The Federal Government has said that it will overhaul the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency in order to bring about effective performance in the organisation.

The government also stated that the Abuja-Kaduna rail project would be officially inaugurated on July 26, 2016.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, disclosed this when he received the Ministerial Committee on NIMASA for Restructuring and Effective Performance led by the agency’s Director-General, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, at the headquarters of the ministry in Abuja on Monday.

Amaechi said, “One of the reasons why I set up the committee was my visit to NIMASA. I asked a question, what does NIMASA do? They had what they call ‘Search and Rescue Centre,’ they also had what they call ‘Search and Rescue Clinic.’

“If you go there, even when I asked the lady doctor who was there, I said do you work here? She said yes, and I asked again, ‘do you like this place?’ She said no. Now, all the billions we hear, may be its right, may be its wrong, that’s what I need to know when the auditor goes round.

“We are in the process of appointing an auditor to audit NIMASA and the Nigerian Ports Authority. Maybe when the auditor goes round and comes back, the responsibility of the matter will be clearer.”

The minister added, “If you go to their office near Kirikiri, that’s worse. It was actually as if you are in Kirikiri (prison) itself. They had a resource centre and there was nothing there; they had a poor library and I said to myself, what is NIMASA actually all about? So, the essence of setting up this committee was to actually know what NIMASA was all about.

“It is not a witch-hunt. We should ask ourselves the question, has NIMASA at any point in time discharged its responsibility beyond the collection of revenue? And all those revenues that NIMASA has collected where are they? What did they do with the revenues?”

Amaechi stressed that the essence of setting up the committee was to see how the government could reposition NIMASA to perform its responsibility to the benefit of Nigerians.

“There has to be a change in NIMASA. The change shouldn’t be only in the Ministry of Transportation, it should also be in NIMASA. The way things are in NIMASA is such that people don’t even go to work,” he stated.

The Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit has found discrepancies in the payroll of the Federal Governmment’s Ministries, Agencies and Departments to the tune of N5.7 billion monthly.

The Head of the Continuous Audit Team, Mohammed Dikwa, made this known in an interview with journalists on Friday in Kano on the sideline of the two-day National Revenue Retreat, organised by the Ministry of Finance.

He said the amount was the true state of their findings as at June 30, 2016, and as a result the federal government had been saved from paying that amount monthly.

President Buhari had set up the Continuous Audit Team to look into the finance of Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

This is meant to address issue of ghost workers, over payment of allowances, fraud and embezzlement in MDAs.

“The Continuous Audit Team plans to conduct regular checks on the control and risk assessment of MDAs. We look at the records that are being kept to ensure transparency and accountability of the financial transactions carried over time.

“In terms of ghost workers, we have found about 43,000 ghost workers so far and as at May 30, we had N4.2 billion that is saved on a monthly basis.

“But as at June, 30, we were able to make more recoveries of N2.2 billion which has led to an additional savings of N6.4 billion monthly,” he said.

Mr. Dikwa said more savings would be made when the team succeeds in capturing all the Federal Govenment’s MDA into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

“The IPPIS platform is only having 20 per cent of the MDAs of the Federal Government on board. This means that about 80 per cent of MDAs are still outside the IPPIS platform.

“And it is important that they are all captured because our system of approach in conducting the continuous audit is automated.

“We get those on the IPPIS platform and match them with their Bank Verification Numbers and see who is collecting two salaries at the same time.

“We also check if there is any money being paid into individual accounts that is way above what he or she should be getting as allowances and salaries,” he said.

Mr. Dikwa said the team had a long way to go as it had only covered 20 per cent of its workload.

He said that all suspected cases of ghost workers and other acts were being forwarded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to ensure recoveries.

Mr. Dikwa said also that the team had succeeded in reducing the personnel cost of the federal government from N150 billion monthly in January, to N142 billion per month as at June 2016.

“This drastic reduction in personnel cost will continue as the Continuous Audit Team maintains its continuous visitations to all MDAs.

“It is expected that by Dec 31, over N100 billion will be reduced from the budgeted personnel cost of the 2016 year.

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A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has adjourned hearing into the case of alleged forgery of the Senate's Standing Rule levelled against the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, and two others.

Justice Haliru Yusuf adjourned hearing in the case to September 28.

Messrs Saraki, Ekweremadu, a former Clerk of the National Assembly, Salisu Maikasuwa and his deputy, Benedict Efeturi, were accused of illegally altering the Senate's Standing Rule used in electing them into office in June 2015.

They were arraigned before Justice Yusuf on June 27, but they pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.



The court granted them bail shortly after, and ordered that they provide sureties with properties in Asokoro, Garki, Wuse and Maitama areas of Abuja.

The trial was to continue on Monday, but the court registrar, Victor Ifeachor, told the court that the case had been adjourned till September 28 following the ongoing vacation of Federal Capital Territory High Court which began on Monday, July 11.

All four accused persons were present at the court for the hearing but left almost immediately.

Stanbic IBTC Bank says it is collaborating with Google to train youths and Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) operators in Nigeria on digital skills.

A statement issued by the bank on Saturday said that the collaboration would facilitate capacity-building for SMEs in the country, adding that beneficiaries would be trained on skills and value of digital marketing.

It said that the training would also help entrepreneurs to strengthen their businesses and support digital education initiatives geared toward job creation.

“By organising the capacity building sessions in different parts of the country, the partners hope to build critical mass of businesses through increased adoption of digital technology and enhance their contributions to economic development,’’ it said.

The bank added that the programme scheduled to kick-off in Lagos and Kaduna on July 19, would also hold in seven other states across the country.
It said that the initiative aimed to digitally empower no fewer than 1,000 SMEs operators in one year.

The statement quoted Mr Obinna Ukachukwu, Head, SME Banking, Stanbic IBTC, as saying that digital technology on empowering youth and stimulating growth of SMEs was imperative for diversification.

Ukachukwu said that the bank had embarked on several capacity-building initiatives in various sectors of the economy, including transport and logistics, trade and finance “to support individuals and businesses’’.

He pointed out that SME was pivotal to economic growth of any nation, and that Nigeria should not be an exception.

He stated that the bank’s collaboration with Google would expose the youth and SME operators to modern and innovative marketing, financial and management skills, using digital technology.

This, according to him, will help them to achieve successes in their endeavours.

“We are quite pleased to partner with Google on this strategic initiative.

“Our ultimate goal is to cause, in the long- term, an exponential growth in the digital technology space, knowing that this is the path to the future, with the youth and SMEs as the main anchors,” he stated.

Mrs Bunmi Banjo, Head of Digital Education, Google Africa, according to the statement, said that the company was happy to collaborate with Stanbic IBTC to provide free digital training to local entrepreneurs.

“With over 97 million online subscribers, Nigeria continues to be one of the highest online populations in the world, and this presents big opportunities for the small and medium business sector.

“We believe that when these SMEs have the right digital skills, they can better leverage the Internet to grow their businesses, create more jobs and boost economic growth in Nigeria,’’ Banjo said.

She added that the collaboration entailed further training focus on general digital skills for proprietors of SMEs, who were between 18 years and 35 years of age.

According to her, the curriculum would address such issues as e-payment and online banking, using digital platforms to grow businesses and hiring and retaining third parties.

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**
Noted, Olatunjiomotayo

HungerBAD:
Their Strike dont bother me.

I have learned to Convert Water into Petroleum.

HaneefahRN:


Yes it's her choice.
But I wonder why serial cheats marry. Why not remain single and Bleep around as you wish. People talk like women are robots with no feelings, I can bet it most men can't cope with such betrayal, but she is expected to suck it up and deal with the pain. And there is no assurance the man will ever change. If she doesn't detach her self emotionally from him, she will keep living a miserable life forming 'Mrs'.

HaneefahRN:



Someone sleeping wt two shameless close friends of hers!
? It's those kind of men that sleep with their wife's sister if she is shameless enough. I don't know about anyone else, I can never forgive such, the mere sight of him will continuosly irritate me

HaneefahRN:



Personally I think she needs the harsh decisions now. It's still early before she carry belle and gets tied down. The man is obviously a dog in human clothing before he graduates to her sisters. Unless she can cope with a shameless cheat sha.

MizMyColi:
[s][/s]

But how can you be giving this type of advice na, General?

Did they perform plastic surgery on your brain?