ICPC arraigns ex-Zamfara governor Yerima over N1bn fraud

The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) on Thursday arraigned former Governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Yerima in Gusau High Court for alleged misappropriation of over N1 billion while he served as governor in 2006.

Ex-Gov. Sani Ahmed Yerima

The former governor is standing trial on a 19-count charge bordering on misappropriation of the fund.

Counsel to the ICPC, Mashkur Salisu said the money was a bank loan meant for the repair of collapsed Gusau Dam and payment of compensation to victims affected by the incident, but was diverted by Yerima.

The offence, he said, is contrary to and punishable under section 25 (1) (a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.

Also charged with Yerima was one Alhaji Hashim Dikko, and two companies, Development Management Ltd. and HAD Nig Ltd.

They were accused of misapplication and overshooting of contract sum for the supply of assorted grains to the Federal Government, amounting to hundreds of millions of naira.

All the accused persons pleaded not guilty.

Mahmoud Abubakar, who led eight other lawyers to appear for the accused persons, pleaded with the court to grant them bail on self recognition, with an assurance that they would not jump bail.

Justice Bello Shinkafi granted bail to each of the accused persons in the sum of N100 million and two sureties in like sum.

Shinkafi ruled that the sureties must own landed property worth N150 million, while one of them must be resident in Gusau and adjourned the case to Feb. 29 and March 1, for hearing.

Speaking to newsmen after the court session, Yerima alleged that the case was instituted against him by his “political enemies”, adding: “we will use politics to fight back.”

* Culled from New Mail

Abducted Delta monarch found dead

·         Traditional ruler of Ubulu-Uku kingdom in Aniocha North Local Council of Delta State, HRM Obi Akaeze Edward Ofulue III, who was abducted on the Obior/ Igbodo Road along with his driver on January 5, have been killed‎.

Late Obi Ofulue III

The decomposing body of the monarch was found in a bush near Umunede, close to the boundary between Edo and Delta states yesterday.

The Delta State Police Spokeswoman, Celestina Kalu, explained last night in Asaba that preliminary investigation revealed that the corpse was that of the monarch but that pathologist still needed to confirm the authenticity.

A source close to the palace, said a young Hausa man who allegedly bought the king’s mobile phone was arrested three days ago by the police. The source who pleaded anonymity, said the kingdom has been thrown into mourning and confusion, adding that the “late monarch is so dear to us. His death has brought setback to the kingdom. “Disclosing that the monarch passed on at the age of 52, the source said the arrested Hausa boy was still being questioned by security operatives.

Kalu, a Deputy Superintended of Police, said: “Two corpses were found in a bush near Umunede near the boundary with Edo State yesterday. One of them looks like the kidnapped traditional ruler. The shoes on him and his dress were identified as the ones he wore but we will determine if the corpse is really that of the Obi. The pathologists will have to verify the corpse to be sure. The corpse has been taken to the hospital.”

·         Culled from The Guardian

Okowa Assures UNIDO of Continuous Partnership

DELTA State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has assured the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) of partnership in the area of entrepreneurship and skill acquisition in line with his administration’s job and wealth creation programme.

Okowa who gave the assurance Tuesday in Asaba when he received in audience Mr. Phillippe Scholtes, Managing Director, Programmes Development and Technical Co-operation Division (UNIDO) Headquarters and his team, said that there were various areas the state government would like to partner with UNIDO in creating job and wealth for its teeming youths aside the shoe and leather works production which has reached advanced stage.

He said the state government was ready to also, partner with UNIDO in the area of agro-business, especially aqua-culture, palm and cassava production and processing. ‘’We will co-operate with you beyond what we are doing now; we hope to partner with you in the area of agriculture especially, in the production and processing of cassava, palm and aqua-culture where we have comparative advantages,” adding, “we believe that we must find ways of re-orientating our youths to make them embrace agriculture and skill acquisition as means of creating jobs and wealth.’’ 

 “As Nigeria’s population grows, there is the need to make sure that the people acquire skills that will make them job and wealth creators,” he said.

Dr.  Okowa commended UNIDO for its industrialization programmes stating that they were in line with his administration’s SMART agenda of job and wealth creation. 

He observed that UNIDO has laudable programmes aimed at empowering the people which his administration would key into. 

Earlier in their separate addresses, Mr. Scholtes, Aurelia Calabro-Bellamoli (Senior industrial Officer, UNIDO) and Mr. Jesse Ojobor explained that UNIDO is a specialized agency of United Nations that provide technical services to government to ensure an inclusive and sustainable industrial growth.

While stating that they were in Asaba to facilitate the early take off of the shoe and leather manufacturing centre, Issele-Uku, they commended Governor Okowa for his desire to empower the people through the prosperity agenda, noting that there were other areas they could partner with the state government for speedy and sustainable development of the state.

‘’Delta State Leather and Foot wear Production Centre is the biggest in sub-sahara Africa with a capacity to train 3,000 people annually and produce high quality products for the sub-sahara African Market; we are enthused by the Governor’s interest in empowering the people,” they emphasised.

Our president needs help

                                                                                                                          FEATURE

By Wale Fatade

Mr. Wale Fatade

(The Cable.ng)

 On January 8, Ayo Olukotun, a professor of Political Communication, asked in The Punch newspaper, “Where is the president’s think tank?” The professor based his question on President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance in the last presidential media chat, as we call it in Nigeria. Since we all know the answer, which is that, our president does not have a think-tank as at today, except ministers, some special advisers, and the usual coterie of hangers-on which any leader always have around, the question is worth asking again.

 The lack of a clear-cut economic policy prompted this piece and unless we want to live in denial, we will all agree that Nigeria’s economy is in a shambles. It might be unfair to completely blame the Buhari government for the current woes besetting the economy, as his government is just nearly eight months in office, but not doing enough apparently to stem the tide does not bode well for the economy. It is also worth mentioning that the price of crude oil has not helped this government, its campaign promises notwithstanding. Researching this piece, I spoke with four economists who occupy senior positions in critical sectors of the economy across the political divide and they were unanimous that our president needs help, and fast too. While we have all been fixated on the exchange rate and the Central Bank restrictions before they were relaxed last week, the economy is haemorrhaging in other areas.

 A few of our banks have sacked some staff in the last four weeks and unless someone you know was asked to go, the conspiracy in the media induced by advert patronage and corruption ensured that such news items were never made public. A story is told of how the president called the Central Bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, after the media chat and asked whether it was true that parents actually were having problems paying their children’s school fees abroad due to the foreign exchange restrictions. I learnt that, painfully, Mr. Emefiele too allegedly pleaded ignorance of the aftershocks of such restrictions. Even though the president’s actions showed a caring leader, it could also be interpreted as naivety and ignorance on his part. I mean how could he not be aware of such an order? What kind of briefing – intelligence and financial – is available to our president? What do the aides tell him whenever they have audience? What he wants to hear or what he should hear? Our recent experience as regards leaders being held hostage by a clique is too painful to be repeated under this dispensation, dear president.

 While the restriction policy could have been a well-intended one, it was fraught with unintended consequences showing that good intentions are okay but actions are more important. Clearly, there are many variables as far as the economy is concerned but we cannot achieve any meaningful progress if they are not all tackled together. Does the president know that foreign investors, apart from those in the oil and telecommunications sectors, are voting with their feet? Last Friday, this newspaper reported that, “The Nigerian stock exchange (NSE) has become the worst performing stock exchange in Africa, and the third worst performing in the world, after China and Saudi Arabia.” The exchange, the story said further, lost N1.2 trillion in the first eight trading days of this year. This simply means that majority of those who are left are small time investors who do not depend solely on their investments.  Institutional investors, especially foreign ones, are not sentimental and don’t depend on body language but a well articulated policy that indicate the direction a country’s economy is headed. It also does not bode well when consumer and business confidence is zilch like we have presently.

 So, who are the president’s economic advisers? While the 1999 Constitution does not mandate the president to appoint a chief economic adviser, a practice that former President Olusgeun Obasanjo introduced, there’s nothing wrong in the president having a group of advisers on the economy. In fairness to Buhari, I learnt that three economists spent a full day with him shortly after election, briefing him on what to do, and offering suggestions on urgent actions to be taken on the economy, no one knows if they left a serious impression on him. President Buhari, you need help, especially in running the economy. Reach out and seek the best expertise available and let’s have your economic policy. I suggest that the president also read two books, Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises by Timothy Geithner, a former American Treasury Secretary; and The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath by Ben Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve between 2006 and 2014. Before doing that, however, ask your aides to brief you on what is happening in Venezuela presently, the country sure have a lot of lessons to teach your government on how not to run an economy.

* Called from The Cable.ng

Group to hold National Political Summit on unity

The Save Democracy Group Africa, an NGO, said on Tuesday that it would hold National Political Summit to create a platform for continuous dialogue on issues affecting Nigeria.

Chairman, Summit Planning Committee, Alhaji Ghali Na’aba, said this when he led a delegation on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Abuja.

Na’aba, a former Speaker, House of Representatives, said the summit, scheduled for between Jan. 25 and Jan. 26, was part of the group’s effort to unite the political class and other stakeholders.

``It will be held to build a platform that promotes an enduring democracy, stabilise the polity and promote the enthronement of internal democracy in our political parties.’’

Na’aba said the group commended the Federal Government for its strong resolve, political will and determination to tackle many intractable problems that had been plaguing the country for years.

Na’aba said that the visit was to brief the minister on the efforts the group had so far in ensuring the successful organisation of the summit and to highlight its logistics and media-related impediments.

According to him, the group, established in January 2014, is made up of politicians, statesmen and labour activists.

He said it would evolve a united, peaceful and democratic Africa guided by the principle of equity, fairness and the rule of law.

Responding, Mohammed commended the composition of members of the group which cuts across both the ruling and opposition parties.

He said his ministry would support the group’s efforts as its objectives were at proffering solutions to the nation’s problems.

Meanwhile, the Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Carlos Trejo-Sosa, also visited the minister to strengthen bilateral relationship on culture between both countries. (NAN)

Lassa fever: NGO wants FG to intensify awareness campaign

Caring Heart Foundation, a non-governmental organisation , on Wednesday advised the Federal Government to intensify awareness campaign on Lassa fever.

Mrs Temitope Awe, Executive Director of the foundation, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo.

She decried the low awareness campaign on the disease by the Centre for Disease Control, adding that this would not assist in curbing it.

Awe said that the fever has the potency to spread faster than expected due to the available numbers of its carriers and constant human migration.

The director explained that virtually all the houses in the country accommodate rat in one way or the other, the animal which remains the only carrier of the disease.

``There is an urgent need on the part of the appropriate authority in the health sector to intensify awareness campaign in all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria to keep the consciousness of the citizens alive against the disease.

``The animal, which is the major carrier of the disease is present in virtually every home and many offices across the country, the situation that makes the situation pretty dicey.

``The daily migration of people from the North-East due to insurgency, where there is high presence of the major carrier is also a major concern.

``The people must be aware of these facts and properly educated about the need to maintain high level of hygiene in their daily life as a form of preventive measures,’’ Awe said. (NAN)

Uniform For Journalists

                                                                                                   OPINION

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

There is this friend of mine, a very evil wag named Vitone, who keeps stressing that journalists must be made to wear uniforms like policemen. My friend argues that the role of journalists as societal watchdogs places them on the same pedestal as the police. He then goes ahead to drop the bombshell that journalists actually collect more bribe than policemen; whence the need for journalists to have the same make of uniform as their colleagues in bribe-taking, that is, the police! 

Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

Given that I am the poet just moonlighting as journalist, let me play the devil’s advocate by playing up the “satanic verses” of this my “uniform-for-journalists” friend. Journalism happens to be an all-comers profession in which the existence of a common uniform for all can lend a measure of regulation to the trade and its ill-assorted practitioners. The absence of a uniform actually makes all kinds of quacks and fakes to pose as journalists. Any person wearing a journalist’s uniform as it were would thus be properly identified instead of hiding behind different coats and dresses to commit mayhem in the name of the profession.
If journalists are made to wear uniform like policemen they would not see any further need to be asking for “brown envelopes”; they would be taking the money straight thereby saving the country the cost of the envelope! The lowly-ranked journalists would not pose to collect big money as though they were editors! These journalists of lower ranks would end up collecting N20 or N50 notes like their police mates!
The fear though is that many fellows may end up faking the uniforms, and giving themselves all kinds of ranks. After all one living journalist who was so fond of big titles actually arrogated to himself the title of RIP (Rest in Peace) without knowing what it stood for! It may turn scandalous when journalists start addressing themselves as Supol! Mopol! DPO! IG of Journalism! Etc. 
The uniform matter will necessitate the setting up of a special body to monitor the wearing of the uniform by journalists. The catch though is that members of the body charged with monitoring the uniform of journalists may end up posing as journalists themselves! After all such a thing happened in the award of the Nigeria Prize for Literature one unfortunate year where the judges who were members of the Academy of Letters ended up awarding the $50,000 prize money to themselves in a classic case of 419! If it can happen among the old eggheads of Nigerian academia, then the case amongst journalists and their minders is better left to the imagination…
With well-starched uniforms journalists can then stand solid guard as paparazzi at checkpoints in the many high class hotels of Nigeria! The nuisance of seeing scruffily dressed fellows harassing guests in the name of journalists as had always been the case would stop for good. 
There is the problem though that once armed with uniform the journalists may start fighting for the right to be armed with guns like policemen! Now we shall start having “Kill and Go” journalists! The journalists can then actually “point and kill” as had been the special privilege of the police. When armed journalists confront armed policemen it will then be the forte of armed robbers to save the land! This is a very serious matter that can kill all the laughter remaining in Nigeria. This way, we may stand to lose our world title as the happiest people on God’s earth. 
Just as the police have the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) journalists who would not want to appear in uniform can join the CID section of journalism as daredevil investigative journalists. In short, it would be a win-win story for the pen-pushers of Nigeria. Some can hide their uniforms and claim to be CID journalists when the occasion demands. 
Nigerian journalists should take full charge of championing a new cause: Uniform for all Nigerian Journalists! What makes the police superior to journalists such that they are always clad in their uniform while the journalists can boast of none? The only thing better than press freedom, I daresay, is the compulsory matter of sewing the uniform for all journalists. As the legislators would say, this is a matter of urgent national importance!