ONE month after Policy Shapers, a policy advocacy group, sent a data-driven report to the UK Home Office to exempt Nigerian citizens from taking the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) tests, the Home office has replied via an “automatic” email.

The UK Home Office responded to a 15-page policy brief by Ebenezar Wikina, founder of Policy Shapers, who demanded that the Home Office add Nigeria to its list of countries exempted from taking IELTS.

“Thank you for contacting the Simplification Of the Rules Taskforce, SORT. Please note that this inbox is for the administration and secretariat of the Simplification Of the Rules Committee only.

However, the UK Home Office had replied to the group’s enquiries about reforming its IELTS policy for Nigerians with the same email address on January 26, and October last year.

Foreign universities demand the IELTS as a requirement for admitting international students, with IELTS application fees being expensive and more than double the minimum wage in Nigeria at an average of N90,000.

In January, the Home Office said there was no public evidence to prove that Nigeria had over 50 per cent speakers of the English Language to be included in its Majority English Speaking Country (MESC) list.

“To be included on the Majority English Speaking Country (MESC) list, we must have evidence that most people in the country (more than half) speak English as a first language,” the UK Home Office said.

The UK Home Office does not officially recognise 27 Anglophone countries in Africa as English speaking countries.

Using the hashtag #ReformIELTSPolicy, a petition initiated by the group in January and addressed to Secretary of the UK Home Office Priti Patel has garnered over 72,000 signatures.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/ielts-uk-home-office-responds-to-call-to-exempt-nigerians-from-proficiency-test/

A Lagos-based couple, Zaram Ezima and her husband Henry Nwadike, are currently in trouble over an investment scam allegedly running into millions of Naira.

The couple runs a business investment platform, Zari Club, where investors put in money and expect to earn a monthly return on investment (ROI).

Since 2020, the funds which the couple received have vanished. Zaram, the business coordinator, also went into hiding, investors who spoke to The ICIR noted.

They also noted Zaram could no longer be reached on the phone. Her number, 0809 455 – – – – appears to have been ‘forwarded’ to another number. This makes it difficult for callers to reach her.

Two of the victims who volunteered information to The ICIR on the scam said they invested N300,000 and N100,000 each.

Checks by our reporter revealed that the majority of the investors are females. The investors are largely based in Nigeria, and a few live abroad.

Zaram was said to have vanished in 2020 without committing the funds into the businesses she agreed with the investors.

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Our reporter learnt that she had agreed to import pharmaceuticals and textiles to sell for profit. She was to also use part of the money to purchase vehicles for transportation services.

According to some of the investors who shared their experiences with The ICIR, each investor was to get a five per cent profit of the amount they put into the business monthly, on the condition they would not demand for the money they put into the business for at least a year.

Many investors said Zaram exited the social media platform (Whatsapp group), where Zaram interacted with the investors two years back but kept her husband there.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/zari-club-lagos-couple-in-trouble-over-multi-million-naira-investment-scam/

THE recent increase in the price of air travel in Nigeria may put the lives of more Nigerians at risk of kidnapping, armed robbery and accidents on the road.

Two weeks ago, airlines in Nigeria increased their airfares to N50,000 per trip for local travellers across the country.

On March 9, five airlines, Dana Air, Air Peace, Arik Air, Ibom Air and United Nigeria Airlines were forced to delay flights due to scarcity of aviation fuel.

The Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, on behalf of the Airline Operators Association of Nigeria (AOAN), said on Monday that the hike in airfares was caused by scarcity of aviation fuel.

Onyeama warned that airfare could increase to N100,000 for a single trip. This is over 60 per cent above the Nigerian minimum wage.

Many middle-class Nigerians may be unable to travel by road due to the increase in the price of air travel tickets within the country.

There are indications that the increase will force many Nigerians to travel by road.

In recent times, many Nigerian highways have recorded several cases of armed robbery, kidnapping and abduction, as well as fatal road accidents.

Major roads like the Abuja-Kaduna, Abuja-Lokoja and Benin-Auchi highways are hotspots for kidnapping, abduction and armed robbery.

Also, the rate of fatal road accidents in Nigeria has increased in recent years. The ICIR had reported that in 2019, 5,483 persons died from road crashes, while 5,574 died in 2020. The number of deaths from road accidents rose to 6,205 in 2021.

A Security Risk Management and Intelligence Specialist Kabiru Adamu told The ICIR that the increase in airfares would force more people to travel by road.

“Definitely, insecurity is a function of frequency; if more people are travelling on the road, their vulnerability to road-related risks will increase.

“There are several road-related risks, starting from road accidents, highway robbery, kidnapping, ambush by armed gunmen, armed robbers and others. So that will definitely happen. If before now five people are travelling by the road and all of a sudden, 5,000 people start travelling, their vulnerability increases,” Adamu told The ICIR.

Another security expert, Ademola Lawal, said the hike in the cost of air tickets will lead to increased insecurity because people who cannot afford the new prices will begin to travel by road.

Lawal said Nigerian roads are unsafe, a situation which, according to him, will put more Nigerians’ lives at risk.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/insecurity-how-increase-in-airfares-could-put-more-nigerians-at-risk/

THE second part of the investigation continues to examine the claims of the Presidency Office of Digital Engagement (PODE) on critical infrastructure projects in South-East Nigeria.

ON September 7, 2021, the PODE published what it called ‘a compendium of President Buhari’s ongoing and completed infrastructure projects in South-East Nigeria.’

The list was released two days before Buhari’s visit to Imo State, one of the five states of South-East Nigeria.

You can read the first part here.

The PODE claimed that the Buhari administration was rehabilitating sections 1 and 2 of Abakiliki-Afikpo Road. The ICIR reporter travelled through this road and confirmed that work was going on.

According to information obtained from the website of the Ministry of Works and from online sources, the work is handled by several contractors, including Uniglobe, Builettine, CCEC, and Kemmasphere Realty Company.

Findings showed that work was going on at Abomegga, Abakiliki, Amuzu and Igboruma axes when The ICIR visited the site, but it was found that Afikpo and Amasiobi areas were wearing off.

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However, the Ebonyi State government lays claim on the project. In 2017, President Buhari flew into Ebonyi State and commissioned a 14.5 Kilometer Abakaliki-Afikpo Road, which is exactly the project the Federal Government claims to be rehabilitating. In Nigeria, federal roads are handled by the Federal Government while state roads are repaired or built by the state or subnational governments.

It, therefore, means that neither can claim projects done by the other.

The ICIR sent the Freedom of Information (FOI) letter to the Federal Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola on January 25, 2022, regarding the status of this project and why it was so. Still, he did not reply to questions posed by the organisation more than one month after.

One of the workers on-site, nevertheless, told The ICIR that the project embarked upon by the state government was a smaller part of the contract being executed by the Federal Government.

The PODE also named the rehabilitation of sections 1, 2 and 3 of Owerri-Umuahia Road among the projects executed by the Muhammadu Buhari administration in the South-East region. This road connects Umuahia, the capital of Abia State, to Owerri, the Imo State capital, through Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area.

According to information on the Federal Ministry of Works website, the project is handled by Zerock Construction Nigeria Limited.

The reporter did not see any contractor on-site when he travelled through this road in December 2021. The Umuahia section of the road was tarred, but Ubowo to Ahiara in Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government did not look rehabilitated. Residents said they saw contractors in 2019 working at Nguru, Aboh Mbaize Local Government Area, but one of them concluded that the company did a shoddy job. The reporter saw several potholes along the Mbaise axis.

“Well, you can see the state of the road now. We need to start taking infrastructure projects seriously in Nigeria if we want to change the poor state of our nation,” Ugo Amanze, a secondary school teacher from Mbaise, said.

The PODE also listed the rehabilitation of Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Road as one of the activities of the Buhari administration in the region. The road links Okigwe in Imo State from Traffic Light in Nnewi, Anambra State.

The reporter travelled through this road but did not see any contractor or road rehabilitation equipment. Residents, however, testified that a contractor rehabilitated the Nnewi part of the road in 2020.

But there was no evidence that the road was rehabilitated in any way, as potholes dotted the Nnewi North Local Government axis and several other parts of the road.

“It was a poorly executed project,” a resident of Nnewi, Daniel, said.

The Ozubulu portion of this road wore a bad look, and two residents dismissed the question when the reporter asked them whether work was done on that axis by a Federal Government contractor or not.

“You journalists are the problems of this country,” retorted one of them, Anyanwu Josephine, a native of Ozubulu.

“Does it look like a project was done on this road?” she asked, scurrying away.

The PODE cited ‘more than 60 federal road and bridge projects’ being executed in South-East by the Buhari administration. Simple checks showed that the presidential office repeated exactly the claims made by Lai Mohammed in 2018, which were fact-checked here.

All the roads listed by PODE in the new claims had earlier been named in Mohammed’s claims.

The ICIR travelled through all of those roads again to ascertain whether they had been rehabilitated. One of such roads was Olokoro-Alaukwu-Itaja-Okwu-Obuohia-Ikwuano Road, contracted to Abia Rhas in 2010. The contract was awarded at N990.673 million, according to information on the Federal Ministry of Works website.

Findings showed that this project was started and completed by the immediate past government of Goodluck Jonathan. It was not ongoing and was not done by the Buhari government, which makes the claim misleading.

Next was the Olokoro-Isiala-Oboro-Nnono Road Junction Road. This road was awarded to Abia Bok Company at N515.315 million by the immediate past government of Goodluck Jonathan. Residents said it was completed in 2013, meaning that the Buhari administration neither awarded it nor was it ongoing when the reporter visited it. Also, Umuahia-Ahiakwu-Amangwo Road was started and completed by Jonathan, and not Buhari.

“This road was done by the last administration. It was completed around 2014. It has nothing to do with Buhari,” 71-year-old Thadeaus Ohima, who is a native of Umuahia, told The ICIR.

Next is the Umuna-Ndiagu-Agba Umuna-Ebenebe-Amasi Awka Express Road with Spur from Umuna – Ndiagu. The Amansea section of this road was supposed to be constructed by Conduc Nigeria Limited, the contractor listed by the Federal Ministry of Works, but this was not the case.

Part of the Ebenebe town was rehabilitated, but work stopped mid-way. The road from Ebenebe to Umuna was abandoned, so it was not ongoing as claimed by PODE.

“We have suffered on this road, but it gets worse during the rainy season. People can tell you anything they want, but the truth is that this road has been abandoned for many years -even before 2015 when Buhari came to power,” Sunday Ede, who hails from Amansea, told The ICIR.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/nigerian-presidency-repeats-lies-half-truths-on-infrastructure-projects-in-south-east-part-2/

TIME, they say, is money. But in Nigeria, where over 70 million of the population live below the poverty line, citizens are devoting more time searching for fuel due to a biting scarcity that has lingered for weeks.

Caught again in the throes of fuel scarcity, queues have returned to filling stations across Nigeria, and its price has surged in many areas.

Motorists are forced to spend hours in the sweltering heat, waiting in line for fuel, thereby losing man-hours ordinarily spent working.

Forty-one-year Chinedu Okeke is a bike man who transports passengers along the streets of Lugbe to eke out a living.

Okeke requires at least five litres of petrol to run his business daily. But in recent weeks, fueling his bike has become an arduous task owing to the current scarcity of fuel in Nigeria. He told The ICIR that he now spends the better part of his work hours at filling stations.

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Ariaria Market: Failed power project forces Aba shoemakers to spend millions on powering generators (part 3)

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“Sometimes I get to the filling station in the morning, and spend about five hours there. Before I get fuel, people have already left the streets, so there is little time left to work and I am making less money,” he said.

The current scarcity is attributed to about 100 million litres of contaminated fuel imported into the country by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its allied firms.

Volumes of fuel were recalled from the market, which resulted in reduction in the quantity of petrol in circulation.

Before the scarcity, Okeke had been earned an average of N3500 every day. But the loss of valuable time to fuel queues has resulted in decline in his income. He is concerned that if the scarcity persists for much longer, he may find it difficult to pay his house rent, which expires in two months.

In early February, the NNPC had promised that petrol would become available again within a short while, but the situation has only worsened with the scarcity entering its sixth week.

Fuel queues still stretch for miles away from filling stations, resulting in congestion on the roads and frustrating transporters and commuters.

Some transporters have devised other strategies to cope with the declining income caused by the scarcity.

For Baba Abdulwasiu, a taxi driver who plies the Life-Camp-Wuse axis in Abuja, the scarcity has led to extra hours of work to make up for time spent on fuel queues.

“Before, I used to go home with N6,000- N6,500 after buying fuel in a day. Now, we waste so much time at the filing stations. One can stay there a whole day without working. So I have to work till night to make that same amount,” he said.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/recurring-fuel-scarcity-cripples-businesses-endangers-lives/

In this third series of the Federal Government’s Energizing Economies Initiative (EEI), Olugbenga Adanikin, who earlier reported on the project status in Sabon Gari market, Kano, and the Iponri market in Lagos, also discovered that the project failed in the Ariaria International Market, Abia State. Initiated in 2017, the FG championed the private-sector-driven project meant to provide steady, cheap, and efficient off-grid power for micro, small, and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs). But four years down the line, over 32, 000 shops in the Ariaria market remain unpowered, still rely on generators.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q0VpUIHx6M

When President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the Ariaria market off-grid power project in January 2019, it was amidst glamour and great expectations.

The project developed by the Ariaria Market Energy Solutions Limited (AMESL), Aba, Abia State, was meant to achieve two major goals: support micro, small, and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) with cheap, efficient power and also help achieve Nigeria’s climate ambition.

It is significantly among several market clusters piloted for the Energizing Economies Initiative (EEI) of the Federal Government (FG).

With about 37, 000 shops comprising 90 zones, the Ariaria International Market is described as one of the largest in West Africa. Each zone has close to 300 shops. So, it can be considered a huge cluster.

Due to its trade volume estimated at about N144 billion, the market is often recognised as the China of Africa. This is not to mention the shoe-making cluster and leather business at the powerline section.

And so, the expectation was simple. With such project, executed through the FG’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA), traders were to begin to enjoy cheap, steady, and efficient clean energy, thereby improving Nigeria’s Ease of Doing Business which stood at 53.4 point in 2019 and 56.9 in 2020.

“These shops are presently receiving constant, clean, and metered electricity with the remaining shops expected to be connected this year,” said REA’s former Managing Director Damilola Ogunbiyi, at the project commissioning in 2019.

But the reverse is the case.

Thousands of shops are still heavily dependent on generators and grid power. And this is similar to earlier findings in Kano and Lagos states.

Shoemaking artisans spend over N1 billion annually on power, lament exclusion
Just by the Ariaria market is the entrance to ‘Powerline,’ the shoemaking cluster. At the industrial cluster, you are welcomed by the deafening sound of generators.

The striking feature of the market is that it comprises artisans who solely manufacture footwear for domestic use and export to the West African countries. Unfortunately, the shoe cluster was excluded from the EEI project.

In Aba, traders troop in from Cameroun, Gabon, Abidjan, and other neighbouring nations for the locally manufactured Aba-made shoes.4

The exports indirectly contribute to the local economy, the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), and the nation’s economic growth. Little wonder traders have continued to demand inclusion in the power intervention.

Field findings show that shoe artisans spend as high as N8, 000 monthly to power their generators, aside from monthly bills from the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC).

While revealing the challenges confronting his members, President of Powerline Shoe Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Ikechukwunwa David says there are over 70, 000 shoe artisans battling with energy problems in Aba. David manages at least 5, 000 of them within the powerline cluster.

David assumes that considering the association’s contribution to the economy, the EEI should have been extended to the shoe manufacturing line. But, that was not the reality.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/ariaria-market-failed-power-project-forces-aba-shoemakers-to-spend-over-n480m-on-powering-generators-part-3/

THE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested suspects aboard Ethiopian Airlines over drug-related matters five times in the past six weeks.

In a case in which the NDLEA and the Nigerian Police clashed, the Police claimed it arrested suspected drug dealers, namely, Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus, at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, Enugu State, on January 19.

The suspects were arrested while arriving from Addis Ababa aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET917.

The Police said that the arrest led to the recovery of a substantial quantity of powdery substance suspected to be cocaine from the two suspects.

The NDLEA accused the embattled former head of the Police Intelligence Response Team Abba Kyari of being a member of the drug syndicate. Kyari, wanted by the FBI, is standing trial in the Nigerian court over the drugs accusation.

In a statement signed by its Director of Media and Advocacy Femi Babafemi on February 27, the agency said its anti-narcotics officers seized 649,300 capsules of Tramadol 225mg weighing 460.95kg at the Skyway Aviation Handling Company cargo warehouse of the Lagos Airport.

The NDLEA arrested one Nwadu Ekene Christian in connection with the seizure.

Christian allegedly imported the drug from Pakistan via Addis Ababa through Ethiopian Airlines on Wednesday, February 16.

The NDLEA through another statement on March 13 said its operatives arrested the General Overseer of Christ Living Hope Church Ugochukwu Emmanuel for carrying 54 sticks of drugs.

The agency arrested the preacher at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, last Monday.

Pastor Emmanuel was on his way to a crusade in Nairobi, Kenya, according to the agency.

Similarly, in the statement, the agency said it apprehended another passenger Nnakeanyi Chukwuka King, who arrived at the Lagos Airport on an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil, via Addis Ababa.

The NDLEA said it intercepted the suspect during the inward clearance of passengers at the E-Arrival Hall of the airport.

“During a search of his luggage, forty (40) parcels of Cocaine concealed inside bottles of body cream with a gross weight of 9.70kg were recovered from the suspect,” the NDLEA said.

Another suspect arrested on Ethiopian Airlines was one Edo Blessing.

On Wednesday, March 9, Blessing was arrested on an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Italy with 2,090 Tramadol 225mg and Flunitrazepam tablets.

The ICIR reporter contacted the Media Consultant for the Airline Ikechi Uko on Sunday evening for a reaction to the findings.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/ndlea-has-arrested-suspected-drug-dealers-aboard-ethiopian-airlines-five-times-in-six-weeks/

RAUFU Kareem took a loan from AddMoney, an app owned by Rock Financials Limited listed on the Google Play Store.

While his loan application was being reviewed, Kareem changed his mind. He e-mailed the loan firm to stop the application, and the company promised to address the issue.

The next day, Kareem was credited by the loan firm, leaving him confused since he had requested a cancellation of the loan offer.

Kareem was desperate to pay back the loan, so he visited the firm’s office address on its website to rectify the issue. But his finding was shocking.

Rock Financials Limited says on its website that its address is located on the second-floor building of No 13 King George V Road, Victoria Island in Lagos State. When he got to the building, other occupants and the property caretaker confirmed to him that Rock Financials had never rented a space in the building.

The ICIR found out the firm operates two other lending apps, AimLoan and AnyLoan, on the Google Play Store, with the same non-existing address.

Checks by The ICIR show that Rock Financials is legally registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) but is unauthorised to lend money to borrowers in the country.

And the firm lists another address, No 3 Ijaiye Road, Ogba, Lagos, on its CAC registration details.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) did not approve the firm as a licensed financial company or microfinance bank to undertake financial operations based on its list of approved finance firms.

Nigerian laws guiding money lending include the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act ( BOFIA) and state lending laws.

States have different laws regulating money lending services but require that money lenders be licensed before operating in their domains.

As soon as Kareem informed his debt officer that his firm’s office location was fake, the company stopped taking his calls and threatened him to pay his loan or face the consequences.

“They have been calling my contacts to force me to pay up interests on a loan I didn’t ask, saying the interest rate would get to N1,000 per day if I don’t comply,” he told The ICIR.

The ICIR reached out to the management of Rock Financials Limited to know why the firm advertises a non-existent office on its website.

The firm failed to respond to e-mails, calls and WhatsApp messages sent to their phone lines.

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However, these loan offers have taken far more from their victims than they give. Some operate online as digital nomads without offices, like Rock Financials, breaching Nigeria’s financial regulations.

Outrageous interests, deception tricks
While Nigerians have been quick to embrace digital loan apps, their interests are at sky-high rates.

Loan apps listed on the Google Play Store offering short-term loans are mandated by Google policy rules to give borrowers no fewer than 60 days from the date of issue to repay any loan.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/illegal-loan-apps-ignore-nigerias-cyber-laws-continue-to-shame-customers/

WOMEN have made significant progress with their entry into all ranks of the Nigerian judiciary.

Though they still represent the minority, Nigerian female judges have recorded achievements, occupying even the highest leadership positions in the field.

March 10 marks the International Day of Women Judges, which seeks to promote the full and equal participation of women at all levels of the judiciary, to celebrate the progress that has been made and raise awareness about the challenges ahead, says the United Nations. This is the first annual celebration.

In 2012, Nigeria swore in her first Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, who served till 2014, when she attained the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Judges and police are the highest bribe takers in Nigeria, NBS study reveals

At the time of her appointment, there had been only three female justices of the Supreme Court, a figure that has now increased to five out of seventeen.

The Court of Appeal also boasts of 22 female judges out of 84, with a woman Monica Bolna’an Dongban-Mensem presiding over it, while the Federal High Court has 26 women out of 74.

The margin between both genders in the field remains wide.

Mukhtar remains the only female out of seventeen CJNs in Nigeria’s history.

However, based on the current system of succession by seniority, a female judge, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, may be appointed by the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC) to succeed the incumbent CJN Tanko Muhammad upon his retirement in 2023.

While Supreme Court Justice Mary Odili occupies a more senior position than Kekere-Ekun, she would have attained the mandatory retirement age at the end of Muhammad’s tenure.

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Women have also dominated the Lagos state judiciary.

Since 1995, when Rosaline Omotosho emerged as the first female Chief Judge in Lagos, six others have occupied the position in the state, with only women serving in that capacity between 2009-2019.

Despite the many achievements by female judges in Nigeria, a major stumbling block in attaining leadership positions in the judiciary is the statelessness confronted by Nigerian women upon marriage.

Many women who transfer service to their husbands’ states after marriage often get petitioned upon recommendation, on the basis of states of origin, regardless of years of service.

One of such cases occurred in 2012, when High Court Judge, Ifeoma Jumbo-Ofo, was recommended for the position of Justice of the Court of Appeal in Abia state.

https://www.icirnigeria.org/how-marriage-affects-the-rise-of-female-judges/

THE Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has created a new directorate for politics.

In a memo addressed to all regions, provinces, zones and other levels of the church, the mission said the directorate was established to help its members who are interested in contesting for political offices.

The church addressed the memo with reference number RCCG/AGO/ADM/AA.MEMO/20/01/2022, and dated February 28, through its Assistant General Overseer (Admin/Personnel) Pastor J. F. Odesola.

According to the mission, Timothy Olaniyan, a Pastor in Charge of Province (PICP) Lagos Province 12, will lead the office.

RCCG's memo on the new Directorate for Politics

Part of the circular reads, "We write to formally notify you that the mission authority has created the Office of Directorate of Politics and Governance in the RCCG. Further to this, Pastor Timothy Olaniyan (PICP Lagos Province 12) has been appointed to lead the office.

"You are kindly requested to appoint with immediate effect a Provincial Officer for your province and also ensure that the same is done at all levels of the church - zone, area and parish. The essence of this directorate is to help coordinate the engagement of our people who are willing to be involved in politics as well as mobilize support for them when required."

The church demanded that its regions and provinces send the details of its nominated coordinators for the office to the Office of the Assistant General Overseer (Admin/Personnel) of the mission.

The RCCG has one of the largest congregants in Nigeria.

The country's Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, a leader in the church, has been rumoured to be vying for the presidency.

The wife of a stalwart of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Remi Tinubu, a serving senator, is also a pastor in the church.

Her husband, Bola Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor and a Muslim has declared interest in becoming the next president.

Nigerians will elect a new president in February 2023 who will take over from the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, whose term ends on May 29.

The RCCG general overseer Enock Adeboye celebrated his 80th birthday on March 2. The mission also clocked 70 years this month.

The RCCG is in about 200 countries worldwide.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/2023-rccg-creates-new-directorate-for-politics/

THE Point of sale transaction (POS), also known as agent banking, has proven to be a huge relief to many Nigerians.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) officially introduced the POS system in 2013 to achieve financial inclusion and develop a cashless economy.

For many Nigerians, the POS is convenient, time-saving and life-saving. Before its advent, Nigerians used to queue up in the banking hall for hours to withdraw money or carry out transactions. But this is no longer the case.

Many Nigerians are involved in the POS business, raking in thousands and millions of naira daily, supporting their families and friends from proceeds from the business.

Data show business is good
Data obtained from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) show that in 2018, the total PoS transaction was N2.3 trillion from 285.9 million transactions.

In 2019, it increased to 438.61 million transactions with a total value of N3. 21 trillion. In 2020, transactions rose by 49.51 per cent to 655.75 million, with the total value rising to N4.73 trillion.

Further findings also showed that POS transactions carried out in the first eight months of 2021 stood at N4.06 trillion, representing a 45 per cent increase compared to N2.81 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2020.

According to the data, POS transactions hit its highest levels for any eight-month period, increasing by 44.8 per cent and 108 per cent, compared to N2.81 trillion and N1.96 trillion recorded in the similar period of 2020 and 2019 respectively.

Similarly, the volume of POS transactions recorded between January and August 2021 stood at 619.3 million, increasing by 61.8 per cent, compared to 382.9 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2020. It is worth noting that a total of 686,577 POS terminals were deployed nationwide as of August 2021, representing an 84.4 per cent increase from 372,333 recorded in the same period of 2020.

The value of POS transactions in the country for the month of August 2021 stood at N504.88 billion, lower than N554.67 billion recorded in the previous month, while it rose marginally compared to N503.91 billion carried out in June 2021.

Also, the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) data show there were about 307,000 POS machines in Nigeria as of March 2021, but only 167,000 were active.

“This shows that a lot of transactions are done through these channels,” said a market analyst, Ike Ibeabuchi.

“It is big business and it creates jobs for many who would have been in the streets today.”

Operators share experience
The POS operators said there was money in the business, but not without downsides.

Some of the operators who spoke to the ICIR said the operating banks had pegged the amount to be charged (which is small), meaning that an operator could not charge above that.

They noted that being in a strategic spot for the business could multiply the profits.

Findings show there are parties involved in sharing the 0.5 per cent fee statutorily charged on each N1000 transaction. The 0.5 per cent is the Central Bank of Nigeria’s stipulated charge per N1000.

The 0.5 per cent is shared by several entities. The first is the issuer of the card who earns 30 per cent. Next is the acquirer who earns 7.5 per cent and the payment terminal service provider who earns 25 per cent.

Also, the POS agent who interfaces with the clients charge slightly above 0.5 per cent so that he/she can earn and sustain his/ her business.

Further findings show that stamp duties are also paid for transactions above N10, 000. However, when operators perform transactions below N10, 000, stamp duty is not charged.

Ify Okorommadu, who spoke to our correspondent on the development, said understanding the business and possible risks associated with it would save operators a lot of resources.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/fraudsters-dent-nigerias-billion-naira-pos-business/

FIVE Nigerian airlines have announced their intention to disrupt domestic passenger flights due to the scarcity of aviation fuel.

In separate statements, the airlines - Dana Air, Air Peace, Arik Air, Ibom Air and United Nigeria Airlines - stated the fuel presently sells for an average of N600 per litre.

Arik Air, in an email statement titled, 'Scarcity of Jet A1' and issued on March 9, said the fuel problem was having a serious impact on its operations, causing most of its flights for March 8 to be delayed.

The statement read, "Nigerian airlines are currently experiencing an acute scarcity of Jet Al, otherwise known as jet fuel, and this situation is having a serious impact on our operations. The commodity is not readily available across the country, and where available, it goes for between N590 and N625 per litre.

"On Tuesday, March 8, 2022, we had to delay most of our flights across the network, while a few others were cancelled. There is no certainty as to what the situation will be in the coming days."

Similarly, Air Peace, earlier on Wednesday, complained of the same problem, and informed passengers of possible flight disruptions.

The airline said, "Air Peace and other Nigerian airlines, have, for a while now, been facing the challenge of jet fuel scarcity. We have pushed so far to minimise the effect of the situation on our esteemed passengers' travel plans to date.

"But, unfortunately, the fuel scarcity is starting to seriously impact our operations as we are likely going to experience flight disruptions today and in the coming days until the situation abates."

Dana Air, Ibom Air and United Nigeria Airlines offered apologies in their various statements as they also attributed flight delays and cancellations to the scarcity of fuel.

Dana cancels Abuja flight

Checks on Wednesday by The ICIR on Flightradar24, a global flight tracking service, showed that Dana Air cancelled a 9J 357 flight bound for Abuja by 5:55 pm.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/dana-air-peace-arik-two-others-delay-flights-over-scarcity-of-aviation-fuel/

NEW data from the World Poverty Clock on Tuesday revealed that over 70 million Nigerians are currently living in extreme poverty.

The figure represents about 33 per cent of the nation’s estimated population put at 215,353,968. It accounts for less than 50 per cent of the entire population figure.

The exact statistics of those living in extreme poverty, according to the World Poverty Clock was pegged at 70,677, 758 at a poverty threshold of $1.90.

The World Poverty Clock is an initiative of the World Data Lab. It provides real-time projections on income levels and pictorial descriptions of how every individual across the globe is escaping from extreme poverty through deliberate policies of respective nations across the world.

t indirectly helps monitor the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations set at 2030.

The situation of being in extreme poverty is often considered the most severe type of poverty. It is also described as abject poverty, deep poverty, absolute poverty, and in some cases penury.

Extreme poverty, according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Inclusion is “a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education, and information.

“It depends not only on income but also on access to services.”

The World Bank uses a similar benchmark of $1.90 per day per person to measure people who are living on the global extreme poverty line.

Some of the indices also include access to clean water and good health care system, which Nigeria lack.

For instance, in November 2021, the country was ranked first globally in open defecation.

Earlier, in September same year, the Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited disclosed how Nigeria had maintained its position as the poverty capital of the world.

Some of the challenges confronting the country, according to several experts, include inflation, unemployment, insecurity, corruption, infrastructure deficit etc.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/over-70-million-nigerians-currently-living-in-extreme-poverty/

ADENIYI Adebayo, 31, moved from Nigeria to Europe to obtain an international master’s degree in Dance and Choreography after winning an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship in 2016.

The scholarship programme allowed him to get a joint master’s degree from four universities in four different countries within two years.

The 31-year-old graduate of Theatre Arts from the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) wrote the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) in 2017 to prove that he could speak English as a part of the eligibility criteria for admission into his preferred schools.

At the time, the IELTS exams cost him 236 euros. Adeniyi got an overall band score of 7.5 in writing, listening, speaking and reading which was valid for two years.

The IELTS is an English language proficiency test for non-native English speakers. The IELTS is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP Education Limited, and Cambridge Assessment English.

By September 15, 2018, Adeniyi had earned his master’s degree from the University of Roehampton in London, the University of Szeged in Hungary, Université Clermont Auvergne in France and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Norway.

He had also written several peer-reviewed research articles published in globally recognised journals when submitting his dissertations for his master’s degree.

While completing a second master’s degree in Dance Anthropology from NTNU in 2021, Adeniyi followed up with a joint application for a PhD at Coventry University, London, in the UK, and Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.

His application was rejected in both schools because the IELTS test he took in 2017 was considered ‘too old’ and both graduate schools required him to take another IELTS test.

In an email, Coventry University said his graduation from Roehampton University, London, was more than two years old, which meant he had to take a new IELTS test or get his PhD application withdrawn.

Adeniyi asked for a waiver from the tests since he had a master’s degree from a UK university, proving he was taught in English. He attached letters of support from his professors at NTNU and the University of Roehampton, London, to help convince the admissions board.

Professors Stefan Greuter and Luke Heemsbergen at Deakin University wrote to Adeniyi saying they didn’t make the rules on application procedures to exempt him “no matter his background or experience” if he could not take a new IELTS examination.

In February, Coventry and Deakin universities dismissed his PhD application when he could not provide a new IELTS test.

Deakin University is a joint shareholder with majority stake, alongside 37 Australian universities in IDP Education Limited, which offers IELTS tests to applicants across the world.

The UK Home office in October 2021 had mandated UK schools and organisations to evaluate international students without IELTS if they could provide evidence of higher qualification in English from an education in a UK school or had met the requirement at the required level in a previous successful application.

On its website, Coventry University says it accepts alternative requirements like WAEC certificates for undergraduate and postgraduate students from Africa without IELTS. However, they still asked Adeniyi for an English language test.

Deakin University offers a five-week course called Deakin University English Language Institute (DUELI) for international students who are not proficient in English but did not offer Adeniyi the chance to take the course.

Despite Adeniyi’s proof of the English requirement of higher education from a UK university, both universities denied him admission.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/company-formed-by-38-australian-universities-rakes-in-millions-from-ielts-as-nigerians-groan/

Last week, videos of Bola Tinubu, a major contender for Nigeria’s presidency in the 2023 general elections, emerged, showing his hands shaking repeatedly.

Many people who saw the video raised concerns over the fitness of the 69-year-old to lead the nation. His age has been a subject of discourse.

Tinubu is a stalwart of the governing All Progressives Party (APC).

Declaring his plan to contest for the nation’s President recently, the ‘Jagaban’, as his supporters fondly call him, admitted that he was a kingmaker who wanted to be king.

He said getting the presidency was his lifelong ambition.

Prior to this, a video had trended on social media alleging the former governor of Lagos State peed on his cloth while visiting prominent monarchs in Ogun State for endorsement for the highest office in the country; his support group refuted the claim and said his detractors were behind it.

What makes human limbs’ other parts shake repeatedly?
The US-based John Hopkins Medicine identifies essential tremor (ET) as one of the conditions that could make human hands shake.

It says ET is a neurological condition that causes one’s hands to shake rhythmically.

According to the organisation, the condition could involve the head, trunk and voice shaking alongside the hand, but the hand’s shaking is most prominent.

The cause is unknown, but it is genetic.

Another US-based website focusing on tremors notes that ET affects an estimated 10 million people in the US and 41 million people worldwide.

“Probably the most widely known person with ET is former President Bill Clinton,” says the website.

The WebMD is also based in the US and runs a health information website. Its team works closely with over 100 doctors and health experts across various speciality areas.

The platform provides information on 14 conditions that could lead to the human hand’s vibration: Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Overactive Thyroid (Hyperthyroidism), Pheochromocytoma, Liver Disorders, and Brain Disorders.

Others are too much caffeine, alcohol withdrawal, lack of sleep, low blood sugar, stress, side effects of certain medications, smoking, and lack of vitamin B12.

Parkinson’s Disease

The UK’s National Health Services defines Parkinson’s Disease as a condition in which parts of the brain become progressively damaged over many years.

The NHS states that the disease manifests in the form of involuntary shaking of particular parts of the body (tremor), slow movement, and stiff muscles.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

The US National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health notes that Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system whereby the body’s immune system attacks myelin, which coats nerve cells.

Symptoms of MS include muscle weakness (often in the hands and legs), tingling and burning sensations, numbness, chronic pain, coordination and balance problems, fatigue, vision problems, and difficulty with bladder control. According to the organisation, people with MS may feel depressed and have trouble thinking clearly.

Overactive Thyroid (Hyperthyroidism)

WebMD says shaky hands may be a sign of hyperthyroidism. “This means your thyroid gland is working too hard and kicking your heart rate into high gear. You may also notice that you lose weight without trying, are sensitive to light, get a fast heartbeat, and have trouble sleeping. A simple blood test will help you and your doctor (will) figure out what’s going on.”

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/tinubu-illnesses-associated-with-shaking-hands/

FMC Jalingo has fewer than 15 consultants, can’t offer some services – MD

THE 20-year-old Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Jalingo, Taraba State, currently has fewer than 15 consultants in its workforce and cannot render certain services, the facility’s Medical Director, Aisha Adamu, has revealed.

Adamu said the hospital had at least 30 departments and other units.

The immediate past president of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria, Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, told The ICIR that tertiary hospitals like the Jalingo FMC should have at least three consultants in each department to guarantee effective service delivery.

Last year, three consultants who worked in critical departments left the facility. They were in anaesthesia, intensive care unit (paediatrics) and family medicine departments.

The federal government had just equipped the intensive care and the anaesthetic sections of the hospital. But the consultants abandoned them and headed for Saudi Arabia.

Four other doctors also left the hospital recently to pick jobs abroad.

Consultants are expert health professionals who support hospitals’ operational efficiency. They help in policy formulation, implementation, training of less-experienced staff and general administration of health facilities.

Conducting some procedures and using some equipment largely depend on their expertise.

Our reporter found out from the facility’s staff that other cadres of professionals who got jobs abroad resigned from the hospital, and more are willing to go.

Consequently, there are essential services that the hospital cannot render.

It lacks specialists to interpret some of its tests, and there are types of equipment that it does not have the human resources to handle.

“We don’t have the specialists to interpret some of those things. We have a well-equipped ICU, but we don’t have the resident and anaesthetic (to manage it),” Adamu, the medical director, said.

She noted that replacing workers who leave the hospital does not come easy.

“You have to go through some processes. You have to go through the Federal Ministry of Health to the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, the Budget Office, Federal Character Commission before you get a replacement. That will take a year. That is the process we are in now to make sure that we replace a lot of them.”

The hospital complements its inadequate consultants with visiting specialists who come around for about a week and leave.

Footing their hotel bills remains a challenge for the hospital’s management.

Checks by our reporter showed that the nearest tertiary hospital to the Jalingo FMC is the FMC Yola, Adamawa State.

The FMC in Yola is more equipped and has more specialists.

Suppose the Jalingo FMC makes any referral to the FMC Yola; it will take the patient over four hours to get to the facility because the Jalingo-Yola Road is very dilapidated.

There is a distance of approximately 150 kilometres between the two towns, which should be less than a two-hour drive if the road is good.

Background to the story

In response to COVID-19 and the state of low preparedness for the pandemic in Nigeria in 2020, corporate organisations and individuals donated billions of Naira to purchase equipment and revamp the nation’s health sector.

Nigeria, which recorded its first case of the disease on February 27, went on to lock down some states on March 30, as infections from the virus soared nationwide.

Among other measures, President Muhammadu Buhari constituted the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and approved emergency procurements of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical measures to combat the pandemic.

The bulk of the country’s spending on the disease was from the Nigeria Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) Relief Fund, donated by corporate organisations and individuals.

As of June 2020, 181 corporate organisations and individuals had contributed N30.2 billion to the fund.

At the end of the year, the government spent N38.59 billion from it, part of which was N49.65 billion (N49,652,400.00) approved for the Jalingo FMC for emergency procurement of medical equipment.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/fmc-jalingo-has-less-than-15-consultants-cant-offer-some-services-md/

NIGERIANS who have indicated interest to fight on the side of Ukraine in the ongoing war between the eastern European country and Russia have explained why they want to join the Ukrainian forces.

For some of them, the interest is not driven by altruism, rather the motivation is to escape the existential problems of living in Nigeria.

One of the volunteers who spoke to The ICIR on Thursday, was Adikwu Monday, an ex-soldier with the Nigerian Army number 96NA/41/2808.

Adikwu, a father of six children said he is willing to ply his trade in Ukraine because he needed money to take care of his family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBxwVaqGkOI

“I want to go to Ukraine because I am a military man. I fought in Liberia. I fought in Sierra Leone. I was part of the 33 Battalion. I was trained by Ukrainian soldiers when I was in the United Nations in Kosovo on know how to shoot and drive APC tanks. I can drive it very well.

“So, when I heard about Ukraine and the way people are trooping in. I don’t have anything. I am a fighter. They said they will pay us so I am ready to fight so that I can get paid and take care of my family. I will also bring glory to the name of Nigeria as a worthy ambassador.”

According to him, he was dismissed from the Nigerian Army for leaving his duty post to visit his pregnant wife without permission.

Adikwu said he is a soldier, and is never afraid of war or the Russians.

“I am not scared. It was David that killed Goliath with only a tool. So, I believe my going to Ukraine will give them [Ukranainians] victory.”

His colleague, Commando, described himself as a good land fighter while he was in the Nigerian Army and had fought in several war zones like Sudan and Pakistan.

“I want to go to Ukraine because my country does not value my skill and capacity. The Nigerian government does not have use for me any longer. “

Similarly, Nkem Ndueche, a native of Anambra State, said he was at the Ukrainian embassy to pick up the volunteer form.

Ndueche said he was fluent in Russian having attended a Russian military academy in 2007 and was willing to fight on the side of Ukraine.

Ndueche said he was ready to leave Nigeria immediately if given a visa to fight in Ukraine. Asked whether he had sought the opinion of his wife, he said his wife would not approve of his decision but he was willing to travel nonetheless for the sake of honour.

The ICIR saw a couple of Nigerian students who also were at the embassy seeking to be volunteer fighters. They declined to comment.

The volunteer fighters were however disappointed that the embassy required them to show evidence of paying $1000 for tickets.

“They said we should provide evidence of military experience, passports and $1,000 for tickets and others. When I asked what the salary is, the man at the gate first said $7,000 and later changed it to $3,300 per month.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian envoy in Nigeria Bohdan Soltys has said the Ukrainian would not be able to pay for the ticket of the volunteers because that will be tantamount to the violation of international law.

“If a person wants to fight for Ukraine or any other country, only volunteers can do it. If Ukraine pays these people, they will be mercenaries and it violates international law… In general, when a person joins another country’s army, they pay the normal price that their soldiers are paid. This is how it works across the world. You come to fight because an injustice has been done,” he told The ICIR.

According to Rule 108 of the International Humanitarian Law as defined in Additional Protocol I, mercenaries do not have the right to combatant or prisoner-of-war status. They may not be convicted or sentenced without a previous trial.

Soltys said the volunteers from Nigeria can only fly to border countries like Poland or Hungary, and they would need visas because there is no direct flight to Ukraine. He added that he paid $1000 himself the last time he visited Ukraine.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/why-we-volunteer-to-fight-in-ukraine/

AKWA Ibom State Government is in the works to secretly obtain a N150 billion loan, TheMail Newspaper can authoritatively report.

The planned multi-billion naira loan our government house sources confided would be obtained under the cloak of ” other exceptional income: 13 per cent derivation revenue arrears”.

Our Sources revealed that the State Government is about to use for the third time the $2.258 billion refund judgment to Akwa Ibom State as a guarantee to acquire a commercial bank loan without the public being in the know.

Checks into the standing order of the House reveal that the House of Assembly had tinkered with her standing orders thus making for loan requests from the Governor to be considered outside public glare. Loan requests from the executive usually meet the State Assembly in the form of a message from the Governor.

Although the new standing order is yet to be printed and put to use fully, our sources at the State Assembly say the House leadership would rely on the amended standing order of the House to accede to the Governor’s request.

The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly in December 2020 had passed on the floor of the House an amended standing order that makes provision for any message of the Governor to be considered at the executive section of the State Assembly if the legislators deem fit.

The standing order before the December 2020 amendment under Order 2 rule 2 (1) of the House tagged as ” Message from Governor” notes ” The Speaker shall immediately after prayer or as soon as any member has taken the Oath of Allegiance read to the House any message addressed to the House by the Governor”.

However, in the amended version which created sub-rule (4)  the standing order reads that a message from the Governor can be deliberated during an executive session if the House of Assembly deems fit. ” A message from the Governor can be deliberated at the executive session if the members deem it fit and proper to be so considered in exceptional circumstances”.

TheMail has gathered that some members of the leadership of the House of Assembly in a meeting recently with the Governor consented that they would authorise the loan secretly so far their political interest in the 2023 election is protected and they also get a bite of the dark loan. Yet, it was agreed that this particular loan approval would not be discussed on the floor of the house else it would spark public outcry.

Yet, checks by TheMail Newspaper into 2022 approved budget shows that if the State Assembly gives the N150 billion approval of the loan under ” Other Exceptional Income: 13 per cent derivation revenue arrears”, they would be engaging in extra-budgetary acquisition as N15 billion is the budgeted revenue expectation of this revenue source.

Nonetheless, last year, the State had acquired N171.2 billion on this subhead despite having an N61.10 billion approved budget on the revenue item.

It was only in September 2021 after receiving the funds that the state revised its expected revenue on this budget item from N61.10 billion to N193 billion. Our sources disclosed that a revised budget is expected after the loan is drawn down.

The reason for this loan, our sources who are privy to the plans confided, is to be used to run the 2023 elections and also enable the governor to have an upper hand in the payment of delegates to ensure his succession plan flies.

Interestingly, this is not the first time the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel would be acquiring loans secretly and under the mask of a 13 per cent derivation refund.

This action which has gradually become a dark trend in the State dates back to July 2021.

Background into the Multi-Billion Loan Opening

It could be recalled that in a string of Federal High Court judgments in 2021, the Federal Government had been ordered to pay $2.258 billion  to Akwa Ibom State, $1.638 billion to the Delta State, $1.114 billion to Rivers State, and $951m to Bayelsa State, as share of recalculated oil derivation revenue in line with Section 16(1) of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract (PSC) Act which obligates the federal government to adjust the share of the Federation in the additional revenue if the price of crude oil at any time it exceeds $20 per barrel.

Akwa Ibom State’s share of $2.258 billion is N926.9 billion at the 2021 third-quarter exchange rate of N410.5/$US.

From the exceptional income expected, Governor Udom Emmanuel’s administration had deeper and surprising plans.

The N184.05 billion obtained Under false Cover

Instead of waiting like the other three states of the Niger Delta which the judgment covered, Governor Udom Emmanuel devised a means to tap into the expected billions of naira even without receiving payments directly from the federal government.

That strategy was to use the judgment as a guarantee to obtain secret loans from commercial banks. Our sources revealed that the loan deal was struck with a bank.  However, the reporter could not independently verify the information on the bank the state struck the deal with.

Yet, one of our sources mentioned that the Governor is using the strategy so that his administration can enjoy part of the refunds since he envisages that the tranches of payments of the refunds may not come in the life of his administration. Our Source also explained that GovernorEmmanuel was the brain behind the court case against the Federal Government hence the reason he is poised on drawing down the funds during his administration.

Although in November 2021, Policy Alert, a Civil Society Organisation promoting economic and ecological justice in the Niger Delta relying on the 2021 third-quarter budget implementation report of Akwa Ibom State had burst open the first can of worms that the Akwa Ibom State Government had secretly received N171.2 billion 13 per cent derivation refund, investigations reveal that the real source of the money was a commercial bank loan which the State government used the 13 per cent derivation judgment as a guarantee and a front in its financial statements.

Policy Alert had queried the strange silence from the executive even after the enormous amount had landed the State coffers stressing that it was a red flag ” This leaves a huge gap on transparency. We were disappointed that the Governor’s 2022 budget speech was silent on this development when he reviewed the performance of the 2021 budget”.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/the-untold-story-of-how-akwa-ibom-acquired-n184bn-secret-loan-targets-fresh-n150bn-loan/

ON September 7, 2021, the Presidency Office of Digital Engagement (PODE) published what it called ‘a compendium of President Buhari’s ongoing and completed infrastructure projects in South-East Nigeria.’

The list was released two days before Buhari’s visit to Imo State, one of the five states of South-East Nigeria.

It was a strategy targeted at convincing the people of the region that the current government of Buhari, which they had accused severally of marginalising them, was committing humongous public resources to building and rehabilitating their decrepit infrastructures.

On-the-ground checks, however, showed that PODE lied on the status of some of the projects and told half-truths on a few others.

It rehashed some of the lies and half-truths told by Minister of Information Lai Mohammed in 2018 that were debunked here and here, making reference to “more than 60 ongoing federal road and bridge projects across the five states of the region…” already fact-checked by the reporter.

The presidential office listed some of the projects as “the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Construction of Ihiala-Orlu Road in Isseke Town-Amafuo-Ulli with Spur (Ihiala-Orlu-Umuduru Section) in Anambra State, Rehabilitation of Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Road Route Section II: Anambra/Imo States Border-Ibinta-Okigwe Road; and Construction of Oseakwa Bridge in Anambra State.”

Other projects listed by PODE were: “Rehabilitation of Old Enugu – Port Harcourt Road (Agbogugu-Abia Border Spur to Mmaku); Rehabilitation of Nsukka-Obollo-Ikem-Ehamufu-Nkalagu Road in Enugu State; Rehabilitation of Owerri-Umuahia Road Sections I, II & III Imo/Abia States; Rehabilitation of Oba-Nnewi-Okigwe Road Section II: Anambra/Imo States Border-Ibinta-Okigwe Road; Rehabilitation of Bende – Arochukwu – Ohafia Road Section I in Abia State; Rehabilitation of Abakaliki-Afikpo Road Sections I and II in Ebonyi State, among others.”

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The source of the projects listed by PODE was traced to this link. The list came from the Ministry of Information and Culture but was placed on the website of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

Difference between Mohammed’s and PODE’s claims
Mohammed’s claims in 2018 did not include water projects. PODE added some water and dam projects it claimed were completed in the South-East region by the current government. It also listed some power and MSME projects, which were not part of Mohammed’s claims three years ago.

Commencement of the investigation
The reporter picked 27 projects at random – out of over 70 projects listed by PODE – for investigation. Many of the projects investigated were previously listed by Mohammed and rehashed by PODE as either ongoing or completed.

The reporter visited all the water projects, except one. The 27 projects investigated cut across the five states of the South-East region, which are Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia and Anambra states. The investigation was done in December 2021 – three months after the claims were made.

The uncompleted water projects
The first project visited by the reporter was Inyishi Regional Water Supply Project, situated in Imo State. PODE claimed that this project had been completed, but there was no sign that any work had ever been done on it when the reporter visited. It was still stagnant water, making it unsafe for drinking or household use.

Normally, a scheme like Inyishi Regional Water Supply Project should provide a source of water for the community, but villagers said it was only good for washing cars and motorcycles. There was no signpost signalling commencement or completion of the project, nor was there any piece of equipment found there.

The water is surrounded by thick green grass, creating the foreboding that it could be a habitation for scorpions and cobras.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/nigerian-presidency-repeats-lies-half-truths-on-infrastructure-projects-in-south-east-part-1/

THE Embassy of Ukraine in Abuja – at Plot 894, Olu Awotesu Street, Jabi District in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) – is usually a busy office where prospective travellers, mostly Nigerian students wishing to study in Ukrainian universities, converge to seek visas.

But the embassy was deserted on February 28, about four days after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in line with a ‘special military operation’ of President Vladimir Putin.

It was a totally different scenario at the Russian embassy in Abuja on the same day – February 28 – as scores of students and other travellers were seen at the consular section waiting to submit travel documents or undergo scheduled interviews for trips to Russia.

Deserted and quiet at the Ukraine embassy
There was not a single visa-seeking student or businessman in sight when The ICIR visited the Ukrainian embassy in the afternoon on February 28.

A row of seats, positioned at the front of the embassy, is where visitors who are on visa appointment usually wait before they are admitted into the main building.

The seats were empty at the time The ICIR visited, between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm.

Only a single policeman, who was clutching a gun, was seen at a security post by the entrance of the embassy.

The policeman did not identify himself and refused to respond to The ICIR’s enquiries concerning the state of affairs at the embassy.

His voice sounded dismissive, particularly when he was asked to direct the journalist to embassy officials who could respond to enquiries.

“There is nobody here who can attend to your questions. The embassy staff are not around,” the policeman said in a voice that sounded impatient and aggressive, while he stared at the ID card brandished by The ICIR’s correspondent.

Ukraine is thousands of miles away and there is no indication that Russia would target the Ukrainian embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, but the policeman appeared wary and on the edge. His hand kept straying to the trigger of the gun.

At some shopping plazas around the embassy, people who spoke to The ICIR disclosed that the daily traffic at the Ukrainian embassy had ceased since the war broke out.

“Before now, you would see so many students around here, looking for visas to travel to Ukraine. Sometimes they were so many that even the seats in the waiting area in front of the embassy would not be enough for them,” a POS operator in the street, who simply identified herself as Jane, said.

The ICIR could not independently confirm whether staff of the embassy were at work at the time of the visit. But there was no indication that the place was open for normal business.

The embassy was very calm and appeared deserted.

Despite ongoing war, at Russian embassy, Nigerian students queue up for visas to Russia

Things were markedly different at the Russian embassy in Abuja, on Plot 1119 Constitution Avenue, in the Central Business District.

Judging from the size, structure and location of the Russian and Ukrainian embassies in Abuja, there was no doubt that Russia was the bigger country.

While the Ukrainian embassy is a moderate two-storey building on a busy street in Jabi, a largely residential area in Abuja, the Russian embassy building is a modern, imposing edifice located in one of Abuja’s most highbrow neighborhoods – the Central Area, also referred to as Central Business District.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/war-contrasting-fortunes-of-russian-and-ukrainian-embassies-in-abuja/

AS the Russia-Ukraine tension escalated into a full-scale war on Thursday after President Vladimir Putin launched a “military operation” targeting airports and military installations in Ukraine’s major cities, here are 10 things you need to know:

Russia fell out with Ukraine after the former Soviet state started approaching the European Union and wants guarantee that Ukraine will not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a defensive alliance of 30 countries.

Ukraine shares borders with both the EU and Russia, but as a former Soviet republic it has deep social and cultural ties with Russia, and Russian is widely spoken there.

As Ukraine is geographically divided between Europe and Russia, so are the people of Ukraine divided into two poles, as pro-Russian and pro-Western.

Minsk Agreements were signed in 2014 and 2015 to stop the ongoing conflict between the pro-Russian separatists and the Kyiv administration. However, the agreements’ implementation has been hampered as the two sides accused one another of mutually violating the cease-fire.

After weeks of tension, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally recognized two pro-Russia rebel states in Eastern Ukraine on February 21, ordering Russian troops into the region and warning of a “bloodbath” if Ukraine resists the move.

On Wednesday February 23, Ukraine’s parliament overwhelmingly approved a state of emergency for 30 days starting Thursday, with the Ukrainian government announcing compulsory military service for all men of fighting age.

Russian forces launched multiple air, land and sea attacks on Ukraine’s soil Thursday that has resulted in both military and civilian casualties, as western leaders condemned the move and announced severe sanctions on Russia.

Europe relies on Russia for 40 per cent of its natural gas.

UEFA is set to move the Champions League final originally due to take place in Saint Petersburg’s Krestovsky Stadium on May 28, in reaction to Russia’s offensive against Ukraine.

There are over 4000 Nigerian students in Ukraine, many of whom are stranded and confused.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/russia-ukraine-conflict-10-things-you-need-to-know/

IN Nigeria, kidnapping has grown into a multi-million naira industry; kidnappers often tagged ‘bandits’ are increasing and claiming territories. The crime is gaining more prominence due to the millions of naira exchanged for ransoms to kidnappers.

At the same time, their activities are not adequately investigated by the authorities. In this report, The ICIR’s Lukman Abolade tracks some of the ransoms paid in Sokoto, Niger and Kaduna states and government response.

Around 1 a.m., under the shelter of the pre-dawn sky, six men armed with AK-47 rifles surrounded the home of Bawa Yusuf.

Yusuf is a 70-year-old local farmer in Danjiru village of Goronyo local government, Sokoto state that sits some 60 kilometres away from the state’s capital.

On that Wednesday, July 7 2021, the armed men forced the front door open, gained entrance into the compound and found Yusuf, where he sat with his co-tenant.

“I was lying down in the room with my wife when I saw flashlights. It was past midnight. They asked me to come along, as my time is up. I said if that’s God’s will. We left for the forest. On our way, my wife stumbled and fell. She couldn’t move. She attempted to get up but couldn’t. She was gripped with fear,” Yusuf said.

He noted that she was later killed.

From his village in Danjiru, Yusuf said his hands were tied, and the kidnappers took him to Kunawa, another town in the state.

After five days of negotiations, Yusuf’s children agreed to pay one million naira for his release.

“We kept going until we got to Kunawa; that’s where they took me. We stayed for five days until my children paid one million naira, and they freed me,” Yusuf said as he narrated his ordeal in the custody of the kidnappers.

When he got back home, Yusuf thought he was finally free; but not long after, the kidnappers abducted him again. Yusuf said he was kidnapped by the same group that initially kidnapped him.

” They had covered our eyes, but when they wanted to collect the ransom, they opened it; I think that place is Maalaba,” he said.

He told The ICIR that his first son, Rabiu and their village Chief sourced another one million naira to pay the kidnappers.

Yusuf’s family had sold all their properties to get him released; they had now relocated to a makeshift Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Goronyo when The ICIR met him.

He said he was kidnapped for the second time because his children were able to pay the initial ransom in five days.

Kidnap victims are left in a dilemma as to whether to pay a ransom or not; when ransoms are paid, they live in fear of being kidnapped again, but when it is not paid, they face the possibility of being killed.

In the same local government, Kabiru Gurinya, the head of Goronyo local government community vigilante and 16 other members of his group were on midnight patrol.

The community had set up a local vigilante group following incidents of kidnappings in their village.

Gurinya said on Sunday, October 13, the group sat at the village centre with their local rifles when they heard gunshots in their direction.

“We saw 5 AK rifles, and they started shooting at us. Among the 17 of us, they killed two people, Alhaji Kabiru Umar and Alhaji Musa Kilani,” Gurinya said.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/tracking-the-ransom-how-multi-million-naira-kidnapping-industry-is-growing-in-northern-nigeria/

JULIANA FRANCIS continues with the investigation on how Police Personnel truncate sexual violation cases that have to do with children, causing trauma, injustice. The first instalment can be read here.

I’m innocent of all allegations, says Wisdom
Wisdom, however, denied all the allegations levelled against him by Philip. He said that his only offence was assisting the widow after Philip accused her during a family meeting of being responsible for her husband’s death and demanded she should take an oath.

The prophet stated that [the older daughter] decided to lie against him because he flogged her for being wayward and returning late from school.

He said: “God knows I’m innocent and I’m following God’s instructions. There’s nothing hidden under the sun that can be hidden forever. Everything is happening because I flogged [the older daughter]. [The younger daughter] had already said it was a lie that Philip told her to lie. A clear conscience fears no accusation. Philip wanted to take the house from the widow and he had also tried to sell the house.”

Wisdom recounted that on a particular Friday, the girls’ mother called him twice, worried that [the older daughter] had not returned from school, while closing time was 1pm. She eventually returned at past 3pm.

He said: “By then she was no longer living with me. When she returned, I brought out a cane and asked her to tell us where she went. She mentioned going out with a guy and then mentioned a nurse and abortion pills. It was at that point that her mother got angry and doused her with pepper. She ran to her uncle, who coached her on what to say. Even the police at Ikotun Police Station knew the truth. I didn’t give the police any money. I have gone to Femi Falana Chambers and I know what he told me; he wanted to take up the case. My lawyer has sent details to him. People believe that men of God can’t pursue justice. If I do what Falana suggested…. But as Christians, these are some of the things we need to undergo. People are now using rape and defilement accusations to fight others. At least 75 per cent of people accused are innocent. Philip should bear it in mind that the wicked will never go unpunished.”

When our reporter asked why the case has not been charged to court, the Lagos State Police spokesman, Ajisebutu, said: “The suspect’s health deteriorated, hence he was granted bail on health grounds while investigation is ongoing. The case will be charged to court after the conclusion of the investigation.”

IPO Rebecca Jacob accused of changing charge
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There’s also the story of Ijeoma, who dragged her husband, Emmanuel, to the police after she discovered he made their nine and six-year-old daughters handle his manhood.

She said: “It was in 2020 that eldest daugther complained that her daddy used to touch her bumbum (buttocks), telling her that it was getting big. While Favour was telling me this, the youngest said yes, that was why they didn’t like playing with him. The youngest also said that he used to show them his bumbum and his front and that he would remove his towel.”

Ijeoma said that when she confronted her husband, Emmanuel he said that he was just playing with the children. She recollected how her husband used to insist on sleeping with the eldest daughter with her back to his front.

“I had to move {eldest daughter] to the ground to be sleeping with [the youngest daughter] and I.

Another day, I was in the kitchen, the way the apartment is partitioned, you can be in the kitchen and see what is happening through the door curtain. I saw him remove his towel, he was turgid and I saw Rejoice grabbing his manhood, I screamed and rushed in. I flogged Rejoice mercilessly that day, but if I could, it was him I should have flogged. He didn’t stop and the children continued to tell me.”

She finally reported the matter to Esther Child Rights Foundation. The case was taken to Human Rights Desk, Alabo Police Station and then transferred to Gender Unit, Police Command, Ikeja.

“Police asked me if there was penetration, I told them that I didn’t know because the children didn’t tell me anything like that. The police asked me what I wanted; I told them to charge the matter to court. They are my children and I have to protect them. I don’t want them to ask me questions in the future,” said Ijeoma.

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The distraught woman said that she knew there was trouble when the IPO, Rebecca Jacob, asked her if she had pictorial or video evidence of the act, and furthermore, if there was any eyewitness to prove that Emmanuel was culpable of the allegation. After that, the situation worsened.

Ogwu takes over the story: “On December 1 when they got to the station, the IPO, Rebecca, asked Ijeoma to go and raise money for COVID-19 test. I don’t know when or why a complainant has to pay for COVID-19 test. That’s why the matter was not charged to court. They said that she should also get N2,000 to beg the prison warders. I don’t understand why the warder should be begged. Ijeoma doesn’t even have money.”

The case was finally charged to Samuel Ilori Court on December 21.

“When the case was called, we were shocked that Rebecca Jacob, rather than present defilement, presented physical abuse. She also didn’t go to court with the medical report from Mirabel Centre. She told the magistrate that it was a minor case. We had to tell the magistrate that it was a case of defilement of two daughters by their father,” said Ogwu.

Ogwu explained that before the commencement of the court, Rebecca had mentioned that the accused, Emmanuel, tested positive to COVID-19, that they had started giving him drugs, and that after two weeks, they might have to go for another test and that the police wouldn’t be able to continue detaining him.

She said: “It was our organisation that paid for the COVID-19 test for the accused. I told her that we needed to carry out our own personal test in order to prove the authenticity of the result. When we asked for the result, she didn’t say anything. My heart bleeds for these children and their mum. I don’t know why police want to bury a case of defilement and turn it to physical abuse. The Police had the result from Mirabel Centre, but they didn’t present it to the court. Rebecca said that she didn’t bring it because she was not sure it was the children’s father that violated them, that it could be neighbours or at school, that there was no pictorial or video evidence of the father defiling his daughters. It has reached the point we no longer trust the police. God knows how many cases have been buried this way!”

Our reporter attempted to speak with Emmanuel, who is still in police custody, but the attempt was rebuffed by Ajisebutu, the Lagos State Police spokesman.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/for-bribes-police-truncate-defilement-rape-cases-deny-victims-justice-part-two/

Nigerian laws stipulate that cases that have to do with Sex and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) should be charged to court, but the police, who are the first responders to such cases, through their actions and inactions, deprive survivors’ justice, JULIANA FRANCIS reports. Here is the first part of the series.

Policewoman facilitates suspect’s escape
A widow, Mrs. Salisu, has been waiting for justice for three years. The wait appears to be going along the pattern of the classical absurd theatre play of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot.’

Salisu’s 16-year-old daughter was raped in 2019 by their married neighbour, Raymond Makinde, in his late 40s. Raymond is a father of four. Salisu is yet to overcome the anger and shock of how the case was truncated by a policewoman she identified as Tina.

Salisu said she didn’t know Tina’s surname or rank, but the woman was serving at Elere Police Station, Agege, Lagos State, when the incident happened. Salisu was overwhelmed with sadness as she narrated the incident.

Because she needed to work extra hard to cater for her children, she took to trading. In November of 2019, she noticed all was not well with her youngest daughter. The girl was given to bouts of crying and refused to speak about her grief. Salisu also noticed that whenever she left home for the market, Raymond was always lurking around the compound, as well as when she returned home. Salisu said: “I didn’t know he was monitoring my movement. One night, my daughter woke me up, saying she would kill herself if we didn’t move out of the compound. I was disturbed.”

One day, Salisu got home and saw Raymond at the front of the compound, when she got to her apartment, which was behind the building in the ‘face-me-I-face-you’ (a multi-room) compound, she found her daughter weeping.

She said: “I immediately rushed to the front of the compound and rained curses. I noticed that Raymond swiftly moved away.”

Raymond eventually confessed, perhaps for fear of Salisu’s daily curses. When Salisu queried her daughter, the girl confirmed it.

Salisu added: “He had raped her twice in the bathroom at knifepoint. He usually monitored her; whenever the compound was lonely, he would go after her. On the first day he raped her; she defecated on her body and lost consciousness. After Raymond confessed in the presence of his wife, he pleaded with me not to tell anyone or else he would kill me.”

She reported the matter at Elere Police Station, where the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) was Tina. Tina asked for N10,000 for the medical examination at Mirabel Centre; though the centre doesn’t charge fee from rape survivors. Salisu gave N7,000, promising to give a balance of N3,000 to Tina.

Salisu began to suspect foul play when she noticed that Tina and Raymond were always whispering and laughing at the station. Later, Tina allegedly told Salisu and her daughter to ‘settle’ with Raymond.

Salisu recollected: “Tina told my daughter to see the case as a ‘business deal’ and that she would now be making money for her mother, that Raymond would ‘settle well.’ She told us she just concluded a case, where the rapist had to buy a sewing machine for the victim, and the case was settled. She reminded me that I was a widow, struggling with money, that now money had finally ‘located’ me. She said that my daughter was not too young to be having sex with men.”

When Salisu insisted on justice, Tina insulted her.

“She advised me to go and buy antibiotics for my daughter. When I asked for the refund of my N7,000, she said she had used it,” recalled Salisu.

The widow recollected that when her late husband’s brother came to the police station, Tina cornered and told him that, “Raymond and my daughter had been lovers for long, and that I had been collecting money from him. Tina told him that it was because Raymond refused to give me money for a new wrapper that I accused him of rape. My brother-in-law didn’t ask for my side of the story; he just left the police station. I now went to a human rights activist, Esther Child Rights Foundation.”

The Executive Director of the Foundation, Mrs. Esther Ogwu, said that she demanded a refund of the N7,000 from Tina. She also insisted that the necessary papers should be provided so that the survivor could go to Mirabel Centre for medical examination.

Salisu recollected: “I was walking past Raymond’s window when I heard his wife on the phone telling someone that Tina said she wouldn’t go ‘below N200,000.’ Earlier, Tina had told me that she would show me that she had been a policewoman for over 20 years. She said that it was only when I saw the suspect in court, that I would demand justice.”

The case was charged to Samuel Ilori Court, Ogba, Lagos State. Before they went to court, Tina collected N10,000 from Salisu to charge the case to court.

“After that, she disappeared from the court premises. Hours later, the court asked us to go and return the following day, that Tina had not registered the case. Tina came later and promised that she and the suspect would be in court the following day. She asked us to get to the court by 7am. The following day, she didn’t come to court until 11am,” Salisu explained.

The widow said that while they were waiting and watching, Tina and Raymond arrived on a motorcycle. Salisu alleged that Tina slowed her movement, allowing Raymond to fall behind.

Raymond suddenly bolted, jumped onto the same motorcycle that brought them, and the cyclist zoomed off.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/for-filthy-lucre-police-truncate-defilement-rape-cases-deny-victims-justice-part-one/

AIR Peace, Dana Air and Max Air have been cited as airlines that recorded the most delayed flights at Nigerian airports in the year 2021.

According to the 2021 annual report on international and domestic flight operations provided by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and forwarded to our correspondent, a total of 74,537 flights were operated on domestic routes, while 9,675 flights were operated on international routes. The data revealed that 41,328 flights were cancelled in 2021 on domestic routes, representing 55 per cent of such flights.

Air Peace recorded the highest number of flights, which was 17,861, as well as the most number of delayed flights, 9,908. Dana Air came second with a total number of 8,183 flights and 5,227 delayed flights. Max Air followed with 8,607 operated flights and 5,212 delayed flights, while Arik Air operated 9,024 flights but experienced 5,171 delays.

United Nigeria Airlines operated 6,408 flights, with 4,065 flight delays. Aero Contractors operated 6,973 flights, with 3,766 flights delays; while Ibom Air operated 9,551 flights, with 2,502 delayed flights.

Similarly, Azman Air operated 3,921 flights, with 2,494 flight delays but Overland Airways operated 2,917 flights, with 2,441 delays, while Green Africa operated 1,092 flights, with 542 of the flights delayed.

All 10 of these airlines suffered 542 cancellations in the previous year, with Aero Contractors having 157; Air Peace, 126; and Max Air, 74.

Owing to the general backlash over its operations, Air Peace has been issuing daily flight updates this month, highlighting its daily setbacks. Most of the updates on social media, signed by its management, have blamed flight delays and cancellations on low visibility, fuel scarcity and operational concerns from its principal, the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

For instance, the airline, on Tuesday, February 15, 2021, blamed the delays of the Lagos-Port Harcourt, Lagos- Abuja, Lagos-Asaba and return trips on Lagos-Douala routes on the scarcity of aviation fuel, commonly known as JET A1.

This is not unconnected with the recent fuel queues in many parts of the country and the current spike in aviation fuel to N400 per litre, according to the Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines Obiora Okonkwo, in a recent interview.

Okonkwo warned that Jet A1 cost might even rise to N500 per litre before March 2022, saying there would be adjustments in the ticket price to bridge the cost, “otherwise the aviation industry will collapse.”

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/air-peace-max-air-others-top-nigerias-2021-delayed-cancelled-flights/

VICE President Yemi Osinbajo’s outrider, Ali Gomina, died in March 2020. He died in accident while on Osinbajo’s convoy. A few weeks to the second anniversary, The ICIR reporter, Marcus Fatunmole visited Gomina’s village, Gui which is along airport road in Abuja and captured how his death affected the community.

BULUS Jessica is one of the students of Government Junior Secondary School, (JSS) Gui. She walks from her house, located a few metres from her school, to class.

Two years earlier, Jessica would have needed to trek for at least 10 kilometres to Gbese or Gosa to attend secondary School.

Gui had a single public primary school built in 1976. The community leaders made pleas to get a secondary school with no success.

After waiting for decades, respite came the village’s way on March 14, 2020, when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo paid a condolence visit to the community.

Osinbajo had on March 13 lost his outrider, Ali Gomina, to an accident while enroute Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. Gomina was on Osinbajo’s convoy to the airport. The accident halted the journey to Lagos. The next day the Vice President paid a condolence visit to Gomina’s family at Gui community.

The District Head of the village, Alhassan Yusuf, who was a teacher told The ICIR that he used the opportunity of Osinbajo’s visit to inform him of the community’s needs, especially the pleas with the government for a junior secondary school.

This time around they got a response. Not only a junior secondary but a senior secondary was also approved.

The school also came with two blocks of staff quarters, while the deceased family got a three-bedroom flat.

The community leader said the Vice President sent his entourage to Gui a day after his visit with some engineers to meet him to provide a site for the buildings.

The contract which was awarded through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals to Messrs Ernies Logistic Services Ltd was completed within a few weeks.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/how-the-death-of-osinbajos-outrider-changed-abuja-community/

MANUFACTURERS are taking a long position about Nigeria and pumping billions of naira to leverage opportunities in the economy.

They are overlooking poor policies of Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, investing in critical industries where there are huge supply gaps.

While many of them are investing in raw materials sourcing, also known as backward integration, others are pumping billions in new production lines.

PZ Wilmar, a subsidiary of PZ Cussons, has acquired 26,500 hectares of palm oil plantations in Cross River State. About 5,549 hectares of oil palm plantation are located in Calaro Estate, while 2,369 hectares are situated in an area known as Calaro Extension. The firm also has Ibiae plantations with 5,595 hectares; Ibad plantations in Akampa with 7,805 hectares; Kwa Falls in Akampa Akpabuyo with 2,014 hectares, and Oban plantations, also in Akampa, with 2,986 hectares.

PZ Wilmar has completed two palm oil processing plants in the Calaro Estate and one in Lagos.

Nigeria has a palm oil supply gap of 800,000 metric tonnes and PZ Wilmar and other players are eyeing a large chunk of the market.

Managing Director of PZ Wilmar Santosh Pillai told this reporter that PZ Wilmar had invested $150 million in palm oil plantations in Cross River State and was committed to pumping more money in the economy.

Presco, another palm oil maker, told this reporter recently that it had invested N75 billion to bolster the industry.

Okomu and Presco, two largest palm oil makers, recorded a revenue increase of 67 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2021.

Their revenue was N45.09 billion, from N26.98 billion in 2020. The profit rose from N8.4 billion in the first half of 2020 to N19.7 billion in the year under review.

Housing…
Nigeria has an infrastructure deficit and a housing shortages of over 18 million units annually.

Cement makers are leveraging the situation, investing heavily to tap the opportunity. BUA Cement’s revenue rose from N209.4 billion in 2020 full year to N257.3 billion recorded in 2021. Dangote Cement’s revenue in the third quarter of 2021 was N331.64 billion, from N284.59 billion in the corresponding period of 2020.

In 2020, BUA Cement signed an agreement with Sinoma CBMI of China for the construction of three new cement plants in Edo, Sokoto and Adamawa states of Nigeria. The investment was estimated at $1.05 billion.

In January 2022, the manufacturer commissioned a three-million-metric-tonne Sokoto Line.

Rabiu said that in 2023, the group would continue to invest more in the cement industry until Nigeria was self-sufficient and cement was available, accessible, and affordable for all Nigerians.

In a recent statement sent by the company to The ICIR, BUA said it signed an agreement with Wartsila OY of Finland for the construction of a 70-megawatts dual-fuel power plant for the BUA Cement Sokoto Line 4 in Sokoto State.

Food…
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FOA) said in a July 2021 report that Nigeria had 19 million cattle and 500,000 metric tons milk production. There is, however, a huge supply gap of 1,200,000 metric tonnes, which need to be filled.

A Dutch dairy maker FrieslandCampina WAMCO is leveraging the situation. It has invested into local dairy production and milk processing plants in communities in Oyo and Niger states.

The company told The ICIR reporter it had assisted 20 firms in Oyo State to set up ranches to cross-breed exotic and indigenous breeds with a view to producing genetically strong cattle that could adapt to the Nigerian environment and produce sufficient milk.

The firm works with a number of farmers who produce raw milk which serves as a raw material for it.

General Manager for Dairy Development Programme Olayiwola Adekunle John told The ICIR that the company was interested in developing dairy production in Nigeria by increasing local sourcing of raw milk, which is used for production of Peak Milk and Three Crowns.

“We train farmers on how to treat their cows and other processes,” he said, noting that the company’s extension workers were always visiting farmers to train them on modern dairy trends.

Apart from the $19 billion refinery and petrochemical plants in Lagos, Dangote Group has pumped billions in cement production, foods and other products.

It is investing $1 billion in rice production and the group is pumping another $1 billion in sugar production, including in plantations .

Nigeria’s has up to three million supply gap in rice, according to a KPMG report.

Food and snack production is also a big business. In 2016, Beloxxi Industries, an Agbara, Ogun State-based biscuit maker, closed an $80 million deal with a consortium of investors. Three years later, the company commissioned two new lines, expanding its capacity from 40,000 metric tons (MT) to 80,000MT.

Managing Director of Beloxxi Biscuits Obi Ezeude, who spoke during the commissioning of the second and third lines witnessed by this reporter, said he was optimistic about the Nigerian economy.

Also, Olam announced in October 2021 that its subsidiary Crown Flour Mill Limited (CFM) had launched a N300 million (US $750,000) 10-year project to set up community seed enterprises for Nigerian farmers to increase their wheat production. Olam has invested in rice, tomato, palm oil, among other food products. Huge gap exits on each of the crops.

Flour Mills of Nigeria told The ICIR reporter that it had invested N50 billion in its sugar estate in Sunti, Niger State. Nigeria imports 1.3 million to 1.5 million tonnes of sugar each year, according to the National Sugar Development Council’s data.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/bullish-manufacturers-pump-billions-to-tap-opportunities-in-nigerian-economy/

ABBA Kyari, the suspended head of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), was on Monday declared wanted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for drug offenses.

In a statement signed by NDLEA spokesperson Femi Babafemi, the agency alleged that Kyari was part of a cartel that operates the Brazil, Ethiopia and Nigeria illicit drug pipeline.

The NDLEA statement showed that Kyari was still actively involved with the IRT despite his suspension by Inspector General of Police Usman Alkali.

The statement explained that an IRT that works with Kyari intercepted and arrested some suspected drug traffickers that came into the country.

Parts of the statement that show Kyari’s active involvement with the IRT read, “The saga started on Friday, January 21, 2022, when DCP Kyari initiated a call to one of the NDLEA officers in Abuja at 2:12 pm.

“His (Kyari) team had intercepted and arrested some traffickers that came into the country from Ethiopia with, according to him, 25kg of cocaine.

“He (Kyari) proposed a drug deal whereby he and his team are to take 15kg of the cocaine and leave 10kg for the prosecution of the suspects arrested with the illicit drug in Enugu.”

The statement also said, “Kyari disclosed that the 15kg (already taken out) was shared between the informants that provided information for the seizure and he and his men of the IRT of the Nigerian Police. According to him, the informants were given 7kg while his team took 8kg which was already sold.”

Before now, Kyari was being investigated by the Nigerian Police Force after the United States authorities declared him wanted over his alleged role in a scam perpetrated by a fraudster Ramon Abbas, aka, Hushpuppi, and five others.

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Andrew Innocenti said he obtained voice calls and WhatsApp conversations between Kyari and Hushpuppi, adding that Hushpuppi also paid the police officer N8 million or $20,600 for the arrest and detention of a “co-conspirator,” Chibuzo Vincent.

https://www.icirnigeria.org/ndlea-statement-shows-abba-kyari-is-still-active-in-irt-despite-suspension/

HASSANA Ibrahim said she was 17-year-old when she was raped by her class teacher in 2019. The teacher, simply identified as Umaru, lured her into his room while returning home from Islamiyya where she attended an Arabic night class in Sokoto.

Hassan said Umaru invited her home to greet his wife who had just given birth.

“After persuading me to follow him home to greet his wife who had just given birth, I responded that the entire class had plans to visit as a group. I didn’t want to go with him without informing my parents, so I won’t be beaten for coming home late.

“But he insisted that we should go together and I obliged because he promised we wouldn’t take long,” Hassana recalled the incident with a face full of regrets.

The story changed on getting to his house.

Upon getting to the house, Hassana asked about Umaru’s wife and the newly-born child but was told they were in the bathroom. Minutes later, she discovered that Umaru was lying.

She became agitated and attempted to escape. Unfortunately, it was too late. Umaru dragged her into the inner room and despite her refusal and loud cries for help, Umaru overpowered her.

“He went into an inner room, he pushed me on the mattress and removed my clothes. I was screaming but no one could hear me. When he was done, I told him God will judge him and he replied saying I am a useless coward.”

Umaru later drove her home.

Umaru’s act contravenes Section 283 of the Nigerian Penal Code Act which states that “whoever commits rape shall be punished with imprisonment for life or for any less term and shall also be liable to fine.”

The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 section 1 subsection 2 also states that the offence of rape is punishable by Life Imprisonment.

Double Trouble
For returning home late, Hassana’s mother beat her until she was rescued by a neighbour. She tried telling her mother about her plight but could not due to fear.

Months after Hassana’s horrible encounter, she became ‘sick’. The teenager was treating fever until one of their neighbours, a nurse, advised her parents to take her for a pregnancy test.

The result came out positive.

Not pleased with the first result, she requested another test and it was the same. To be doubly sure the results were hers, Hassana went for immediate scanning.

“It was after the test results confirmed that I was six months pregnant that I remembered my encounter with Umaru,” she said.

As expected, the test results left Hassana and her mother traumatised. The teenager narrated the encounter with Umaru to her mother, crying.

Mother and daughter eventually confronted Umaru. It was gathered that he didn’t deny any wrongdoing. Instead, “he pleaded with us not to discuss it at his residence.”

Hassana, now with a two-year-old child, a result of Umaru’s violent act, said he urged her to abort the pregnancy. But her mother declined.

Following the refusal of the victim and her mother to accept Umaru’s proposal, he became nonchalant, leaving Hassana to carry her cross all alone. Even when she gave birth, Umaru was nowhere to be found.

“He only gave money for ante-natal once or twice. He was called when I finally delivered the baby but all he offered was a prayer for the child before ending the call. He has since refused to make himself available,” she added.

Today, Hassana finds living difficult. She can only make ends meet because a non-government organisation, Nana Khadijah Centre in Sokoto gave her grinding and tailoring machines. Currently, she is learning tailoring to survive.

Forced out-of-school
The incident marked an end to Hassana’s education.

She was in Senior Secondary School (SSS 2) when the incident happened. The pregnancy took her out of school, and till the moment of filing this report, her hope of going back to school is uncertain.

Like Hassana, Racheal* said she was raped by one Korede Adewumi on July 10, 2020 and it almost ended her education in Ile-Ife, Osun state.

She was preparing for her Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) when the incident happened and it nearly brought an end to her education.

Giving accounts of the incident, Rachel’s sibling who asked to be anonymous to avoid stigmatisation and backlash said her sister was raped during her usual hawking of ‘Aadun’, a savoury Yoruba snack, around Olubuse area of Ile-Ife.

“Korede who sat on the verandah of his house called my sister to sell him Aadun. After buying, he pretended to go back inside and get money. When he finally came out, he stood by the entrance of the front door and asked her to come for her money.”

She took steps to collect the money but was forcefully dragged into the building.

“Unfortunately, no agile person was home at that time to rescue her. The only person at home was an old feeble landlord. Before the landlord could get to other neighbours for help, Korede had perpetrated evil and taken to his heels,” the victim’s sibling added.

Following the attack, Rachel avoided school for months and could not write the general examination with her colleagues.

The victim’s family reported the matter at Aagun Police station after a medical test at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital confirmed forced sexual intercourse.

Korede absconded for weeks but was later apprehended and charged to court.

According to WHO (2002), about one-third of all the women in Nigeria have at one time or the other been a victim of violence in its diverse forms.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/how-rape-sexual-assault-harassment-is-forcing-girls-out-of-secondary-schools/

INSUFFICIENT number of commercial vehicles in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has resulted in more security risks for residents.

With the influx of people into Abuja, available vehicles are no longer sufficient to meet the transport needs of residents, leaving many at the mercy of private car owners who convey passengers to different destinations for a fee.

Criminal gangs have also capitalised on the situation to dispossess residents of their valuables as they patrol the city in vehicles, disguising as transporters.

Fake transporters who engage in such acts are called “one-chance drivers” in Nigeria.

In an encounter with one of such gangs, an Abuja resident, Patience Caleb, lost the sum of N117,000.

Caleb said she stood below Banex bridge one evening in August 2021, waiting for a vehicle heading to Lugbe.

There was a large crowd at the bus stop, and the few cabs that stopped to pick passengers attracted a mad rush from bystanders.

She had waited for over 40 minutes without success when a vehicle stopped very close to where she stood.

Although the vehicle was not painted in the green and white colours of most Abuja taxis, Caleb hastily jumped into the car, and the driver sped off.

“There was a man also sitting at the back, I thought he was a passenger. At first I was a bit worried that the driver didn’t wait for others to enter. But he gave the excuse that he didn’t want the crowd to damage his car,” she said.

A few minutes into the journey, the other occupant ordered her to hand over her belongings and brandishing a knife, he threatened to kill her if she failed to comply.

“It was like a movie. He brought out a small knife and threatened to kill me if I didn’t give him my bag. I didn’t have much money on me, and when he found out, he started beating me.

“They took my ATM card and pin from me and drove to a machine where they withdrew all my money after which they threw me out of the moving vehicle,” she said.

Caleb said she sustained several injuries from the encounter that left her hospitalised for days.

Many residents of the FCT have similar experiences as the criminal act is not new within the city.

The ICIR had reported how 43-year-old Richard Atoo sustained over thirty knife injuries after an attack by “one-chance drivers” in 2019.

He had boarded a vehicle at Area 8, Garki, occupied by the driver and two other men who posed as passengers. His mobile phones were collected from him, through which his bank account was accessed.

Atoo had left his ATM card at home, which made it difficult for the criminals to withdraw the money without being traced.

“I guess that infuriated them. They started stabbing me in many places. They had a gun too. I think at a point they thought I was dead because there was blood all over the car. The whole place was messed up. Anytime they struck me, I would feel blood splattering everywhere!” he told The ICIR.

Attempts to eradicate this act led to establishing the Anti-One Chance Squad by the FCT Police Command in 2018, but the criminal activity persists.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/how-gaps-in-fct-transport-system-endanger-residents-lives/

THE Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, Benue State, is currently struggling to retain its consultants and other employees.

The ICIR reports that despite acquiring a new set of multi-million-naira equipment through the COVID-19 fund to improve services in some of its departments, many of the hospital’s workers are dumping the facility for hospitals in Europe, Saudi Arabia, Canada, among others, for higher wages.

Apart from the consultants, other cadres of workers, comprising junior doctors, nurses, medical laboratory scientists, and radiologists, are leaving the hospital.

Consultants are expert health professionals who support hospitals’ operational efficiency. They help in policy formulation, implementation, training of less-experienced staff and general administration of health facilities.

Conducting certain procedures and using some equipment largely depend on their expertise.

Our reporter gathered that 12 consultants resigned from the hospital in the last two years, and four others will leave in March.

In addition to the consultants, dozens of health workers have left the hospital in the past years.

Findings from the hospital showed that the workers are leaving because of poor welfare and the government’s refusal to increase their service years.

This newspaper reported in August 2021 how hundreds of doctors thronged a popular hotel in Abuja when the Saudi-Arabia-based recruiter needed only seven.

Similarly, in October that year, The ICIR reported how the nation lost nearly 9,000 doctors and other health workers to the UK and other nations in two years.

Background to the report
In response to COVID-19 and the state of low preparedness in Nigeria in 2020, corporate organisations and individuals donated billions of Naira to purchase equipment and revamp the nation’s health sector.

Nigeria, which recorded its first case of the disease on February 27, went on to lock down some states on March 30, as infections from the virus ballooned nationwide.

Among other measures, President Muhammadu Buhari constituted the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and approved emergency procurements of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical measures to combat the pandemic.

The bulk of the country’s spending on the disease was from the Nigeria Private Sector Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) Relief Fund – the funds donated by corporate organisations and individuals.

As of June 2020, 181 corporate organisations and individuals had contributed N30.2 billion to the fund.

At the end of the year, the government had spent N38.59 billion from it, part of which was N653 million approved for Makurdi FMC to procure molecular laboratory equipment for the hospital at N313.3 million.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/benue-consultants-others-resign-shun-new-equipment-at-makurdi-fmc-for-overseas-jobs/