliver his own homily and, of course, sympathies to the people over the unfortunate losses of persons and property.”
He further faulted claims that the President’s visit to the state is politically motivated, saying his principal was engaging in more of acting than talking to stop the killings.
“I would have thought that if he had intended to inject politics into it, he would have been on the plane the morning after the incident,” Shehu said.
“But he chose to act, rather than to talk and as you have seen yourself over this period of time, there was intervention by law enforcement, there was intervention by NEMA and aid agencies.”
The President’s spokesman further took a swipe at a group of people whom he accused of leveraging the tragic incidents to score political points.
According to him, “They are just celebrating and exalting over all of these matters instead of coming together so that we can solve the problems.”
Daily Post
The judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), sitting in a plenary session have elected Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji of Nigeria as President of the Court for a three-year term with immediate effect.
Judge Robert Fremr from the Czech Republic was elected First Vice-President with Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut of France as Second Vice-President.
‘I am deeply honoured to have been elected by my peers as President of the International Criminal Court. As I take up my duties, I feel encouraged that I am able to rely on the wide experience of the two Vice-Presidents, Judge Robert Fremr and Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, both of whom I have closely worked with previously. I look forward to working together with them as well as with all the judges, all the Officials and the staff of the Court in a spirit of collegiality.
I am deeply honoured to have been elected by my peers as President of the International Criminal Court. As I take up my duties, I feel encouraged that I am able to rely on the wide experience of the two Vice-Presidents, Judge Robert Fremr and Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, both of whom I have closely worked with previously
I also look forward to collaborating with the Assembly of States Parties, civil society and the international community at large, acting together to strengthen and reinforce the Rome Statute system, the 20th anniversary of the adoption of which we celebrate this year’, President Chile Eboe-Osuji stated following the election.
‘I am also grateful to the previous President, Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, and Vice-Presidents, Judges Joyce Aluoch and Kuniko Ozaki, for their work and leadership,’ he added.
Background of Justice Chile Eboe-Osuji.
Justice Chile Eboe-Osuji was born in Anara in Imo State, Nigeria, on September 2, 1962.
He obtained his bachelor of laws degree from the University of Calabar, Nigeria.
He obtained his master of laws degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and doctor of laws degree from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986 and practised briefly there.
After achieving his Master’s degree from McGill in 1991, he worked as a barrister in Canada. From 1997 to 2005.
During his stay in Canada he worked as a barrister and law lecturer.
Judge Eboe-Osuji worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as prosecution counsel and senior legal officer to the judges of the tribunal. From 2005 to 2007.
Working for the Special Court for Sierra Leone as senior prosecution appeals counsel in 2007/08 and returning to the ICTR from 2008 to 2010 as Head of Chambers, he became the Legal Advisor to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2010.
He has authored two books and numerous law journal articles in international law.
On 16 December 2011, he was elected as a judge of the International Criminal Court. He won the office in the fifteenth ballot in the Assembly of States Parties with 102 votes.
The Nigerian born judge in 2014 recused himself as a member of the bench that tried the case involving Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta who was standing trial with his vice William Ruto for crimes against humanity following the Kenya’s post election violence in 2007.
The work of the ICC Presidency:
The Presidency – consisting of the President and the two Vice-Presidents – plays a key role in providing strategic leadership to the ICC as a whole.
The Presidency coordinates with the other organs and seeks the concurrence of the Prosecutor on matters of mutual concern.
In accordance with the Rome Statute, the ICC’s governing treaty, the Presidency is responsible for the proper administration of the Court, with the exception of the Office of the Prosecutor.
The Presidency oversees the activities of the Registry and provides input into a broad range of administrative policies affecting the Court’s overall functioning.
Furthermore it conducts judicial review of certain decisions of the Registrar and concludes Court-wide cooperation agreements with States and international organizations.
Africanews
Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, has accused the All Progressives Congress, APC-led federal government of failing to protect the 110 girls abducted by Boko Haram from Government Girls Science Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe state.
The former Vice President said the APC government failed to use 150,000 policemen guarding VIPs to protect the abducted schoolgirls.
In a chat with ThisDay, the Waziri of Adamawa described government’s failure to protect the girls as ‘carelessness.’
He called on the authority to take firm action to forestall a recurrence in the country.
According to Abubakar, ”Let me paraphrase Oscar Wilde and say that to lose one set of girls to Boko Haram may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose another set, looks like carelessness.
”As an opposition party, the APC was vocal to the point of exploiting the issue of the Chibok girls’ kidnapping. They did not cut the Jonathan administration any slack.
”They criticised that government every step of the way and some may even claim that they undermined the then government’s efforts at resolving that unfortunate incident.
”So, it is rather surprising that a set of people who were so unsparing in their critique of the previous government would be in a situation whereby they have allowed these same terrorists to kidnap 110 girls.
”What would I have done differently? Recently, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Chief Mike Okiro, revealed that 150,000 policemen were guarding various elites and those we know as ‘big men’.
”If I had my way, I would have recalled all of those 150,000 policemen who are not performing core police duties and send them to provide security for every school in the North-East region. That to me would be a better use of their time and services.
”We already know that Boko Haram has an agenda to cripple Western education in Nigeria. So, how could we have left those schools unguarded? Why should the police be guarding VIPs who can afford personal guards and leave vulnerable girls unguarded?
”We are spending billions trying to encourage girls to go to school only to allow them be abducted by terrorists. I condemn these abductions and I urge the federal government to take firm action to ensure that it would never reoccur in Nigeria.”
DailyPost
Some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the auspices of APC Adalci Buhari Saka have given Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal 48 hours ultimatum to declare whether he is with President Muhammadu Buhari or not.
Addressing a Press Conference at the NUJ secretariat, Sokoto, the group threatened to take further action if the Governor fail to make his stand known within the stated period.
The group further accused the Governor of anti-party activities which they said should be thoroughly investigated and dealt with as a matter of urgency.
"We don't understand his romance with the leading members of the opposition PDP which was widely publicized, " it stated
It added " He has a strong relationship with Governor Wike who is the perceived leader of the modern PDP and the national chairman of the party. He visits them and they come and visit him in Sokoto as well. "
Spokesman of the group, Professor Bashar Lawal asserted:"We are giving him 48 hours to declare whether he is with Buhari or not and if he fail to do so we will do what is necessary."
Lawal who was flanked by members of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), alleged that the Governor was undermining the war on corruption by terminating all corruption cases against members of his cabinet.
They further alleged that billions of public funds were squandered in the name of the electorate but there was no conmensurated social infrastructure.
"But they keep blaming the federal government despite receiving successive funding as bailouts, Paris club refunds in addition to the regular monthly subvention from the federal government," he said.
Members of the group also accused the Governor of persecuting members of the defunct CPC, citing the consfication of farmlands worth N300 million of the former gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of APC, Barrister Aliyu Sanyinna and the demolition of part of the school owned by their spokesperson, Professor Bashar.
When contacted, one of the APC stalwarts, Magaji Gusau dared them to take any action if they have evidences to back their claims.
Gusau was the one who officially reacted to the group's earlier allegation of marginalization.
DailyTrust
National Electoral Commission (NEC) Sierra Leone Saturday released 50% or 1.3 million processed votes from the 3.17 million registered voters for the March 7 presidential, parliamentary and local council elections.
According to the official results, the candidate of the ruling All People's Congress (APC) Dr Samura Kamara led with 43.20% followed by rtd Brig. Julius Maada Bio of the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) 43.09%, while Kabdeh Yumkellah of the National Grand Alliance (NGC) is third with 6.69% of the processed votes.
The two female presidential candidates got 0.1% each.
NEC chair Mohamed N'fah Alie-Conteh told a Press Conference at NEC HQs in Freetown that the remaining results would be released as soon as possible.
If none of the 16 candidates contesting the presidency gains 55% of the votes cast in the first round, the two frontrunners will go for the run-off balloting two weeks after the declaration of the first round results.
The winner will be the nation's fifth president and will replace outgoing President Ernest Bai Koroma, who has served the constitutionally allowed two terms of five years each.
Registered Sierra Leoneans also voted to elect MPs for the 124 contested seats in the 144-member parliament from among 789 candidates.
An incident in the nation’s capital involving some youths who reportedly attempted to cause trouble and loot shops following the release of the first partial results of the polls, was swiftly brought under country by the security services.
The elections were the fourth set of polls since the end of the country’s 11-year civil war in 2002, but the first time that the national authorities would fully take charge of electoral processes since the departure of the UN Mission in 2014.
The Senator representing Kaduna Central District in the National Assembly, Shehu Sani, has declared that it is just a matter of time before the Governor of the State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai betrays President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to the Senator, El-Rufai is not new in the game of using and dumping leaders having allegedly betrayed the likes of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umar Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.
He said this while explaining how the crisis in the Kaduna chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, started in an interview with Vanguard.
According to him, “It came in different stages- the one that began with me and the one that is continuing with Senator Hunkuyi and others.
“There are both ideological and political differences between me and (Governor) El-Rufai.
“He came from a political establishment. For the 16 years of PDP rule, he spent 13 years as a PDP man, he was never known until 1999 when he was appointed the DG of Bureau of Public Enterprises and later, Minister for FCT.
“This was a man who used to call Obasanjo his mentor and he used to call (late) Umar Yar’Adua his mentor and teacher and he used to call Jonathan Goodluck his very good leader, and now, it is Buhari.
“What I know is that the Nasir- el Rufai that betrayed Atiku, betrayed Obasanjo, Jonathan, Atiku will also betray Buhari.”
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No fewer than 53 policemen, serving in the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja, say they have yet to be paid their Risk Caution Allowances since 2015, when they were posted to the Presidency.
This was disclosed in an anonymous petition that the policemen filed to President Muhammadu Buhari and which was obtained by our correspondent.
It was gathered that apart from the 53, who had allegedly not been paid their allowances at all, there are 127 other policemen who claimed that they had yet to be paid their allowances in full.
According to the petition, the 53 policemen have been languishing in poverty over the past two years with their allowances being withheld. They urge the President to look into the matter.
One of the affected policemen, who spoke with one of our correspondents and pleaded not to be named, confirmed that the Risk Caution Allowances had not been paid since 2015.
“We have names in the petition to prove to the government that we are not lying. The authorities in the Villa should invite those persons and find out from them. We believe that the President is not aware of this delay. The allowances may have been approved a long time ago and mismanaged by a few powerful officers in the Villa. That is our fear,” the policeman said.
The petition is titled, “President Muhammadu Buhari’s mobile policemen plead over unpaid Risk Caution Allowances from May 2015 to date.
It read in part, “About 127 police officers attached to the Presidency have not been paid the balance of their risk caution allowances and about 53 mobile police officers that started working with the present government since 2015 have not been paid anything.
“The 53 policemen since the past two years have been languishing in poverty. Most of these policemen did the data capture and were given the presidential tags. Those behind this delay are some of the superior officers like the Squadron, the Principal Staff Officer and the leader of the Presidential Vehicle Movement.
“The excuse given by the superior officers was that the affected policemen were boys to the former Squadron leader, one SP Mau’su.
“These superiors have started transferring these affected policemen out of the Villa to some states and replacing them with their own boys, who did not suffer and were not there to bear what the policemen went through. We are pleading with our father and President, Muhammadu Buhari, to look into these sufferings from the beginning of his government till date.”
The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Jimoh Moshood, however, said all allowances and salaries of policemen attached to any place were being paid regularly, noting that they had yet to get such complaint from the Villa.
Moshood said, “The emoluments contain the salaries and allowances. Outside that, there is also insurance coverage provided by the Force and the Federal Government.
“This set of people you talk about have not complained to the Force headquarters. We don’t have such complaints. The police are not aware of any risk allowance being owed anyone.”
A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said police authorities should be blamed for the non-payment of the RCA of some of their men posted to the Presidential Villa.
The source explained that the problem was caused by police authorities, who he said kept posting more men into the Presidential Villa than the number that could be catered for.
He, however, said not all policemen fell into the category of those that had not been paid.
Punch
The Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has angered a number of his colleagues for lifting the veil on the N13.5million illegal allowances members of the upper legislative chambers receive each month in addition to their legitimate salaries and allowances.
Some lawmakers who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES but asked not to be named said the revelation by Mr. Sani has damaged the reputation of the federal legislature while possibly pitting constituents against their representatives.
The aggrieved senators and members of the House of Representatives said some of their colleagues were already discreetly working out modalities to deal with the Kaduna lawmaker.
Mr. Sani had in an interview with TheNews revealed that he and his colleagues receive N13.5 million monthly as “running cost”, aside a N700,000monthly consolidated salary and allowances which they also receive.
Mr. Sani’s revelation is the first by a lawmaker from the Senate since the clamour by Nigerians for a full disclosure of lawmakers’ earnings.
The revelation has sparked widespread anger among Nigerians who had always criticised the lawmakers for arbitrarily allocating jumbo pay to themselves at a time the country remained in dire need of funds for developmental projects.
Ironically, Mr. Sani’s colleagues are criticising him for coming clean on the secret allowances lawmakers receive while majority of Nigerians wallow in poverty and disease.
Some of the lawmakers who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES said the revelation has the tendency of turning their constituents against them.
They said the revelation might instigate their constituents to make more financial demands from them.
The lawmakers vowed to take necessary steps to make the next one year difficult for the Kaduna senator.
“He has brought his useless activism to the chamber creating the impression that we are all thieves without telling Nigerians details of what the money is used for ,” one lawmaker said. “There are are always ways of dealing with characters like that. Just wait and see.”
Part of the punishment the angry lawmakers are considering is to pressure the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to exclude Mr. Sani from subsequent ‘secret meetings’ of the senate, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.
They plan to prevail on Mr. Saraki to stop inviting him for such meetings, especially those where finances might be discussed.
The lawmakers are also weighing the option of recommending a probe of the whistle-blower to Mr. Saraki.
For them, Mr. Sani would have to explain why he turned himself to the senate spokesperson, speaking on behalf of others.
If adopted, Mr. Sani would be investigated by the senate’s ethics committee which shall recommend a punishment.
But some lawmakers are cautioning against any open rebuke of the senator, saying that might generate even more public anger against the Senate and its members.
Many Nigerians, including civil society organisations have commended Mr. Sani’s action.
However, if eventually probed and found guilty by the ethics committee, Mr. Sani faces up to six to 12 months suspension.
In March 2017, when the former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume asked for investigation of allegations of importing a bullet proof Range Rover with fake documents involving Senate President Bukola Saraki and that of perjury involving Dino Melaye, the committee recommended 12 months suspension.
The suspension was later reduced to six months by the lawmakers.
Similarly, in the House of Representatives, a lawmaker from Kano, Abdulmumin Jibrin, was suspended for 180 days for revealing what is today known as budget padding.
His suspension was recommended by the House Ethics Committee which also prescribed that Mr. Jibrin will also not be able to hold any position of responsibility for the span of the current National Assembly.
Contacted on Saturday, Mr. Sani said he preferred not to comment on his colleagues’ moves. He promised to make comments if the need arises in future.
PT
The House of Representatives has again queried the N24bn which the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation claim it incurs monthly on payment of subsidy on imported Premium Motor Spirit popularly known as petrol.
The lower chamber described the expenditure as “an act of illegality” as the funds are allegedly paid without appropriation by the National Assembly.
The landing cost of a litre of PMS is said to be N171, leaving a difference of N26, but the government-approved pump price is N145.
The price differential and other challenges, including allegations of smuggling by syndicates, leave a monthly subsidy bill of N24bn.
The Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Mr. Joseph Akinlaja, told SUNDAY PUNCH that a full-scale investigation into the “back-door return” of subsidy payment would start this week.
Akinlaja also confirmed names of officials that had been summoned to appear before the House probe panel.
He said the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu; the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru; and the heads of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency had been summoned to appear at the session.
Akinlaja reiterated the National Assembly’s stance that subsidy was neither captured in the 2017 budget nor in the 2018 budget still awaiting passage by the legislature.
He said, “What they (NNPC) is doing is illegal. We don’t know where the management got the approval to make the payments.
“They did not approach the National Assembly for any approval. That is why we say they have questions to answer. They need to tell Nigerians whether subsidy is back?
“We have an investigation to conduct and it will start next week (this week) for stakeholders to come and talk about this subsidy and other renewed challenges in our oil industry, particularly the supply chain in the downstream sector.”
Akinlaja recalled that the NNPC, a government corporation, had been the sole importer of products for several months after private importers boycotted importation.
He said reports at the disposal of the committee suggested that the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria; the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association; and the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria were collectively owed N800bn by the government for previous importation.
He added that as a result of the mounting debts, IPMAN, DAPMAN and MOMAN stopped importing products, leaving the NNPC alone to handle the challenge.
The lawmaker added that the “surprise” now was whether the NNPC was paying subsidy to itself, “but essentially doing so without authorisation by the National Assembly.”
He disclosed that the position of the committee had been that the executive should forward a supplementary budget, covering the N800bn, to offset the debts so that the marketers could resume importation.
Akinlaja also told SUNDAY PUNCH that the supplementary budget had yet to come while the NNPC hadn’t sought any approval from the National Assembly.
NNPC’s subsidy payments illegal, say senators
Also, some members of the Senate, who spoke to SUNDAY PUNCH, described subsidy payments by the NNPC as illegal as it was without the approval of the National Assembly.
Some of them however noted that there was no way the corporation could have maintained the official pump price of PMS at N145 per litre when the landing cost of the commodity had risen to N171 per litre.
A member of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Gas), Senator Adesoji Akanbi, stated, “We all know that the landing cost is more than the regulated pump price. It means that the government must bear the cost of the differentials. And for the fact that the general election is approaching, the current administration will not want to raise the pump price.”
Another senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, faulted the corporation for not seeking legal backing for the payments. “They just don’t want to do it,” he said.
The lawmaker asked why it was difficult for the Federal Government to use the differentials between the appropriated oil benchmark and the increasing crude oil prices to augment the gap between the landing cost and the pump price.
“It is indeed illegal and they should have quickly sought the approval of the National Assembly. I agree that it should not be illegal; there should be a way to go around it without breaking the law,” the senator said.
Even if FG pays N650bn debt, we can’t still import fuel –Marketers
Meanwhile, oil marketers in the country have said they will still not be able to import the PMS even if the Federal Government clears the N650bn debt it owes them.
On Monday, oil dealers, under the aegis of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, suspended the 14-day ultimatum it issued the Federal Government to pay the N650bn debt.
DAPPMA had threatened to disengage oil workers if the government failed to comply, but suspended the move after the government made commitments to pay.
The Executive Secretary, DAPMMA, Olufemi Adewole, however, told one of our correspondents that despite the government’s commitment to clear the debt, petroleum product marketers would not commence PMS importation.
When asked if marketers had started importing PMS since the government had agreed to pay the N650bn debt, Adewole said there was no plan for such.
He stated, “Importing PMS is not as if you just go to the depot, load and come out. If you are importing PMS, you will agree with your supplier in Amsterdam or Europe or Russia; you nominate a vessel; they give you a date that you are going to load the vessel; you then load the vessel and it takes about two weeks for it to come to Nigeria.
“And first and foremost, the money has to be paid but right now, the money is still not there. We don’t have the money to do all that. We have suspended the ultimatum but marketers still don’t have the money to import. So on importation, that is off it right now.”
When probed further on whether marketers would import PMS once they get their payments from government, Adewole replied, “If the money is paid and the price is okay; in other words, if we bring it in and the landing cost is not above N145 per litre, then we can go ahead and import. Even if the money is paid today and the landing cost is above N145, we still cannot import.
“So many things came together and that is why we were boxed into a corner. At a point when they still owed us, we were still importing because the price was below N145 and we can still land and sell the product at N145. But when we could not get our money out, could not sell at N145, and were borrowing money to pay staff salaries, then, we just felt that what’s the point? We have been talking to them but they seem not to be doing anything.”
But the spokesperson for the NNPC, Ndu Ughamadu, said the rise in crude oil prices in the international market and the increase in the volume of PMS consumed across the country had contributed to the hike in the amount spent as subsidy on petrol.
Ughamadu, who insisted that the NNPC was not paying subsidy but making under recovery, stated that Nigeria’s petrol consumption jerked up from about 35 million litres per day to 50 million litres.
He said, “It was clearly stated in a presentation we made a few days ago to the Customs. In effect, the higher the crude oil price, the wider the landing cost of products and the larger the under recovery.
“All these factors depend on the consumption level. The higher the consumption level, the wider is the under recovery. It is important to state that under recovery is part of our credit management structure.”
The oil firm had announced last Sunday that it was spending N774m daily as subsidy on the 50 million litres of PMS consumed across the country every day.
Punch
Prof. Remi Sonaiya, the presidential candidate of the KOWA Party in the 2015 elections, has said she will contest again in the 2019 presidential election.
Sonaiya expressed her optimism that she will make it in the primary, despite interest from four other KOWA aspirants.
She stated this while speaking at the commemoration of the 2018 International Women’s Day at the WFM91.7, Arepo, Ogun State.
The event was organised by the Media Women Forum, with the theme “Mobilising women for politics.”
“Yes, I am coming out. I am planning to run as one of the aspirants in KOWA Party. Four other people have indicated their interest in the ticket, so let’s see what happens after our primary,” she replied when asked if she was planning to contest next year.
“My message to women is that the time to stand is now; the reason is that we have short-changed ourselves as a nation. We cannot have a developed nation without women’s involvement. We have the skills and abilities to prepare for leadership.
“By leaving the leadership position to men alone, we have denied ourselves our rights. I really hope that women will be determined and stand, in not just talking about the situation of things, but assuming responsibilities. We should not be begged to take charge.”
DailyPost