Senator Iyiola Omisore, a former deputy governor in Osun State, former Chairman Senate Committee on appropriation is the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the September 22 governorship election in Osun State. He speaks with select journalists on his ‘Restoration Agenda’ for his state, why he is advocating freedom for the people and a shift of power from the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) government to SDP; the good chances of his party in the election. Excerpts:

Your party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) earlier before now, released your manifestos called the ‘SDP Agenda for Restoration in Osun State,’ with a focus on five thematic pillars, first of which is economic management and accountability. What do you think is wrong with Osun State’s economy?

The Osun State economy is, no doubt, the worst in this country acclaimed by everybody and I believe that transparency, accountability and people-oriented policies will drive safely the economy to yield results. At present, there are lots of wastages, a lot of leakages, a lot of money has been wasted through consultancies, a lot of high and inflated contracts, a lot of undone jobs already paid for. These are enough areas I’m going to block. I will block all leakages and ensure that the money in Osun is spent for Osun people. The idea is to further establish linkages with national processes in a way to achieve the global Sustainable Development Goals. Then, for the implementation of our programmes, we are going to maximally harness the Osun State’s human and capital resources to lay a solid foundation for an enduring turn-around of the state as an economically prosperous, socially harmonious and a model in democratic governance in Nigeria. Our goal is to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to inputs to thrive, and assets to protect human dignity.

You talked about the issue of inflated contracts, meaning that money had been taken out unjustifiably. Do you have any plan to retrieve the money back, or would there be any form of probe into government activities?

Well, contract jobs have been done, but there are a lot of avenues for wastes which we need to block. The leakages are there already, but its blockade will be done carefully so as not to slow down the government, and talking of probe, that is not an issue. We are going to look at all these positions professionally without minding whose ox is gored, and without being biased or without any sentiment, fear or favour. We will review all activities critically and ensure things are done correctly.

You also highlighted the issue of professionalism and performance, and if we look at the civil service generally already heavily criticized for slowing down the processes of governance, but with a peculiarity to Osun now, and the issue of salary payment, are these also bothering you?

To whom much is given, much is expected, and to whom less is given, less is expected. You can’t expect optimal performance, and what we call optimisation and leverables from workers who are not paid for over 36 months or are paid half salaries. So, basically, their morale will be low; their drive to work will be low; efficiency will be low, there is no doubt about that. So, you don’t expect much from them. This is why I think the driving force for any economy, any business, any office and any development is human capital development. Hence, we are going to reinforce human capital development to ensure that we increase performance and ensure we drive them and encourage them, motivate them, professionalise them and train them, so that they can deliver our goods, our manifestos and visions.

As you said, workers are being owed for 36 months, one of the reasons being Osun government saying there was no sufficient funds to run the state; how are you going to resolve this to ensure salaries and pensions are paid?

As rightly said, ‘Osun says there is no money,’ they are trying to let the public know there is no money.Where as they just collected about N17 billion Paris Club funds, and the wage bill is about N2 billion per month, and they said they are paying half salary, which means that over N16 billion can pay for 16 months. But, there is no courage; there is no will. There is no sincerity to defray the costs, rather, the government prefers to use it for bogus contracts, bogus expenses and mainly for election campaigns. Now, it is evident to everyone in the state that Osun state situation is comatose, and it is not in doubt that its current APC leadership has admitted its inability to cope, which is why the second term of Governor Rauf Aregbesola is being completed with a serious increase in hunger and poverty among people in the state and the private sector is nearing collapse, likewise the citizens are collapsing. Similarly, the confidence and motivation in the public sector is eroded and now at its all time lowest since Osun State was founded. Everyone is frustrated and the increasingly restive people of Osun State, including the aged, pensioners and our youths are calling for urgent action. Surely, the September 22 election has provided a democratic opportunity for action, an opportunity for people to vote Omisore of the SDP as the new governor of Osun State.

Similarly, the government had also added to the employ of the state, the O’YES cadets, said to be earning N10,000 per month, which at a time you spoke against. What will be the lot of this people under your administration?

The O’YES people recruited from Osun and who are Osun indigenes will be given gainful and pensionable jobs. We are not going to sack anybody, but we are going to make employment across board. Teachers will be recruited, likewise other categories of staff. There are so much vacancies but the government is not interested in empowering the people, employing our youths or getting them engaged is a major one for us.

The concern of your party is also in the area of equity in access to services, such as education, health, gender equity, agriculture and others, in what form will this take?

This is in the area of distribution of wealth across board. The distribution of infrastructure will be across board, health will be across board, and on the overall, it will ginger equality. There is no single clinic in Osun State that has drugs, but we are going to ensure that our hospitals are reawakened and well stocked. Our schools are brutalised and teachers are being thrown out of schools. This will be corrected; we are going to distribute the amenities across board. There is no water in Osun State. These are issues we want to address, because the public infrastructure has collapsed. Presently, there are challenges already identified which are long standing obstacle to economic growth and investment in the state, especially in agricultural area, a very critical sector which engages more than 75 per cent of the population of the state, and its neglect is impacting negatively on the economic yield of major cash crops and produce. But we will engage in partnership drive implementation to build sustainable investment linkages with the private sector and strengthen the engagement of other providers, including the civil society and community based organisations, because, at present, Osun State is under an intensive care unit (ICU). But given my courage, my experience and my pedigree, by God’s grace, we will ensure we bring back sanity to Osun State.

As an engineer and a builder, it is already said that there are lots of ground to cover in infrastructural development. Talking of local contenting and innovation, as part of your campaign programmes, how do you want to go about this, especially in boosting Osun State IGR?

The issue is we are going to encourage local contending to ensure that jobs, contracts, sub-jobs, that can be done by Osun indigenes are not given to outsiders. Of course, there can be major jobs given to major contractors, but we will ensure that our people here, the carpenters, the plumbers, the goldsmiths, the iron benders of this world, are all engaged to ensure that the money goes back to the state. All we need to boost the GDP is half of the money being wasted on contracts. Before the advent of oil, we all depended on agriculture in the whole of the old Western Region, and when we talk of this, the major focus was on the cash crops, and the majority of these cash crops were from Osun State. So, we go back to our cocoa farming, we go back to our oil palm and cassava farming, and ensure we encourage the farmers. We do all the roads network, we give access to rural and community projects; we will encourage them and offer them high yielding seedlings that won’t take time to grow. We will do that to shore up our IGR and also encourage people to go back to farm.

You have also raised concerns on the issue of security, in what form will this take?

Security may not necessarily be physical, but the physical security is good. However, we also have job security, food security, health security, and so on. But, it is security in all paraphernalia we are talking about. In this regard, we are also focusing on neighbourhood to neighbourhood watch. We have people with  goodwill with us, but a good government also should focus on security, and with this, there won’t be hunger. There won’t be greed; there won’t be lack. People will be happy, and the people are safe generally. So, security is very important; it is a matter of concept and things of the mind. A good government will create rooms for innovations aiding success and sustainability. This is a very important area, since the encouragement of local content earlier mentioned is fuelled by innovations in specific areas, which will in turn make an impact on every other pillar of the agenda for restoration. Basically, our challenges in Osun State require quick thinking and innovations in implementation, which has already been taken care of in our robust manifestos.

Thisday

A former Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, says Nigeria is not ripe for state police. 

Mr Abba who served as the 17th Inspector-General of Nigeria Police, was appointed on August 1, 2014 by President Goodluck Jonathan and later confirmed as substantive IGP on November 4, 2014.

Mr Abba spoke while addressing journalists at the All Progressives Congress (APC) secretariat on Monday after picking the nomination form to run for the ticket of the party for Jigawa Central Senatorial District.

State police was one of the issues raised by the APC restructuring committee following the discourse on restructuring. Although the concept has been opposed by President Muhammadu Buhari, it has been supported by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. 

Noting that policing is an expensive business, Mr Abba said he doubts the ability of states to finance their own police.

“From experience and from what we are seeing the state government going through with regards to payment of salaries, payments of pensioners, even paying or taking care of qualitative education for our children and considering the fact that policing is a very expensive business, you need to know the cost of ordinary helmet for a police man talk less of the protective jackets.

These are very expensive issues. Ordinary gadgets of SPNH, gadgets for monitoring, are very very expensive and if the states cannot pay salaries, another important aspect of the socio-economic development of their communities, then how and why are they looking forward to shouldering this very big burden?” 

The former IGP who stated clearly he was not against state police, said he doubts the true intention behind the current campaign for the issue of state police.

“And that’s why I have the feeling and I don’t hide it, perhaps some people are looking for another opportunity to compound the security problems of this country.

“While I was at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in 2009, I was assigned to conduct research on discipline in the Nigeria police. During the period and looking at the performances of the police from what the research presented to me, I realised that yes, there is the need perhaps to take another look at the structure of the police. 

“I have nothing against state police like I said, having recommended it in writing far back even when it wasn’t a serious issue in this country. But I think at this stage, it looks as if some people are trying to look for what they can use to compound the security situation of this country. Maybe we can continue talking about it. We can continue fine-tuning it but I am not sure this is the right time.”

Speaking on why he joined politics, he said two interests birthed his decision which is the interest of his people and his own interest to serve his country.

“The interest of my people to have a better representation at the National Assembly and my personal desire to serve my country Nigeria at the national level again, and this is bearing in mind that representing the seven local governments that make up Jigawa central constituency does not end at conveying their views and vice versa, it also involves joining my colleagues in taking decisions that will affect the nation whether politically, economically, socially and other activities of human life that will put Nigeria in its rightful place in the comity of nations.”

When asked what his opinion was on the siege to the National Assembly and the homes of Bukola Saraki, Ike Ekweremadu and recently, Edwin Clark, he said “these acts have been condemned by many, investigations and some actions have been taken towards them.”

“Personally I have not seen where anybody has praised any of those actions you mentioned. Let me also say that in all the cases you mentioned, investigation are being conducted and even before the end of this investigation, some form of punishment have been taken on those involved so I think it’s not a matter for me to comment further on.”

Asked what his take was on the refusal of the current IGP to appear before the Senate, he said he would advise him to do so.

“I will certainly advise the IGP to respond by going there. I don’t think in any situation there is a better person to defend you than yourself. Of course we have lawyers who present the interest of their client but in all situation, this is my personal belief, your personal defence is always better.

“I had always appeared before the Senate whenever they needed me. Even at a time when everybody thought differently, I appeared before a committee of a Senate to make a clear presentation of what the situation was and I think it went on fine.”

P/T

In a test of popularity, through an online poll that attracted 2,243 votes, Alhaji Faruk Malami Yabo of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has again proved his mettle by defeating other aspirants within the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, eyeing the exalted position of the Sokoto State Governor.

Aspirants in the poll include former Deputy Governor and Water Resources Minister, Mukhtar Shehu Shagari, serving Senator Ibrahim Danbaba, Ambassador Abdallah Wali and Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu.

Others were Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, Dahiru Yusuf Yabo, Barrister Abubakar Sanyinna, Senator Abubakar Gada, Alhaji Ahmed Yushe’u Kebbe and Professor Lawal Bashar.

While the stage is gradually getting set by the breaking of each day, these aspirants seeking to occupy the Sokoto State Government House come 2019 are already indicating interest with their posters flooding most roundabouts within the state capital.

In answer to the question "who becomes the next Sokoto State Governor", if the gubernatorial election were to hold today and one of the aspiring candidates listed is to be chosen? 4% of the respondents with 86 votes said they would vote for Professor Lawal Bashar while 118 votes went to Alhaji Ahmed Yushe’u Kebbe.

Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu had 110 votes, Ambassador Abdallah Wali and Senator Abubakar Gada with 123 votes each, Dahiru Yusuf Yabo polled 126 votes, Barrister Abubakar Sanyinna has 131 votes, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman polled 132 votes with serving Senator Ibrahim Danbaba having 136 votes.

Former Deputy Governor and water resources Minister, Mukhtar Shehu Shagari came second with a total votes of 145, while Alhaji Faruk Malami Yabo topped the poll with 1013 votes marking 45% of the total votes.

Sokoto, the seat of the Caliphate, like most states of the federation will certainly be an interesting political battlefield come 2019.

This is simply because nearly all the heavyweights in the game of politics might be in the ring fighting skin fiercely to achieve the golden belt.

As the game hots up the incumbent Governor, Aminu Tambuwal is said to have entered into a secret agreement with a serving Senator from his senatorial district, Senator Ibrahim Danbaba, who recently defected to the PDP in order to become his anointed candidate and eventual trusted successor.

The poll is significant, because naturally, Nigerians would ordinarily have expected that, the Seat of the Caliphate will be greatly affected by the decamping of the Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Governor Aminu Tambuwal, but instead, the soaring popularity of Alhaji Faruk Mallami Yabo seems to be making the State one of the strongest hub of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Recently, 12 members of Sokoto State House of Assembly, who refused to move with Governor Aminu Tambuwal to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), bought governorship forms for Faruk Malami Yabo and while presenting the forms, Sani Alhaji Yakubu, who spoke on behalf of others, told journalists that they contributed the funds in order to support a Governorship Aspirant who could unseat Tambuwal, saying "the APC needed to reclaim its mandate in 2019 to save the State from its present “bad, difficult and critical” condition."

Malami Yabo who is described by many as a seasoned and experienced technocrat, served as commissioner for Finance under former Governor Aliyu Wammako and he is regarded as one of the biggest political heavyweight in Sokoto. A professional accountant of repute, who was credited with the improvement of the state’s internally generated revenue, bringing Sokoto State second, only to Lagos State, which is the richest state in Nigeria.
Yabo studied Public Administration at the Bayero University Kano and also holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy Administration (MPPA) from the same University. He attended the Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government where he studied Public Financial Management; and University of Manchester, Manchester Business School where he studied International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).

Just as Africa is busy clearing its stables of despotic Presidents-for-life, China and Russia are busy installing their own.

President Vladimer Putin has a won a new term in office in an election that was marred by vote rigging and intimidation of opponents. In China the constitution has been changed to allow incumbent President Xi Jinping to serve more than two consecutive terms in office.

From a Western, and the rest of the world’s , point of view it means both leaders will remain in power for as long as they wish leading to abuse of power, corruption and abolition of democratic rule.

On the international scene it’ll mean dealing with two difficult men who are set in their ways: their policies regarding trade, dispute-settling, arms build-up (- most importantly nuclear) will not change. Already Russia has started a throwback to its Cold war tactics: poisoning its dissidents abroad, rebuilding and advancing its nuclear arsenal and antagonising the West at every opportunity.

Both leaders have seats on the United Nations Security Council and their GDP far exceeds that of the West and their policies can make or break the world especially when Donald Trump, leader of the free world, is indecisive and unpredictable.

On the international scene, a Third World country dictator poses no threat except to his own country and people. But when these dictators happen to be the leaders of Russia and China the whole world is potentially in line for a lot of trouble.

The idea of holding elections periodically is to enable a new leader to emerge with new ideas and policies: when the same person stays in the job for too long he’ll be practicing the same old stale policies over and over again.

We are all aware of what Presidents-for-life get up to once they’re in office for a long time: they become complacent, suppress free will and public opinion, resort to dictatorial tactics to rule and will indulge in cronyism and nepotism. Both Presidents have, over the years, have embarked upon crackdowns on dissidents: thousands who have opposed their rule have been locked up or murdered and have surrounded themselves with ‘yes’ men.

They ‘win’ elections to make themselves look democratic and respectable but the reality is they will exploit their status and the system to become dictators. Even though in their constitutions there are checks and balances that can mean they can be impeached and removed from office but when they control the judiciary they become effective above the law.

But the biggest problem here is trade and armed forces : China and Russia have sizeable armies equipped with the latest technology which they can unleash at a minutes notice: since Putin became President the probability of another World War has greatly increased as he continues to get involved in conflicts in Syria, the Crimea and elsewhere. He alone can start a war without the backing of the Russian parliament which makes him a very dangerous person.

 The current US-China trade war also shows how vulnerable the rest of the world is : without trade with China, which manufactures 47% of our goods from buttons to cellphones, cars, computers… (you name it, it’s made in China!) we’ll be in trouble. With Trump sparking conflict putting up tariffs the Chinese can follow suit with all of us paying the price when things start costing more than they should. And China ‘owns’ America if you consider the fact China holds more than $1.2 trillion in US treasury bonds.( - I don’t thing Trump knows this!)

And right now these two men who have set themselves up as Presidents-for-Life ,have the military and economic clout to change the course of the world. Two men who will not abide by the rules and will do as they seem fit.

Follow me on Twitter: @Archangel641 or visithttp://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk

University Don, Malam Bala Mohammed, of the Faculty of Communications, Bayero University, Kano, has accused the Igbo of being responsible for the drug abuse prevalent among youths in the north. He was reported to have made this wild claim  of“unscrupulous Igbo drug dealers as brain behind the scourge” while presenting a paper titled “Nexus between youth, drugs, crime and insecurity” at the Kano Youth Summit on Peace Advocacy and Development, organised by Hamisu Magaji Foundation, at Mambayya House, on Tuesday, 3^rd of April, 2018.

 Such assertions as this are irresponsible, callous, wicked anddeliberately woven to exculpate northern elites and shield them from taking full responsibility for the high, well documented and almost irreversible moral decadence of northern youths under their watch.

One wonders why a university don would condescend so low asto attributing the horrendous failures of northern leaders and elders in instilling discipline in their youths to another ethnic stock when it is obvious that those who go about hawking fake, expired, unapproved and hard drugs in the open markets everywhere including in Igboland are young men of the Hausa/Fulani stock.

What do the northern elites expect when their region is notorious for the highest number of children running into millions in the country without a home? It is not the fault of the Igbo that the north boasts of the highest number of illiterates not only in Nigeria but also in the whole wide world! Does Malam Bala Mohammed not know that such level of illiteracy comes with a price? Does he and his co-travellers on this infamous road of constantly blaming others for their own self-inflicted woes expect that their youths would be engaged in decent acts even when they are deliberately denied education and proper parental upbringing by their elites?

As at 2011, the then UN Under Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the United Nations, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, had during the Northern Nigeria and Economic Summit in 2011, in Abuja, lamented this situation when he said, “On Health and Education, the level of immunization of Children against dangerous childhood diseases, in the South-East is 44.6% immunization coverage, but the North-West has 3.7% and the North-East 3.6%. If you take the education of the girl-child as indicator, you see similar pattern of inequality with the South-East having an enrolment rate of 85%, South-West having an enrolment rate of 85%, South-South 75%, while the North-East 20% and North West 25%".

The continued dismal performance of the north on immunization as in other areas of life is not surprising. When children are left to roam the streets homless and hopeless as we see in the north everyday, who takes them for immunization?

In a data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in 2017, it indicates that Yobe State, for example, has the lowest literacy level of 7.23% in the whole country followed by Zamfara (19.16%); Katsina (10.36%); Sokoto (15.01%); Bauchi (19.26%); Kebbi (20.51%); and Niger (22.88%) respectively. Compared to Ebonyi (77.76%), Imo State (96.43%), Abia (94.24%), Anambra (92.11%) and Enugu (89.46%), one understands why northern elites feel threatened by the Igbo and would always want to give the good people of the southeast a bad name in order to have them hanged!

When one further considers the fact that Yobe State with nearly two times less (2.8 million people) the population of Imo State (4.7 million), according to the 2014 population estimates, received N30.59bn from federal allocation in the whole of 2016 compared to Imo State that received N29.85bn in the same period even though Imo has more population to cater for than Yobe State, one is bewildered at how northern elites are deliberately impoverishing their citizens by denying them education, keeping them in perpetual poverty and disease, making them easily vulnerable to social vices that are natural consequences of such neglect only for them to turn around to find easy targets in people of the southeast to blame for their own calamities.

Rather than lament about their precarious situation which is driving the north against itself while their southern counterparts have continued to make the best of the meagre resources that the skewed sharing formula has forced on it, the north would do well to look at themselves in the mirror and do an honest soul searching on why it has remained the most backward, illiterate, diseased and poverty-stricken of all the regions in Nigeria despite the monumental resources it has cornered for itself over the years at the expense of the other regions.

For example, according to data sourced from Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, “In (about) 10 years, 2007 – 2016, successive northern governors have received over N12 trillion in federal allocation on behalf of the 19 states and its 413 local government areas excluding FCT.

The breakdown of the allocation from 2007 to 2016 reveals that states in the Northwest, North East and North Central have received a total of 3trillion, N2.5 trillion and N2.2 trillion respectively. And out of the over N10 trillion allocated to the 774 local government, northern states have received more than 50 per cent of the funding.”

Furthermore, between 2005 and 2016, the federal government has disbursed N153bn to the 19 states in the north and N115bn to the 17 states in the south, yet, the north burdens the whole nation with its nauseating level of illiteracy and its unavoidable consequences. It is children from Igbo states in particular and those of the south in general who make unimaginable and heroic sacrifices by being continually denied admission into federal government colleges despite scoring very high marks at entrance examinations, after their parents and government invest heavily on them, just to give room for some of their street-roaming, drug addicted, homeless and directionless northern counterparts who score as low as just 2 in some cases.

When Bill Gates insisted that our federal government under a northern president, Muhammadu Buhari, has not done enough to invest in human capital despite the humongous amount made available to it for such noble venture, it was another northern governor in Nasir El Rufai who rose up stoutly to defend the obvious dismal performance of northern leaders in that critical area. What a shame!

Ndigbo are known to be everywhere, in Lagos, Edo, Oyo and such other places, carrying out their legitimate businesses. Why are there no similar complaints about them from these hosts? In fact, from their legitimate businesses, Ndigbo contribute greatly to the IGR of states they reside and do business in. Rather than lament and whine continuously, the north should find ways of making the best opportunities huge presence of the Igbo in their localities present to them.

Northern leadrs, elders and elites should put their house in order and stop blaming the Igbo for every of their avoidable self-imposed misfortune. It is not our fault that despite them having unfettered access to the political and financial capital of the nation for nearly sixty years, they remain the most illiterate, diseased, backward and poverty-stricken region in the whole of Nigeria!

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The management of the global ponzi scheme, Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox (MMM), has announced a final shut down of operations.

The ponzi scheme in a statement on its official global website on Friday said they were shutting down due to the death of the founder, Sergey Mavrodi.

Mr Mavrodi, an ex-convict, died of heart attack on March 26.

The scheme, which collapsed over a year ago in many countries including Nigeria, has been a subject of controversy globally.

Mr. Mavrodi launched his controversial scheme in 2011 and crashed in Nigeria in December 2016; with millions of Naira belonging to Nigerians trapped in the scheme.

Although the scheme announced a comeback in 2017, it could not launch operation before the renewed enthusiasm among its members fizzled out.

On Friday, the scheme said continuous operation without Mr. Mavrodi made no sense.

“Dear participants, after much deliberation, we have made the conclusion that continuing the System operation, without our leader and ideological inspire, is impossible and makes no sense,” the statement read in part.

“We all carried out the tasks he assigned to us, since we had no doubt in his genius and rightness of the path he had chosen. We are firmly aware of the fact that none of us has a full view of his conception’s profoundness and sequence of all the actions to achieve a final goal, declared in the “MMM’s Ideology”.

”Sergey Mavrodi’s broadmindedness scale is unprecedented. Therefore any attempts to continue the System operation without him are bound to fail. We respect him immeasurably and cannot afford to allow that our unskilled actions may cause profanation of his concepts.”

The scheme, which said members were aware of the risks involved initially, therefore announced final closure.

”In view of the above, with deep sadness, we have to announce the ultimate and irreversible MMM closure.

”We also remind (as a matter of form) that all initially were fully aware of the risks and read the WARNING and confirmed that by checking the relevant box when registering.

”Hoping for your understanding, Administration.”

Before its final collapse in Nigeria, many Nigerians participated in the scheme and associated with it publicly, especially on social media.

This was despite repeated warnings by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and other regulatory agencies warning about the likely consequences of such pyramid scheme once it collapses.

Last month, the death of Mr. Mavrodi was trailed by curses and several other hilarious comments by Nigerians who claimed they lost huge amount of money to the scheme.

Following Friday’s announcement, it is unclear whether the new development would affect the operation of the scheme’s websites across the world as the global website was still in operation Saturday afternoon.

Similar checks on Sunday morning shows that the Nigerian website of the scheme was still running.

PT