
Sahara Reporters Latest News Friday 4th October 2019
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 04/10/19
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target=_blank>Anti-corruption War: A Case For Whistleblower Law By Godwin Onyeacholem
Transparency International
At every given opportunity, President Muhammadu Buhari not only proudly re-affirms his administration’s commitment to mount a vigorous fight against corruption, he also as best as he can often ticks off some of the initiatives laid out for that purpose and the achievements so far. Here is the reason: waging war against corruption was one in the triumvirate of key promises he made to the electorate in the run-up to the 2015 election.
In fact, nothing else could be said to have fetched him the presidency other than the general belief that he would be ruthless in tackling corruption, and also a perception of him as a steadfast symbol of integrity.
Nigeria’s 59th independence anniversary on October 1 was yet one of such familiar opportunities where Buhari once again used his speech to gloat about how the war against corruption under him has been living up to its billing. In that speech, he ran through a couple of his administration’s anti-corruption strategies and, as he had done in the past, never failed to mention the whistleblower policy which in many respects remains the flagship of his anti-corruption design.
Recounting the achievements, Buhari said those initiatives had “saved billions of naira over the last four years, and deterred the rampant theft and mismanagement of public funds that have plagued our public service.” That’s not entirely true. Although stealing may not be “rampant,” a somewhat disturbing degree of subtle stealing of public funds, combined with barefaced impunity, is still going on.
He also said, “This administration has fought corruption by investigating and prosecuting those accused of embezzlement and the misuse of public resources.” That is also not completely true. At least there are two personalities under the presidency who were accused of corrupt practices but are still enjoying the protection of Buhari, if nothing else. One is his own Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, whose was never investigated much less prosecuted.
Then there is Dr. Marilyn Amobi, the MD/CEO of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc. Both Kyari and Amobi cavalierly spurned repeated invitations from the popular Brekete radio to state their side of the story. Although Amobi was investigated and indicted by ICPC, and the report of the investigation submitted to Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, in March, up till the time of writing this piece, she has not been suspended, much less prosecuted.
All of this you expect not to witness in a government with Buhari as the head, given the subconscious awe and no-nonsense aura around his reputation prior to 2015. In essence, for the war against corruption to be convincing, Buhari needs to do more than self-laudatory speeches and come down much harder on the perpetrators of corruption in both the public and private sector. And he must do this with as much evenhandedness as can be summoned.
A significant chunk of the billions of naira which he said had been saved since the inception of his administration are most likely looted funds recovered courtesy of the whistleblowing initiative which was introduced just about one and a half years after the government was inaugurated. But this highly commendable initiative is now in grave danger of extinction as nothing is being done by this government to protect those patriots, yes patriots for that is what they truly are, who continuously risk their lives to blow the whistle.
In its operations, the whistleblowing policy is only currently restricted to corrupt practices and other variants of wrongdoings in the public sector. Since it came on stream, huge sums of looted public funds in various denominations as well as property have been recovered through the efforts of whistleblowers, a majority of whom are public servants who are not even induced by the reward attached to successful recoveries.
This administration acknowledges the efficacy of the whistleblowing as a tool for fighting corruption but regrettably closes its eyes to the varying degrees of unwholesome retaliations perpetually meted out by top public officers to courageous subordinates who heed the call to report corruption and wrongdoing. These reprisals range from long-term suspension from work without pay, outright dismissal, denial of salary and other entitlements (annual leave, promotion, etc.), intimidations, threat to life sometimes extending up to family members, undue harassments, physical assault and other kinds of unimaginable inhuman treatment.
Just last week, Murtala Ibrahim, once the deputy head of internal audit at the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria was fired by the bank’s management after about two years of being subjected to constant maltreatment which culminated in his transfer from the headquarters in Abuja to Jalingo, Taraba State. His boss, Teslim Anibaba, was transferred to the Kaduna office from where he resigned last year out of frustration.
Both were punished for uncovering official alterations of figures of a half-year report and for refusing to co-operate in other corrupt transactions initiated by top officials of the bank. The Nigerian government, which said it could not successfully fight graft on its own, and therefore urged citizens to join in the fight, could not save them from the ruinous excesses of the bank’s management. It is important to point out that whistleblowers who were lucky to be reinstated are still going through some form of victimisation in their offices. The envisaged whistleblower law can take care of this.
However, whistleblowers like Sambo Abdullahi of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and Joseph Akeju of the Yaba College of Technology, to mention just a few, are still wallowing in the misery imposed by the way they have been treated by the heads of their places of work. The main anti-corruption agencies received their petitions, but the petitioners have yet to see any sign of reprieve from their predicament. Sambo has been denied his salary and other entitlements since December 2017, while Akeju was sacked barely two weeks to his retirement from public service. Their offence was nothing more than reporting corruption and abuse of office in their places of work. Buhari needs to investigate these cases and ensure that these whistleblowers get justice.
Continuing, he said in his independence anniversary speech, “We are determined to ensure that transparency and good governance are institutionalised in public service. We must commit to installing the culture of good governance in all we do.” It’s a commendable, lofty aspiration that is unrealisable unless a critical agency of actualisation, the whistleblowers, are given effective protection through the provisions of a progressive whistleblower law. United States, Britain and our African brothers – South Africa, Ghana and Uganda, already have one as a sign that they are committed to caging the monster of corruption.
As corruption continues to chip away at the development edifice Nigeria has been struggling to construct in the past six decades, Nigeria cannot afford to keep lagging behind. To this end, Buhari should urgently direct conscious efforts towards seeing that a whistleblower bill is submitted to the National Assembly for passage into law and his assent of same in the next 12 months. It must be done within this time frame before activities for 2023 elections begin to gather momentum.
Unless whistleblowers enjoy protection via a firm legal backing, the seed of the whistleblowing tree planted in 2016 will die in no time. It doesn’t seem that is what this government wants. Neither does any stakeholder in transparency, accountability and good governance in Nigeria.
Godwin Onyeacholem is with the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy.
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target=_blank>Group Petitions EFCC, Seeks Probe Of Osinbajo Over N90bn Allegedly Released To Him By FIRS
The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to probe Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, over his role in the N90bn allegedly released to him by the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
SaharaReporters recalls that a former deputy spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress, Timi Frank, had alleged that Osinbajo started having issues when the presidency discovered that he mismanaged N90bn allegedly made available by the FIRS for 2019 election campaign purposes.
In a petition obtained by SaharaReporters on Thursday, the group said that the allegations against Nigeria’s number two citizen were very weighty and worrisome especially against the background that in the build up to the 2019 elections, President Muhammadu Buhari made it clear that public funds would not be approved for the purpose of political campaigns.
The petition reads, “On the basis of this express declaration from the President to the effect that public funds will not be deployed to fund electioneering purpose of the ruling party, the Nigerian people believed and trusted the President’s pledge.
“However, the claims by Timi Frank are implying that the ruling party did not adhere to the directives of the President on his proclaimed non-use of public funds to prosecute the election in favour of the ruling party.
“If these allegations are proven to be true, it would also mean that the campaign finance legislation governing the electoral process, as enshrined in the Electoral Act 2010 as amended, had been flagrantly violated.
“As a former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the ruling party with the benefit of wide contacts in the seat of power, Timi Frank could as well be privy to information, which the rest of us may not know.
“As such, only a meticulous investigation of these claims will bring the truth to life.
“In the light of these developments and their implications for the legitimacy of the government, and by extension the anti-corruption crusade, CHRICED calls for a robust, painstaking and thorough investigation of these claims with a view to verifying whether they are true or false.
“This step from your honourable commission is critical, and will help clear the air, and douse the suspicion, which the allegations have precipitated since they began circulating.
“If the Vice President is culpable as these allegations claim, then he should be made to face the consequences of such culpability.
“However, if the claimant making the allegations is found to be deceiving the public, appropriate steps should be taken to hold him to account in line with the rule of law.”
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target=_blank>Another 161 Nigerians Return From Libya
Barely 72 hours after 161 Nigerians were evacuated from Libya, another batch of 161 have arrived in the country on Thursday.
This brings to 322 the number of Nigeria’s repatriated from the North African country in three days.
The latest returnees were received by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
The returnees comprising 62 adult females, 18 female children, 11 female infants, 48 adult males, 14 male children and eight male infants were brought back to Nigeria aboard Al Buraq Air with flight number UZ389/03 and registration number 5A-WAC.
Coordinator of NEMA Lagos Territorial Office, Idris Muhammed, who received the returnees, said the aircraft conveying the returnees touched down at 4:10pm.
The evacuation is in continuation of the International Organisation for Migration exercise in collaboration with the European Union.
A returnee from Imo State, Adaeze Nweze, said that she left Nigeria in 2015 without the knowledge and approval of her husband, adding that poverty forced her to go to Libya.
The woman, who said she left Nigeria with her three children, disclosed that she tried to abort the pregnancy she had at the time in Libya about six times but failed.
She later gave birth to a set of twins, but stated that one of them, a boy, died in Libya.
She said, “Presently, our girls pay up to N3m to get to Libya and most of them are killed.
“I witnessed where 10 of my friends were killed with guns and buried.
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E2%80%93ramaphosa target=_blank>Nigeria, South Africa Working On Car Manufacturing Plan –Ramaphosa
South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Thursday said that his country and Nigeria were working on an automotive development plan for sub-Saharan Africa.
Ramaphosa disclosed this at the Nigeria-South Africa Business forum attended by both heads of state.
He said, “South Africa and Nigeria have been working together on the establishment of a Sub-Saharan African Automotive Development Plan.
“The plan recognises the important role the automotive sector can play in promoting industrial development and aims to align our respective initiatives for maximum benefit.
“The initiative will be important not just to the automotive sector but as a testing ground for a deeply collaborative approach to industrial development.”
Speaking further, Ramaphosa stated that the two countries needed to evolve their trade relationship away from crude oil.
He, however, observed that 1,700 South African entities from diverse sectors had active interests in the Nigerian economy as at 2018.
He added, “We need to transform our trade relationship to be one of greater value-addition, with a greater focus on manufactured and agricultural goods.
“Crude oil still dominates trade between our two countries, despite our sophisticated consumer markets and capable manufacturing sector.
“Over 100 South African companies have made investments in Nigeria.
“Last year, over 1,700 South African firms had active trade relations with Nigeria.
“South Africa is by far the largest purchaser of Nigerian products in Africa, accounting for nearly half of Nigeria’s exports to the rest of Africa in 2018.”
Ramaphosa observed that the depth of the ‘trade and investment relationship makes Nigeria a key partner for South Africa.
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target=_blank>SGF Office Gets N16bn For Constituency Projects In 2019 Budget
President Buhari Observes 59th Independence Anniversary
The office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will implement constituency projects valued at N16.40bn in the 2019 budget.
This is according to data obtained by Tracka – a constituency project monitoring tool run by BudgIt.
According to the information, which was mined from the breakdown of the 2019 Zonal Intervention Projects, the Presidency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also given N2.63bn and N2.92bn respectively.
The Ministry of Power, Works and Housing was surprisingly saddled with just N1.27bn.
The lowest allocation for constituency projects was the N6m given to the Ministry of Interior.
The ministries and the value of constituency projects allotted to them by members of the national assembly are as follows: Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, N16.40bn, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 15.5bn, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, 13.08bn, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, 10.74bn, Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment, N7.99bn.
Others are Federal Ministry of Education, N7.65bn, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, 5.75bn, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, 4.11bn, Federal Ministry of Health, 3.06bn, Federal Ministry of Environment, 2.72bn, Federal Ministry of Justice, 2.71bn, Federal Ministry of Communication and Technology 1.20bn.
In every budget, the executive gives the national assembly N100bn to execute zonal intervention projects in their constituencies.
The assembly members are to execute these projects through a ministry suited to the nature of the intended activity.
With the SGF and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which have no duty to carry out projects receiving contractual obligations to do so, uncertainty creeps in as to the genuineness of constituency projects.
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target=_blank>Borno: Army Releases 25 Children Suspected Of Having Links With Boko Haram
The Nigerian Army released a total of 25 children including two girls on Thursday after clearing them of suspected ties to Boko Haram terrorists.
Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. Olusegun Adeniyi, handed over the children to the Borno State Government and officials of United Nations Children’s Fund.
Adeniyi said, “The Nigerian Army has begun to commit to the fight against insurgency with specific focus on protection and assisting vulnerable groups.
“Part of the holistic approach is to take into account the development and well-being of children who take part in terrorism, violence without moral reputation.
“Children associated with insurgency are commonly subjected to abuse, killings and sexual violence regardless of how they were recruited.
“Their roles within their participation bears serious limitation for their physical and emotional well-being.
“Therefore, their rehabilitation and reintegrating into civil life is an essential part of our effort with the partnership of other stakeholders.
“As we hand over these children, I wish to emphasise the need for proper reintegration and proper monitoring to guide them from wrong hands.”
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target=_blank>Ex-Nigerian Olympic Eagles Captain, Isaac Promise, Dies At 31
Isaac Promise in Action
Isaac Promise in Action
Captain of Nigeria’s men’s football team to the 2008 Olympic Games in China, Isaac Promise, has died.
The attacking player collapsed and died in his apartment gym in Austin, Texas, United States, on Wednesday night authorities said.
Promise, who was 31 at the time of his death, played for Austin Bold FC in the US lower league.
He scored 79 goals in 11 professional seasons playing for seven different clubs in Turkey.
He spent a season in Saudi Arabia before signing for Austin Bold, where he had three goals in 20 matches this season.
The Nigeria Football Federation and Austin Bold FC confirmed his death via Twitter on Thursday.
During his career, Promise also represented Nigeria at the 2005 World Youth Championship where the team lost to Argentina in the final, and also featured in three matches for the senior national team – Super Eagles.
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E2%80%99s-support-our-freedom-would-have-come-greater-cost-says-south target=_blank>EXCLUSIVE: Without Nigeria’s Support, Our Freedom Would Have Come At Greater Cost, Says South Africa’s President
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks to Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari (R) at the State House in Abuja, Nigeria
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks to Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari (R) at the State House in Abuja, Nigeria
VOA
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa on Thursday night said that without the support of Nigeria, the country’s freedom would have come at a far greater cost.
Ramaphosa made the remarks during a state banquet organised in honour of President Muhammadu Buhari, who is on a three-day state visit to the former apartheid nation.
Relations between Nigeria and South Africa reached tipping point in August when xenophobic attacks affected dozens of Nigerians and their businesses, forcing the government to evacuate more than 300 people back home.
In anger, scores of Nigerians went on the rampage across the country, attacking South African businesses and anything associated with the ‘Rainbow’ nation.
But making efforts to heal the wound caused by that sad episode, Ramaphosa on Thursday highlighted the importance and significance of Nigeria to South Africa’s existence.
He said, “We owe our freedom to the people of Nigeria and the people of Africa.
“We pay tribute to Nigeria’s tireless support for the international campaign against apartheid.
“We will not forget how Nigeria spearheaded the call for political and economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa following the Sharpeville Massacre of March 21, 1960, which left many unarmed demonstrators dead.
“We will not forget the great sacrifices made by the Nigerian people in the 1970s and 1980s for the freedom that South Africans enjoy today.
“Without Nigeria’s support, our freedom would have come at a much greater cost.
“We will never forget the great debt we owe you and we will never allow the lawless actions of a few to undermine the bonds of friendship between our peoples.
“To concretise this, we have today inaugurated the first session of the Bi-national Commission presided over at Heads of State level, again symbolising the cordial and time-tested relations and the high esteem with which we regard our bilateral relations.”
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target=_blank>National Assembly Increases 2020 Budget By N727bn
Federal lawmakers on Thursday increased the anticipated value of the 2020 proposed budget by N727bn.
This increases the value of the proposed 2020 budget from N10trn to N10.28trn.
The Senate made the adjustment with its adoption of the recommendations on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper for 2020 to 2022, made by a joint finance committee.
The document was presented by Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, on September 25.
The lawmakers arrived at their increased estimated spending by raising the crude oil benchmark from $55, as proposed by the FBNP, to $57.
The joint committee on finance, whose report was adopted by the lawmakers, retained the exchange rate at N305 per United States dollar and the oil production benchmark at 2.18mbpd as proposed in the MTEF/FSP.
However, the legislature increased the revenue target for the Nigeria Customs Service in 2020 by N557.4bn.
The executive proposed a collection of N942.6bn, while the National Assembly adjusted it to N1.5trn.
This led to the committee reducing the budget deficit to N1.5trn from N1.7trn as N200bn from the increased target of the NCS would be expected to shore up the total revenue.
The executive had in the MTEF proposed to spend N2.45trn on debt servicing.
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Shocking: Nigerian Amputee Team Travels To Football Tournament In Angola With Flight Tickets, Jerseys, Boots Procured On Credit
Nigeria’s Amputee football team known as Special Eagles, has arrived in Angola for the 2019 Africa Amputee Football Cup of Nations.
The 15-man team, which has decried neglect from the government, managed to arrive in Angola through air tickets procured on credit from an agent.
The team would also be participating in the tournament with jerseys, tracksuits, boots and other vital items all procured on credit.
Speaking on arrival in Angola, President of the Nigeria Amputee Football Federation, Suleiman Isah, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari for urgent support of the team.
He said, “It is tough for us but we needed to make this trip to keep hope alive for the amputees who had decided to counter their physical disability by engaging in sports.
“They have been absent from the Africa Nations Cup for nine years because there was no funding. It will devastate the boys badly if they missed this edition again.
“Unfortunately, the only support we got was from the Nigeria Football Federation and it is not enough to cover the cost of flight tickets, forcing us to drop some players.
“We got tickets on credit just as we also procured jerseys, tracksuits, boots and other equipment on credit.
“Worse is that we don’t even have a dime to give to the players as allowances both at the competition and on return.
“We are hoping that the Ministry of Sports will approve some aid for us but we are not certain.”
The Nigerian amputee football team will open their campaign against Liberia on Friday before meeting Cameroon, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and host Angola in subsequent matches.
Recall that last year the amputee team were involved in an auto crash while on their way for a football competition in Abuja.
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