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Belgore: Right procedure not followed by Fed Govt
By Our Reporter 2 hours 13 minutes ago
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Belgore


Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mr Dele Belgore (SAN) yesterday said President Goodluck Jonathan did not follow due process in renaming University of Lagos (UNILAG) Moshood Abiola University, Lagos.

Belgore said Jonathan got it absolutely wrong, adding that it is a desecration of a national institution.

He noted that the President has politicised academia.

He said: “There are procedures to follow. You do not just get up and announce the renaming of an institution created by law. Since the law says that the institution shall be called the University of Lagos, the law establishing the institution has to be changed before such an announcement.

“If there was broad enough consultation, I believe he will probably not have fallen into this kind of error. A protest that causes inconvenience to the general public should be generally condemned, but looking at it from the protesters’ point of view, they have got to be heard. If they do not create inconvenience for the public, nobody is going to hear them.

“The question is, is it really what we need at this time? UNILAG will be 50 years in a short while and the late Vice-Chancellor will also be buried today. Let’s even assume it is the right time to change the name, is it the way to go about it?

“So, the action itself is provocative and one that has given rise to the protest.”

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/48417-belgore-right-procedure-not-followed-by-fed-govt.html

GBAM!!

Home | News Update | Protest: UNILAG shut for two weeks
Protest: UNILAG shut for two weeks
By Our Reporter 3 hours 3 minutes ago
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University of Lagos authorities on Wednesday ordered the immediate closure of the institution following students’ protest trailing Tuesday’s renaming of the institution by the Federal Government.
The institution would be shut down for two weeks.
According to the directive from the university senate, students are expected to vacate the campus by noon on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, burial arrangements for UNILAG former vice-chancellor, Prof. Adetokunbo Babatunde Sofoluwe, would still go on as planned, despite the closure of the institution.
Prof. Sofoluwe died on May 12

Protests as FG renames UNILAG after Abiola
May 30, 2012 by Segun Olugbile, Temitayo Famutimi and Motunrayo Aboderin 14 Comments
Anger and protest on Tuesday greeted the decision of President Goodluck Jonathan to rename the 50-year-old University of Lagos after the acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.

The renaming of UNILAG, now Moshood Abiola University, Lagos, after the late business mogul, came 14 years after the citizens hadAbiola’s clamoured for the recognition of his place in the democratic journey of the country.

But few minutes after Jonathan announced the renaming of the institution in his Democracy Day speech, students of the university trooped onto the streets in protest of the new name though they made it clear that they had nothing against the person of the late Abiola.

They described the renaming as “provocative and unpopular.”

Abiola’s daughters

But the Abiola family hailed the government for renaming UNILAG after their dead patriarch.

Abiola’s first child, Lola Abiola-Edewor; and Hafsat Abiola-Costello, said that the Federal Government should be commended for recognising the contribution of the late politician to the return of democracy in Nigeria.

Abiola-Edewor, a two-term member of the House of Representatives, condemned the protest by some UNILAG students against the decision by the Federal Government to name the institution after her late father.

The university, known more by its acronym, UNILAG, was established in 1962 by an Act of Parliament.

Against democratic norms

The National President, UNILAG Alumni Association, Prof. Olayide Abass; a former Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe; all the workers’ unions, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities, faulted the decision which they described as “illegal, provocative, absolutely incongruous and antithetical to democratic norms.”

The alumni association threatened to drag Jonathan and the Federal Government to court over the name change.

Abass said the President did not have the power to change the name of the university, which he said was created by an Act of Parliament.

“It’s either the President does not have a sense of history or that those who are his advisers are not in tune with the nation’s law. UNILAG is the first federal university in the country that was created by an Act of Parliament, so if he wants to change the name, he should go back to the National Assembly and press for the amendment of the university law. He is not a lawmaker and so does not have such power,” he said.

He advised the President to stop acting like a military leader in a democratic dispensation, adding if Abiola must be immortalised, UNILAG, which he said, had become a brand name globally, should not be demeaned.

Abass also faulted the decision, saying it came at a time the university was mourning its late VC, Prof. Tokunbo Sofoluwe, and was planning its golden jubilee.

Also, Ibidapo-Obe wondered why the President did not consult stakeholders before he made the ‘’totally unacceptable” decision.

“It is absolutely incongruous, totally unacceptable and antithetically opposed to democracy that he (President) preaches. Decisions in democracy are made through consultations that is why politicians arrive at all -inclusive decisions but in this case, the President did not consult anybody in UNILAG before he foists this on us.

“It is a deceitful decision made to satisfy people who are not happy with him in the South-West. We are not happy with the decision and that is why the students spontaneously went on the streets to protest it,” he said.

New name at age 50?

He added that it was wrong for the President to change the name of the institution when it was mourning its late VC and planning to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

“Have you ever seen a man who changes his name while celebrating his 50th birthday? This is totally wrong,” Ibidapo-Obe queried.

When reminded that the Federal Government had done a similar thing when it changed the name of the then University of Ife, to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ibidapo-Obe said the two institutions should not be compared.

“That argument cannot stand because Ife was a regional university started by the late Obafemi Awolowo and don’t forget that it was the military that did it without recourse to the law. But UNILAG is a creation of the law and its name can only be changed through the law, not by any presidential fiat,” he said.

He added that good universities all over the world, including UNILAG, were brands whose names should not be changed at will.

On the street

Also, the students who carried various placards with inscriptions such as: “This is not the change youths want,” “Jona has no shoes we gave him bata”, “We remain UNILAG” and “Jonathan, reverse this decision immediately,” barricaded the main gate of the university thus preventing people from coming in or going out of the campus.

From there they trooped to Abule-Oja and the university campus environs, singing anti-Jonathan songs. Consequently, vehicular movement was hampered while commuters were forced to place leaves on their vehicles as a sign of solidarity with the students.

They also blocked the Yaba end of the Murtala Muhammed Way for over thirty minutes.

The Lagos State Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations, Mr. Tunde Sobulo, who led policemen who monitored the students’ protest made a strong appeal to them before they allowed a free flow of traffic about 12:33pm.

Some of them, who spoke with our correspondents, said that the decision was not well-thought out.

“If this decision is not reversed, it will affect the image and global ranking of the university. When this happens, all of us, past and present students, will suffer,” Mr. James Mgurujwen, a 400-Level student in the faculty of education said.

Another student, who simply identified himself as Stephen, said though he did not see anything wrong in immortalising Abiola, UNILAG should not be sacrificed for this purpose.

“I did not know Abiola. I was in primary one in 1993 but my dad told me he loved football and had a football club. If that is true the President should have named the National Stadium after him instead of our university,” the 200-Level student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences said.

Taiwo Rowaiye, a 400-level student, said it was unfortunate that the president could change the name of the university and close his eyes to the pitiable conditions in which they learn.

He said, “Its clear that we don’t have a caring president. Instead of making teaching and learning convenient for us he is renaming the university.

“There is epileptic supply of electricity to the university campus. Just yesterday(Monday) we only had two hours of power supply.

“Our hostels are in despicable conditions and we often times attend classes without taking our bath all because their is no electricity to pump water.

“Besides, our classrooms are overcrowded and we take lectures in suffocating classrooms and all he could do to better our lot is to rename our university.”

Unions fume

The Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, UNILAG Chapter, Mr. Adetola Adetomiwa; the Chairman, Non-Academic Staff Union, Mr. Ganiyu Oseni; and the ASUU Chairman, Dr. Ogbinaka Oghenekaro, also faulted the sudden name change. They described it as misguided and unthinkable.

Adetomiwa said, “His (Jonathan) decision to change the name of UNILAG, a national institution, is misguided. It shows that his advisers do not like him. If he desires to come back for re-election in 2015, he should reverse the decision immediately, otherwise we will mobilise against his political ambition.”

Oseni said that all the workers’ unions on the campus would meet after the burial of Sofoluwe on Thursday (tomorrow) to determine the next line of action that would be taken in ensuring that the decision was reversed.

“But I can tell you that this unthinkable decision will not stand,” he said.

Oseni added that Jonathan’s advisers ought to have advised him to name the Democracy Day after Abiola if truly they believed that he was the martyr of democracy.

MKO Abiola

Abiola, an accountant, politician, businessman and philanthropist, died on July 7, 1998, in the custody of the Federal Government, four years after he had been arrested and detained by the late dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha. Abiola was arrested for daring to declare himself President-elect after winning the 1993 poll later annulled by Abacha’s predecessor, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

The annulment and the death of Abiola enraged the citizens. Ditto the government’s continued refusal to acknowledge the place of Abiola in the nation’s democracy.

Both former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, a kinsman of Abiola from Ogun State; and the late President Umaru Yar’Adua had ignored calls for the immortalisation of the late businessman who contested the 1993 poll on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party.

http://www.punchng.com/news/protests-as-fg-renames-unilag-after-abiola/

It’s a surprise – Ag. VC
May 30, 2012 by Agency Reporter 1 Comment
The Acting Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Rahmon Bello, on Tuesday described as a surprise the Federal Government’s decision to rename the institution as Moshood Abiola University.

Bello made the remark while addressing protesting students of the institution, who took to major streets in the metropolis following the announcement.

Bello said the decision did not go down well with both staff and management of the university because the unions in the institution and the management were not consulted.

He appealed to the students to be calm and embrace peace.

He said, “I wish to let you know that the news of the change of the name of the university took us by surprise because no consultations were held with us.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/its-a-surprise-ag-vc/

Sagay, others differ over renaming of UNILAG in honour of Abiola
On May 29, 2012 · In News 3:13 pmEmail0

Lagos – Some prominent lawyers on Tuesday expressed mixed reactions over the decision of the Federal Government to rename the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in honour of the late Chief MKO Abiola.

The lawyers gave their views in separate interviews in Lagos.

President Goodluck Jonathan had on Tuesday made the announcement during a nationwide broadcast to mark the 2012 Democracy Day.

He said the name change was in honour of the late Abiola’s contribution to the nation’s democracy.

A constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), said the president should be praised for his effort to immortalise Abiola, adding that he, however, made a wrong choice in choosing UNILAG.

Sagay said: “The president should be praised for his effort to immortalise Abiola. It was done out of good intention but he chose the wrong institution.

“UNILAG is too well established and has its own individual personality which will be difficult to overshadow”.

He noted that the president could have named one of the nine federal universities being constructed by the government in honour of the late acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

“This would have been less contentious because they are yet to be given any names and have no identity of their own unlike UNILAG”, Sagay added.

Mr Bamidele Aturu, a human rights activist, said the president had the power to change the name of the institutioņ stressing that nothing was actually wrong with the name change.

He said: “The renaming itself is not the problem it is was a populist gesture. This must not been seen as a way to garner the sympathy of the people of the South West.

“The Federal Government has the power to change the name of any of its institution but it must be done with approval of the university’s council.

“If the UNILAG Council did not approve the name to be changed, then there will be a problem because it means that due process has not been followed”.

Also speaking, Mr Wale Ogunade, President, Voters Awareness Initiative, a non-governmental organisation, said the proper way to honour Abiola would have been to recognise June 12 as a national holiday.

“MKO Abiola is not known to be an educationist. The best way to have honoured him is for the Federal Government to recognise June 12 as a national public holiday”, he said.

Ogunade said lawyers in the country would challenge the change of the institution’s name in a court of competent jurisdiction if it was not reversed by the government.

He said: “The University of Lagos was enacted by an act, so nobody can unilaterally change its name without an act by the National Assembly.

“I can assure you that this will be challenged in the court because it is an illegality”. (NAN)


http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/05/sagay-others-differ-over-renaming-of-unilag-in-honour-of-abiola/

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Democracy Day Church Service: President Jonathan, Ministers, Refuse To Say "Amen" To Anti-Corruption Prayer By Clergy-PREMIUM TIMES
Posted: May 27, 2012 - 23:05
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Goodluck, Gov. Yakowa, Senator Ayogu Eze, Patience Jonathan and Gov. Seriake Dickson at Abuja church service today
By Bassey Udo


President Goodluck Jonathan, governors, ministers and top government officials on Sunday failed to demonstrate a public commitment to the fight against corruption.



At the interdenominational church service held at the Ecumenical Centre, Abuja, to commemorate the 2012 National Democracy Day, the guest preacher and immediate past Prelate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Most Reverend Peter Akinola, in his sermon, challenged the congregation to join him in the fight against corruption in the country by committing perpetrators to God.



But the congregation, including the President, who was accompanied by his wife, Patience, the Governor of Bayelsa, Seriake Dickson and Kaduna, Patrick Yakowa, Deputy Governor of Nasarawa state, Dameshi Luka, as well as some ministers failed to respond to prayers to take corrupt officials “to the court of God.”



Apparently, expecting to hear a thunderous YES from the congregation, the Reverend, who instead got a deafening silence, exclaimed: “There you go! Oh, corruption! So, you are not ready to fight it, because you are all beneficiaries of it. Whether you steal in a small or big way, stealing is stealing."



Apparently disappointed with the response he got, the clergyman shot angrily at Mr. Jonathan and his delegation, “See, it is very clear. You are not interested in fighting corruption. If you do, let us take our case to the court of God, if you dare. Who is deceiving who? You are only deceiving yourselves, not God. And you who is stealing government funds, subjecting the poor to untold hardship; you who steal oil subsidy money, making Nigerians pay for fuel through their noses; you who steal funds meant for improving our power supply, deliberately making Nigerians live a life in utter darkness, will you repent today? I doubt it!"



Before throwing the challenge at the president and other officials at the Service, Mr. Akinola had delivered a homily on the destructive impact of corruption on Nigeria.



“This hydra headed monster (of corruption) has literarily taken over the soul and eaten up the fabric of Nigeria,” Reverend Akinola said. “Officials steal our public funds openly by the pen, while others steal by the power of the gun. Successive governments have declared half-hearted war against corruption to no avail. We know only too well that the fight against corruption is largely selective directed at those opposing the government, with no strong political connection.







“Many of those fighting it (corruption) in police and Judiciary have no clean hands. When any National Assembly Committee or any government agency is inviting anybody for questioning it is because those being investigated have not yet given the agency inviting it their due share of the booty.



“Worse still, those who have cleverly made away with public funds and are living above their legitimate incomes are those who are being honoured by traditional rulers, who make them chiefs and high chiefs. Recently, our universities have joined the queue by inviting those people and giving them some baseless honorary doctorate degrees.Sadly, therefore, corruption will continue in full gear, because Nigerians and the government only pay lip service to its eradication. But, I believed as a Christian, as a preacher, as one who reads the Bible, there a way out."



He continued, “Corruption in a narrow sense is another name for stealing. Stealing is a sin God commands us all not to commit. As you know every soul that sins and fails to repent shall die in his sin and end up in hell. So, let us resolve here today to take to the court of God, beginning from this place, all those thieves, who have failed to repent. Will you join me?



“You who steal the money for road construction, leaving our roads in a state of disrepair, causing several accidents and untimely deaths of thousands of our people, their blood is crying to the creator. You who steal the money earmarked for healthcare delivery, thereby running down and turning our hospitals into mortuaries; you who have destroyed our educational system, because the money meant for schools never got to them; you who make laws to inflate costs included in the budget, are you listening to me?



“All of you, whoever you are, greedy, arrogant politicians and officials who are in government only for what you can steal from it and virtually nothing to contribute to national development and has turned Nigeria into a wretch, repent today, and make reparations and God will have mercy on you. Don’t say Amen, only if you repent.



“It is true that ICPC, EFCC, the Police, judiciary may not catch you stealing. But believe me, the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-wise and the almighty God sees you very clearly. But, He is patiently waiting for you to return to the path of sanity and righteousness.”



In his speech, President Jonathan did not react to the issues raised by the preacher, who also proffered a proposal for a new Nigeria.



The president, who identified terrorism as a major challenge the country is currently facing, said with the prayers of Nigerians and commitment of government, “we will overcome”.



“We are working very hard to reposition our security architecture to cope with the modern challenge of terror. We will overcome,” he said. “Even though some people are predicting the disintegration of Nigeria, let me assure Nigerians that Nigeria will never disintegrate. Our forefathers worked hard to bring us together as a nation. Because of the country’s potentials and resources, no one individual or group can create problems that can disintegrate this country.”

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/democracy-day-church-service-president-jonathan-ministers-refuse-say-amen-anti-corruption-

Disappointing Anniversary: Jonathan Moves To Bribe Nigerian Publishers, Editors
Posted: May 27, 2012 - 23:29
Posted by siteadmin

caption: President of NUJ, Pres. Goodluck Jonathan and FCT minister
By SaharaReporters, New York
Ahead of a tumultuous first anniversary week, the presidency last week embarked on a subterranean public relations blitz with top members of the mass media, with President Goodluck Jonathan himself meeting with newspaper editors and publishers.



The immediate purpose of the meeting is thought to be to head off public rage and negative reporting of Mr. Jonathan’s poor performance since he was sworn in one year ago this week.



But the presidency is also concerned about the humongous scandal arising from the revelation that Mr. Jonathan shared some $1.1 billion between himself, Attorney General Bello Adoke, and several cronies and ministers.



A source told SaharaReporters that the meetings, interpreted as a broad attempt to compromise the judgment of newspaper editors and their publishers, were secretly organized in a variety of Abuja rendezvous.



One of the meetings was between the media chiefs and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Bala Usman, and our source said the Minister arrived armed with the authority to provide his guests with choice parcels of land in Abuja, or monetize the offer for those who may be eager to avoid such curious donations.



The secret meetings started with newspaper publishers on Thursday night at the Presidential Villa. On Friday, Mr. Jonathan openly felicitated with members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists at one of their events. Later that night, the editors were bused to the Presidential Villa to meet with the president.



Our sources said only the editors of the Lagos-based PUNCH newspapers and their publisher stayed away from the meetings. It would be recalled that two years ago, The Punch was the only newspaper which fired an editor over a seedy and unauthorized midnight meeting in Minna with then presidential hopeful General Ibrahim Babangida at which the former Head of State bribed journalists with N10 million.



The editors who came to Abuja last week were lodged at the Hilton hotel in the Maitama District of Abuja at the expenses of the presidency.



The following night, several of them were lodged at the NICON luxury hotel which is owned by controversial businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim.



None of the newspaper editors have reported on any of their meetings, and our efforts by phone calls and text messages to get any of them to confirm attendance has remained unsuccessful.



As part of last week’s consultations, the President’s spokesperson, Mr. Reuben Abati, had at a meeting earlier in the week solicited the support of a few State House reporters.



Entering its first anniversary in office, the presidency is deeply troubled by a massive N155billion oil block money-laundering scandal which was broken last week by Premium Times.



Premium Times revealed how the federal government paid the money secretly to convicted money launderer, Dan Etete, on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan, with lavish cuts of it ending up in the bank accounts of cronies and business associates of government officials. At least one of those beneficiaries is closely linked to Mr. Jonathan.



Premium Times detailed how the federal government, Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited (Agip) and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (Shell) entered into the fraudulent scheme which saw the oil companies paying $1.1bn to the Federal Government. The funds were then transferred to Malabu, and the distribution bonanza began.



Only today, after the government had failed to confront the scandal for several days, Mr Adoke said in a press statement that the government had only played the role of “facilitator of the resolution of a long standing dispute” in the N155 billion oil block scandal. He did not explain any of the major issues in the story by Premium Times or other Nigerian publications.



This is the scandal that the presidency will be taking into its first anniversary and a year filled with great disappointment, including Mr. Jonathan’s eloquent refusal to publicly declare his assets, although he insists he is fighting corruption.



It will be banking on a complicit mass media to, once again, hoodwink the Nigerian people.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/disappointing-anniversary-jonathan-moves-bribe-nigerian-publishers-editors

We have delivered on democracy – PDP
On May 27, 2012 · In News 8:27 pmEmail0

*Pleads with Nigerians, opposition on need for unity

By Henry Umoru

ABUJA – THE national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, declared, Sunday, that in the last 13 years, the leadership produced by the party had delivered purposeful leadership to Nigerians.

In a statement, Sunday, by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, entitled: “Thirteen years after: we have stayed the course,” the PDP noted that it had made significant progress in returning the country to what it termed the path of sustainable development and steady economic growth as a basis to stabilise and consolidate the nation’s democracy.

Need for unity

The PDP also pleaded with other Nigerians and opposition parties that what Nigeria needed at the moment was unity in diversity and not to walk on political divide or castigate the party, adding: “This transition time for the nation, is not the time to walk on political divide and demonize the ruling party, the PDP. The issues involved go beyond politics.

“Unity should remain our watchword. It was unity that made us a great nation and leader of the African continent and will make us greater still. This is the time to come together and build afresh if only we can place the nation’s interest above personal ambitions. We (all Nigerians) may be of different ethnic groups, religion and ideology but our diversity is our greatest strength. PDP is always working to ensure that Nigeria is one nation, one people.”

The party also admitted that there were some challenges in the course of governance these years, but stressed that they served as the tonic for forging ahead.

Far-reaching reforms

The PDP spokesperson noted that in 1999, when the party produced former President Olusegun Obasanjo, it promised to re-build Nigeria based on the ideology established by the PDP founding fathers and it had since not derailed in achieving that.

According to Metuh, “in the last 13 years, PDP governments at federal, states and local council levels, have carried out far-reaching reforms in the various sectors of the economy to serve as building blocks for sustainable development and to grow our capacity in local production and improve the quality of service delivery. This has been achieved despite various challenges which we have taken in our stride and which has served to make us stronger as a unified political party.

“Tangible results are already evident and Nigerians no doubt already appreciate some of the tough decisions we have had to take to improve the quality of life of our citizens. Hence our mandate has been renewed repeatedly from one election to the other. And after the remarkable elections held on April 16 2011, when Nigerians emphatically demonstrated their confidence in our ability to lead them yet again, transformation was our pledge to a nation that spoke with one voice. A year on, we are right on course!

“The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is determined to transfer wealth to the masses and establish a strong and sustainable middle class as defined in our ideology. Nowhere in the world has true democracy and economic transformation evolved overnight; it takes time, sacrifice and patience.

Cooperation of Nigerians

“However, for the first time in the history of this great nation, we have had 13 years of an uninterrupted journey to the ‘promised land’ and to get there, PDP needs the cooperation of all Nigerians, especially the opposition parties and the civil society to join hands and build this great country of ours.

“It is appropriate at this juncture, to exhort our people so they will continue to stand firm in the face of detractions by those whose usual business is under threat by the on-going transformation. Our commitment is to ensure meaningful changes in the life of the current administration.

“We thank all Nigerians for their support in the last 13 years of democracy and for their deep faith in democracy. We thank you for your resolve and determination to continue to live in peace despite all the challenges. We enjoin all Nigerians irrespective of differences to join hands during this unique era of national transformation. The moment is historic and the PDP is resolved to seize it for posterity.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/05/we-have-delivered-on-democracy-pdp/

N155bn Malabu oil scandal: Umar demands open probe from Senate
By Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation 11 hours 20 minutes ago
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A former Governor of Kaduna State, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, yesterday asked the Senate to conduct an open enquiry into the alleged N155 billion deal on oil block OPL 245.

He also asked the government to review the policy of granting oil blocks to indigenous oil firms without technical competence.

Umar, who is also the chairman of the Movement for Unity and Progress (MUP), made his views known in a statement in Abuja.

He said: "We commend the decision of the Senate to investigate the OPL 245 transactions between the Federal Government and Malabu Oil Company on the one hand and the Federal Government and Shell Nigeria on the other.

"We cannot, however, understand the rationale behind the decision of the Senate to conduct the investigation in camera. Only an open investigation can satisfy the need for transparency and accountability.

"The crucial element in this investigation is to determine the ownership structure of Malabu Oil Company.

"If as it is being rumoured Malabu was linked to top serving public office holders when the allocation was made, then not only should the allocation be declared illegal, the Senate must ensure that the officers involved are prosecuted.

"Once again, we advise the Federal Government to review the policy of granting oil blocs to indigenous oil companies that do not possess the technical competence to engage in this venture.

"This policy has only resulted in making a few influential Nigerians stupendously rich without contributing to the growth of the nation's economy.

"If we truly want to empower Nigerians, then the most deserving are the original owners of the land where the acreages are being carved out."

But a top source, who was involved in the sale of the oil block, said: "Let those of us involved be invited and I will open up to Nigerians.

"In fact, I want the Senate to go the whole hog to review the decision of the Federal Government on the oil block. But I won't talk until the Senate deems it fit to invite us."

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/47857-n155bn-malabu-oil-scandal-umar-demands-open-probe-from-senate.html

Anti-Fraud Police Interrogates Toyin Saraki Over Former Governor Saraki’s N11 Billion Fraud Case, As New Facts Emerge 


Posted: May 25, 2012 - 20:42
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Toyin Saraki
By SaharaReporters, New York
The Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria police in Lagos has interrogated the wife of the former governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki, over allegations that her husband connived with his protege, Mahmoud Lai Alabi, to defraud the defunct InterContinental Bank of N11 billion in unsecured bank loans.

Mr. Saraki made a privileged personal appearance at the police unit to answer questions about his involvement in the fraud.

His Saraki's regal appearance at the unit took place after the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, arranged a soft landing for him as court actions filed at an Abuja federal court failed to stop the police from arresting him.

Mr. Saraki was subsequently declared wanted by the police as facts emerged that he was planning to flee the country via South Africa.

SaharaReporters sources said that new facts emerged last week that Mr. Saraki lied to police investigators when he claimed that he was not aware of how the bank accounts of one of the companies used in the fraud was operated after his personal assistant died mysteriously.



Mr. Saraki's longtime Personal Assistant, Mathew Obahor, was listed as the owner of Joy Petroleum Nigeria Limited. Joy Petroleum acted as a shield for several of Saraki’s companies involved in fraud. They include Skyview Properties Limited, owned by Mrs. Toyin Saraki and Toyin Pinheiro SAN; Carlisle Properties, owned by Mrs. Toyin Saraki (nee Ojora); Dicetrade; and Linkers, owned by Toyin Pinhero, Kolade Babafemi and Tokunbo Agoro.

Police investigators said they found Mr. Saraki's assertion to be untrue as several withdrawals were made from the account between the former governor's wife, Toyin, and another lawyer, Toyin Pinhero (SAN), who were identified to be on the board of several companies used by the former governor as a front for the bank loan fraud.



The interrogation of Mrs. Saraki is coming on the heels of further findings by Saharareporters about how the former governor used a complex scheme of fraudulent strategies to defraud InterContinetal Bank through Joy Petroleum Limited.

For instance, a board resolution of the company obtained by Saharareporters shows that on January 22nd 2009, the board of Joy Petroleum agreed to obtain a loan of N2.088 billion from Intercontinental Bank. The resolution claimed that the meeting was attended by Matthew Obahor, his wife, Joy Obahor and one Hamza Ibrahim. One Esther Olaitan acted as the secretary during the purported board meeting.


Curiously, the board resolved that the loan would be operated by Mr. Hamza Ibrahim.

Mr. Ibrahim is the Managing Director of Mr. Saraki's Limkers Nig Ltd.

Our sources stated that Hamza was never a member of the board of Joy Petroleum and that the entire board resolution was forged by Mr. Saraki and his cronies.

The loan was later disbursed to Saraki's Limkers Nigeria Ltd with the aid of his former protege, Mahmoud Alabi.

Family sources told SaharaReporters that Mr. Obahor was hospitalized at the Lagos State University hospital, and was bedridden from Janaury until December 2009. They said he could not possibly have attended a board meeting during that time. Mr. Obahor died mysteriously on December 8, 2009.



At the center of the bank loan scam is another issue that emerged during SaharaReporters investigations, that Mr. Saraki's Limkers Nigeria Ltd is the company the former governor used to buy over the defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria.



A source told Saharareporters that Mr. Saraki funneled 1.5 billion Naira of the bank loans he fraudulent acquired from InterContinental Bank to the Central Bank of Nigeria to enable him take over Societe Generale bank that deal was done through Intercontinental Bank in 2010.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/anti-fraud-police-interrogates-toyin-saraki-over-former-governor-saraki%E2%80%99s-n11-billion-frau

Absolutely scandalous
By Editorial 22/05/2012 00:00:00
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DG NYSC, Brig. Gen. Nnamdi Okore-Affia The NYSC has no excuse for delaying corps members’ stipends


ON the surface, it is the non-payment of the April monthly allowance for current National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members nationwide. But looked at more closely, it is a fitting metaphor for the preening contempt Nigeria holds her youths, the so-called “leaders of tomorrow.” With this sorry development, the Jonathan Presidency has plumbed ultra-low depth in incompetence, when the talk is public service delivery.

But the distraught corps members need not despair: they are not alone in the lack-of-service- delivery bog. After what seemed like eons in conspiratorial silence, Bolaji Abdullahi, President Goodluck Jonathan’s youth minister, finally said the non-payment was due to a change in payment protocol in the Federal Civil Service, adding that the payment delay was not peculiar to the NYSC alone.

He then announced, rather triumphantly, that he had extracted commitments from the NYSC Secretariat that the corps members would be paid latest by “Friday”. That Friday was May 18 – some 23 clear days after the traditional 25th of the month civil servants receive their pay! As at that day, when this editorial went to bed, there was no concrete report of payment, though it was not clear if the paper works had been concluded.

The Nigerian state would default in paying the old folks, the pensioners, would pay its present workers late and would crown that incompetence with denying NYSC members, youths by law compelled to serve as national ambassadors in locales other than their native ones, the N19, 800 stipends due to them! What service then do agents of the Nigerian state render?

Even then, the NYSC delayed payment is the latest of woes that make one to wonder if this country has youth welfare and security as top priority. Last year, serving NYSC members, despite being deployed to election duties, bore the brunt of election violence. And somewhere in Osun State, a female youth corps member was a victim of alleged rape by a traditional ruler, in a case still in court. Another female corps member, somewhere in the East, was a victim of alleged kidnap by a commercial biker, who had always ferried her on daily shuttles. She is still missing.

So, though these youths are national ambassadors and ought to be national treasure, compelled to serve their fatherland, they are killed, raped and kidnapped, with the state appearing helpless. It could, of course, well be said that these killings, raping and kidnapping are isolated cases, when one considers the number of corps members deployed. Still, given the status of youth corps members as special government representatives, even one isolated death is bad enough.

It is absolutely unfair for parents and guardians to spend so much to train their children and wards in tertiary institutions, only for those youths to be exposed to needless jeopardy by an unthinking government who, when the chips are down, has nothing to offer but meaningless apologies and pious nonsense.

The Federal Government may not pay its workers, though that is hardly salutary. The workers can take care of themselves. But it has absolutely no right to delay the stipends of youths it has literally plucked from the comfort zones of their parents and families.

Even the story about changing payment protocols is not acceptable. Some corps members in Nasarawa State, among them females, said they had abandoned their work because they were just too broke to make the office. That should give a good insight into the conditions of other corps members nationwide. The government should be wary of exposing these youth to needless danger and perhaps inducing them to embrace unorthodox or anti-social ways of eking out a living.

Whatever the challenges, let the NYSC pay its corps members immediately; and let there never be a repeat of this ugly situation. It is absolutely scandalous.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/editorial/47340-absolutely-scandalous.html

Nigerians Decry Delay In Payment Of Corps Members -PM News, Lagos
Posted: May 22, 2012 - 16:05
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Unpaid allowance
By NAN
Some concerned Nigerians on Monday urged the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC) to urgently pay corps members’ their April allowances to save them from hardship.

The citizens said that non-payment of the allowances would increase doubts about the continued relevance of the scheme.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Minister of Youth Development, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi, had given the assurance that the money would be paid on or before May 18.

He had explained that the delay in the payment was due to transition to a new accounting system.
Mr. Femi Omokungbe, Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Yaba College of Technology Chapter, urged the government to re-evaluate the scheme to ascertain its relevance.

Omokungbe noted that many Nigerians had advocated the scrapping of the scheme because of recent developments, including security challenges.

“Going by the very sad incidences that involved corps members while actively serving their fatherland, and now this issue of delayed allowances, I think there is need to review the scheme.

“There is no way we can compare the NYSC of the 1970s to that of the recent years.

“ If government is not capable of actualising the aims and objectives of this scheme, it should be rested so that these youths can start thinking of the way forward early enough,” he said.

Miss Seyi Oduneye, a corps member with a government establishment, told NAN that the delay in the payment of allowance had been negatively affecting the corps members.
She claimed that the scheme was fast becoming irrelevant.



“There is nothing to be proud of again about serving one’s father land.

“I feel this 10 month- service is just a waste of time and efforts.

“It is better we start engaging ourselves as soon as we graduate from universities without getting to be exposed to all these shortcomings,” she said.

Mr. Simon Akojo, also a corps member, told NAN: “I think the primary cause of this delay had to do with bureaucracy as well as insufficient fund, but they are just trying to find a way of dancing around it.
“Otherwise, I do not know how to explain the fact that government will be delaying the little stipend it pays us.”

Miss Adebimpe Adesina, a corps member, told NAN that the delay was making life difficult for her.
Adesina said that since the NYSC had stopped posting corps members to banks and industries where they could be paid additional stipends, the scheme should not toy with corps members’ allowances.

“Corps members in state public schools are not being paid any allowance apart from that of NYSC. They depend only on this N19, 800,“ she said.

Another corps member, Mr. Peter Anozie, appealed to the Federal Government to give corps members special consideration in the payment of allowances.

A parent, Mrs. Temitope Alawode, also appealed to the government to urgently pay the allowances to avoid discouraging the youths.

“This act is very dangerous for our children. It could expose the females to prostitution and the men to bad gangs,“ she said.

The Chairman of the Federal Capital Territory chapter of the National Parent-Teacher Association, Mr. Musa Talle, appealed to the NYSC authorities to urgently pay the allowances.

“I appeal to the government to do everything possible to pay these corps members immediately, considering the fact that they are far away from their parents,” Talle said.

The Chief Public Relations Officer, NYSC, Lagos State, Mrs. Florence Takon, told NAN that the problem was not peculiar to the corps members.

Takon blamed the non-payment on delayed monthly federal allocation to the NYSC.
“Corps members and all staff have not received their salaries.

“Some other ministries and government agencies are also affected by this problem.

“We heard last week that the money would be paid but we don’t know why it has not been paid; hopefully, it will be paid this week,” she said.

When contacted, the Head, Budget and Planning, NYSC, Abuja, Mr. Ladipo Laniyan, gave the assurance that the allowances would soon be paid.
Laniyan spoke to NAN on telephone.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/nigerians-decry-delay-payment-corps-members-pm-news-lagos

Yorubas disown Kano Boko Haram leader
By Kolade Adeyemi, Kano 2 hours 5 minutes ago
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Security operatives during the raid on Friday. Photo: Kolade Adeyemi
• Ogbomoso community also disowns him


The Yoruba in Kano and especially the Ogbomoso people yesterday denounced media reports which described a suspected operational commander of Boko Haram in the metropolis as a Yoruba from the Oyo State town.





Suleiman Mohammed, his wife and five children were arrested by the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) during a dawn raid on his residence at Farawa Quarters on Friday.

Ten crates of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), one AK47 rifle and three pistols were recovered in his residence.

As soon as the various publications hit the newsstands yesterday, the Yoruba within and outside Kano began putting phone calls through to their contacts to ascertain the background of the suspect with no one able to confirm ever knowing him or his origin.

A group of concerned natives of Ogbomoso dismissed the reports as "suspicious and lacking in clarity".

Spokesman for the group, Mr Afolabi Omotoso, advised the security agencies to be thorough in their investigations and stop playing to the gallery.

"We are saying with all emphasis that there is no Ogbomoso indigene bearing that name. And if the security operatives doubt it, let them tell us the suspect’s family compound name. We demand for clarity of purpose from the security agencies", he said.

A source at the palace of the monarch of Ogbomoso who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak told The Nation on phone, "Since the news broke the palace has been inundated with calls and enquiries. However, our reaction for now is that we’ll want to know more about the suspect. Who is his father and from which compound or adugbo (ward) does he come from."

According to him, because a suspect claims he hails from a place is not enough to believe him. He called on security agencies to do their investigations well before making public information that would further divide the country and lead to disaffection.

Also, former secretary of the Yoruba community in Kano, who simply identified himself as Ojo for security reasons, said the suspect is not known to the group.

He said the Yoruba in the metropolis network very well and are reasonably familiar with one another adding that Suleiman Mohammed is not known to any member of the Yoruba community.

He said:"As far as we are concerned we do not know him. He is only claiming that he hails from Ogbomoso but there is a group, known as Ogbomoso Parapo. You can contact them at their secretariat on Church Road to confirm whether they know him but for the Yoruba parent body in Kano, we do not know him."

He said Suleiman’s alleged action is contrary to the Yoruba core values of religious tolerance, good neighbourliness, and peaceful co-existence.

"No business can be transacted in a chaotic atmosphere, that is why we are very surprised over his involvement in the sect’s activities and we are therefore looking forward to a comprehensive investigation over the incident so that the truth about the issue can be made public."

He particularly demanded the suspect’s Yoruba name to prove that he is actually one, saying : "The Yoruba community doubts his identity as a true Yoruba man. We are interested in knowing his Yoruba name."




In his reaction, the acting president of the Yoruba community in Kano, Prince Ajayi Memaiyetan said the suspect was never known to have participated in the activities of the group and was therefore not known to the community.


http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/46426-yorubas-disown-kano-boko-haram-leader.html

Hurricane Fashola visits Apapa, demolishes illegal structures
On May 11, 2012 · In Metro 1:35 amTweet

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

…displaces illegal immigrants, criminals under bridges
The Joint Task Force, comprising the state security agencies and the military, led by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, last Monday swooped on Apapa and its environs, removing over 60 trucks and other articulated vehicles, parked indiscriminately around the area, following the expiration of a 72-hour ultimatum issued by the state government to remove them.

Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, had sometime last week, after leading a delegation on a three-day inspection tour of the area, directed the Ministry of Transportation to issue a four-day ultimatum to owners of trucks and other vehicles parked along the expressway to vacate or have their vehicles impounded.

In a manner similar to the Oshodi operation, the exercise began around 12.00 midnight with the Commissioner leading task force officials, military officers and officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA and the Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, officers and other security agencies to dislodge the truckers.

For over five years, tanker and trailer drivers had taken over the expressway and converted same to a parking lot, leaving a single lane to motorists to ply resulting, in most cases, to severe traffic gridlock in the area.

Before now, motorists plying the route end up spending several hours between Berger Yard, Marine Bridge and Wharf for a journey that should last for about 15 minutes. Before now, everyone, apart from motorists, preferred to steer clear of the Apapa area owing to the chaotic traffic situation but today the story has changed for the better.

The state government had earlier lamented the environmental nuisances caused on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, such as repairing of vehicles on the roads, excreting in the drainage and on the roads, blocking of the drainage system with pure water sachets and selling of servicing oil right in the drainage system, amongst others.

Evacuation exercise
The evacuation exercise, which lasted for over 13 hours, commenced at 12 midnight from Tincan to Creek road, Liverpool and Marine Beach and environs. As a result of the cleaning enforcement, the usual traffic gridlock often experienced disappeared with motorists driving unhindered to their destinations. At Marine Beach Bridge, over 10 trucks were impounded.

Also during the exercise, different kinds of guns, axes, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons under the Ijora-Marine Bridge were recovered by the Joint Task Force. Several foreign nationals, believed to be illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries, such as Chad, Niger were also displaced from the shanties.

However, following the discovery of structural defect on the portion of the bridge, the state government has called on the Federal Government to direct relevant authorities to carry-out an immediate structural integrity test on the Ijora-Marine Bridge in order to prevent imminent collapse as well as likely loss of lives and property.

The state Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, said the weapons were recovered by the Joint Task Force comprising of federal security and state agencies without any arrest.

Bello made the remarks during the inspection tour and unveiling of the “Regeneration Programme of Apapa Area”.
According to him, the recovered weapons would be handed over to the relevant authorities for further investigation and action.

He explained that the ongoing clearing exercise was part of measures by the state government to ensure security of life and property in the area, which used to be a den for criminals and other undesirable elements.

Bello, who said that the ongoing clearing exercise would last for about three weeks, assured residents that the state government would ensure sustenance on the reclamation of the area like that of Oshodi.

He decried the state of insecurity posed by indiscriminate parking of articulated vehicles and erection of illegal structures and shanties before they were respectively unlocked and demolished.

Bello, who listed the arms and weapon recovered to include different types of guns, daggers, axes and cutlasses, among others, which, he said, were used to terrorise innocent residents, expressed displeasure at the high level of environmental degradation and nuisance those living under the bridge illegally had caused in the area.

“The occupants are mostly illegal immigrants who are from Nigeria’s neighbouring countries such as Chad and Niger, among others.

He added that a good number of businesses “have closed down in this axis purely because of the situation of Apapa. With this, no investors will be interested to come to the country.

“This has become a hideout for miscreants and criminals. During demolition of shanties and illegal structures, dangerous weapon and arms were recovered. I do not have details of the recovered arms and weapons yet”.

Bello said the state programme of action for Apapa Central Business District would bring about regeneration and transformation of the area, including landscaping and beautification projects.

Meanwhile, during the inspection of the area, the delegation which included the state Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, discovered a badly distressed portion under the bridge, believed to have been degraded by the displaced illegal occupants.

He assured that traffic gridlocks and unauthorised parking by drivers of tankers, trailers and trucks would become history, saying the state “is working with the Federal Government to ensure unhindered traffic flow in Apapa and its environs”.

The delegation also discovered huge illegal dumpsites along the rail-line of the Nigeria Railway Corporation by the Headquarters of Western Naval Command, Dockyard Street.

According to the Chairman of the Task Force, Superintendent Bayo Sulaimon: “This action was based on the ultimatum given by Governor Fashola that all vehicles parked indiscriminately, shanties constructed under the bridge should be removed. So after the expiration of the date, we moved in to restore sanity to the area.

“This effort is to make this place look the way it was 20 years ago. Apart from the environmental benefit, there will be safety of life and property within this area”.

Sulaimon added: “There was arrest at the early hours of the day when some occupiers of the shanties attacked our men during the evacuation of the vehicles and the demolition of illegal structures. We had no option than to arrest the men as they intend to halt the exercise.

“We made a lot of vehicular arrest and they have all been parked at LASTMA Yard, Oshodi. We met them right on the road flouting the law of the state. We know where we are going and we are getting there”.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/05/hurricane-fashola-visits-apapa-demolishes-illegal-structures/

The Intrigues Behind Justice Ayo Salami’s Recall
Posted: May 11, 2012 - 03:46
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Justice Ayo Salami
By SaharaReporters, New York
Several sources within the National Judicial Council (NJC) have disclosed to SaharaReporters the intrigues and behind-the-scene maneuvers that nearly sabotaged the council’s vote earlier today to reinstate the suspended President of Nigeria’s Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami. In separate interviews, these sources detailed the drama and tension orchestrated by a cabal that vehemently opposed Mr. Salami’s return to his job.

According to these sources who were part of the closed door meeting, the opposition to Justice Salami’s returned was spearheaded by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Ibrahim Auta.

Mr. Auta is the notorious judge who was used by former military dictator, Sani Abacha, to hand down a verdict that led to the execution of environmental rights activist and leader of the Movement for the Sovereignty of the Ogoni People, Ken Saro-Wiwa along with eight other Ogoni activists.

SaharaReporters learnt that the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Joseph Bodunrin Daudu, also joined Justice Auta in opposing Justice Salami’s reinstatement. Incidentally, Mr. Daudu and Justice Auta worked in tandem in the hanging trial of Mr. Saro-Wiwa, with the NBA boss serving as the government’s lead prosecutor during the trial of Saro-Wiwa and his compatriots before Auta’s kangaroo tribunal.

Peter Umeadi, a member of the NJC, emerged as another strong campaigner against the recall of Justice Salami. Curiously, Mr. Umeadi’s late uncle, Philip Umeadi, also served on the Auta panel that sentenced Mr. Saro-Wiwa to death in a highly controversial and widely condemned 1995 trial in Port Harcourt.

Our sources revealed that 20 members of the NJC attended today’s meeting which was chaired by the outgoing Chief Justice of the Federation, Dahiru Musdapher.

The NJC had earlier constituted a committee led by Justice Alooma Muktar to help resolve the impasse created by the suspension of Justice Salami. The Alooma panel was mandated to liaise with all interested parties in the suspension saga crisis and submit a recommendation to the NJC for consideration.

The committee, which also had Olisa Agbakoba, a former President of the Civil Liberty Organization, as a member, reportedly met with the suspended judge and proposed that he accept to retire from the bench as a condition for his reinstatement. “I know that the Justice Alooma committee told Justice Salami that they would recommend his recall, but they wanted him to agree to retire as soon as he was reinstated,” said one of our sources. The source added that Justice Salami flatly rejected the condition, asserting that he was willing to continue his lawsuit against his illegal removal. The source said that Justice Alooma, Justice Pius Aderemi (rtd), Rotimi Akeredolu and Mr. Agbakoba supported his position that he would not retire.

One source told SaharaReporters that some members of the reconciliation committee persuaded Justice Alooma to have their group recommend an unconditional recall of Justice Salami. The source revealed that Mr. Agbakoba was then assigned the task of writing the panel’s report.

“That report was presented to the NJC at today’s meeting despite Justice Auta’s fierce reservation and opposition,” said one source.

Justice Auta had earlier written a report that accused Justice Salami of abusing his office as the President of the Court of Appeal.

The pattern of the 10-8 voting that clinched Justice Salami’s reinstatement revealed the nature of entrenched interests within and outside the judiciary that took a position on the matter.

SaharaReporters gathered that Justice Umaru Abdullahi, a former President of the Court of Appeal, aligned with Justice Auta in voting against Salami’s reinstatement. Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, the former chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), abstained from voting. The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Inumidun Akande, who was reportedly embedded with the anti-Salami crew, absented herself from the meeting.

Others who opposed the move to reinstate Justice Salami included Justice Moses A.D. Bello, the president of the Customary Court of Appeal in Abuja, and the Chief Judge of Benue State, a crony of former Chief Justice of Nigeria Aloysius Katsina-Alu.

Our sources revealed that the pro-Salami members were led by former Supreme Court Justice Pius Aderemi, Olisa Agbakoba and included a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Rotimi Akeredolu, Justice Alooma and Chief Justice Dahiru Mustapha of the Supreme Court. Other supporters included National Industrial Court President, Babatunde Adejumo, and Justice Aloma Muktar. Onueze Chukwujinka Okocha, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, also voted for Justice Salami’s reinstatement.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/intrigues-behind-justice-ayo-salami%E2%80%99s-recall

Normalcy returns as new doctors resume
By Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja 1 hour ago
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Health services are gradually being restored in Lagos State hospitals, with the resumption of some of the 373 newly-recruited doctors.

Some of the doctors were seen yesterday attending to patients, who had turned up for treatment.

The doctors were hired on May 7, following the dismissal of 788 doctors by the government. The sacked doctors had refused to answer queries issued to them for embarking on a strike without following due process.

The doctors assumed duty after two weeks of paralysed medical services caused by the commencement of the strike on April 24.

At the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that some wards, which were previously locked, had been opened but there was a low turnout of patients.

One of the new doctors, who pleaded for anonymity, told NAN that the low turnout was because most patients were not aware that the doctors had resumed work.

He said: “Because we are few, our impact has yet to be felt in the hospitals and most Lagosians are still not aware that we have resumed. We are hoping that by next week, things will pick up.

At the Isolo General Hospital, some doctors were attending to the patients.

Mrs Cecilia Nwachukwu, who brought her child for treatment, said they were quickly attended to as there were not many patients.

She said it took less than an hour for consultation with the doctor and getting drugs at the pharmacy, which was not the case before.

Her words: “It took less than an hour to see the doctor and we have also bought medicine that was prescribed by the doctor.

“This was not the case before when we had to wait for hours before seeing the doctor.”

Two doctors also assumed duty at the Randle General Hospital, Surulere.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/46209-normalcy-returns-as-new-doctors-resume.html

Oteh, our boss, lied – SEC’s top executives
May 10, 2012 by John Ameh, Abuja 122 Comments
Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Arunma Oteh
| credits: File copy
Executive Commissioners and Directors of the Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed on Wednesday that there was rot in the commission. They accused the Director-General, SEC, Ms Arunma Oteh, of taking unilateral decisions and said there was an almost total breakdown of communication among the members of staff.

They appeared before the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the near-collapse of the Nigerian Capital Market on Wednesday.

Oteh, who failed to appear before the panel on Tuesday, was compelled by the panel to do so on Wednesday. She, however, apologised for her action before the hearing began.

“I apologise profusely if an impression was created that I was disrespectful to the committee,” she pleaded, adding that she opted to attend the meeting of the Economic Management presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The SEC management told the panel that though decisions were carried out with the impression that they had the approval of SEC executive management team, Oteh hardly involved them in her policies and decisions.

The panel had sought their views on how to address the “dysfunction and absence of coordination in SEC.”

They also told the Ibrahim El-Sudi-led panel that there were mutual suspicion, distrust and low staff morale in the apex regulatory agency of the capital market. They accused Oteh of hiring and placing contract staff above some key directors.

No meetings

The Executive Commissioner, Operations, Mrs. Daisy Ekineh, who had spent 30 years in SEC, told the panel that members of the management team rarely met to take decisions or discuss issues since Oteh came in in 2010. She said meetings in SEC were either conducted through text messages or electronic mails.

She said this was done to avoid face-to-face meetings due to the distrust and lack of cohesion in the agency.

Ekineh stated, “In the past, when (Musa)Al-Faki and other DGs were there, we met regularly to deliberate on issues.

“Unfortunately, this has been lacking lately. As a way forward, we need to do more in terms of communicating with each other.

“The way we go about it now is not working; we need to do more face-to-face communication, instead of using text messages and e-mails.

“Also, there should be respect for all. The head should be respected and those under the head deserve their own respect as well.”

Contract staff

The Executive Commissioner, Legal, Mr. Charles Udora, said the low staff morale at SEC was caused by the DG who sidelined regular staff, and hired “contract staff” to handle sensitive assignments.

“The contract issue is affecting morale; the system is creating disaffection.

“People are brought in through wrong processes and occupy positions they know nothing about,” he added.

He stated, “The moment we recognise our staff, SEC will fly again.”

The Director of Legal Services and Secretary to the commission, Mr. Edosa Eigbekaen, lamented the absence of any “structured agenda for meetings” at the commission.

The commissioners and directors testified in the presence of Oteh, who also made submissions to the panel.

They all denied knowledge and involvement in three major management decisions Oteh took, which she claimed that they jointly approved. One was the seconding of two Access Bank employees to SEC to serve as advisers to Oteh.

A member of the panel, Mr. Bimbo Daramola, had sought to know whether the appointments would not compromise SEC role as a regulator since the bank was a key market player.

He also asked whether there was an approval by the management of SEC.

The DG told the committee that she discussed the matter at several management meetings with the directors where they agreed that SEC could use outside assistance in areas the existing staff lacked the competence.

“Yes, I discussed it with them as part of the broad-based areas that we might need assistance,” she said.

The commissioners and directors however, said the DG never discussed the issue with them.

Expressing shock over the revelation, El-Sudi said, “Your reform to achieve a world-class capital market regulation will have problems if schedule officers feel that they have been sidelined or slighted,” he noted.

Project 50

Oteh and the commissioners also disagreed on the controversial “Project 50″ event held in 2011 to commemorate 50 years of capital market regulation in Nigeria.

While Oteh told the committee that the management team discussed and approved the project, the commissioners again denied knowledge of how it was planned and executed.

A panel member, Mr. Buba Jibril, asked Oteh to name the sponsors of the project and how much was realised.

She replied that there were no donations in respect of the project, but that “project partners” handled specific aspects of the project.

Oteh said SEC, being one of the partners, used its tender’s board to execute its own part at the cost of N42.5m.

She also admitted being the “current chairman” of the project committee, having taken over from Mr. Sylvester Akele who had retired from service.

“There were no donations to SEC but there were partners that funded various aspects of the celebration. SEC funded its own part,” she stated.

Under pressure, Oteh listed the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Trade and Investments, Association of Issuing Houses and “several other private sector players” as the partners for the project.

She declined to speak on what the partners funded.

The panel directed her to furnish it with the names of all the partners and the details of the projects they funded.

Daramola had read a memo from the CBN indicating that it would only make donations to SEC’ account and not a third party account.

Oteh clarified that the memo originated from an officer, who probably thought that there would be donations toward the project.

Incidentally, the Bureau for Public Procurement queried whether SEC paid for a venue for Project 50 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

The BPE, according to Daramola, wrote SEC, asking for the details of the transaction.

But, when the panel sought to know whether SEC had replied the query, Oteh said that she needed to confirm whether the agency had responded.

Shortly after assuming duties, Oteh released a “Road Map to World-Class Document,” a policy on how she planned to transform the market.

When asked whether she attended any meeting where the document was discussed, Ekineh replied, “We never met to consider the road map.

Udora said, “I have not made any input into any road map and there was no discussion on this by the executive management team.

“It is at this hearing that I am being told that I was part of such a meeting.”

The Executive Commissioner, Finance and Admin, Mr. Sani Stores, responded, “I have never been involved in this framework and I have never seen it.”

The secretary to the commission, Aigbekaen, said he was not aware of the document.

On the thorny issue of 37 contract staff, the Director of Human Resources, Mr. Hussaini Dauda, told the panel that though using contract staff was the discretion of a DG, due process must be followed or it would be illegal.

He said Oteh was advised to forward the matter to a meeting of the management for deliberation and to further seek the approval of the board but that the management, headed by Oteh, neither deliberated on the matter nor approved it.

While the appointments of the contract staff were still to be formalised, he said that they were already earning salaries and allowances.

However, Oteh said that she used her discretion to engage the staff to assist her execute her transformation agenda, while taking steps to formalise the process.

N16bn loan

The panel attempted to resolve the allegation that the managing director and the deputy managing director of Access Bank took personal loans totalling N16bn from Intercontinental Bank before Access Bank acquired the latter in 2011, but made no headway.

Mr. Ini Udoka, who raised the question, noted, “It was a case of owing me money, I became bankrupt and you acquired me.”

Oteh simply responded, “I am not aware.”

She also declined further comments on the transaction, promising to look at the books again and get accurate information to the panel.

However, Udora spoke on how the Union Bank was acquired.

He informed the panel that SEC initially opposed it because it was aware that the bank floated shares in the market and got N8bn but did not explain how the money was spent. However, the Asset Management Company of Nigeria later wrote SEC to say that the N8bn would be absorbed as Union Bank’s losses.

“AMCON wrote us to assume responsibility for the loss. I felt that it was absurd for AMCON to assume the loss.

“I personally felt that somebody must account for that money,” he added.

http://www.punchng.com/news/oteh-our-boss-lied-secs-top-executives/

SEC commissioners disown Oteh
On May 10, 2012 · In Headlines
12:19 am
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BY BEN AGANDE, PETER EGWUATU, MICHAEL EBOH, NKIRUKA NNOROM, EMMAN OVUAKPORIE & CHINEDU IBEABUCHI
ABUJA —THE on-going Public Hearing on Near Collapse of the Capital Market in Nigeria took another twist, yesterday, as principal officers of the Securities and Exchange Commission sang discordant tunes that revealed the turmoil in the house, where the major actors work at cross purposes.

At the hearing, yesterday, all commissioners of Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, who were supposed to assist the Director General to find her bearing claimed the Director General, Ms Arunma Oteh kept them out of the roadmap for a world class Capital Market.

All the commissioners present at the public hearing spoke with one voice that the Director General was running a one man commission at SEC. Ms Oteh who was threatened on Tuesday with arrest by the committee for her failure to appear, however, tendered an unreserved apology to the committee when she appeared yesterday.

She got a shock of her life when all her management staff who were to give her support publicly disowned her, alleging that they were not carried along in the taking of critical decisions concerning the commission. Oteh looked visibly shaken, dazed and almost incoherent and was severally cautioned by the committee as she refused to join issues with the executive management. Instead, she insisted that she was focused on the transformation of the capital market.

This development led the ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives to openly decry the disharmony that existed between the management team of the Commission (SEC), saying this could hamper the reform agenda and the envisaged goal of achieving a world class market. Chairman of the Ad-Hoc Committee, Mr. Ibrahim El-Sudi blamed the disharmony among the management team for the lack of coordination and communication in the activities of the commission; a development which he said has led to friction. “There is a concept of team, which says together, each achieve more. If teamwork is absent in SEC, how do you people intend to achieve your goals and objectives” he queried.

From right, Director General of SEC Aruma Oteh addressing House Ad hoc Committee on Capital Market while Executive Commissioner (Operation) Daisy Ekineh, SEC. Executive Commissioner Lawal Sani Stores, Executive Commissioner SEC Udora Charles, Director Legal and Secretary to the Commission , Mr Edosa Aigbekaen and HOD Enforcement and Compliance Department of SEC, Mr Eric Elujeka look on during Investigation on nearly Collapse of Capital Market at National Assembly Abuja. Photo by Gbemiga Olamikan.

The ad-hoc committee members also insisted that all vital documents containing the list of those who supported the Exchange during Nigeria SEC, at 50 celebration on October 31 last year should be submitted for further investigations. The committee however took the Director General of the SEC to task over her employment of two staff of the Access Bank Plc to the Commission when she was supposed to oversee the operations of the bank.

Committee queries SEC over engagement of Access Bank’s staff

The committee also queried SEC over secondment of Access Bank Plc’s staff to the commission as well as the use of contract staff, while undermining the skill of regular staff to execute its regulatory function, adding, “this action of secondment could result in conflict of interest in your regulatory role”.

Oteh’s response

In her response, Oteh explained that in respect to the engagement of Access Bank’s staff, the Commission complied with laid down rules, adding, however, that the staff were engaged to help it in its branch expansion and facilities management service. She said: “The commission discovered there were lapses in our regional offices and we needed people that will help us set up facility management services, where any Nigerian can walk in and get educated on the capital market issues. Having looked around we discovered that we can partner the private sector to help us build this. So we approached Access Bank that we discovered had done well in its branch expansion to help us in that regard. “We don’t think it will lead to any conflict of interest of regulating the bank as a quoted entity. That aspect of the job is not in our core duty. Besides, it is a global practice where regulators partner with private sector and multinationals to discharge their duty. For us in SEC, we are even partnering with IFC in the area of capacity building as well as bond issuing.”

Also, in response to Ndi-Okereke Onyiuke’s claim that SEC is illegally collecting fees from the capital market, Oteh said it is not out of place for a regulator to seek funding from the market it regulates. According to her, regulatory activities come at a price, and the world over, it is not out of place for the capital market regulator to collect fees from operators in the market.”

Commenting on the use of contract staff by the Commission, Oteh said: “The use of contract staff has been in existence before I joined SEC and there had been several complaints on the ratification and compensations. So right now we are looking at this issues and they are yet to be concluded. We have not undermined our staff but some people are not comfortable with change. Before now, most of our staff are used to analog system but right now most people are beginning to appreciate the use of computers and other communication gadgets. We have recruited young graduates with five years experience to address our short and medium term goal of meeting human resources challenges. There are three stages of meeting the human resources challenges. For the long term challenges it requires recruiting people to top positions with long term experience and retraining of existing staff for long term purposes. We have been training our staff based on the skill they require to do their job.”

SEC @ 50 Project

While commenting on project 50 to commemorate 50 years of Nigeria’s capital market regulation, she, said: “This was organized to celebrate 50 years of capital market regulation which started in 1962, when SEC was called Capital Issue Committee under the umbrella of Central Bank of Nigeria. This committee metamorphosed to Capital Issue Commission in 1973 through a decree and later to SEC in 1979. This project was sponsored by some private sector and regulatory bodies, such as CBN, Ministry of Trade and Investment, and other private entity. There was no donation made to SEC. SEC provided its own fund which is accountable. Since you require the document for the organization of project 50 I will submit later.”

Lack of team work

Executive Commissioners of SEC present at the hearing denied knowledge of the engagement of the Access Bank staff and in the employment of contract staff and they all agreed that Oteh acted alone and without due consultations. They accused Oteh of undermining the staff in the handling of the affairs of the commission, saying she is not receptive to ideas of staff members; a situation which they said has led to acrimony, disharmony and dysfunctional operations in SEC’s regulation of the capital market.

The Commissioners said Oteh does not refer to them in taking crucial decisions and that this has created a rift among the management and staff of the commission.

Regulatory comatose, disharmony in SEC

“There is presently what I can refer to as ‘regulatory comatose’ in SEC. The manner in which things are being handled in SEC, today, is causing disharmony and disaffection among staff members,” averred Mr. Charles Udora, Executive Commissioner, Legal & Enforcement, SEC. Udora disclosed that the commissioners were not being carried along in the decision making process and that suggestions and new ideas are being received by Oteh in anger. He added that the exclusion was also extended to the employment and engagement processes, stating that these have brought to the fore a number of issues in the organization.

He said: “This has brought in its wake, irregularity in staff promotion exercise. There is a case where a staff who graduated in 1998 was promoted above a very qualified staff that has a combined experience of 20 years, working in SEC and in other places.

“The issue of contract staff employment is negatively affecting the morale of staff. It is causing disaffection, disharmony and friction among SEC’s staff. The disharmony has led to a situation of regulatory comatose.

“Unlike in the past, SEC’s staff members no longer feel obligated to perform their responsibilities and duties. It is now a case of the staff saying ‘it is their SEC, if not for the money I am earning here to take care of my family, I will not be here.’ This is negatively affecting how SEC regulates the market, especially as this is depriving it of vital information among many others.”

AMCON helped Union Bank secure clearance for acquisition

Udora, also told the House that his directorate initially denied Union Bank approval for its acquisition during the recapitalization of five of the rescued banks that escaped nationalisation, but was pressurized to do so.

He argued that his directorate decided to deny the bank the approval to go ahead with acquisition process since the bank could not account for the proceeds from the last offer it undertook before the market crash.

“I remember we have AMCON’s application in respect to their intervention in the rescued banks. For Union Bank, I remember the commission was written and our clearance was sought. In my directorate, we declined originally. We said we were not going to clear Union Bank for any acquisition or merger or anything because from our records, Union Bank had raised N80 billion from the public which was not accounted for and we said we will not clear Union Bank until it accounts for that money.

“At the end of the day, a lot of meetings were held and we insisted we were not giving clearance until the use of the proceeds is accounted for. The Managing Director, MD, of the bank came and held a meeting with me and said they could not find within the bank any explanation for that money; so we said we will not clear the bank. Then one of the directors came and said they used the money to pay for the money they used to set up Union Bank United Kingdom. We demanded for evidence from the board of Union Bank for such approval of the payment but none was produced; we then said, ‘show us evidence of the payment of such amount of money in respect to the Uk branch, again, none was produced and then we said there was no deal.”

Udora, however, stated that he was forced to append his signature after approval AMCON offered to take responsibility for the losses. “I told them as far as I sit on this desk, nobody will approve Union Bank acquisition from my directorate except and until the two conditions are met: One, that Union Bank explains the use of the proceeds of that offer.

Then AMCON wrote us to say that we should regard it as one of the losses which Union Bank incurred in the course of its business and they are assuming responsibility for the losses. On that basis, we said if AMCON is recognizing the losses and it is taking responsibility for it, then the transaction can go on. That was at the point when we gave our own go ahead on the Union Bank transactions,” he stated.

Text messages, emails, replaced meetings

In her testimony before the House, Mrs. Daisy Ekinah a commissioner in the Exchange alleged that outside a presentation she wrote for her on the roadmap to a world class Capital Market that Ms. Oteh read at Nigeria Economic Summit Group, NESG programme she never had any link with the project again. Ms. Daisy Ekineh, Executive Commissioner, Operations attested to the division in the rank and file of SEC, saying that “there is presently a dysfunction in SEC due to the inability of the executive management to work as a team.

Ekineh said unlike what obtained during the tenure of the last two Directors-General of SEC, the executive management team no longer hold meetings regularly and there is lack of cohesion and respect among the executives and staff. She disclosed that what obtains presently is absence of meetings and face-to-face communication, while emails and text messages are used more as means of communication among the executive and other staff members.

She said, “There is a dysfunction in SEC, because we no longer work together as a team. There is also absence of respect and team spirit. During the time of the last two DGs, we used to hold meetings in their office regularly. This helped a lot, especially in bringing unity and cohesion to our activities, while helping us achieve more.

“Today, we hardly hold meetings and face-to-face interactions; instead, meetings have been replaced with text messages and emails. I am not saying text messages and emails are bad, but it should not make us do away with meetings and face-to-face interactions.

She, however, called for an improvement in team work among the executives, adding that it will help strengthen the commission, ensuring that it achieves its goals.

SEC didn’t clear AMCON’s N500bn bond

Ms Daisy Ekineh, stated that that the AMCON did not obtain all the necessary approval from the SEC before embarking on its N500 billion bonds issue undertaken in 2011.

According to her, she was notified through a mail sent to her from AMCON that approval has been given for the issue from the commission, saying that despite her insistence that the issue would not go on without securing necessary approval from her desk, the agency went ahead and offered the bonds to the public.

She said: “The N500 billion AMCON bonds did not go through due process. I got a mail telling me that the SEC has approved AMCON’s bonds issue. I told them that it could not have been possible without going through my supervision. Ordinarily, I was supposed to study the offer and give approval but that was the last I heard of it. I was never consulted again on the issue.”

Oteh is inaccessible — Stores

Also speaking, Mr. Lawal Sani Stores, Executive Commissioner, Finance and Accounts, SEC, said: “Oteh is inaccessible and very distant from the Executive team and other staff of SEC. There is also no cooperation among the management and staff, lack of trust and team work.

“For the commission to succeed, we should be able to work together, trust ourselves and carry each other along.”

In her reaction, Oteh said, “Communication lapses could have existed amongst staff in the management team, but all the same, the commission has processes that it follows on several issues before decisions are taken. But I think we need to enhance communication.”

Cadbury saga

Speaking on what informed the commission’s decision to allow Mr. Emmanuel Ikazoboh function in the capacity of Interim Administrator of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) after the former DG, Dr. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, was sacked, Ekineh explained that Ikazoboh was not sanctioned as an individual following the Cadbury book cooking.

She explained that though he was a partner in Akintola William Delloite when the offence was committed, only the firm and Cadbury Nigeria plc were sanctioned and fined by the commission.

“All I can say on the Cadbury issue was what we did was to sanction Cadbury and we also sanctioned Akintola Williams Deloitte and Touche. The interim administrator was working with Akintolla William as at the time and SEC actually sanctioned only the firm. Whether he as a person was sanctioned, I don’t know. He was a partner in Akintolla William but I was not sure if he was sanctioned,” he explained.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/05/sec-commissioners-publicly-disown-oteh/

Okereke-Onyiuke: we’ve right to spend as we like
By Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja 46 minutes ago
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•Mrs Okereke-Onyiuke ... yesterday
SEC acted illegally, says ex-DG


FORMER Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) boss Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke defended her integrity yesterday.

She said the intervention of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the affairs of the NSE was illegal. Besides, she dismissed allegations of financial recklessness hurled at her administration by the SEC.

She said the regulatory body had no power to dictate how a private company, which the NSE is, spends its money. She also laid to rest the controversy generated by the dinner she organised in support of the election of United States President Barack Obama in 2008.

Mrs Okereke-Onyiuke alleged that the “unguided pronouncements” by regulatory authorities and their action contributed to the eventual crash of the capital market. She also faulted the nationalisation of Afribank, Bank PHB and Springbank.

Speaking before the Ibrahim El-Sudi-led House of Representatives ad hoc Committee investigating the near collapse of the Nigerian capital market, Mrs Okereke-Onyuike dismissed her alleged mismanagement of about N2.7bilion as revealed by SEC Director General Ms. Arumah Oteh.

While testifying on Monday on why the capital market collapsed, Ms Oteh alleged that Mrs Okereke-Onyiuke spent N37m on a yacht and spent N1.3billion on business travels. She also alleged that NSE Council members shared N1.7b surplus among other expenditure.

But Mrs Okereke-Onyuike insisted yesterday: “The SEC has no business over how a private company spends its money. We did not collect money from anybody and we have a right to spend our money the way we want. It is not investors’ money or shareholders’ money; it is money that was made legally. NSE is a private company”.

She said the NSE is not a profit-making entity but makes its money from the fees it charges for its services from stock brokers which was 0.6 percent before it was reviewed downwards in 2006 to 0.3 percent following the boom in the capital market.

“As at 2006 when the market was booming, I implored the Council to review the fees to 0.3 because we were making too much money and we had nowhere to put the surplus. So before I was forced out, the Nigerian Stock Exchange market was healthy and vibrant,” she said.

Besides, the former NSE DG pointed out that her ouster was to prevent her from overseeing the demutualisation and to edge her out of the Council of the Exchange.

“SEC had no problem with our succession plan but all they were saying was to cover up their illegality of taking over the NSE. For instance, in 2008, the SEC gave us a clean bill of health after the inspection of our books and operations.

“I want to say that there is no law backing the decision of SEC to take over NSE, it was all orchestrated. On the excuse that the transition programme put in place by the Council was not transparent. I want to say that we informed the SEC about it and they gave no objection. What they said was that they would have preferred that it was thrown open.

“However, what we did was in line with what our founding fathers did by grooming insiders that have the experience to take over.”

She gave more insight into her forced exit, saying: “There was no such thing as public interest and why they had to force me out was because even if I retired at the end of 2009, I would still be on Council for the next three years.

“Being there, it means that I would still be able to oversee the demutualisation process. I introduced the demutualisation process but unfortunately it was the same demutualisation that got me out”.

Mrs Okereke-Onyuike said she never raised money for the election of the United States President, Barack Obama.

“I did not raise money for Obama. I knew Obama since 2005 before he became the President. I lived in the US for 14 years and I am not dumb, I am very smart and I know the law. What I did was to create awareness for our brothers in the US to vote for him because he has 50 percent black in him. I called friends to a dinner, which was later termed concert where some musical artistes attended.

“As a matter of fact, I funded the concert myself and it was a friend of mine, Olulade, a stock broker, that insisted that I should not go it alone and he contributed. Nobody, except the two of us, funded the dinner. I did not collect money from anybody because I know the laws of the United States and I know that it is illegal to donate to Obama’s campaign in that manner.

“Even when I was invited by the EFCC, I was allowed to go because I had not done anything wrong.”

The former NSE boss also castigated the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) over the capital market crisis, adding: “Regulatory pronouncements and actions were the major factors that led to the crash of the market because those pronouncements hurt.

“Yes, there were some banks that did some things wrong, but there are certain aspects of the business that if something was found to have gone wrong, that should not be for public consumption, until it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt and you now want to punish the culprit.

“So the regulator does not just make wild pronouncements and accusations because it hurts the system. If you say all the banks are criminals, how would anyone want to go and put their money there just as nobody would want to go to the stock market when you say the engine room of the Stock Exchange is about to collapse.

“We in the Stock Exchange punish stock brokers when we judge stock brokers and clients by sending them on suspension, by not trading for specified days, depending on the magnitude of their offence’ but we don’t make public pronouncement of that unless it is an infraction that borders on the serious, that can impact on the market.

“So, for the CBN to call the capital market ‘kalokalo’, I would have come out to make a statement because you cannot call me a thief and expect me to keep quiet because I am not a thief and the stock market is not a ‘kalokalo’ but a place people make informed decisions because it is information driven. That is a grave statement.”

Mrs okereke-Onyiuke also faulted the nationalisation of some banks by the CBN, saying, “How can you nationalise the assets of your citizens? Are we not Nigerians, even if the person is a criminal, you go to court and prove that he is a criminal then you take the assets.

“The CBN did not give the shareholders a fair hearing; they were not given any chance at all. The CBN and the NDIC were telling the Directors and Managers of the banks to recapitalize, nobody called the shareholders to an Annual General Meeting (AGM).

If SEC had made a pronouncement to say CBN you can take over the banks but not nationalise them by following the delisting rules and methods of the stock exchange.

“It is wrong to seize a quoted company and the reason people buy quoted company instead of private quoted is because of safe investment. Even as you are protecting the depositor, the investor should also be protected by calling an AGM to inform them of the need to increase their share capital.

“Even if you know that they cannot meet up with the recapitalization, you would have given them a chance and would have felt better, then, you can now follow the delisting rule set by the SEC”.

She agreed that the banking sector accounted for 60 per cent of the listed securities on the capital market and that it was the indiscriminate granting of margin loans by the banks to all manners of investors and market operators that caused the market to bubble.

She said: “However, in the case of Nigeria, the banks gave out these loans indiscriminately, and in most cases insisted that such margin loans were used to purchase their own shares. Some banks were deeply involved in granting margin loans that were not properly structured and this created excess cash in the market, and the share prices got bloated.

“The Nigerian Stock Exchange Management at several occasions warned market operators, that Regulators i.e. CBN and SEC had not issued Guidelines on Margin Loans.

Subsequently, it became quite evident that the margin loan facilities had been abused. However, they are off balance sheet items, not easily detected. (CBN/SEC recently issued the Guidelines on Margin Loans)”.

She called for hundred per cent funding of the capital market by the Federal Government and implored the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to live up to its promise to capital market operators as it is doing for banks.

“We were involved when AMCON was formed and when it was launched the agreement was that they will assist both the banks and the capital market. Why would we be involved if they are not assisting the capital market? They should assist the capital for the market to rebound.

“Assurances were reiterated that AMCON will bail out both the money market and the capital market i.e. beneficiaries will be Banks, Stock broking firms and Nigerian Shareholders. Urgent action needs to be taken on this because AMCON is largely servicing Banks only at the moment”.

She also called for the funding of SEC by the government, adding, “At the moment, SEC is partly dependent on the market fees and penalties collected from the market operators. This may have the tendency of compromising its regulatory functions”.

On the Trans National Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp), Okereke-Onyuike said her role was of national duty that was duly approved by the Council of the NSE.

According to her, former President Olusegun Obasanjo co-opted her into the interim Board of the Corporation on the basis of her expertise.

She said former President Obasanjo wanted Nigeria to be like the Asian Tigers and asked

her to rally a group of Nigerians that could make it work that a company that every Nigerian would buy into.

“I told him that I could not be in the group because I headed the NSE and since some of those people were in the exchange as well as I, having to make decision on quoted companies, conflict of interest would arise.

“He insisted and wrote to the Council and the Council agreed that it was a national duty. I however made it clear that I would step down after the company might have taken off on a sure footing.”

The committee ordered SEC DG Oteh to appear before it unfailingly today.

The Committee was infuriated by the SEC boss’s refusal to turn up for the continuation of the investigation yesterday as demanded. She wrote that she would prefer that her interrogation continue in written form.

Chairman of the Committee El-Sudi described Oteh’s letter as smirk of arrogance with the intent to undermine the authority of the National Assembly.

In the letter, Oteh who testified before the committee on Monday said she had to be at the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) meeting and would not be able to attend the public hearing any longer.

The letter reads: ”I write respectfully to inform you that I am unable to attend the public hearings today because I will be attending the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) meeting, chaired by the President, His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

“As you would recall, the Securities and Exchange Commission had dutifully and diligently entered appearance at the hearing in spite of the several rescheduling at the instance of the committee since the 17th of April. This has forced me and the commission to cancel and in several cases rescheduling important official commitments.

“I therefore crave your indulgence to permit me to respond to any additional questions that you may have in writing, being that you had already given the commission an opportunity to present and interact with the committee for five hours yesterday”

But El-Sudi said: “We will not sit here and allow anybody to undermine the National Assembly by dictating to it how to conduct its proceedings. Appearance before this committee or any of the National Assembly committees is not a matter of personal idiosyncrasy or discretion.

“Ms Arunma Oteh is hereby ordered to appear before this committee by 10am tomorrow (today) unfailingly otherwise we shall be compelled to invoke the necessary provisions of the law”.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/45989-okereke-onyiuke%3A-we%E2%80%99ve-right-to-spend-as-we-like.html

Subsidy: Govs turned against me – Jonathan

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has claimed that some governors turned against him after agreeing with him to remove fuel subsidy.

The removal of the subsidy on January 1 and the resultant increase in fuel pump price from N65 to N141 led to a nationwide strike and demonstrations across the country.

Jonathan at a workshop in Abuja on Monday, asked the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission to sensitise Nigerians to the planned increase in electricity tariff from June 1. He said he would not want a repeat of the subsidy removal episode.

Jonathan said, “I think the Governor of Benue State then suggested that no, that there could be conflicts in some states and that governors should be allowed to take charge.

“At the end of the day, by the day we announced the deregulation, almost everything was on my head. Everything was Jonathan to the extent that the House of Representatives had to meet on a Sunday to discuss it and it became an issue.

“At a point, some of the governors (I will not call the names) who participated in pressurising me, started shooting back.”

He recalled that he initially planned to send delegations to the states to sensitise people ahead of the subsidy removal but he was advised against it based on the argument that such a body would work in parallel with the states.

He therefore advised the NERC to properly sensitise the public ahead of the hike in electricity tariff increase.

The President said “But I said even if they will cut off my head, it is my responsibility. What I am saying is that if you don’t have robust advocacy, by the time we get to that June 1, the civil society will come and say they have never heard it.”

He regretted that when the civil society kicked against the subsidy removal, even governors who were instrumental in the decision turned against him.

He warned that if enough advocacy work was not done on the planned increase in electricity tariff, members of the civil society would return to the trenches and oppose the move as they did against subsidy removal.

He said, “On the issue of tariff, I think we agreed on June 1 but I am not sure that we are having robust advocacy.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/subsidy-govs-turned-against-me-jonathan/

Arunma Oteh at House capital market probe, Okereke-Onyiuke blew N186m on Rolex watches
By Victor Oluwasegun and Dele Anofi, Abuja 2 hours ago
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Mrs. Ndi Okereke-Onyuike. -Stock Exchange ‘spent N37m on yacht’ -Council members ‘shared N1.7b surplus’ -N1.3billion spent on business travels


FOR those seeking answers to the sudden crash of the stock market, some came yesterday.

The market succumbed to a combination of ailments - sensational lifestyle and financial recklessness, among others - according to the Director–General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh.

Oteh was explaining why SEC eased out the former DG of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mrs. Ndi Okereke-Onyuike.

Oteh, in a presentation before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee probing the near collapse of the Nigerian Capital Market, said: “There were incidents of financial skimming, misappropriation, false accounting, misrepresentation and questionable transactions against the former NSE DG.

“For instance, the NSE bought a yacht for N37million and wrote down the book value within one year by recognising it in the books as a gift presented during its 2008 Long Service Award (LSA), yet there are no records of the beneficiary.

“The Exchange also spent N186million on 165 Rolex wrist watches as gifts for awardees out of which only 73 were actually presented to the awardees. The outstanding 92 Rolex watches valued at N99.5million remain unaccounted for.

“This happened in previous years. Other notable fraudulent transactions include the reclassification of the sum of N1.3billion originally expended on business travels. Of this sum, N953million was reclassified under “Software Upgrade” and subsequently expended as against being capitalised. There were other cases of such unethical accounting practices.

“In 2009, N1.7billion of the 2008 operational surplus was distributed to Council members and employees, in violation of CAMA and SEC rules which preclude the NSE from such, given that the NSE is a company limited by guarantee.

“Given the foregoing, it was important to me that we engage the NSE to address these weaknesses. Unfortunately, the former CEO of the NSE did not attend most of the meetings we scheduled.

“These were the kinds of financial imprudence that were perpetrated at the NSE. These transactions were routed through companies owned by some senior officers of the Exchange,” she said.

Oteh said the SEC launched a forensic investigation to examine the allegations of financial irregularity and mismanagement.

“While these investigations have been concluded, the results are unavailable because the former CEO of NSE, Mrs. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, and three other former employees have an injunction against releasing the report.”

The SEC DG said while all the fraudulent practices were going on, the SEC, which was at the time headed by Musa Al-Faki, did not do enough to stem the irregularities.

On Market abuses by banks between 2006 and 2008, Oteh said:

“The extent and nature of the market abuses carried out between 2006 and 2008 are the primary reasons for the continuation of the investor apathy that we see today. I will give examples of some of the market abuses that the SEC investigation of the intervened banks uncovered.

“Afribank: With respect to Afribank, Afribank Trustees, Afribank Registrars and their Directors, committed various grave market infractions in share buyback schemes, made misrepresentations in the returns to the SEC to prevent detection that the Bank funded its public offer, violating Section 106 (4), and Section 110 of the ISA 2007 as well as Rule 109B of SEC Rules.

Shares owned by 1,258 entities (some fictitious) and individuals were merged into fourteen accounts of nine companies, some of which were owned by Afribank and its directors. These transactions were done outside the floor of the Exchange. Falcon Securities, Fidelity Finance and Spring Capital were some of the entities used.

“Finbank: Between August 2006 and December 2008, the Executive team of Finbank engaged six law firms to incorporate 95 companies and transferred more than 4425 billion of depositors’ funds to nine of these companies and purchased 2.8 billion units of its own shares, violating Rule 109b of SEC Rules. The Bank also violated Section 105 of the ISA 2007, which prohibits a person from creating a false or misleading appearance of active trading of a listed security.

“Intercontinental Bank: Between June 2007 and December 2008, Intercontinental Bank, its directors and principal officers engaged in unlawful share buyback schemes, buying about 3.4 billion units of shares using depositors’ funds. It violated Section 105, 106 and Section 110 of ISA 2007 as well as Section 160 of CAMA and Rule 109b of SEC Rules.

“Union Bank: In 2007, Union Bank borrowed amounts totaling N30.4 billion from two foreign investment banks. These funds were transferred to Union Trustees, which in turn transferred the funds to Falcon Securities. In four days in November 2007, Falcon purchased 620.4 million units of shares worth N30.8 billion, ahead of a public offer/rights issue. In 2007, Falcon Securities carried out 181,088 transactions with respect to Union Bank shares. This drove up the share price of Union Bank stocks from a low of N23.30 in January 2007 to N50.33 in November 2007, in other words, a price appreciation of over 110% within 11 months.”

On “wonder banks”, Oteh said:

“Wonder Banks, Umana Umana, Ponzi or Pyramid Schemes are unsustainable fraudulent schemes that use funds from new investors to pay off older investors at high rates of return, thereby quickly attracting new investors.

“A total of 440 wonder banks were identified in Nigeria and these had defrauded the unsuspecting public to the tune of £4106 billion. The Commission, in addition to spearheading efforts to track and bring to book operators of such scams, is also a member of an Inter Agency Committee consisting of representatives of financial services regulators and law enforcement agencies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Police.

“So far, the Committee has obtained court orders to wind up the identified outfits. The Committee continues to make more recoveries as investigations progress. Furthermore, promoters of the schemes are also being handed over to the relevant law enforcement agencies for criminal prosecution.

According to Oteh, part of SEC’s actions included dragging 260 entities and individuals to the Investment and Securities Tribunal (IST)

She said: “As a result of the SEC investigations with respect to the intervened banks, we instituted legal proceedings, at the Investment and Securities Tribunal (1ST), against 260 entities and individuals. The Commission is alleging that these individuals and entities were involved in different forms of market abuse including insider dealing, pump and dump, wash sales and share price manipulation. We are seeking declaratory orders for the illegally gained profits that were made to be disgorged to restitute poor

However, the Ibrahim El-Sudi-headed eight -man ad hoc committee took the SEC DG to task over her decision to take 260 entities and individuals to the Investment and Securities Tribunal.

According to the committee members, the SEC had no right to move the cases particularly as the issue was being investigated by the Administrative Committee.

The SEC DG also washed her hands off the nationalisation of Afri bank, Bank PHB and Spring bank.

The Committee wanted to know the roles played by the SEC being the body responsible for mergers and acquisitions in the process of taking over the three banks by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

The process was concluded within three days over a weekend but the SEC boss said her organization was not involved.

“So, it is safe to say that your organization is not involved in the Nationalization process of those banks,” Dogara said.

When further prodded on the role played by the SEC to protect the interest of investors in the affected banks while the Central Bank (CBN) and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) were protecting the interests of their primary responsibilities, she said her organization played the role of protecting public interest.

Saying that the three banks were no longer listed on the stock exchange, Arumah said she was not aware of what became of their investors.

“It was an industry-wide decision and if I were to insist on protecting the investors’ interest, then they would have to give something back because the three banks’ shareholder’s funds were in the negative of over N600b,” she added.

On Project 50 which was meant to celebrate 50 years of Capital market in Nigeria, she said it was not against the rules to receive donations from potential investors and industry players to fund the project.

“There was no compromise, there is no conflict of interest and it is not abnormal to partner with others toward the development of the market”

However, to the disappointment of the committee members, she failed to obliged the Committee with the list of contributors to the Project, saying she would have done so if she had been earlier informed.

Meanwhile, reminiscent of what led to the personalization of issues that eventually culminated in the stepping down of the previous committee probing the capital market, the DG was reproached for evading questions.

She also evaded a question on when the SEC would conclude its intervention programme in the NSE and disengage its nominees from the NSE Council where the regulatory body has 8 members out of 15.

According to her, the intervention and the inclusion of eight members from SEC on the Council of NSE was to strengthen and professionalize its oversight function of the NSE.

“It’s our bid to strengthen and professionalize the NSE and for our nominees to bring their expertise to that organization. We have a report and we will do justice to it”.

There were however moments of friction between the committee and the SEC boss. Problem began when the DG was asked why its powers to resolve conflicts between industry players and in her extended explanation alluded that the committee lacked confidence in the Investment and Security Tribunal (IST).

She also failed to state the extant rule that empower SEC to abort an administrative proceeding established by SEC to handle a particular dispute between a bank and its investors that was transferred to the IST.

She however said that unclear definition of responsibilities between conflict resolution bodies in the sector.

Though she posited that it would assist the market to see culprits punished, Arumah however confirmed that convictions are yet to been seen in the sector.

She also mentioned that her organization has resolved over 1,700 disputes though her organization was not meant to guarantee investors’ funds.

On another occasion when the confronted her with the issue of labour as contained in a petition, she told the committee that the right thing was for the committee to give her the document to go through

“I take exception to that remark. We have rules here and it is not for you to dictate to us how to conduct proceedings here,” El Sudi warned.

Earlier during the presentation of the Director-General of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, Oscar Onyeama, had explained to the committee that the SEC had 8 nominees in the Council of the 15 members does not mean they will exert any untowards influence on the NSE.

The committee had expressed the fear that it may affect the daily management of the NSE and open the organization to overt influence from the SEC which is meant to be a regulator.

“People say because there are 8 members nominated by that SEC, that SEC owns NSE. It’s wrong. They have been professional in their conducts.

“So far, we have not received directions on what management should do on a daily basis. Besides, I think I am known globally as being independent.”

A member of the committee, Yakubu Dogara noted that those who were responsible for the crash of the Capital Market should be brought to book..

His words: “Those that cooked up phantom figures that caused the crash of the Capital market must be brought to book. Because if we are not careful, we will be back here doing another public hearing on this issue.”

The hearing continues today.
http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/45880-arunma-oteh-at-house-capital-market-probe-okereke-onyiuke-blew-n186m-on-rolex-watches.html

Another banking crisis coming up – 1
On April 30, 2012 · In Sobowale On Business 12:40 amEmail4

By Dele Sobowale

“History does repeat itself; man does”. Barbara Tuchman, the world’s leading historian on 13th Century Europe.

This would be the third alert I would issue in the last fifteen years about a banking crisis about to occur. Almost invariably, the banking crisis causes collateral damage in the capital market – which heads down as a result. The recent appointment of market makers by the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, might represent taking on fresh fuel before a ship capsizes. It will not help; it might even add to the problems that would result from the carnage.

Before you dismiss this as another fantasy, let me remind you that in 1997, in an article published here in VANGUARD titled “FUNNY MONEY”, I predicted that the banks announcing heart-thumping financial results were publishing falsified results based on shady deals and “creative accounting” – meaning they were forging the figures.

Drawing up a list of 19 banks which I predicted would go down, with Commerce Bank at the top, the Editor of VANGUARD published the article without the names of the banks. He was particularly skeptical about the prediction that Commerce Bank, whose top two officials (names withheld) were both former Presidents of the Nigerian Institute of Bankers, could not be running a bank heading for the graveyard. Well, all the 19 banks fell; Commerce Bank fell hardest. As Mohammed Ali, the Greatest boxer ever, once told us, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

That crisis resulted in the Failed Banks Decree promulgated by General Sani Abacha – designed to teach Nigerian bankers a permanent lesson. Abacha was wrong on that score; as he was on most things. The Nigerian banking sector is not a standing army – which can be taught enduring lessons.

It is more like a moving parade in which each new troop, like zombies, fall into the same traps like the previous ones. Every new generation of bankers simply refuses to learn from the old. Otherwise, they learn the same tricks, add new twists, and head for their own abattoirs – with their depositors in tow – to be slaughtered.

When Professor Chukwumah Soludo introduced “con-soludo-tion” as a panacea to all our banking woes; he was first advised to slow down. But, like every man with a vision, he refused to listen to caution. He probably never read that observation by British Prime Minister John Major. “People with vision…(VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p ).


CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

So again, like lemmings, Nigerians were marched to the edge of the financial precipice and made to jump. Another banking crisis was upon us. As usual, I was busy warning “My Fellow Nigerians”, in 2007 and early 2008, that the banks, into which Soludo said we could put our money and “go to sleep with two eyes closed”, were about to close our two eyes permanently.

Again, as usual, few listened to the warnings –until Intercontinental, Oceanic, UBA, First Bank etc shares that were selling above N30 per share in March 2008 went begging for under N3 per share. We are still not out of the woods. In fact, we might be heading back to the jungle.

Unfortunately, the man who blew the whistle on the banks – the current Governor of the Central Bank – had himself gone to sleep while the banks resorted to the same old tricks which got us into trouble the last time around. Like Soludo before him, Sanusi had just been awarded the Banker of the Year prize.

Again, like Soludo, the CBN chief might be receiving the award just before another banking crisis engulfs the nation. For, make no mistake about it; another banking crisis is looming; and it might be more devastating than anyone before it.

So in effect, this article is not meant for the CBN and bankers; it is addressed to Nigerians who still have any money left in those banks on their way to the cemetery. Out of sense of social responsibility, no banks would be named here – in order to prevent a run on those banks which could only make things worse – for the banks, for the depositors and for Nigeria.

A good deal of the blame goes to the CBN Governor. He might have set an all-time world record for a nation’s chief banker in the number of non-banking controversies in which he got himself embroiled. Back in my days at the Nigerian Institute of Management, Victoria Island, I taught a course titled “TIME AND SELF MANAGEMENT” designed to train executives, in the private and public sectors, to spend their time more productively.

I still have some clients who request for the lecture every two or three years. To me, the first lesson to learn, for any manager, is the fact that THERE ARE ONLY TWENTY-FOUR HOURS IN A DAY. The President and the pauper have the same allotment of hours in a day. The most effective managers start by allocating as much, if not all, their time to their core functions.

Perhaps, sometime, after Sanusi had left CBN, he would reflect on whether some of the time he spent on distractions would not have been better utilized examining the books of the banks he was appointed to supervise – now that another crisis looms on the horizon.

He should also be worrying about the CBN’s involvement in the fuel subsidy scandals; while he cannot ignore the role of banks and CBN bank examiners in the unfolding drama of mild-boggling pension funds frauds. Anyone who thinks only N2 billion cash is locked in wardrobes must live in another country – not Nigeria. On account of fraud and increasing lack of confidence in banks, more money are in holes and under beds than ever before.

To be sure, the CBN had declared that it is ready to sanction any bank found to have violated banking rules and regulations with regard to the diversion of pension funds to multiple private accounts. But, the sheer number of illegal accounts opened, and the flagrant violation of the “Know Your Customer” principle point to hundreds of billions of naira in possible fines for banks just crawling their ways out of financial holes.

Zillions of questions will eventually be asked; and billions, if not trillions, will be involved, some of it unlikely to be recovered, and another round of bank cleansing will take place against the background of the alleged N9 billion questionable write-off by a Chief Executive brought in to revive the bank in the first place.

If the deal is found to be fraudulent, the CBN Governor must share the greatest portion of the blame because it would be recalled that the appointment of the particular Managing Director was greeted with a storm of protest – which Sanusi ignored. The debtor’s refusal to honour investigators’ invitation is not helping matters either. Only a total exoneration of the former CEO can save the CBN Governor from embarrassment.

While the looming crisis is predictable, it is not clear which options are available to the nation. Each generation of bankers seems adamant to repeat the sharp practices of their predecessors; each time leaving their banks in more desperate straits than before and virtually compelling incumbent managers to cut corners in a bid to obtain good results in a short time. We might be involved in a Catch-22 scenario.

Finally, readers and policy makers will ignore this warning at our corrective perils. The future of easy crude oil money is increasingly in doubt; without a vibrant banking sector, we run the risk of never reaching the top twenty – whether in 2020 or any other time.

This is one time when being right offers no consolation.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/04/another-banking-crisis-coming-up-1/


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Another banking crisis coming up – 2
On May 7, 2012 · In Sobowale On Business 12:22 amEmail0

By Dele Sobowale
Those who go in for banking must accept the consequences, because if there were no consequences, everybody would go in for banking”. Charles Dickens, 1812-1870

If anyone had asked Sanusi Lamido Sanusi three years ago his choice between becoming the Emir of Kano and the Governor of Central Bank; he would have chosen the former. But like Prince Charles of Britain, whose mother, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 1952, and is still going strong, Lamido too must wait indefinitely to pursue his ultimate ambition – which does not include being remembered as a great banker. Banking was just something to do while waiting.

That was why, unlike his predecessor, he did not lobby much for the job; instead the job came looking for him. That might have explained his distractions and his aloofness bordering on arrogance.

Soludo plotted his own ascendancy to the Central Bank of Nigeria. First, as Chief Economic Adviser to the President, he was the lead author of the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies, NEEDS I; which was full of tantalising projections about where Nigeria would be by 2010.

But, tucked in that document was the key point – Nigeria would not get there with all the weak banks then operating. And the only person to do the job must be an outsider. For too long insiders, meaning former Managing Directors of commercial banks have been promoted to the post.

That idea must have been drummed into Obasanjo’s ears – who eventually caved in and when Chief Joseph Sanusi, ex-First Bank Managing Director left, Soludo became the logical choice. He wanted to leave a legacy; unfortunately, what he left was not quite what he had in mind.

When Sanusi took over,he proceeded to dismantle the Soludo legacy. And although, there is no indication he intends to erect a monument, he will all the same. The crisis might occur before he goes to Kano for the coronation. It is brewing with a fury known only to beer Brewmasters.

Most banking crises start from one incident, a breach of the rules and regulations, in one bank which benefits a few people; gets copied by other banks or is repeated by the same bank until it becomes routine. The current case involving the former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank, Plc and the former governor of Kwara State is one of the two examples which will be examined today to round up this warning.

As stated last week, if the allegations are proved beyond reasonable doubt, the the Governor of the Central Bank must bear a significant portion of the blame for appointing someone whose track record had been revealed as questionable in the past.

At the moment the focus is on one allegation pertaining to granting waivers to Senator Saraki’s firms under questionable circumstances and releasing the securities for the loan prematurely; thereby leaving the bank holding to thin air for its exposure – N9 to 11 billion worth of it. One can only pray it is not true; for the sake of Mr Alabi; more for the sake of Senator Saraki and for the sake of the Nigerian banking sector.

That incident raises several questions to which this writer already has some answers. The first is, was that the only loan handled in this manner? If not, how many more loans are involved? For those who might not grasp the implications of those questions, let me quickly explain.

Intercontinental Bank had since merged with Access Bank and unfortunately the existing bank might have, inadvertently, inherited more toxic loans from Intercontinental. Two closely linked aphorisms serve as our guide here. The first says, “Appetite grows with eating”.

The second was provided by the only elected President Nigeria never had, late Chief M.K.O. Abiola. He said, “No man stands all day in the rain for nothing”. These questions are pertinent, not just in the Intercontinental case but with all banks existing at the moment.

The next question is for the Central Bank to answer. Are there no guidelines which must be followed before a bank can grant this magnitude of a waiver? If, yes, were they followed and did CBN examiners to the bank check these? If not, how could the examiners have missed this huge write off?

The more you look, the more it can be seen that the CBN was somehow derelict in its duties and its responsibilities to the shareholders of the bank who had no say in the appointment of the Managing Directors. And, if it was careless in one case how can the stakeholders in the banking sector have confidence that this is an isolated case. Information reaching me suggests it is not.

When we turn to the pension scandal, one is appalled and the heart melts. Here the rules and regulations guiding deposits by individuals, as well as opening of accounts are so clear that no banker can claim ignorance of them. There is the “Know Your Customer” principle and the mandatory requirement to report deposits of one million or more into an individual account.

Yet virtually all the banks conspired with old and new customers to launder stolen pension funds belonging to millions of individuals. Even with the rather lenient penalties attached to these offences, the banks face billions of naira in penalties directly; and billions more in claims from affected groups indirectly.

In these cases we are not talking about a few individuals but a systemic and pervasive violation of the laws. The bankers who have appeared at public hearings have sounded like people interested in passing the buck and running for the border than people certain of their innocence. Heads, again will roll.

Sanusi, this time, should not be allowed to single-handedly appoint new Chief Executive Officers to replace those who might be implicated.

The obvious question; to which there is also an obvious answer is: why did so many bankers risk their careers and the fortunes of their banks by engaging in widespread money laundering? The answer is “they were desperate”. Both individually and as banks people had become desperate.

Retrenchment occurs every day sending hundreds of bankers into the job market and an uncertain future. Most, on account of loans taken, would depart with very little. Under the circumstances, it was easy to bend the rules, collaborate with pension fund thieves and hope to put away something for the future.

Diminished job security is one reason for the collective violation of banking rules and regulations. The negative variances between projected revenue and profits also act as catalysts to law breaking. When deposit targets are not being met, bank managers become vulnerable to dubious deals.

Most succumb hoping that the violations can be concealed through a combination of other deals with CBN staff, creative accounting and complaisant auditors. Some of the tell-tale signs are there when depositors spend long hours at branches trying to withdraw money.

Also, when your bank “fails” to clear local cheques deposited within three working days, or out of state cheques for almost a week, into your account – especially on week-ends — you should suspect deliberate delay by the bank. Or when salaries paid into your account “have not been processed”. Invariably, it is not just a few customers; it is every customer who is subjected to “go slow” treatment.

Like all the previous bank crisis, this too started slowly, by a few bank managers in a few branches and regional offices. Suddenly, the exception became routine once again in Nigerian banks. But, as appetite grew with eating, it became an all-comers affair. Now virtually all the banks were consumed by it.

The CBN had been issuing threats to deal with all the banks involved. That is akin to wanting to close the gate after the cows have fled. To start with the bankers opening dubious accounts did it deliberately and were paid for their “services”.

Furthermore, a lot of the funds deposited and which, if reported as required by law, would have been recovered intact have been spent. A great deal of the stolen funds and the bribes to the bankers have vanished; but the banks are liable.

Once again, the question is: where were CBN bank examiners while all these were going on? Increasingly, what these cases reveal is a governor and group of Executive Directors who have been derelict in their duties; who have not been supervising the banks and who have allowed another crisis to develop so soon after the last one. Like drunken sailors on shore leave our bankers have stumbled from one crisis to another – thanks to poor supervision this time.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/05/another-banking-crisis-coming-up-2/

Aviation Minister, Oduah, Named In Multi Billion Naira Scam at FAAN
Font size: 01/05/2012 14:31:00
Aviation minister, Stella Oduah Aviation minister, Stella Oduah, has been named in a string of scams,
running into billions of Naira at the Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria ( FAAN).

Pointblanknews.com sources disclosed that some of the corrupt
practices allegedly perpetrated under the nose and with the active
connivance of Oduah includes the illegal conversion of over N390
million revenue of FAAN for "renovation of toilets at the Murtalla
Mohammed International airport MMIA"

Other scams are N40 Billion airport remodelling programme, her per
project, which has no budgetary provision, N228 million approved for
the service of two power generating sets, N140 Million approved, and
collected for staff training that never held, and an alleged N1
billion lodged under phony circumstances at Chase Bank.

.The payment was due from a advertising concessionnaire -AfroMedia.
The deal was allegedly carried out without following due process of
approvals from the ministry or the Federal executive council which
would normally approve spendings above 50 million naira .In order to
cover up the fraud, the concessionnaire was mandated to pay directly
the revenue due to FAAN to another company for the renovation claiming
in it's books that it was a corporate social responsibility project.

However the lid blew open when Afro media was requested to pay over
one billion naira due to the agency by the commercial department of
FAAN, and the company claimed to have made a part payment to a third
party for renovation of toilets, in a deal "unknown"to the management,
but reportedly approved by the MD.George Uriesi.

This deal was against legal advice from the General Manager Legal
department who wrote a memo to the Management denouncing the
deal,asking the agency to recorver the amount from AfroMedia ,the
organization however kicked against any double payment saying the
project was not a corporate social responsibility project but a
payment to the agency.

AfroMedia ,a quoted company on the Nigerian stock Exchange has
consistently posted a loss to it's shareholders in the last three
years.

Another deal under investigation was the refurbishing of three
generators at the abuja airport for the sum ofN 228million naira,
which is N76 m apiece.a deal which attracted an audit query from the
internal audit department.

The management approved the refurbishment of the generators by Julius
Berger Nigeria, despite a Quotation to supply a new generator of same
capacity forN 55million from John Holt, a reputable vendor in abuja.

Pointblanknews.com however learnt that despite the refurbishment, the
nations international airport has continued to witness blackouts to
the utter embarrassment of aviation passengers.One of such which
occurred on the 21 st April is now subject of a probe in the National
Assembly.


The management of FAAN has also been accused of a phony deal in the
payment of $840 ,000 (about N140 Million ), to an organization
Travelco based in South Africa for training of staff of the agency.The
allegation is that the training was never held despite the payment
while the amount was yet to be recorvered.

Sources close to FAAN confirmed that the agency was linked to the
Managing Director ,and stakeholders wondered while the training in
South Africa for the huge amount when the agency had a training deal
with an organization in the US A for free.

Also catching the attention of the anti corruption agency is the
alleged siphoning of over a billion naira by some staffers of the
organization through a private Chase Bank account said to belong to a
California based Nigerian simply reffered to as Maurice .

The EFCC is said to be relying on bilateral agreement with the US
authorities to assist in investigating the series of payment into this
account said to be suspicious income from corruption .


The bigger deal which may give the agency hard nut to crack is the N40
billion airport remodeling programme which is being directly handled
by the minister without any budgetary provision in the 2011 budget.

The remodeling was allegedly being financed from yet unknown sources
but sources told Pointblanknews.com that the CBN based Bilateral
services account" BASA" may have been depleted by the Minister to
finance the so called remodeling which are being implemented without
appropriation and due process certification by the relevant
authorities.

The Minister who is a close ally of President Jonathan is said to be
banking on the relationship to stave off any backlash from the anti
corruption agencies. An aviation ministry source said the project was
to boost the image of the Nigeria government in the eyes of world
hence the"hues and cries over following due process is irrelevant .The
Minister is eager to achieve so why the talk of not following due
process"

http://pointblanknews.com/new/exclusive/4224-aviation-minister-oduah-named-in-multi-billion-naira-scam-at-faan.html

FG to regulate conferment of chieftaincy
On May 7, 2012 · In News 12:39 amEmail0

By Caleb Ayansina

ABUJA – Federal Government, weekend, said it will soon roll out requirements for the award of chieftaincy titles by traditional rulers. It also unveiled the logo, Do it right – Transform Nigeria, with a view to instill honesty and integrity in Nigerians.

Director-General of National Orientation Agency, NOA, Mr. Mike Omeri, who disclosed this in Abuja, weekend, said there should be an honest way of conferring award on those that really deserved it to motivate people.

He said it was completely out of the way to honour people because of money rather than hard work.

Omeri, who stated this at a press conference on Do it right – Transform Nigeria campaign in Abuja, called for the adoption of the second stanza of the national anthem as national prayer in all public functions to promote common creed and the cause of a people united.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/05/fg-to-regulate-conferment-of-chieftaincy/

Joint Task Force And Militants Gunfight Ongoing In Kano
Posted: May 6, 2012 - 12:45
Posted by siteadmin

A gunfight between the Joint Task Force and suspected islamist militants has left some five people dead according to security sources knowledgeable about the operation.

A prolonged shootout continued overnight along Ring road in the Hotoro area of Kano where the JTF had being carrying out a house to house raid since last night.


The fighting is still going on as at the time of filing this report.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/joint-task-force-and-militants-gunfight-ongoing-kano

Advocates of SNC Bombing Northern Nigeria Not Boko Haram, Says Sheik Gumi
Posted: May 6, 2012 - 02:24
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Dr. Ahmad Gumi
By SaharaReporters, New York
Dr. Ahmad Gumi, Saudi Arabia-based Nigerian Islamic scholar and son of late Sheik Abubakar Mahmud Gumi, has blamed the incessant bombings across Northern Nigeria on advocates of a Sovereign National Conference and not Boko Haram, saying “there is more than meets the eye,” according to a source who heard the speech.



The preacher was speaking in Kaduna at a mosque close to the scene where a police bomb expert, Sergeant Sunday Badang, was killed by a bomb a few months ago.



The worshipper, who prayed at the mosque, briefed SaharaReporters in a telephone conversation.



“Malam made it clear that it is not Boko Haram but those calling for Sovereign National Conference that want to justify their argument for splitting Nigeria. That is why, he said, they are gradually grounding the North and reducing it like Somalia and from there they will have their way out. Not that he is saying that there is no Jamaátu Ahlus Sunna, but all [that] these are plots because they have finished Kano, Maiduguri and now Kaduna and there is indication of them attacking Sokoto.”



The cleric, according to him, insisted that it is the people calling for Sovereign National Conference that are killing people under the name of Boko Haram for condemning their actions and other issues bothering on insecurity in Northern Nigeria.



“We believed what Malam is saying because there is no true and genuine Muslim that will be killing and attacking innocent people. Why is it that we didn’t see this in the past, until now? We are certain there is an agenda against us (Northerners) because what is happening and the sophistication suggest that.”



Gumi, it would be recalled, was held by Saudi Arabian security in relation to the Farouk Abdulmutallab’s 2009 attempted Christmas Day bombing of an American airline after, but he was later set free after it could not be proved he had any negative ties with Abdulmutallab.



The preacher, according to our source, is insisting that Nigerian security must be reviewed because there is no way there will be justice given that the National Security Adviser and Mr. Jonathan hail from the same state and ethnicity.

http://saharareporters.com/news-page/advocates-snc-bombing-northern-nigeria-not-boko-haram-says-sheik-gumi

Home | News Update | Pension scam: Court okays seizure of suspects’ properties
Pension scam: Court okays seizure of suspects’ properties
By Agency Reporter 10 hours 48 minutes ago
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Kigo

An Abuja High Court on Thursday granted leave to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to seize 108 properties belonging to the six accused persons involved in the alleged diversion of N32.8 billion Police Pension Fund.

A Permanent Secretary, Atiku Kigo and five other persons - Esai Dangabar, Ahmed Wada, John Yusufu, Veronica Onyegbula and Sani Zira are being arraigned on a 16-count charge by the EFCC.

The News Agency of Nigeria reported that they were accused of complicity in the illegal diversion of the N32.8 billion pension fund, a charge they all pleaded not guilty.

Counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, had filed an application before the court in a motion with number M11005/2012, seeking leave to seize the 108 properties allegedly belonging to the accused persons.

The EFCC, in pursuant of Section 28 of the EFCC Act 2004, attached the list of all the assets belonging to Kigo, Dangabar, Wada, Yusufu, Onyegbula and Zira in the motion.

In his ruling on the motion, Justice Lawal Gummi granted the interim order for the seizure of the properties, reportedly scattered all over Nigeria.

The anti-graft agency said earlier that the accused persons perfected the alleged fraud in Abuja between January 2009 and June 2011.

The EFCC alleged that the six accused persons had conspired and sequentially withdrew monies from the Police Pension Fund in an account domiciled at First Bank of Nigeria and shared same among themselves.

The case has been adjourned to May 28 for further hearing.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/45304-pension-scam%3A-court-okays-seizure-of-suspects%E2%80%99-properties.html