Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has directed candidates for 2018 UTME to start printing their examination notification slip from March 6.

The board’s Head of Media and Information Department, Mr Fabian Benjamin, said in Lagos on Sunday that arrangements had been concluded for the successful conduct of the exam scheduled to hold from March 9 to March 17.

“We have successfully conducted the Mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on Monday, February 26, and based on that, we can confidently say, we are good to go.

“The mock UTME was to expose candidates to the process as well as test the level of preparedness of the various centres.

“Candidates can now go ahead and print their examination notification slips from Tuesday.

“These candidates must ensure that these slips are printed before Friday, March 9 in order to farmiliarise themselves with the examination schedules as no form of excuse for missing the examination will be entertained.

“We want to warn that the board will not reschedule any examination for anybody and so any candidate that fails to adhere strictly to the examination schedule as stated in their slips should have himself or herself to blame.”

Benjamin, however, warned candidates not to go to their respective centres with prohibited items such as telephones, wristwatches, pens, and other devices.

Over 1.6 million candidates are expected to write the examination in 602 centres across the country.

NAN

Presiding pastor of Latter Rain Assembly (LRA), Mr Tunde Bakare, has said that he cannot understand what President Muhammadu Buhari and other governors were doing at the wedding Fatiha of Idris Abiola Ajimobi son of Governors Isiaka Ajimobi and Fatima Umar Ganduje daughter of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in Kano on Saturday when when other peoples’ daughters are in captivity.

Recalled that on Feb. 19, 110 students of Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe, were abducted by suspected insurgents.

Bakare speaking during Sunday service in his church in Lagos further said that Peoples Democratic Praty (PDP) for 16 years its spent in government borrowed N6 trillion but All Progresive Congress (APC) just in three years has borrowed N11 trillion.

He said: “Forgive my ill-mannerism, but I could not comprehend why a governor will celebrate the wedding of his daughter, and another governor of his son, on the front pages of newspapers, flashing it before our eyes, when other peoples’ daughters are in captivity,”

“If any of them had lost a daughter in that captivity, would they celebrate that way? I know the Bible says rejoice with them that rejoice, but I do not know what the president of Nigeria was doing there.

“And somebody came to say, let me explain to you, it is Islamic tradition, before this time, about January, they had agreed, that he (Buhari) will be the one to give the bride away and (Bola) Tinubu will be the one to pay the dowry, and present the son, and they agreed long before now.

“I looked at him and said the president of Nigeria wanted to come to my daughter’s wedding, and I said to him, sir, don’t come. That is beneath your office. Face the work of the state and keep serving.

“And 22 governors showed up to mark register, when 110 daughters of citizens of your nation were captured by Boko Haram that you said you have already technically defeated?

“It just shows how insensitive our leaders are. We have gotten to a stage that our president has become a king and a monarch. That his son who rode his pleasurable bike that almost claimed his life, will be returning from an overseas trip, where he had received special healthcare that Nigerians cannot afford, that it took a whole minister of state to go and welcome him, because he has no job.”

“If you truly know the truth, you will weep, if you know how much we are owing as a nation, you will weep. For 16 years of PDP they borrowed N6 trillion, for three years of APC, they borrowed N11 trillion.

“And they are not going to pay the debt. You and I, and our children, and our children’s children will pay the debt, unless they write them off again.”

Vanguard

I must confess that I am not a clairvoyant, neither am I a politician. And let me admit beforehand that if I were a politician, I would probably have been a poor one at least within the context of how it is played in this clime.  I was raised in the very simple and principled way of life – to stand for something, value hard work, integrity and honour my father’s name. I cannot claim to have always excelled, but I can claim to have reasonably acquitted myself.  These are the values that have defined me and my interactions with my fellow man.

You can hardly find these values in the conduct and behaviour of our politicians.  Theirs is about the politics of money, material acquisition, godfatherism, cult membership, human sacrifice, etc. It has nothing to do with a dream or a vision for society. And betrayal is the currency of their trade. I can hardly belong here. But I have come to the realisation that at some point, we may have to throw our hats into the ring in an effort to reorder our politics. We cannot just sit down and lament day in, day out. We have to come out and put our money where our mouth is and then walk the talk. My generation is too complacent. We want change but lack the courage and will to effect it.

Now let’s go back to the main thrust of this article. Let me make a very categorical prediction here: Tinubu’s task to reconcile the APC is doomed to failure! Certainly, there is no gainsaying the evidence of this prediction as is right in our faces.

The attempt at reconciliation is a last-ditch effort to save a rudderless ship bound for the bottom of the ocean. The party that duped Nigerians with the sweet-nothing promise of change, only to exhibit the worst of the very behaviour it had condemned in others, is about to implode and there is no one to save it from its original sin.

To start with, Tinubu is the wrong person for this reconciliatory effort if the intentions were truly to reconcile the many aggrieved members before the 2019 general election. Tinubu himself is a factor to the crisis rocking the coat of many colours. Often overrated as “the greatest political strategist in Africa” by his lackeys and hangers-on and buoyed up by the media, he has an insatiable sense of entitlement, and has remained implacable over his loss of the control of the party, sulking over his inability to hand-pick and impose his preferred candidates on the party at the national level.

Consequently, he has had a running battle with the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, whom he had a very public spat with over the conduct of the Ondo State primary election to choose the APC governorship standard-bearer in 2016. Tinubu went to the extent of even accusing him of corruption, undemocratic behaviour and demanded his resignation. It was one of those moments Tinubu tried to flex his ACN muscle. When his call was largely ignored, Tinubu quietly withdrew into his shell to lick his wounds.

The irony here is that it was Tinubu who was alleged to have pulled all the stops to make Oyegun the chairman of the APC, perhaps in the hope Oyegun would be used as a stooge in the implementation of Tinubu’s not-so-hidden-agenda to take over the structures of the party. Well, men’s fortunes do change and new alliances are forged. Oyegun found new friends and drifted away from the original unspoken intent and the unwritten script to the chagrin of Tinubu.

Make no mistake, Oyegun is a sycophant of the current finger-pointing government. He has been talking like a man whose life depends on President Muhammadu Buhari running for another term. He daily pleads with Buhari to seek another term “to continue the good work” he and a few others see. In his warped thinking, God sent Buhari to save Nigeria. He is an unfeeling chairman who represents everything a New Nigeria should move away from. And so is Tinubu. They are both more interested in Buhari’s continuation and advancing their relevance than condemning the killer herdsmen who continue to wreak havoc on lives and properties across the country.

I am sure Tinubu himself does not expect he would succeed in reconciling his party of coat of many colours. It was not a coat made by a loving mother whose love is eternal and never fades. The APC is a coat of many colours made by a mixture of “walking wounded politicians with a vendetta ideology” of different shades and vices and experts in propaganda.

A party of strange bedfellows which succeeded in wresting power from an incumbent – a victory well beyond its own imagination and which unfortunately has saddled it with a responsibility to govern – a responsibility now provably far beyond its capacity. For a few of us who saw through the massive propaganda in 2015, we are not surprised by the tragedy that has become this coat of many colours and a “vast reservoir of inner nothingness”.

If Tinubu thinks his reconciliation would succeed, then it shows how extremely naïve he is. I suspect there may be other reasons for picking him other than a true desire at reconciliation. It may be to keep him busy and give him a false sense of relevance from the abyss he was sidelined to. Otherwise, how can it be that the Aggrieved Commander-in-Chief is suddenly the right person to reconcile a fractious party? Has Tinubu reconciled himself with the party’s players who “trashed” him after the party won, as stated by his wife just recently? Has he reconciled himself with Muiz Banre and Babatunde Fashola within his Lagos domain? Has he done likewise with Kayode Fayemi and Rotimi Akeredolu within his South-west domain?

A man who cannot fix his own house is now saddled with the task of fixing the crises in several state chapters of the party? There are two court cases instituted by Muiz Banre in Lagos, a direct fallout of the last local government elections. And what am I hearing that  Tinubu’s headache  just got bigger with the split in the Lagos chapter of the APC? Sometimes, it not only rains, it pours. How can Tinubu be a fair arbiter in the crisis rocking the Kogi State APC chapter when he is a factor in the crisis that has seen some members at daggers drawn with the governor’s faction?

The kind of talisman he would use to reconcile the intolerant and tyrannical Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai with Senators Shehu Sani and Suleiman Hunkuyi whose house was demolished on the orders of el-Rufai a few days after Tinubu was appointed to reconcile the many irreconcilable enemies in the party remains to be seen. In Rivers State, the Rotimi Amaechi/Magnus Abe feud is festering.

Amaechi wants to be the godfather who determines who gets what, like Tinubu is in Lagos. Will Tinubu be able to tell Amaechi to keep his empire dream in abeyance for the good of the party? Is that not wishful thinking?

What magic wand will he wave to resolve the war of attrition between Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso in Kano? Tinubu would soon find out that his Lagos sphere of influence does not extend to Kano, Kaduna, Kogi Adamawa, Rivers, Oyo, etc. In Ondo State, the governor, Akeredolu, has practically declared Tinubu persona non grata in his state, advising him not come to the state with his reconciliation committee.  It remains to be seen whether other state governors will follow in his footsteps. 

 Before I forget, has Tinubu truly made up with Bukola Saraki and Aminu Tambuwal? Saraki went against the party/Tinubu’s choice to emerge the Senate President in 2015. Tambuwal was said to have stabbed Tinubu in the back when he refused to support Femi Gbajabiamila’s quest to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives and instead, backed Yakubu Dogora.

I have been intrigued watching the way Tinubu has approached his “presidential assignment” with obvious relish.  It is more as if he saw an opportunity to resurrect his grudge fight with his own party chair or those he had disagreed with in the past. If you doubt me, read the condescending and very commanding letter laced with accusations he wrote to the chairman of the party.

Let me provide excerpts here for my readers:  “You have taken it as your own personal ambition to thwart my presidential assignment in these key states. While this may place you in significant affinity with those parallel officials you hand-picked, this machination suggests no improvement in the welfare of the party in Kogi or at the national level.”

He accused Odigie-Oyegun of rushing to Kogi  to inaugurate a new parallel state executive without reference to the appropriate organ of the party. Tinubu told Odigie-Oyegun: “It is my understanding that your dissolution of the duly-constituted state executives and the hurried naming of the above-mentioned caretaker group were not approved by the NWC. You had let this situation fester for months on end. Only when I was appointed to help resolve internal disputes and when you realised I might focus early on Kogi, did you stir from your indifference and inaction.”

Consequently, Tinubu stated, “In furtherance… I request that you make available to me the status reports and all the pertinent information regarding the state chapters without further delay.”

Even though he used the word request to disguise his order, it sounded more like a command to Odigie-Oyegun. Then of course he threw in the catch, “my presidential assignment” for effect – clearly an undisguised attempt to seemingly intimidate and barrel his way through any likely resistance.

Can this tactic work in the pursuit of peace, in an environment where the president is badly weakened by his own poor understanding of party politics? Here is a president who has largely remained aloof and uninterested in the internal politics of his party. Without mincing words, Buhari’s after-victory attitude to his party is at the root of the APC dysfunction.

The party could have stood a chance at transforming from a contraption into what nearly looks like a party despite its poor foundation, if Buhari was interested. But he was apparently more interested in the victory than the vehicle he used to achieve that victory.

At the height of his popularity when his body language was doing wonders, he could have stamped his moral authority on the party, before that authority unraveled. But he failed and allowed the competing forces for power and influence to fester and even in some cases his name was dropped to advance certain interests. For all he cared, the party ceased to matter after his win. It is that failure to build the party that is now about to spell the end of it.

His ethnic agenda and nepotism since coming to power have more than anything damaged him in the estimation of not only his party members but the generality of Nigerians – that is if it has not completely eroded his authority. Now, faced with a daunting task of being re-elected and a moral authority that is not worth more than paperweight,  he is  attempting to act, albeit belatedly.

Buhari suddenly realises he needs the party as a vehicle and the support of the competing interest groups and factions in unison to win a second term. Unfortunately, many of these interest groups and factions have solidified their blocks within the party and every so often go to war with one another in their battle for supremacy. It is now a fight to the finish in many states.

Many of the actors duelling it out in these warring state chapters, not only detest Tinubu as a person, they loathe his politics. It is unlikely they will be charmed by the opening salvo contained in his letter. Before we forget, Tinubu’s mandate is to reconcile aggrieved members and unite the fractured party ahead of 2019. Does anyone think Tinubu is really going to succeed, especially going by his approach which bears all the hallmarks of one who sees an opportunity to avenge an old slight? At the end of his “presidential assignment”, I can bet an arm and a leg that the APC would be more divided.

The 12-month tenure extension granted Oyegun and other principal officers of the NWC by the party’s NEC is not only a forceful rebuttal of Tinubu and his tactics, but a ringing endorsement of Oyegun. He has been “trashed” again.  Obviously, the self-proclaimed national leader does not have a national following. Where does Tinubu go from here?  As me, I know when I am being ridiculed. All his investments in the quest for power is going up in smoke. There is no better way of seeing what  happened last week – the extension of Oyegun’s tenure despite Tinubu’s opposition. Tinubu should take heart because it was “party supremacy” at work.

No doubt, Tinubu is a very successful and experienced politician, but he has been very lucky as well that he has had loyal successors who decided to play the good boys. With all his successes in politics, his temperament seems unsuited for the assignment he so enthusiastically accepted. In this, he certainly needs tutoring in the art of diplomacy. It is also possible but highly unlikely that Tinubu is about to outsmart those who sidelined or better put “trashed” him. It is either he wants to cause more chaos and division and then have the last laugh, or that he may be genuinely naïve about his political reach.

Either way, we’ll find out soon.  Let me not discount the significance of the fact that some good can come out of Tinubu jetting around the country in pursuit of the so-called reconciliation.  Since Buhari is rumoured to be offering a carrot in the form of 2023 presidency to Tinubu to get his endorsement for 2019, there is one benefit that will most likely accrue to Tinubu, if he can see it:  an opportunity to identify crucial players, key indicators and build new bridges in critical states for himself in furtherance of his ambition ahead of 2023 under the cover of the “presidential assignment” to reconcile aggrieved members.

If Buhari wins the 2019 election (God forbid)! Tinubu’s eyes would be opened to the “true lies” and deception he has been sold. Drawing from that, let me make one more prediction: Tinubu’s political reign is about to end, whether Buhari wins or loses. But I guess Tinubu has probably decided that he is probably better off sticking with Buhari than ditching him because if the opposition party should win the presidency, the Tinubu political empire would inevitably be a prime target for a total decimation.

Billionaire businessman Femi Otedola yesterday predicted that Lagos will become the third largest economy in Africa by the end of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s tenure.

He said given the governor’s stellar performance,  the state would move up from its current fifth position.

Otedola canvassed support for Ambode’s second term so as to continue with the good work, which he said is a continuation of “the foundation laid by his good predecessors.”

Otedola, who hails from Epe, is the son of the aborted Third Republic Governor of the state, the late Chief Michael Otedola, who was in charge between 1992 and 1993.

In a statement yesterday, entitled ‘Ambode has done overwhelmingly well’ Otedola, said:

“As a Lagosian and OMO Ibile, I wish to expressly commend and appreciate The great good work our amiable Governor Ambode is doing in our dear Lagos – Nigeria’s no one State. I have watched and followed keenly, in the last three years of the brilliant transformation projects across the State. No doubt, Ambode is building on the foundations laid by his good predecessors. He is building roads and bridges, schools and hospitals, water treatment plants, sewage and storm water drainages, solid wastes management plants and mass  transportation infrastructure.

“He has recently gotten approved the electricity power infrastructure for Lagos, which when fully executed, will make Lagos State almost energy independent in Nigeria.  You are all aware of the newly-acquired mass transit buses that are going to be natural gas-powered in order for us in Lagos to be the first to comply with the global climate agenda of DE Carbonisations. Clean and Smart Lagos will take us into the modern global village and make us the number four economy in Africa.

“Our visionary governor is also spearheading the modernisation of the Lagos State bureaucracy in order to get all the processes  re-engineered for higher and best performances. A good government is a reflection of an efficient and responsive bureaucracy. It is the catalytic driver for private sector growth. A bad and weak bureaucracy will produce nothing for the people. We are lucky to have an able governor like Ambode at the helm of our affairs.

“He is a knowledge-driven leader, hard working, with passion for our great state.

“My endorsement and recommendations for him to have a second term is performance based and not just the usual conventional  charade of second term endorsement in Nigeria. I am sure that all my respected compatriots, friends and followers will agree with me that Governor Ambode should please continue with his good job till 2023.

“Ambode, please Carry Go, the 2019 election and continue with your passionate work for Lagos State transformation.

“Thank you for being a true servant leader and with your eyes on the ball, surely Lagos State will become number three economy in Africa.”

The Nation 

The military has dismissed the claim that the 110 abducted Dapchi girls are in Yobe State.

A top officer, who pleaded for anonymity, last night described Hon Goni Bukar and other politicians/activists speaking on the whereabouts of the girls and the identity of their abductors as “a bunch of confusionists”.

“If they know where the girls are, they know what to do, instead of staying somewhere in Damaturu or Abuja and claiming that the girls are somewhere within Yobe State or anywhere else.

“This is how some of these politicians will stay in Abuja and will be granting interviews to you media people, claiming this and that, yet they are not anywhere near their constituencies.

“I have been in Maiduguri since Tuesday and all the nation’s top military and security brass have been in Maiduguri and Yobe axis, pursuing all the leads. The investigations are not only on-going, painstaking and multi-dimensional, but what I can tell you now is that we are not leaving any stone unturned.”

The source challenged Hon. Bukar, a member of the House of Representatives representing Yunusari/Gaidam Federal Constituency, to present himself before the military and security outfits for a journey to Bulabulin or any other place where the girls could have been taken by the terrorists. He said Nigerians should beware of people with such “wild claims”.

He also called on Nigerians to be patient with the military in their resolve to bring the girls back home, saying within the next few days, the nation would be briefed on the matter.

The Defence Headquarters at the weekend gave a hint of its battle to rescue the girls.

A statement signed by Acting Director of Defence Information Brig.-Gen John Agim said: “The Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin and the Service Chiefs with the Director General, Department of State Service met in Maiduguri yesterday, 1st March 2018 to review the ongoing operations in the Northeast, particularly the operation to get back the Dapchi girls.

“Even though the military is soliciting for useful information to facilitate its operations, the fishermen and farmers have not been singled out for this assistance; rather, all well-meaning members of the public are urged to provide useful information.”

The Nation 

Secretary of Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Uba Muhammad Shiye has been kidnapped.

Shiye was kidnapped by unkown gunmen on Saturday in his hometown Shiye in Bunkure Local Government Area of the state.

This was disclosed by his brother, who pleaded anonymity.

He told DailyTrust that the abductors of the secretary called and demanded N20m ransom.

“My brother’s abductors have called his family on phone and demanded N20m ransom. They promised that as soon as we pay the money, they will set him free.

“I am appealing to my brother’s abductors to consider our situation, we are not from rich family and we don’t have the amount of money they are demanding.

” I am therefore pleading with them to set my brother free for the sake of Allah,” he pleaded.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Magaji Musa Majia,confirming the incident said the secretary was kidnapped in his house in Shiye village around 1pm and the matter was reported to the police around 9pm.

Majia said the Commossioner of Police, Rabi’u Yusuf had dispatched operative of Anti-Kidnapping and Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) to Bunkure local government to search for the abducted secretary.

“The kidnappers have demanded N20m ransom, but we are working on some clues to rescue the secretary and God’s willing we will soon rescue and reunite him with his family,” Majia assured.

DailyPost 

Sen. Shehu Sani has declared that he will dump the APC if the ongoing effort at resolving the crisis in Kaduna state chapter of the party fails.

He urged President Muhammadu Buhari and former Lagos Governor, Bola Tinubu, who head the reconciliation committee, to ensure that all warring factions are treated equally.

Sani, who represents Kaduna Central at the Senate, spoke on Sunday in Abuja while addressing newsmen after meeting with Mr Segun Oni, leader of the party’s fact-finding committee on crisis.

He said that he was summoned by Oni as his faction of the party could not meet with members of the committee when they visited Kaduna.

Sani maintained that he was in support of any effort that would restore peace, unity and stability within the party in the state and the country.

He, however, added that it was in the interest of the party not to defer its problems and crises, but to solve them.

“If one person is ready and the other person is not ready, certainly we are not going to make any headway. So, I very much identify myself with any effort that is aimed at bringing peace”, NAN quoted him as saying.

“Our position is this, if the governor of Kaduna state is for peace, we are for peace. If he’s for war, we are also for war and a bigger war”, he said.

The lawmaker, however, said that it was the desire of everyone to come together and work to heal wounds.

This, he said, was critical to restore confidence and hope in the minds of millions of Nigerians that voted for the APC in 2015.

He added that a situation where some people within the party were treated as outcasts would not augur well for it.

Sani also said that it was wrong for some people to be categorized as pro-Buhari and others as anti-Buhari within the party.

He said that everyone who is in the APC was pro-Buhari, explaining that the difference was that while some were not sycophants, others were.

He advised Buhari to personally intervene in the crisis in the party in Kaduna, saying the president “is the glue that binds the members”.

“I still see President Muhammadu Buhari as the glue of APC; if we don’t have Buhari in the APC, everyone will find his way to his home.

“So, as he remains the glue, he must also be up and doing in addressing these crises.

“As far as I am concerned, the success of this party in the upcoming elections is dependent on how it would be able to manage the crisis and solve the problems.

“The Segun Oni committee came to Kaduna and requested that we should all sheath our sword and bury our hatchet. For now, we only covered our hatchet with leaves.

“We have provided the facts and we are waiting for Tinubu to act on it; as far as I am concerned, I believe that Oni is working with Tinubu. There is no conflict of responsibilities,“ he said.

He advised the party’s leadership to avoid the symptoms of crisis that destroyed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Sani hinted that if the crisis in Kaduna defied peaceful moves, members may have to take the next step.

“And as far as I am concerned everyone has plan B; even for me, I have plan B, C and D.

“If anyone felt that this party belongs to him and doesn’t belong to me and that I am not needed in the party, there is no way I can continue to remain in the party.

“After all, it is a free world,” Sani said.

DailyPost 

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is has resolved to extend its searchlight to political parties to stop them from further corrupting politics with money.

As the 2019 general elections get closer, EFCC is taking steps to stop money sharing at conventions of political parties.

The Chairman of the anti-graft body, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, said EFCC is working with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop politicians from sharing money at party conventions or at polling centres.

According to Punch, Magu unveiled his new anti-corruption shift, during “Question Time’’, a life programme of Channels Television.

“We are working with INEC to make sure that we seal every window, and every leakage before the election.

“We will block any avenue where people can move a lot of money either physically in cash or through banks.

“We will prevent people from using money to buy votes or use money during conventions for delegates. We have machinery in place.”Ibrahim Magu, EFCC Acting chairman

In his reaction to the initiative, the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, said monitoring campaign spending was part of the responsibilities of the EFCC.

“If you look at the EFCC Act, the mandate of the agency is very wide. It includes everything you can think of as regards money laundering. Its duty is to prevent and tackle economic and financial crimes.

“If the law says you cannot spend more than a billion for a presidential election and it appears to the EFCC that you have spent about N3 billion or N4 billion, the commission has the right to ask you where you got the money from.”

According to Punch, some political parties have expressed divergent opinion on the issues.

While the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) questioned the legal authority of EFCC to curb spending by political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) welcomed the move.PDP and APC: The two main political parties in Nigeria

PDP explained that it was only INEC that had the power to monitor spending of political parties.

The National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said that there was no way the commission would delegate such power to the anti-graft agency.

“The EFCC doesn’t have such power to monitor how political parties spend their money.’’

APC differed and expressed support for the decision of the EFCC and INEC to eliminate vote buying and money sharing.

NAN

The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo addressed journalists and social media practitioners on Friday where he addressed diverse issues.

Excerpt:

Q: On Nigeria’s rating by Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index.

Vice President: I think that by even Transparency International’s own assessment, Transparency International uses nine different indexes to come to a conclusion. In four out of those indexes, Nigeria moved up, in another four Nigeria stabilised & dropped in only one index. So in aggregation, it (T.I) then decides that it has fallen in certain number of points below where we were.

I think the important thing to bear in mind about Nigeria’s anti-corruption fight is that the government has done what it ought to do by focusing on grand corruption. Grand corruption is the type we experienced years before when, for example, $15 billion was lost in defence contract. Two, three weeks to election, N100 billion in cash was taken out, and again $293 million in cash, two weeks, three weeks to election. That’s the kind of impunity. And of course you are also familiar with the scam that went on in the NNPC at the time; the so called statutory contracts, that’s grand corruption. That is the corruption that crippled the economy of the country.

Let me tell you very quickly how you can recognize that we have scaled a good deal on grand corruption today: despite the fact that we are earning 60 per cent less in revenue, we are actually able to spend more than ever before in the history of this country on infrastructure. In 2017, we spent about N1.3 trillion on capital. That’s the highest in the history of the country. So we are able to do far more with far less because we have controlled the impunity that went on, the grand corruption, and all of that.

Now, how does that translate to perception; because grand corruption is a big aspect of corruption. It’s a big one because if you cannot control grand corruption, you can’t do what you want to do. But then you cannot address the corruption as you go through our airports, our ports or as you go through government offices, in many cases. That’s where the whole perception emerges.

We must have a deeper and much wider way of dealing with corruption. How are you going to do that? You must have an efficient way of doing that; like automation, removing discretion from individuals.

Q: What is the institutionalised process of fighting corruption?

Vice President: Institutionalisation is not a one-off thing, it’s a process, and we are dealing with that, that’s exactly what we are doing. For example, the TSA and being able to look at government accounts and all of that is one way of institutionalising a process by which you can be sure of what people are doing, how this things are happening. The process of allowing the EFCC to do its work without dictation, saying that “look, this what the EFCC is doing”, and giving them every support that you can. These are ways of institutionalising. And it is that same process that we are taking in the public service – Automation.

For example, look at all that we have done in the ease of doing business. The whole point of doing that is institutionalising processes, so that when you come into Nigeria you can get your visa after applying online; so that Customs don’t have to sit around the airport, that is why we are putting in the I-check and we are putting all sorts of other processes. That is to institutionalise; it’s not a one-off process.

Q: What’s the national strategy on anti-corruption?

Vice President: That’s a long conversation, but put simply, the national strategy is to ensure that public officers in particular are not able to privatize public finances. And how do we intend to achieve that? We intend to achieve that by ensuring that there is consequence for corruption and also by automating processes, removing discretion from individuals because if you don’t remove discretion from individuals the individuals can have discretion as whether or not they will grant certain approvals through certain processes; then you continue to encourage corruption at one level or the other.

Q: Asides from the EFCC, it seems the other anti-corruption agencies such as the ICPC are doing nothing…

Vice President: Well, I don’t agree. I think that you will find that alongside the work of the EFCC, in fact one of the critical things we do is, we try and re-direct the ICPC. We appointed the executive secretary of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Advisory Council, PACAC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, to head that body and we believe the ICPC is the important part of the whole fight against corruption. We revamped the leadership of the ICPC. Unfortunately we were stalled because it requires Senate confirmation, that hasn’t been done. That is the area of focus for us because the ICPC is supposed to be involved, not just in corruption, but in orientation and re-orientation of the public service. So, it’s an important part of our work.

Q: Nigerians in diaspora are one of the biggest foreign exchange contributors of about $20 billion. Aside from having a Special Adviser to the President on Diaspora Affairs, does Nigeria have a Diaspora partnership?

Vice President: I think we’ve also gone beyond the Office of the Adviser; we now have a Diaspora Commission by law, which I think is a policy step. That Commission will aggregate a lot of the records through data for diaspora in order to encourage the diaspora to interact more with government, with private sector and all that. But don’t forget that, with the whole diaspora experience and what is in tune with other nations of the world; the usual focus is on remittances; what are they able to remit as it is pointed out, it is a substantial amount of money. It is something in the region of $20 billion.

But it obviously goes beyond that. In developing the economy we also need diaspora’s talent. So we need diaspora in technology, we need diaspora in education, medical practice and all that. The Ministry of Health, for example, actively engaged with the personnel in diaspora for specialists, setting equipment and all of that.  But I believe that one of the most critical ways of doing so is through the diaspora commission, ordering it, measuring it; once that is constituted.

Q: Allegations of nepotism against the Buhari administration.

Vice President: Look at the cabinet, for example, from the point of view of the religion, it has an equal number – 18 Christians, 18 Muslims; but, we have the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as well as the Head of Service who are Christians. So we have 20 Christians to 18 Muslims; that’s the structure of the cabinet. So if you take that narrative you may argue that perhaps the Christian have the upper hand; that is a possible narrative.

Let us look a little deeper into that, so there are those who may argue, for example, that the north has an upper hand or perhaps one section has an upper hand in the cabinet as one narrative. The South-east, for example, has five states. Four of the South Eastern states have senior ministers; all of them, except one, who is Minister of State for Education.

Q: The President has no choice in that, it is a constitutional requirement.

Vice President: In assigning particular portfolios he does. In the north, seven northern states have no senior minister, including the President’s home state, Katsina. Now, there are those who will say, if you are nepotistic; surely seven northern states have no senior minister. It’s a narrative depending on how you want to run it.

I give you another example; I’m from the South-west. There are people who will say “I am from the South-west, the North has everything.” The South West, for the first time in the history of this country, has one Minister who is in charge of three ministries: Power, Works and Housing. The Ministers of Finance & Communications are also from the South West. These are critical ministries. You can run the narrative in whichever way that you choose. There are those who will say, for instance, look at the number of CEOs of agencies of government; the highest number of CEOs in our nation today comes from Ogun State, the state has the largest number. There are those who will say that’s his state (i.e VP’S State). So you can run the narrative depending on how you want to run it.

The president has admitted that, yes there are situations where you can find certain things as true and he intends to have a look at that.  For example, you’ve given the example of security positions and he said he is going to take a look at look at it. I believe that is the way to go because you can run any narrative that will suit the figures you are showing. And that is where we have legal process. There are people who don’t know that the number of CEOs from Anambra State are more than the number of CEOs from Katsina State or anywhere else, except Ogun.

Q: Revamping Nigeria’s education system.

Vice President: If you will recall about a few months ago, I think it was in January, we had an education retreat; what needs to be done again is to unfold a whole direction in education. We came in with a manifesto on education, we had a few points that we were looking at and we also had some time to look at it. But many of us raised the issue that you don’t just pick the whole education; what about engineering because what we are seeing is such a dramatic change, not just in method of instruction in the requirement, job requirement, employment requirement, in technology and all of that, and that’s exactly what we are trying to do.

For example, we cannot have primary education the way it is, we’ve got to teach young people, we’ve got to introduce technology; you’ve got to have collaboration in education. We discovered, for instance, when we were doing the N-power – employment for young graduates, we discovered that it was also an opportunity to train the graduates. For the first time we were able to open a portal that has educational materials for graduates to just go in there. We also have devices for them to use.

But one important advantage of what we are doing is that all of a sudden, you can now train tens of thousands of people without sitting them in one place. So technology is going to play a role. We are in a very interesting place in terms of education today because you can leverage a great deal on technology. You can leverage a great deal on what is happening in other parts of the world. And we are trying to harness all of those resources and try to do something that will make a difference in our country. Here we are, in another 10 years we will be moving closer and closer to 2050 when we are going to be the 3rd largest population in the world. And there is almost a 70 per cent youth population. We are not going to provide them with the number of classrooms that will be required, so we’ve got to really leverage on technology. We’ve got to leverage on verified trend that we see here and there.

Q: The delay in 2018 budget.

Vice President: We have a democracy that has, as you know, three arms. The two relevant arms for budget are the executive and legislature. If you recall when I was Acting President, I signed the 2017 budget and, at that time, I made the announcement with the full consensus of the National Assembly that, from 2018, we are going to have a budget that is going to apply in January and end in December the normal financial year. We agreed that we will submit our proposal in good time, and we did that first week of November. The president did so. We fulfilled that part of the agreement. The budget is with the National Assembly. There is very little we can do to control that. That’s the system that we have.

Q: Seeming rift between the Executive arm of Government and the Legislature.

Vice President: Well, I’m not so sure that the tensions are unknown. The democratic system anywhere as, for example, in the U.S. where we borrow our bicameral legislature from, you find that despite the fact that the Republican Party controls major part of parliament, it still doesn’t mean that bills are necessary going to go through.

So one must assume that the responsibility of the National Assembly is to scrutinise what the executive is doing and not just to be a rubber stamp. But I also agree with you entirely that it’s important for us, for the sake of our country, our economy and for the sake of many young people who are relying on us to deliver. We ensured that we released our budget on time. I want to believe that the executive has done its part and we wait on the National Assembly.

Q: About N9 Trillion debt said to have been inherited by this administration now reportedly about N30 T. How come?

Vice President: No, No, I don’t think so. First let me explain that we have a government that is very prudent, a government that believes in financial prudence, a government that condemns impunity – the way that the thing was practiced before now, and a government that spends resources on the right thing. For the first time in the history of our country, we are spending about N1.3 trillion on capital; it means that we are investing in the right place. We are not just borrowing money anyhow; no, we are investing in the right place.

Every government or most governments anywhere probably look for some points to borrow, but the important thing is what are you borrowing for? And that’s why we building the Lagos-Kano rail, doing the Lagos-Calabar rail, the second Niger Bridge and the Mambilla hydro project that has been abandoned for almost 40 years.

We are improving capacities in power, we are investing in social investment, we are investing long-term in the things that will create an economy that can support a large number of young graduates, who are coming in the market every day. That’s a process that needs a lot of thinking; that needs a lot of investment.

I think the most important thing is to ask that when there was a N9 trillion debt, where is the infrastructure to account for that? I think that is the most important question to ask. It’s not whether you borrow, but what you spend that money on. I think we should be able to prove that the earning is 60 per cent less than the earning in the past five six years. So we are spending far more on the right thing and we are able to ensure that we build a future that young people can truly look forward to.

Q: What about the 50 per cent revenue reportedly being spent on settling debts?

Vice President: No, we are not spending 50 per cent of our revenue servicing debt. Let me explain that, we have a deficit somehow in the region of about N2.6 trillion now, a lot of our revenue has to be spent on capital and recurrent, and recurrent is 70 per cent of revenue. But for the first time we are spending 30 per cent on capital. Before now when oil was a $115 a barrel, we were spending 11% or 15% on capital, and capital is the most important expenditure because that is where you do the infrastructure in order to be able to build the economy. So the reality is what we are spending is to provide the infrastructure that will last.

Q: Abduction of 110 Dapchi girls in Yobe and the killings in states like Benue and Zamfara. Why didn’t the President or you visit these places?

Vice President: Let me say it first that no amount of condolence can compensate for the loss of life, whether in Calabar, Mambilla or Benue or where people were killed in Adamawa or Zamfara, any of these states. There is no amount of condolence that can compensate for the loss of life. Benue killing is one set of killing far too much; there is no amount of condolence that can compensate for that. And I want to say that it’s a massive tragedy. But the question that you seem to ask I’ve been to Zamfara, I’ve been to Adamawa when this killing took place. There are those who said, ‘oh, why don’t you visit the Fulani settlement, why do visit only where Christians were?’ I even visited Benue in September where there have been killing before; then I’ve visited them when the flooding took place and we looked at all the issues and tried to address many of these. There have been several of these issues in different places, recently Dapchi. We have expressed condolences, but no amount of condolence would do.

The more important thing, and our focus has been, is first of all ensuring security in these places.

We have to address the security question in a much more robust way; that the police are able to do these effectively.  We have deployed the military to Kaduna, two battalions to Kaduna. In Benue and Taraba axis, we have the 93 battalion, we have 72 Special Forces. We have full concentration in Taraba and all of that, and by the way, the military is fighting in most of the North East. So there is a situation where the military is overstretched. So I think the most important thing is first of all to ensure they actually address the security of the people.

Q: Nigerians definitely appreciate all you are doing. But they want to see their leaders come to them to grieve with them in the face of national human tragedy…

Vice President: Let me say that I definitely agree with you, the more places that we can go to the better. But I made a point earlier that we also have to address the serious concern that people have. We have to address those concerns; we have to address the rehabilitation concern. I am going round and the President is also going round, there is no question at all and I agree that if we go to all these places it would be so much better.

PT

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Sunday assured Nigerians that the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) bill will be passed this week.

Mr. Saraki gave the assurance via social media.

Anxiety over passage of the bill intensified when the chairman senate committee on anti-corruption, Chukwuka Utazi, accused his counterpart at the House of Representatives of hindering the progress of the bill by his failure to attend scheduled meetingsto fine-tune the bill.

The lawmaker informed his colleagues that Nigeria faces expulsion from the Egmont Group if the bill is not passed before the group’s next meeting on March 11.

Mr. Saraki in his reaction had promised to meet with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, to fast-track passage of the bill.

The Senate President on his Twitter handle, @Bukolasaraki, on Sunday said the committees of both houses will sit and pass the bill this week.

“Following my meeting on Thursday with the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara; the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption & Financial Crimes, Senator Chukwuka Utazi; and the House of Representatives Chairman on Financial Crimes, Hon. Kayode Oladele, the Conference Committee meeting for the NFIU Bill will hold tomorrow and the Report will be presented in both Chambers on Tuesday.

“I am confident that we will pass the NFIU Bill this week,” he wrote.

The NFIU bill seeks to make the country’s financial intelligence unit, currently under the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), totally independent.

The NFIU, which is domiciled in the EFCC, was in July 2017 suspended by the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units for allegedly not being independent.

Egmont Group is a global financial intelligence gathering body made up of 156 Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) representing 156 countries.

It is a platform for members to share expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

The group reportedly demanded autonomy for the NFIU as a condition for the suspension to be lifted.

PT