Sahara Reporters Latest News Today Saturday 25th September 2021
Sahara Reporters Latest News Today and headlines on some of the happenings and news trend in the Country, today 25/09/21
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E2%80%93-un-secretary-general-tells-buhari Use Your Position To Stabilise West Africa – UN Secretary-General Tells Buhari
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to leverage on his leadership position to ensure stability among West African nations, in terms of democracy and good governance.
According to a statement by a Presidential media aide, Femi Adesina, the UN secretary-general revealed this at a meeting with Buhari on Friday, at the 76th session of the United Nations general assembly (UNGA) taking place in New York.
“According to the UN scribe, Africa, especially West Africa, was generally seen as an ocean of stability and good governance, but was deeply concerned at recent reversal of fortunes in democratic rule in some parts of the West African sub-region with coups overturning elected institutions,” Adesina said.
“He, therefore, urged President Buhari to continue to show leadership as he looks up to Nigeria to help stabilise the sub-region in terms of democracy and good governance.
“On terrorism, the secretary-general commended the efforts of Nigeria on this global phenomenon, assuring the Nigerian leader of the United Nations’ continued support in her efforts to address the prevailing security and humanitarian challenges that have arisen, especially with the internally displaced persons.
“He also commended Nigeria’s efforts on climate change, expressing willingness of the world body to cooperate with the country in this regard.
“President Buhari applauded Mr Gutterres for his global leadership and the success of the 76th session. He assured the secretary-general that Nigeria had achieved appreciable successes in tackling the insecurity caused by terrorists and bandits.
“The president also thanked him for the global organisation’s intervention in activities towards reducing the effects of climate change, especially with the support for the Great Green Wall programme, which is aimed at arresting desertification across the Sahel as well as the campaign against deforestation in Nigeria.”
Adesina added that the president also expressed commitment to supporting the UN “towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.”
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Gunmen Kill Community Leader In Delta As Government Imposes Curfew
Delta State Map
Anthony Oreh, a community leader and the immediate past Vice President of Orhoakpor Community, in the Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State has been killed by unknown gunmen.
It was gathered that Oreh was killed in the early hours of Thursday, 23 September, 2021.
Delta State Map
A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on the community following his death.
He was reportedly killed when he tried to broker peace during an alleged cult attack on the vigilante chairman in the community.
A trending video of Oreh before he died showed him bleeding profusely from a serious head injury.
He was later rushed by a sympathiser on motorcycle to a hospital where he died.
John Jephthah, an aide to the LGA chairman in a statement called on all police formations to enforce the curfew imposed.
She said, “Due to the rising threats to the safety of lives and properties in Orhoakpor community, the Ethiope East Local Government Authority has placed a curfew in Orhoakpor Community from 7pm to 7am with an immediate effect.
“In the light of above, all police formations situated in proximity to Orhoakpor community are hereby ordered to enforce the curfew in accordance.
“Accordingly, residents of Orhoakpor community should endeavor to comply to enable security operatives maintain law and order. Vehicular movement, inclusive of motorcycles and bicycles are also restricted in the community during these hours. Essential services and emergencies will only be allowed movement during these hours.
“Security operatives will be on patrol and routine check. They have instructions to detain anyone on the road passing from 7pm without proper authorisation. I extend my condolences and deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of Mr. Anthony Oreh who was gruesomely killed at Orhoakpor Community at the early hours of Thursday, 23 September, 2021
“I want to assure the Family Members and the general Public that the Local Government Council and the Security operatives are on top gear to bring the perpetrators to Justice. God bless you.”
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Civil society, SERAP Urges UN To Order Buhari To Lift Twitter Ban In Nigeria
A civil society group, Social Economic and Rights Accountability Project, has called on the General Assembly of the United Nations to use its power to order President Muhammadu Buhari to lift the indefinite suspension of the operations of Twitter in Nigeria.
The group asked the International body to speak for the fundamental rights of Nigerians noting that “the freedom to expression whether offline or online is a fundamental right” which should not be tampered with.
This was contained in its tweet on its official Twitter page as President Buhari addressed the General Assembly on Friday.
SERAP tweeted that, “BREAKING: We urge @UN General Assembly to put pressure on President Buhari to immediately lift the illegal suspension of Twitter in Nigeria. Freedom of expression offline and online is a fundamental right.
“The General Assembly should stand up for Nigerians #StandUp4HumanRights.”
President Buhari has since received different criticisms from individuals and advocacy groups following the suspension of the micro-blogging site across the country.
The federal government had suspended Twitter access in the country just two days after Twitter removed a post by Buhari threatening to punish secessionist.
Meanwhile, the government had claimed that the directive was issued because of “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.”
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E2%80%93 How Suspended DCP Abba Kyari’s Policemen Tricked Me, Failed To Arrest Suspected Fraudsters – Nigerian Businessman Laments
Abba Kyari
Omojiade Edokpa, a Nigerian businessman, has narrated how policemen attached to the Inspector-General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) under the then Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, connived with fraudsters who swindled him of over N50million.
Edokpa, who owns BDG Real Estate Company fully operational in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said in 2017 that he was in need of money to complete an ongoing project in Dubai.
Abba Kyari
He said he had reached out to Hilton Enearu, a real estate agent in Nigeria, to discuss possible sale of his house in Lagos State to raise money for his project in Dubai.
He added that, unknown to him, Enearu and others had a dubious motive of taking over his properties.
In his account sent to SaharaReporters, Edokpa said, “I am from Ewu, Esan Central In Edo State. I own a real estate company by name; BDG Real Estate which was dully registered with operational office in Business Bay, Dubai, UAE. I had an ongoing project which I needed to complete in Dubai in 2017, flip over money and at some point, I needed extra cash.
“In October 2017, I approached Hilton Enearu whom I knew as a real estate agent and freelancer in Lagos to discuss the possible sale of my house in Lagos to raise funds. Hilton Enearu introduced me to his friend and partner, Joshua Maduka who was also into the business of car sales with him at CMD Complex, CMD Road beside DSS Shangisha, Magodo. They were all friends living together.
“Hilton Enearu and Joshua Maduka had a meeting and said they would rather give me a loan of N5million to support my real estate business. But they gave me a condition that I pay back N3million interest within three months which is N8million. I would also use my house documents as a collateral (two units of 2 two-bedroom flats in Ayo Adekoya Close, Shangisha Magodo worth over N40million).
“Even though the reasons weren’t clear, I trusted him. So I agreed because I could get funds within same time from my business and pay back. I came back to Nigeria for that purpose. They came up with an agreement drafted by Maduka’s lawyer.
“On 14th November 2017, barely two weeks after the agreement was signed, Hilton Enearu, Joshua Maduka and Mr. Johnson came to me with the proposal to buy the house which was used as a collateral. At first, I was not comfortable with the idea, but Hilton Enearu and Johnson convinced me that Joshua could pay for the property using initial N8million (loan and interest as part payment).
“Hilton Enearu and Mr. Johnson insisted that Joshua must buy for N28million. Hilton Enearu insisted I sign an authorisation for him to sell at N28Million. Joshua brought an agreement that he would pay N10milion and make a balance payment of N10million on January 1, 2018. I was already back to Dubai and since I needed more money, I obliged.
“To my greatest surprise, Joshua paid the money to Hilton (his friend’s) bank account. I was taken aback when Hilton Enearu said he had the authority to sell my house as my agent. Hilton Enearu sent me N7million as against what was agreed. These three friends acted as a buyer, an agent and a witness against me on my house not knowing they deceived me and put my house up for another buyer, claiming they have the right to sell while I was in Dubai.”
Edokpa said amid his ordeal, IRT officials asked him to pay N450,000 to secure the arrest of Hilton and Maduka.
He, however, said the official failed to arrest the Hilton and Maduka.
“He made true his threat in October 2019; Joshua Maduka came to my house, with some violent IRT police officers from Abba Kyari’s office. They beat and harassed my wife, then took us away. I was first taken to Ibadan and then to IRT office called Abbatoir in Abuja.
“I was dehumanised to say the least and made to sign all sorts of agreement that I would pay back the N5.5million under duress. I was released on bail and paid the balance N2.5million which I owed Joshua as balance for his total initial deposit of N15million as received by me.
“I wrote a petition that was signed and approved by IRT and Lagos Panti office for Hilton Enearu to be arrested. I never knew it was a plan to get more money from me that I never had, having formed alliance with Hilton Enearu and Joshua Maduka.
“Since then the IPO refused to answer or return my call. I have been traumatised as this whole event had taken a toll on my marriage, my home is broken as my wife has left me. I had to relocate to my village in Ewu, Edo State to go into farming.
“Only last week 10th September 2021, one year and six months after I paid N450,000 to them, I got information again from a relative who signed shorty for me by name Pastor Godstime Edokpa that the same IRT office whom I paid money to for them to arrest and prosecute the fraudsters who made me lose everything, connived with them and now wants to get me arrested again by Hilton Enearu and Joshua Maduka.
“I do not know what they want from me anymore as I have decided to get justice and seek redress on the matter all over again as I do not know what they are capable of doing this time. I have been traumatised, depressed and now I live in fear every day and do not even feel safe going to my small farm in the village.
“I have lost all I had and ever worked for in the past 14years; my house, money, marriage and business worth over N200million.”
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EXPOSED: How Nigerian Government Gave Indicted Cocaine Trafficker Multi-million Dollar Contract To Supply Passports To Citizens
This report exposes the rot, racketeering, ethnic nepotism, complete failure of due diligence, and how an indicted cocaine trafficker has come to control the supply of passports to Nigerian citizens.
The investigation, which was done by Nigerian journalist, David Hundeyin and reported by West Africa Weekly, delves into how the rot in the system led to an embarrassing scarcity of passports for Nigerians at home and abroad.
“We acknowledge and apologise for the challenges faced in the past few weeks regarding passport booklets availability. I am glad to inform you that booklets are now available and are being distributed to all our passport issuing centres.”
With these words on March 31, former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Babandede verbally signed a cheque that the NIS would subsequently fail to cash. Through the course of his tenure as CG, Nigerians had become used to chronic passport booklet shortage and the associated black market arbitrage, but the shortage had become acute by 2021. He needed to make a statement to reaffirm his competence.
Speaking at the commissioning of the Maitama Passport Express Centre – itself a master class in formalised black market arbitrage – Babandede made that statement, and then some. A special team would be dispatched to “facilitate enrollment and production” of passports across Nigeria and its foreign missions. New passport offices to service air passengers would be sited at the airports in Lagos, Kano and Abuja. The new “premium passport processing centre” in Abuja would cut the length of passport issuance and renewal from several weeks to just 72 hours.
Ultimately, Babandede’s statement turned out to be just that – a statement.
From when he made these pronouncements until his retirement earlier this month, passport booklets continued to be a scarce and expensive commodity in Nigeria. Several factors were blamed for the baffling inability of Africa’s most populous country to provide passports for its citizens. Chronic corruption at the NIS; disputes between the NIS and a private contractor responsible for printing booklets; scarcity of forex to pay for security printing materials; even an alleged unofficial government policy to stem brain drain by making passports hard to access – all these have variously been blamed for this state of affairs.
As is so often the case in Nigeria, no theory or explanation should be dismissed out of hand, which is why when I set out to find out what is really behind the perennial shortage of these little green booklets, I was prepared for anything. Or at least I thought I was. What would emerge as I sank my teeth into this however, was not a story about supply chain disruptions or government inefficiencies. It was nothing like I had ever seen before, which is saying something.
Think Transformers meets Black Mirror meets Karishika, with protagonists who are part Elon Musk, part Lawrence Anini and part Bakin Zuwo. There is a murder in New York; a million dollar cocaine deal in Bogotá. Court cases in New Jersey; a legitimate high tech manufacturing operation in Kuala Lumpur; art exhibitions in Lagos; high society marriages; prominent placement in lifestyle and celebrity magazines, and the most comically brazen lawbreaking hidden in plain sight. If this story were a movie, it would be the conceptual offspring of Michael Bay and Ugezu J. Ugezu, which is to say, low on plot and purpose, but high on sheer crash-bang value.
There are 3 main characters in this story. Their existence and relevance was determined after speaking to 5 different sources within the NIS ecosystem. These 3, more than any other people, have had the most influence on passport issuance and the wider state of the Immigration Service. Unsurprisingly, the first name on the list is immediate past CG Muhammad Babandede.
None of my sources have any especially nice words to say about him, but neither do they have any bitter personal complaints either. The impression that comes through about Babandede is that of a fundamentally limited man who is neither virtuous nor especially malevolent. As one of the sources puts it frankly:
“He tried to make some moves such as the passport express centres, but it didn’t work out because he was just there to make money before he retired. He didn’t really care about fixing any systemic issues like staff motivation or the ISTL contract. All that one was not his business.”
The sources inform me that under Babandede’s tenure, complete opacity was institutionalised, with Immigration officers now not even knowing how much to expect on their payslip at the end of the month. Apparently during his tenure, NIS staff were migrated to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS), and with that went any sort of transparency regarding staff pay scales, deductions and entitlements. As a source colourfully puts it during one of our long conversations:
“It has now got to the point that you don’t know what will come in at the end of the month, and whatever it is that comes in – you just have to take it like that. The deductions vary every month so we don’t know how much we will take home. So tell me as a man with people depending on you, how else will you survive if not through ‘egunje’ (bribes)?”
While the sources mention different things that Babandede could have done to protect NIS staff welfare and morale, they all have one consistent criticism of him – his alleged ethnocentric posting policy. During his tenure they say, desirable NIS postings such as NIS offices in Lagos, were given exclusively to northerners, while the southerners working there were all posted out. The Ikoyi immigration office I am told, is now staffed almost exclusively by northerners – a state of affairs that would be impossible if the roles were reversed.
Under Babandede and even in these early days of his successor Idris Jere, the sources say, many northerners in the NIS, encouraged by the prebendalist disposition of their superiors, are keen to let everyone know that it is “their turn” and they are in power. Following Idris Jere’s appointment a source claims, the next most senior Deputy Comptroller – a southerner from Lagos – who might have been next in line to succeed Jere, was promptly transferred to Sokoto. At press time, I have been unable to independently verify this.
The other name that every source mentions is a certain “Liman” at the Ikoyi Passport Office. None of the sources bothers to hide how they feel about this fellow. This man and his extreme racketeering they say, is one of the major reasons behind Nigeria’s passport shortage. A bit of research brings up his name as Abdullahi I. Liman, a Deputy Comptroller in charge of the Ikoyi Passport Command of the NIS.
Every single source has a terrible story to tell about Abdullahi Liman. Liman they say, is responsible for the northernisation of the Ikoyi Passport Command. Even worse one source tells me, under Liman’s tenure, the atmosphere at the Command has taken on explicitly polarised ethnic and religious overtones. Take this anecdote from one of the sources for example:
“You can imagine that you are in the middle of doing a capture, then all of a sudden your colleague who is also capturing will just stand up and leave his station with a crowd of people there – because he says he is going to pray. You now end up doing his work for him, can you imagine that? This did not happen before Liman came in.”
Liman they say, is in the habit of pointedly using Hausa to converse with his subordinates at work, which automatically puts every southerner working under his command at a real career disadvantage. Speaking English – or in fact any other language but Hausa – at work is now a career demerit at the Ikoyi Passport Command under Liman’s watch.
A few days after I speak to this source, this story by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism was published, detailing persecution of a southern NIS officer at the Ikoyi Command in the exact ways described by my sources. Notice the reporter’s description of his interaction with Liman.
Up to this point, I have relied on testimony from sources I consider trustworthy, but even their knowledge of affairs at the NIS has its limits. While people like Abdullahi Liman are running rackets within the NIS to restrict access to passport booklets in large population centres like Lagos so as to create a lucrative black market, the sources are also clear that they believe that the NIS simply does not have enough passport booklets. To truly understand why the NIS appears to have not just a distribution problem, but also a supply problem with passport booklets, I had to figure out whose interests were served by the status quo.
First, a brief primer on how Nigeria’s passport system works.
Starting in 2003, Nigeria adopted the e-passport standard to defeat counterfeiting, resulting in a contract awarded to IRIS Smart Technologies Limited (ISTL) which commenced in 2007. The scope of the contract was to implement the Nigeria Harmonised ECOWAS Electronic (SMART) Passport Autogate Systems as well as to supply e-passport booklets, wafers, laminates and maintenance services from 2006 and 2015. ISTL is affiliated with Malaysia’s Iris Corp, which carries out the actual security printing services including supply of e-passport booklets.
The services that ISTL renders to the NIS include creating and maintaining the electronic database containing the passport details of Nigerian citizens, as well as maintaining the communication infrastructure that keeps a constant uplink between passport registration offices and the ISTL data centre. In case the reader has not seen the problem with this, allow me to spell it out clearly:
A private company working for a profit incentive has full and unrestricted access to the sensitive data of all Nigerian passport holders, but more importantly, it alone has access to this data. In other words, ISTL has more access to passport holders’ data than the NIS itself. ISTL does not actually produce passport booklets, but sub-contracts production to the Malaysian firm Iris Corp. Essentially, this company that most people have never heard of, controls a valuable sovereign database exclusively, and all it has to do is maintain a few dozen closed VSAT links from passport registration centres. Essentially, tech support.
This in fact caused a row between the NIS and the company in 2017 when the 10-year contract came up for renewal. Speaking to Daily Trust in 2017, some NIS insiders claimed the following: That the initial contract was a threat to national security because it vests control of the Country Signing Certification Authority (CSCA) – an official government seal – in ISTL, instead of the Nigerian government, which on paper is a risk factor for fraud;
That its implementation did not follow due process;
That the database and other infrastructure was paid for by the Nigerian government, but ISTL holds on to government property and uses tactics such as refusing to train NIS officers in the management of the system as a way to strong-arm the government into renewing its contract;
That NIS officers cannot conduct basic maintenance and repairs on the ISTL systems, meaning that the Nigerian government cannot withdraw from the ISTL contract without incurring catastrophic costs, which violates public procurement regulations;
That the contract had questionable exclusion clauses that gave undue advantage to ISTL at the expense of the Nigerian taxpayer.
The Malaysian company subcontracted by ISTL to print the booklets meanwhile, has found itself facing corruption probes by Malaysian authorities over its activities in other African e-passport jurisdictions such as Guinea. So putting this picture together, we have a tech support company that has somehow wrangled its way into a $138 million 10-year government contract (which was eventually renewed in 2019). Its main activity is maintaining equipment and an electronic database, and it sub-contracts passport booklet printing to a company halfway around the world whose executives have been arrested on corruption charges.
For the purpose of balance, it must be pointed out that the $138 million figure is not paid by the government, but rather comes from the company’s revenue generation activities within the scope of the e-passport project. It is also important to point out that the criticisms of the ISTL contract were possibly made in bad faith by individuals who merely wanted to replace ISTL with their own companies. Indeed, the senior NIS official quoted by the Daily Trust in 2017 remarked, “The controversy is between contractors who want the contract. The NIS’ concern is simply the supply of the booklets.”
It is also important to mention that the cost of sub-contracting Iris Corp to print the booklets is paid is USD, while ISTL’s revenue comes in naira, with the CBN refusing to provide forex for the company. This I am reliably informed, is the material reason behind the chronic booklet shortages since 2017 – the cost of printing passport booklets has more than doubled in dollar terms since 2015. Hence, ISTL simply cannot afford to print as many booklets as before.
With that being said, we now know that there is an incredibly lucky or powerful entity behind ISTL. Who is this person? This is where the story really takes a few turns, so hold on to your hats.
High Society Gentleman or Ex-Cocaine Trafficker?
On its website, ISTL describes itself as a “major subsidiary of the flagship company, Image Technologies Limited (Imagetech).” A quick CAC database check on Imagetech brings up the elusive character behind the curtain.
For a Lagos socialite, Olayinka Fisher is a man who somehow keeps a decidedly low profile. For one thing, while researching this story, establishing what exactly his name is turns out to be quite the task. In some places, he is “Yinka Fisher.” In some other places, he is “Olayinka Fisher.” In still other places, he is “Olayinka Fischer” or “Sonayon Fisher.” Only in a few places that he would rather the world did not know about, does his full and correctly spelled government name appear: “Olayinka Sonayon Fisher.” So who is this guy and what is there to him?
Quite a bit, as it turns out.
The story starts in Mr. Fisher’s previous iteration as a high flying Nigerian diplomat in in mid-to-late 1970s. At the time, when he was still known to the world as Olayinka Sonayon Fisher, he was the Second Secretary of the Nigerian Mission to the United Nations.
Researching the many variants of his name online, references to his diplomatic career can be seen right up until about 1980 when he seems to vanish off the face of the historical earth. In 1989, he resurfaces on CAC documents in Nigeria as the majority shareholder in a new company called Imagetech. Presumably at this point, the high-achieving diplomat has decided to pivot into a career in tech entrepreneurship. Nigeria being what it is, nobody ever really bothers to ask why, and by 2003 he is signing the contract above for ISTL under President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The good times are rolling. Following the end of his marriage to River State scion Doris Amachree, he weds Dr. Pius Okigbo’s daughter Anne. He becomes an avid art collector and patron of the arts. He hosts art exhibitions with the Spanish Embassy in Lagos, which are co-curated by both of his sons who share his love of the visual arts. To all intents and purposes, he is the SI unit of the classy and respectable old money Lagosian. There’s just one problem:
According to U.S. court records, Mr. Fisher allegedly used to be part of an intercontinental cocaine smuggling ring.
I obtain the following documents from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. They detail court proceedings from a 1983 case involving a violent drug dealer wanted for a murder in the Bronx, New York, a successful American businessman who dabbled into the illegal drug business with him, and a Nigerian diplomat who used his diplomatic immunity to traffic shipments of cocaine into the U.S. on their behalf.
The diplomat’s name? A certain Olayinka Sonayon Fisher.
According to Tracy Wong, the indicted American businessman, he paid Fisher the sum of $50,000 for a single shipment. The indictment further states that this arrangement lasted for at least 2 years with multiple Cocaine trafficking trips made worth several million dollars. Exactly how much Fisher made from this arrangement in total is a question only he can answer, but it certainly raises a few interesting questions.
Perhaps the most telling part of this story is that following the release of this NYT article and his subsequent exit from the diplomatic corps, Fisher appears to have intentionally dropped all mention of “Sonayon” from his name. In fact, it took the extraordinary step of making a few calls to my hometown Badagry, where the name “Sonayon” also originates from, to confirm his identity. The fact that this has somehow slipped under the radar for decades despite his custody of one of the most sensitive databases in Nigeria is a sign of a catastrophic failure of state intelligence and due diligence.
Making this point further, I speak to a lawyer, Solomon Igberaese to give his professional opinion of this issue. He points out that according to the Public Procurement Act 2007, someone with Fisher’s background should have been disqualified from the public procurement process. In his words:
“Falsification of fact can be interpreted to also include drug trafficking. Carrying out drug trafficking under any other guise will constitute falsification of fact. That he concealed packages inside diplomatic pouches certainly qualifies as falsification of fact. Again the section said falsification of facts relating to any matter.”
So there we have it – possibly the most mind-bending story in Nigeria’s rich history of dodgy public procurement and contracting. For added measure, the third person in the drug ring, a career drug dealer called Joseph Anthony Margarite was also wanted in connection with a murder at the time of his involvement with Wong and Fisher.
The full and unredacted set of court records relating to this case is available here.
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US Trains Nigerian Health Officials On Preparedness, Response To Pandemics
The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC) has trained about 40 Nigerian public health experts on emergency preparedness and response.
US-CDC, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and Georgetown University collaborated to deliver the professional certification training.
Speaking on Friday at the closing and graduation ceremony of the two-week capacity-building exercise in Lagos, U.S. Consul General, Claire Pierangelo, underscored the US government’s commitment to the public health emergency management.
The Consul General highlighted the strategic partnership between the US and Nigeria in strengthening health security and response to disease threats.
She said, “Over the last 14 days, our distinguished participants have gone through rigorous training leading to certification. The two-week course focused on core principles of an Incident Management System (IMS) as an efficient coordination mechanism for responding to small disease outbreaks as well as more significant public health emergencies like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Emergency Management is one of the 11 capacity building prioritized by the USG in its support of Nigeria. Our primary goal is to continue supporting Nigeria to achieve the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) 2024 targets and the International Health Regulations (IHR) requirements by strengthening workforce development, surveillance, emergency response, and laboratory capacity, among other areas.
“Today’s event highlights our continued strategic partnership with Nigeria to support health security and response to disease threats. In the recent past, the USG had funded the participation of 4 Nigerians to attend the advanced Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM) Fellowship program at CDC headquarters in Atlanta.
“Even as we continue to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in our countries and many parts of the world, the need for all countries to continuously improve their response capacities cannot be overemphasized. We believe the PHEM professional certification program is one such training initiative that will adequately position Nigeria for epidemic and pandemic response now and into the future.
“Finally, following lessons learned from this pilot implementation, USG will continue to support NCDC to advance Public Health Emergency Management interventions in Nigeria at all levels. Let me reiterate that we remain committed and stand ready to continue our partnership with Nigeria in its response to public health disease threats and adopt strategies that will increase disease prevention, detection, and response. We are committed to promoting the health and wellbeing of Nigerians.”
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How Nigeria’s Ex-immigration Boss, Babandede Promoted Northern Interests, Passport Racketeering In Office — Report
Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration, Muhammad Babandede.
An investigation by David Hundeyin, Nigerian journalist, has revealed how Muhammad Babandede, immediate past Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, promoted passport racketeering and northern interests during his stay in office.
According to the investigation published by West Africa Weekly, under Babandede’s watch, deep-seated opacity was institutionalised at the Immigration office such that there was no transparency regarding staff pay scales, deductions and entitlements.
Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration, Muhammad Babandede.
@nigimmigration
While the sources mention different things that Babandede could have done to protect NIS staff welfare and morale, they all have one consistent criticism of him – his alleged ethnocentric posting policy. During his tenure they say, desirable NIS postings such as NIS offices in Lagos, were given exclusively to northerners, while the southerners working there were all posted out. The Ikoyi immigration office I am told, is now staffed almost exclusively by northerners – a state of affairs that would be impossible if the roles were reversed.
Under Babandede and even in these early days of his successor Idris Jere, the sources say, many northerners in the NIS, encouraged by the prebendalist disposition of their superiors, are keen to let everyone know that it is “their turn” and they are in power. Following Idris Jere’s appointment a source claims, the next most senior Deputy Comptroller – a southerner from Lagos – who might have been next in line to succeed Jere, was promptly transferred to Sokoto. At press time, I have been unable to independently verify this.
A source quoted in the report said: “He (Babandede) tried to make some moves such as the passport express centres, but it didn’t work out because he was just there to make money before he retired. He didn’t really care about fixing any systemic issues like staff motivation or the ISTL contract. All that one was not his business.”
Another source also said: “It has now got to the point that you don’t know what will come in at the end of the month, and whatever it is that comes in – you just have to take it like that. The deductions vary every month so we don’t know how much we will take home. So tell me as a man with people depending on you, how else will you survive if not through ‘egunje’ (bribes)?”
The report also revealed that the former immigration boss introduced an ethnocentric posting policy.
Sources quoted in the report said during his tenure, desirable NIS postings such as NIS offices in Lagos, were given exclusively to northerners, while the southerners working there were all posted out.
The investigation also revealed how Abdullahi Liman, a Deputy Comptroller in charge of the Ikoyi Passport Command of the NIS, promotes “extreme racketeering” considered to be one of the major reasons behind Nigeria’s passport shortage.
Liman is also said to be running rackets within the NIS to restrict access to passport booklets in large population centres like Lagos so as to create a lucrative black market, the sources are also clear that they believe that the NIS simply does not have enough passport booklets.
Every single source has a terrible story to tell about Abdullahi Liman. Liman they say, is responsible for the northernisation of the Ikoyi Passport Command. Even worse one source tells me, under Liman’s tenure, the atmosphere at the Command has taken on explicitly polarised ethnic and religious overtones. Take this anecdote from one of the sources for example:
“You can imagine that you are in the middle of doing a capture, then all of a sudden your colleague who is also capturing will just stand up and leave his station with a crowd of people there – because he says he is going to pray. You now end up doing his work for him, can you imagine that? This did not happen before Liman came in.”
Liman they say, is in the habit of pointedly using Hausa to converse with his subordinates at work, which automatically puts every southerner working under his command at a real career disadvantage. Speaking English – or in fact any other language but Hausa – at work is now a career demerit at the Ikoyi Passport Command under Liman’s watch.
The investigation also revealed how Olayinka Sonayon Fisher, Nigerian diplomat in mid-to-late 1970s, indicted for cocaine trafficking, became an integral part of IRIS Smart Technologies Limited (ISTL), the company handling the issuance of Nigeria’s e-passport.
The report, citing U.S. court records, showed that Fisher allegedly used to be part of an intercontinental cocaine smuggling ring.
The court documents also showed how he used his diplomatic immunity at the time to traffic shipments of cocaine into the U.S. on their behalf.
It revealed that in spite of the allegations against him, he signed the Nigeria’s e-passport contract for ISTL under President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003 due to the country’s failed system.
ISTL is affiliated with Malaysia’s Iris Corp, which carries out the actual security printing services including the supply of e-passport booklets.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian company subcontracted by ISTL to print the booklets, has found itself facing corruption probes by Malaysian authorities over its activities in other African e-passport jurisdictions such as Guinea.
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Nigerian Polytechnic Bans Students From Driving, Bringing Cars To Campus
The management of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, has banned students from bringing cars the school campus.
This was made known in a circular dated September 22, 2021, and signed by its Registrar, G.E. Ihiokhan.
The circular stated that the measure followed “disturbing reports” received by the institution’s management on reckless driving and illegal packing by students.
It reads: “Management has received disturbing reports on the reckless driving of cars on campus by students. They drive against traffic rules, park cars on designated official car lots for staff, and speed across bumps with reckless abandonment, thereby, endangering the lives and property of both staff and students on campus. Management seriously frowns at this ugly trend, which is increasing by the day and has, therefore, decided to put an end to it forthwith.
“Consequently, Management has hereby directed that all cars belonging to students should be banned from entering into the campus henceforth, till the end of the ongoing examinations,”
“Only staff and students riding on their personal or commercial motorcycles with proper identification, would be allowed into the campus. Also, visitors that have official business to transact on campus, would be allowed access with their vehicles after proper identification.”
SaharaReporters recalls that in March 2021, the same institution banned students from driving private cars on campus.
A circular dated March 9, 2021, and signed by G. E. Ihiokhan, its Registrar stated that the measure followed “intelligence reports” received by the institution’s management.
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“Following intelligence reports received by management, it has become expedient to put the following measures in place with effect from Wednesday, 10th March 2021,” the circular read.
“Students are not to bring in their vehicles in the campus; Security check will be carried out by both staff of the security unit and the police at the various entrance point of the Polytechnic.”
The circular advised all students to always have their identity cards with them while on the school’s campus.
In April, the Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo State banned the use of cars and power bikes by students of the institution on campus.
In a circular dated Thursday, April 15, 2021, the school’s management stated that this was necessary in order to safeguard the lives of students and staff from students who drive with ‘reckless abandon’.
The circular, signed by the registrar of the institution, O. O. Fakorede, noted that the school’s management had received complaints from both students and staff of the institution hence the ban.
The ban was said to be effective immediately.
The circular read: “Ban on use of cars and power bikes by students. The College management has observed that students who own cars and power bikes drive their cars and ride their power bikes on campus with reckless abandon.
“Management has equally received complaints from both students and staff on this act of indiscipline.
“As a consequence of this, and in order to safeguard the lives of students and staff, management hereby bans students from bringing their cars or power bikes into the College premises.
“The ban is effective immediately. Students concerned are advised to comply with this directive.”
The management of Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, had also allegedly banned students from driving cars on school premises.
According to a banner shared on social media, students’ cars are banned from entry due to security reasons.
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Student Group Demands Arrest, Prosecution Of Trigger-happy Policemen Who Shot At Protesting Students In Abia
The Take It Back Student Movement has condemned the police action against protesting students of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba.
Some policemen were captured on camera opening fire on the students who were protesting against the alleged rape of an 18-year-old female undergraduate of the school by operatives of the Special Rapid Response (SRS) squad of Abia Police Command.
The teenage student was allegedly taken away from a lodge at Aba and subsequently assaulted.
Reacting, a statement issued by the group’s national coordinator, Damilare Adenola, said the right to protest is a human right that should be upheld by everyone, including the police.
The group condemned the frequent police attacks on protesting students in different parts of the country and called for an end to such acts.
According to the group, the role of police officers in every protest is to ensure that the gathering is protected from infiltrators and secure the protestors against attacks from marauders.
It further urged the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba and the Abia State Commissioner of police, Janet Agbede, to instantly open an enquiry into the incident and bring the officers to justice.
The group wrote: “It is with utter disdain that we received the widely circulating video of police officers directly shooting live rounds at unarmed and peaceful protesting students. From our findings, the students were protesting against an incident of rape of one female student by an alleged police officer.
“First, the Take It Back student movement would like to state the umpteenth time that the right to protest is a human right and additionally, constitutionally guaranteed to all citizens of this country. To this effect, all institution which does not preclude the Nigerian police is constitutionally obliged to respect and protect those expressing this right.
“Let us also remind the general public that by law, the role of the police officers in every protest is to ensure that the gathering is secured from infiltrators and are duty-bound to secure the protesting students against attacks from marauders.
“In any event that however warrants their intervention, they are bound by international standards of policing not to be found with live ammunition so as to prevent reckless killing of protesters. In this case, the reverse is the case, officers of the Nigeria Police could be seen shooting sporadically at students in a manner as to kill.
“This recent trend of extrajudicial killing by members of the Nigeria Police Force is one too many and the TIB student movement finds it condemnable. We are calling on the Inspector General of the police force and the Commissioner of Police of Abia state to instantly open an enquiry into the ugly incident and equally bring the overzealous police officers to justice, so as to save the almost sinking name of the police force.
“Such policemen have no place in the job of protecting the lives and properties of citizens.
“In conclusion, we wish to assure the protesting students that we are always in solidarity with and in support of all students’ struggle against systemic oppression, as education is a right and not a privilege.”
Meanwhile, Abia state governor, Okezie Ikpeazu has directed the State Commissioner of Police, Agbede to investigate allegations of harassment of students and arrest the security agent behind the act.
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E2%80%99s-private-parts Ondo Police Arrest Dog For Biting University Student’s Private Parts
A Boerboel dog, named Charlie, has been arrested by men of the Nigerian Police Force for biting the private parts of a student of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko in Ondo State.
The dog was said to have bitten the student on Thursday evening at a popular off-campus hostel around the institution’s permanent site.
The dog owner was said to be training it with the aim of making it mate with another friend’s own.
It was in the process of training that Charlie got aggressive and aimed at the friend’s private part.
The victim was subsequently rushed to the hospital where doctors are currently battling to help him.
The police were later called in to arrest dog.
A picture seen by SaharaReporters showed the dog being chained to a police van.
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