News

News

Britain will build a new 112-bed wing at Kirikiri Prison in Lagos so that it can transfer Nigerian prisoners there, foreign secretary, Boris Johnson announced in London today.

In a written statement to parliament, Johnson said tenders had been placed and a supplier identified to conduct the building work at Kirikiri. He did not name the supplier.

The project will be funded from Britain’s Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, which has an annual budget of more than 1 billion pounds and aims to commission projects that can help prevent conflicts and stabilise countries or regions.

The new 112-bed wing, which will cost 700,000 pounds ($973,000) and be compliant with United Nations standards, will make it easier for Britain to comply with a prisoner transfer agreement it signed with Nigeria in 2014.

Under that deal, eligible prisoners serving criminal sentences in Nigeria and Britain can be returned to complete their sentences in their respective countries. The British government did not indicate how many prisoners might be moved or when the project is likely to be completed.

Nigerian prisons — many of them built by British colonisers more than 100 years ago — are severely overcrowded, leading to the spread of diseases.

The Nigerian government has said it is developing a strategy to tackle the issue.

Britain’s own prison system has been showing signs of severe strain in recent years, with overcrowding, rising suicide rates and a growing problem with drug trafficking and other crimes within jails that were sometimes built in the Victorian era.

Kirikiri is not one of the oldest prisons in Nigeria but it does date back to colonial times.

Last month, the government said the prison in the southern city of Port Harcourt, which was originally designed to hold 800 prisoners, currently has nearly 5,000. It said 3,700 of them had been awaiting trial for more than five years.

Sun

A former Governor of Jigawa State and PDP presidential aspirant, Alhaji Sule Lamido, yesterday in Calabar, alleged that Nigeria has been hijacked and is being ruled by men who lack ideas.

Lamido said the ruling APC was only implementing what the former ruling party, the PDP, drew.

He stated this when he paid a consultative visit to Governor Ben Ayade on his presidential aspiration.

Lamido alleged that whereas PDP was accused of spending about N6tn on some national projects in 16 years, the APC had wasted more than N20tn in three years and had nothing to show for it.

He, therefore, wondered why only people in the opposition were being vilified and labelled as corrupt.

On security, Lamido said killing and destruction were no longer strange, but that the question now was, “How many have been killed today?”

Ayade on his part, described Lamido as “humane, people-friendly and man of depth and concern who turned Jigawa State into an Eldorado.”

 

DailyTrust 

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, head of Election Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) Mission to Sierra Leone, has advised the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to ensure that election guidelines are followed in the collation of voting.

The former President of Nigeria gave the advice in an interview with newsmen while monitoring the voting process on Wednesday in Freetown.

Jonathan said it was important for NEC to ensure that the collation of the results followed due process and laid down rules and regulations.

He said recording peaceful voting was just one aspect of election, the process of collating the result was also critical.

“If you look at the problem that we have in Kenya, it is not the voting per say, it was the transmission of results that people challenged in the court and the election was nullified in Supreme Court,” he said.

He said once the guidelines were followed, the process and the results would be accepted by all.

Jonathan also called on the contestants of the general elections and their supporters to respect the results, when announced.

He expressed satisfaction with the turnout of voters and advised them to accept the results when declared.

“We plead that if there is no major incident, at the end of the day people should be able to accept the result of the elections.

“Where you feel aggrieved in one way or the other, people should follow the elections guidelines.

“People are impressed with the turnout and the commitment of the ordinary people to vote.

“Some of the voters came out as early as 12 midnight to vote, queue, wait patiently for the poll to start in the morning by 7 a.m.”

Jonathan said though there were about 15 to 30 minutes delay in some polling units, most polling stations commenced early.

“I have also monitored elections in other countries and I am beginning to see that the standard is high here (in Sierra Leone) and we have to commend the people of Sierra Leone.”

 

DailyPost 

Last modified on Thursday, 08 March 2018 08:04

Chairman of the Senate Committee on the FCT, Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi), yesterday, told the senate that the APC administration borrowed N11 trillion against N 6trillion borrowed during the 16 years reign of the PDP.

Melaye, who spoke when he raised a point of order to protest the rejection of the Peace Corps bill by President Muhammadu Buhari, said the present administration had  no specific programme to empower the youths.

 

He said the complaint by the president that there was no fund to cater for the Peace Corps was not tenable.

“The same thing happened when the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) was to be established; there was also the same complain that there was no money and all of that.

“But today, we can see the advantages of the civil defence and how they have helped in safeguarding government’s infrastructure,” he said.

 

DailyTrust 

The Senate on Wednesday said it would be forced to withhold budgetary approvals for any government agency and parastatal
which failed to submit at least two previous years’ audited reports to the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF).

The decision followed the adoption of a report of the Senate Public Accounts Committee (PAC) presented to the chamber by its Chairman, Sen. Matthew Uroghide during plenary.

The report indicated that at least 85 agencies of government including the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had never submitted audited reports since their creation.

In adopting the report, the Senate issued a May 2018 deadline to all parastatals to submit audited reports in line with Section 85 of the 1999 Constitution.

According to Urhoghide, out of 447 agencies and parastatals, only 40 have complied with the submission of the 2017 audit reports.

He said that the constitution mandated the AGF to receive audited reports from the agencies and submit the same to the National Assembly.

The lawmaker added that the agencies and parastatals should ensure that their accounts were audited by making use of the recommended auditors from the AGF.

He said: “EFCC is of the opinion that once they come for budget defence, it amounts to submitting their audited reports. The EFCC Act 
itself says they have to submit their audited reports six months into the financial year.”

In his remarks, the President of the Senate Dr Bukola Saraki condemned the development saying that the situation was unhelpful to the war against corruption.

He said: “Imagine that out of 447 parastatals, only 40 have complied with the 2017 audited reports. When they say we are not making much progress in the anti-corruption fight it is because of the fundamental issues, they are right, the foundation is still very weak.

“If we have 447 parastatals and only 40 have sent their audited reports, there is a serious problem. Now, we find out that the agencies that are even meant to supervise are part of those who have not sent in their audit reports.

“Now, we have taken a resolution here today to say that unless the remaining agencies do that their budgets for 2018 is withheld.

“Therefore, let us remember that when we are passing the 2018 budget, the committees that are presenting the reports of the parastatals should please confirm to us whether they have complied with the auditor’s report.

“In the meantime, we will make sure that we also communicate to the Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF) to ensure that all these parastatals get their accounts audited and submitted,” Saraki said.

 

NAN

The Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, has revealed that he and his colleagues receive N13.5 million monthly as “running cost.”

In an interview with TheNews, Mr. Sani said that the running cost does not include a N700,000 monthly consolidated salary and allowances which they also receive.

Details of the interview were published by SaharaReporters on Wednesday.

“I think what we can say is that the running cost of a senator is N13.5 million every month,” the senator said.

He explained that though there is no specification on what the funds was meant for, each lawmaker is mandated to provide receipts to back up their expenses.

Mr. Sani explains, “But what I am saying is that that money (N13.5 million per month) must be receipted for what you do with it. But what you are given to go and spend without any accountability is N750,000.”

The lawmaker also spoke on the controversial constituency projects for federal lawmakers.

“The constituency project itself is given on a zonal basis and almost every senator will go with a constituency fund of about N200 million, but it is not the cash that is given to you.

“You will be told that you have N200 million with an agency of government for which you will now submit projects equivalent to that amount. And it is that agency of government that will go and do those projects for you.”

Mr. Sani said the process of executing the projects was fraught with fraud.

“Now, the corruption comes when the projects are not done and the money is taken. But right now, it is difficult to do that because NGOs and transparency groups have come into it. They track every allocation made to you and where they are being used.

“So, it’s becoming difficult for what used to happen in the past to happen now.

“But I can tell you that I would love a situation where we do away with running costs, constituency projects and leaves senators and members of House of Reps with salaries.

The senator stated that members of the National Assembly ideally shouldn’t be involved in constituency projects. He had earlier favoured this position while speaking at the launch of fact-checking and constituency projects tracking websites organised by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ).

“There are issues that we need to understand. First, I don’t believe that members of the National or even state assemblies should be involved in carrying out what is called constituency projects,” he said in the interview.

 

“When people are elected into the National Assembly, they should just be involved in law making, raising motions, bills and also performing oversight functions. But we live in a society where people cannot differentiate between the legislators and the executive.

“When the people come to you, they want you to build roads, dig boreholes, build hospitals, schools, give money, pay school fees for them. Now, if we have a society in which people will stop asking legislators to do those things, then there is no need (for the allowances) But funny enough, if you are very active in the National Assembly in making laws and you don’t embark on projects in your constituency, you cannot in any way be appreciated by the people you are there to serve because the electorates in United States are different from the electorates in the United States and Africa.”

Mr. Sani’s revelation is the first by a lawmaker from the Senate since the clamour by Nigerians for transparency of lawmaker’s earnings. His revelation also puts a doubt to the National Assembly budget for 2017 released last year after public pressure. That budget had no subhead for office running cost, indicating the funds are hidden under a separate subhead.

 

PT

Last modified on Thursday, 08 March 2018 07:50
Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Chief Olisa Agbakoba SAN, is the leader of the National Intervention Movement, which is aimed at working towards using the 2019 elections to produce a new crop of leaders for the country. In a phone interview, he spoke on a wide-range of issues and harped on the need for Nigeria to be rescued from its “worst” state under the President Muhammadu Buhari government using the forthcoming 2019 elections. Sylvester Ugwuanyi brings you excerpts…

Is there any relationship between the National Intervention Movement and the Coalition for Nigeria Movement, CNM, being promoted by former president, Olusegun Obasanjo?

 

There’s no relation between both (NIM and CNM). The Obasanjo own came much later. Obasanjo’s group came over maybe six months after ours had been established. We are not the same organization. The whole idea is that we should all be able to form a strong political movement that will make the 2019 elections viable, credible and fair and produce new set of political actors. There are so many movements, there is the NIM, the Tunde Bakare movement, there is the Obasanjo movement, there is Oby Ezekwesili movement; there is that of Charlyboy.

Is there a possibility that all these movements will merge into a political front in the build up to 2019?

“What is important is to work towards a common agenda. Whether we merge or not, is not the issue. The issue is that do we all agree that our political and economic condition is in a terrible state. And if so, what can we do about it, particularly for 2019. That is the main issue.

Would you say you have the same agenda with that of Obasanjo’s group?

 

Of course!

Some persons allege that Obasanjo is merely trying to install one of his loyalists as president come 2019, what’s your reaction to that?

I’m not interested in allegations. I’m interest in facts. The fact is that Nigeria is not in good shape today and the second fact is how can we make Nigeria a better place? Whoever is on the same page with me to stop Nigeria’s descent into anarchy is my friend. I am not interested in whether the person was a bad man in the past or whatever. My eye is focused on the goal of making Nigeria a better place by 2019 which means we have a great interest in the way the election will turn out, and we have a great interest in who becomes the Nigerian president.

A lot of people have stated that the time before 2019 is practically too short… (Cuts in)

 

For me, the answer to that is that it is better to do something than to sit down at home and complain. I hope you’re not suggesting that because the time is short and things are getting bad, nobody should talk. That would not be a viable alternative. So it’s best to do something, it’s best to do something. It’s best not to complain about what people are doing. It’s better to encourage them. Here is something new. Let us see how it will play out because we are all Nigerians. We all know that we have had a rough time at the hands of APC so-called change party. So, it is not whether we are merging with Obasanjo’s group or whether the time is too short. What is important is that can we achieve our goals towards 2019 successfully. And if so, how? Those are the important questions.

What really is your strategy towards making an impact in the 2019 elections?

Part of what we are doing is the fact that you are interviewing me on the issue. This goes to show that there is something different that people are looking. There is a momentum and national anger that we can really-really tap into. We have canvassed very heavily for people to make sure they have their voter card because without their voter card, they can complain all they like and remember that there are potential things we can do. The first is to make sure Nigeria gets new political actors in 2019 and for me, that is enough achievement. The icing on the cake is that we would be part of those actors to make sure that there is no derailment. So either of the two, what is needed is a mass conscientization. I can assure you that as the date (for the elections) become closer; the intensity to do things in a more radical way will emerge. You will find many presidential candidates emerging.

From what you are saying, is it that NIM wouldn’t be welcoming any of the traditional politicians we know?

We are trying to define who and who we can accept to work with, so that we don’t get to look exactly like the old people. I cannot say yes or no to your question, except that it is an interesting possibility. But if associating with any politician will put us in bad public light, then we would clearly not work with such. Because if the public feels that is another group being sponsored by the old politicians then we would lose our credibility. So I’d rather keep my credibility because if you lose your credibility you’d have no respect. But generally, I see no reason why in principle, one cannot work with the old politicians provided that they are not tarred or being recognized by corrupt practices or bad behavior. So, someone like Atiku Abubakar may or may not be a partner we can work with.

May or may not? Can you please categorically state whether you can work with the former vice president?

It is about national perception. If the perception is that working with him will not assist us, then we would not, but if the perception is that working with him is something that the Nigerian voters accept to overlook, then we will. So, it is not something I can say yes or no.

But what is your perception of Atiku?

My perception is that his political battle with Obasanjo has tended to put him in a light that Nigerians may see him as not a sort of person that can rule Nigeria in 2019. There is a perception on that. The other is that Atiku has got old but young enough with enough energy and detribalization to bring about the Nigerian dream. So it’s about perception. For instance, when we go into town hall meetings, suppose that we invited him to come and talk to us and we discovered that from the national random opinion, the public identified him as one of the potentially good leaders Nigeria has and if he is identified as someone we can work with, then we can work with him.

Would this happen regardless of Obasanjo’s position on Atiku’s ambition?

Obasanjo is not the Nigerian voting public. He only got one vote. If a sample of the Nigerian voting public supports Atiku, then it makes him a good candidate. Because, at the end of the day, it is the voting public that you need… Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but she lost to Donald Trump who is the president. So, no matter what you say the national trend about how elections are conducted is what matters. Trump understood what the white voting American public wants and he played to it. So, in politics, you must amplify the voice of the voter, not your own voice. I might not like Atiku as a person but if the voting public wants him to be give a chance, then it is something we can look at but we have not reached that stage.

Has Atiku reached out to NIM?

“No, he has not”.

Given the role of money in elections, how do you intend to prevail over moneybags at the polls and where would you pull the resources needed to prosecute an election in Nigeria?

I’m not sure that money is all that it takes to win a presidential election. If money was to be what it takes, Jonathan would have defeated Buhari in 2015. Yes, money plays a very strong role. Buhari won the election largely on account of the disenchantment of the voting public against Jonathan. Yea, money is very very useful but I don’t think money is something that cannot be located at the appropriate time. But, I’d rather have credibility than money. Particularly now that President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC has become one of the worst governments in Nigeria is the main reason to expect the over 30 million registered voters to vote the way they want money or no money. There is a radical departure from money politics. Today, we have social media politics. There is something close to about two million registered members of NIM.

Does this membership reflect national spread or from a particular section of the country?

The calculations we’ve been working on the past two weeks say we have about two million members. We are national, we are at the six zones; we are at 34 states and about 350 local government areas. That’s the spread of NIM. We are in the Diaspora: Canada, India, New York etc. In fact, we have a very wide spread whenever I look at the statistics I get shocked on how NIM has blossomed across the world.

Is NIM going to register itself as a political party?

NIM is simply a movement. Now what does a movement do? If you followed the Italian election on Sunday, some political parties created the Five Star movement, this movement did not field candidates but they campaigned on anti-European issues. And as a result of their campaigns, there is no winner in the Italian election. So, the work of NIM is to energise 2019. Though we have two million people today by the next four or five months we may have five million members. These five million people can do a lot of electoral work.

“There are two levels of work. NIM as a movement is mainly about conscientizing, advocacy, talking, pushing the agenda. It had no electoral objective. Then the second objective is that we endorse a person to be president and we turn our energy and support the person. So, we don’t need to have a political party to achieve any of this. All we need to do is to have an alliance. We can find a good guy in APC and support him; we can also find a very good guy in PDP and support him because he meets our standard. But we have set a standard of what we want in 2019… extremely credible, fresh, innovative, technology driven type of candidate who works hard. And you won’t find that in only one party. At the end of the day, NIM can support candidates from across the parties. And I think, this is why NIM has been successful because if we had become partisan, we would have all kinds of squabbles. In fact, we have about thirty political parties within NIM but we don’t support any of them. It is for them to show us they deserve our votes not because they are carrying money. That is why I said money politics may not be as important as it used to be. Every election presents its own trend. I feel that the social media has broken down the barriers of money. So money becomes only important for administrative and logistics purposes. We are talking about highly undermined, unemployed, angry, discontented youths who have been pushed to the streets. If you have about 30,000 unemployed graduates in Lagos, you think they would go to the ward to collect money? They will go to vote based on what they are seeing on the social media and other advocacy issues. So the money would not be as important.

Do you have confidence that INEC will deliver a free, fair and credible election in 2019?

I don’t know but I just pray they do. I just pray that they understand that Nigeria expects them to deliver a reliable, credible and fair election but I can’t speculate as to how they would do it.

What sort of Nigeria do you expect your movement to bring about?

We want a Nigeria that is a prosperous, industrialized, innovative, technologically-driven country that has social security system for the vulnerable, the aged; A country full of ideas in the ministries, government is working, infrastructure is available, you can go from here to Benin at 8pm because it is safe. That’s the Nigeria of our dream; crime and poverty is at its lowest level, inflation rates are low, the interest rate is at a single digit, banks are lending money, small business are thriving. Nigeria is currently the laughing stock of Africa, a sleeping giant. So, we need to wake from our slumber and occupy our pride of place. Nigeria should one of the first ten of industrialists nations of the world because we have the population. Look at the kind of money MTN is making here. MTN is making more money than the banks and Dangote put together. Why because we are a hundred and fifty million people so how come we can’t take advantage of our huge population. We want the nation’s school system to work so the potentials of young Nigerians can be tapped.

So how would you rate the efforts of the Buhari administration in building a better Nigeria?

The Buhari administration is the worst government in Nigeria’s history. It has delivered absolutely nothing. All the economic indices are high. The interest rate is high, the unemployment rate is high, infrastructure is broken. The economy is dead. This is not the kind of country I dream of.

 

DailyPost 

Last modified on Thursday, 08 March 2018 09:52

No fewer than 32 women aspirants across the 23 local government areas of Kaduna State have indicated interest in seeking elective office in the May 12 local government poll.

Mrs Florence Aya, the President of Women Mentoring and Leadership Initiative (WOMFOI), disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Wednesday.

Aya said the women are seeking councillorship and chairmanship positions in the election.

She also said some woman had indicated interest to occupy the chairmanship position of the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state.

Aya further said that dozens of women aspirants had began to show interest in the House of Assembly as well as the National Assembly seats in the 2019 general elections.

She described the development as “good omen,” saying that the number of women interested in elective office in the state is on the increase due largely to the leadership mentoring of women by WOMFOI.

“For some years now, WOMFOI has been mentoring women who want to go into politics.

“We mentor them on how to aspire for any political office; how to source for funds, how to mobilise support and all what they need to do to fulfill their dreams.

“We also train them on public speaking and how to use the media to create the needed publicity and awareness for constituency mobilisation,” she said.

Aya, a former legislator in the Kaduna State House of Assembly and the House of Representatives, said WOMFOI was established to equip women with knowledge of politics and leadership.

“When I was in active politic some years ago, I never had the opportunity of being enlightened on how to maximise opportunities for elective political positions.

“I just summoned courage with little or no idea on how things will turn out and surprisingly, I was able to make exploits.

“WOMFOI was established to fill the vacuum and teach women how best to participate in politics,”she said.

Aya said WOMFOI has more than 100 members cutting across political parties in the state.

She also said the group was working on how to get their male counterparts to support them.

“We will also make sure that we send the list of our aspirants to Gov. Nasir El-Rufa’i to enlist his support to ensure that three or more women emerge as local government chairpersons and councillors in the forthcoming poll,”she said.

Aya commended the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development in the state,  Hajiya Hafsat Baba,  for supporting women to participate fully in politics. 

 

NAN

The Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Rural Development, Oladipupo Adebutu, says Nigerians are yearning for the return of the PDP in 2019.

He said this during his tour to Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State, where he held meeting with the PDP party faithful and stakeholders in the area.

 

The governorship aspirant who noted that Nigerians had never had it so bad in terms of economic hardship, hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, and insecurity among others, added that the party had learnt from its past mistakes.

Adebutu said the party, both at the national and state levels, had begun a concerted effort to reconcile all party chieftains and stakeholders who had one grouse or the other against the party.

 

He said, “The leaders are already looking into the issues of aggrieved people. Once our leaders take care of that aspect of it, you will see everything sorted out.

“So, that’s basically the situation now. And even the people are crying out for us to come back and to reorganise, to restrategise and to deliver a better government.”

 

Punch 

The Senate committee on public accounts has revealed that 85 government parastatals have failed to submit their audited accounts to the Auditor-General of the Federation since the time of their establishment.

The parastatals include the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and the Transmission Company of Nigeria.

The Chairman of the committee, Matthew Uroghide (Edo-PDP) said the 85 parastatals have never submitted reports of their audit to the Auditor General of the Federation since they were created.

For other parastatals, he said 235 have about one to two years arrears, 103 have three to five years arrears, 17 have six to 10 years arrears while four have arrears of 11 years and above.

He said the practice contravened the provisions of section 85 (3) of the constitution which vested the powers to audit the public accounts, offices and courts of the federation with the Auditor-General of the Federation.

He added that the Auditor-General has been facing the challenge of making the parastatals comply with the provisions of the constitution.

“Many parastatals are unwilling to submit their audited report without being compelled while others do not take conformity of public expenditure seriously.

“There are no prescribed penalties for non-timely submission of audited accounts, status of privatised parastatals are not clear.

“AGF is handicapped due to budgetary constraints and absence of Board of Directors to approve appointments of external auditors has been used as excuse for unaudited reports,” he said.

Adopting the report of the committee, the Senate resolved to withhold the 2018 budgetary approvals for parastatals who have not submitted their reports since inception and those who have six to 10 years arrears.

The senators gave a deadline of May 2018 to others who have over 2 years arrears.

The senate mandated the Auditor-General to ‘constantly update and reconcile with parastatals with the compliance’ with a pledge to strengthen the office through budgetary allocation.

The lawmakers also mandated the Auditor-General to liaise with Bureau of Public Enterprise and Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to clarify the status of ”privatised, merged or scrapped parastatals”.

 

PT