Probe APC chairman, Oshiomhole or lose credibility – CACOL dares EFCC

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate allegations of fraud levelled against the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole.

This was contained in a press release issued on Wednesday by Ikenna Aghagbobi, CACOL’s Media and Publications Officer on behalf of its Executive Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran.

According to the CACOL boss: “Our call is based on a suit which was reportedly filed by Bishop Osadolor Ochei alleging that Oshiomhole while in office as Edo State governor, acquired property in United States of America, South Africa and Dubai worth billions of US dollars and far in excess of his legitimate income.

“He also alleged before the court that the ex-governor built a sprawling mansion worth more than N10b in his hometown, Iyamho, Edo State while in office.

“The Cleric also stated in the suit that he had on November 4, 2016, sent a petition to the EFCC narrating some corrupt practices the ex-governor was involved in.”

He maintained that EFCC’s refusal to act on petitions containing “weighty allegations” against Oshiomhole, ran contrary to Section 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which enjoined the State to abolish corrupt practices.”

Adeniran further pointed out that it is necessary for the EFCC to investigate these allegations for the purpose of convincing the Nigerian public that its arrest and prosecution of corruption culprits was not targeted at only members of the opposition.

“The rumours which have been making the rounds indicating that the present administration has been witch hunting members of the opposition while portraying members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as saints need to be debunked by the EFCC.

“How can a body whose sole obligation is to investigate and prosecute anyone indicted of a corruption crime be reluctant to carry out its statutory assignment against suspects or dismissing these allegations if they are found to lack substance?

“Although it is shameful that the EFCC would need to be reminded to investigate allegations levelled against Oshiomhole, we recall that several officials of the Federal Government who have been exposed for committing forgery and other crimes are still being treated with kid gloves. This is the major problem we have in our fight against corruption.

“While we urge the EFCC to initiate a diligent probe on the weighty allegation of funds diversion and misappropriation against the APC Chairman, we challenge Oshiomhole to debunk these allegations and take whatever steps he considers necessary if these allegations are untrue as this will set an example worth emulating.” - Daily Post

UNICEF calls for passage of bill seeking to regulate social work

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and stakeholders in the social works sector have called on the national assembly to ensure speedy passage of a bill to professionalise social work.

The bill for an act to establish the Nigerian council for social work seeks to regulate the practice of social work in the country.

The lawmakers had passed it but it was declined assent to by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier in the year.

At the time the president rejected the bill, he told the lawmakers that it did not clarify the scope of the “profession of ‘social work’ that this bill prohibits all persons who are not members of the institute from practising.”

Speaking during a media dialogue in Enugu on Tuesday, Maryam Enyiazu, UNICEF’s child protection specialist, said the bill, if passed, would raise status of social work and also bring about legitimacy to the profession.

“Nigeria is yet to understand the need for social welfare workers in the country,” she said, adding: “The services of social welfare workers improve the lives of children and families by addressing, education, health, justice, migration and protection from violence.”

She also said UNICEF had been working with the federal government to raise the standards of social work in the country and has helped develop a national plan of action on social welfare work force

Other experts who spoke identified the lack of understanding of the scope of social work and lack of adequate care for soial workers as factors militating against the profession.

Temitope Bamgboye, director of social welfare department, ministry of women affairs and social development, expressed hope the president would sign the bill into law when it is reworked.

Represented by Ben Okwesa, an assistant director at the ministry, Bamgboye said: “The identified grey areas of the bill is receiving attention and with strong support from UNICEF and national assembly. The ministry also intends to ensure that the bill is endorsed by Mr. President.” - TheCable

Preventing mental health problems is better than curing them

So you’re sitting at work, sipping your first cup of anxiety of the day. (Let’s ignore for now where you got it from: an ambivalent boss, diffident colleagues, status worries, job insecurity, imminent change – the possibilities are endless.)

Do you a) ignore it and plough on; b) plan a huge night out to drown your sorrows; or c) log on to your desktop chatbot/wellbeing app/mindgym to do a little therapy-lite?

Even a year ago the third option would have been fanciful. But now there is such a proliferation of tools that it can be hard to know where to start. (Answer: Mind’s Mental Health at Work is a safe, neutral option.)

Business is finally waking up to the importance of mental health, and not before time. Latest research warns that mental illness will cost the global economy £12tn by 2030. (If, like me, you are struggling to comprehend that figure, it’s over £24,000a second.)

At a London conference this week, timed to coincide with World Mental Health day, big names were queuing up to reveal what they were doing to give staff relief, advice and digital intervention when things went wrong.

Retailers, big tech, consultancies, banks and manufacturers were all proud about the in-house apps they have created to nip trouble in the bud. PepsiCo even said its tools were having a remarkable effect in clearing up mild depression within its workforce.

Meanwhile, the number of startups jostling for attention with psychometric tools, stress heatmaps and wellness gamification modules is almost disconcerting: Wraw, Unmind, Unicorn, StressFactor, Psyt – and that was just at one conference in one half-hour pitching session, from the second half of the alphabet.

These tools, dashboards, resilience monitors and unified wellbeing apps are all very well and will serve a purpose. But, alas, too many are designed for dealing with staff who are already in the danger zone. The whole point of addressing the mental illness epidemic now is to deal with people when they are well.

We are obsessive about encouraging healthy lifestyles for physical wellbeing and need to map this across into the mental sphere. We all have mental health, and business needs to focus on how to maintain it. It’s not just about the one in four who have succumbed – it’s about the three in four who might.

Unfortunately, businesses are a bit like people: they only really like to scramble into action after crisis strikes, when it’s already too late. The return on investment from proactive mental health programmes and employee wellbeing is hard to argue when lined up against other needs that appear more immediate, quantitative and urgent.

And yet our breakneck business world must take some of the responsibility for our mental health predicament. Job insecurity, the gig economy, perma-change, ever higher shareholder expectations, over-large organisations, 24/7 working, atomised industrial and post-industrial processes, disenfranchised staff (apparently more than 80% of UK employees feel disengaged from their company’s core purpose): is it any wonder that many of us are mentally shot?

So how about this: alongside the requirement to publish financial results and profit warnings – and the new duty to report back on gender pay – why not require big companies to report how many days they lose to stress-related sickness each year? And how long it took each worker to get back to work. And how many were able to resume their previous tasks.

The shame of doing so might prompt a few more businesses into proactive action, rather than reactive chatbots. - The Guardian, UK

Customs creates shipping, bonded terminals in South-East

The Nigeria Customs Services has created three shipping terminals and one bonded terminal in the South-East to boost economic activities in the zone, an official has said.

The Assistant Comptroller of Customs in-charge of ICT, Mr Apeh Fateh, disclosed this in Enugu on Tuesday at a sensitisation on the rollout and implementation of Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System (NICIS II) in the command.

The command comprises Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi States.

Fateh named the approved terminals as Clarion Shipping Terminal, Zenith Shipping, Blue Anchor Shipping and C2C Bonded Terminal.

He said that the terminals would be integrated into customs bonded terminals as they had been licenced and were at the last stage of coming into operation.

The assistant comptroller said that when operational, the terminals would boost business activities in the zone as more goods would be cleared in the terminals.

He said that the expected boost in business activities and the need to safeguard government revenue necessitated the roll out of the NICIS II.

NICIS II is a process where all payments into customs accounts are automated, bringing an end to the manual payment still in vogue in the command.

Fateh said that with the launch of the scheme which was introduced in 2017, all government revenue had become automated.

He said that there were issues with manual payment which made the new regime expedient, adding that the zone had yet to migrate to automated payment.

He said that the zone was very important to the Nigeria Customs Service considering the business status of Onitsha and Aba.

Fateh also said that Nigeria Customs had resolved to scale up its presence and activities at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, by introducing the Passenger Baggage Entry System in the facility.

“The Passenger Baggage Entry System is a situation where passengers make payments on dutiable items they are travelling with.

“This is the standard practice in all international airports,” Fateh said.

Earlier, the Customs Area Comptroller, Mr Jammal Adediran, described NICIS II as a new programme that would facilitate trade and bring all stakeholders together.

Adediran expressed delight that bonded terminals were springing up in the command, adding that more were expected.

He said that the automated system of payment was a clear indication that Nigeria Customs Service had a good hand that could deliver in technological innovations.

The programme was attended by freight forwarders, excise factories, agents, financial institutions and others. - PM News 

Shi’ites march to Aso Rock, ask Nigerians to send Buhari back to Daura

Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) from the south-west have called on people in the region to vote out President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.

Addressing journalists during a protest at the entrance of the presidential villa in Abuja on Wednesday, Muftau Zakariya, south-west coordinator of the group, said the president has no “moral justification” to remain in office beyond 2019.

The group accused Buhari of being a dictator, saying he has no regard for the rule of law.

The group has staged series of protest to demand the release of Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, its spiritual leader, who has been in custody since 2015 despite a court order granting him bail.

“We came to protest today in Abuja to seek the release of our leader and convince government to obey court order,” he said.

“The court has ordered that El-Zakzaky should be released and be paid N50million as damages because of the illegal detention he has been subjected to, but the government has refused to obey that order. I am especially using this opportunity to talk to my fellow Yoruba men. No Yoruba man that is freely born should vote for Buhari.

“Somebody that kills northerners and elites, who shot a Muslim scholar, jailed and refused to give him bail. Let me tell you the equivalent of what Buhari has done, is like somebody catching Pastor Adeboye at Redeemed Christian Church of God, shooting  him and jailing him.”

Zakariya said the president showed he had less regard for the rule of law when he said national interest will not be sacrificed at the expense of the rule of law.

He alleged that those who vote for Buhari want the killings in the country to continue.

“If a president can go to the Nigerian Bar Association and tell them that he will not obey the rule of law, this shows you how shallow-minded this man is. This is the man that swore an oath on the Quran to obey the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

“I am using this avenue to appeal to Nigerians, anybody who votes for Buhari is voting for somebody that does not believe in the rule of law; anybody that votes for Buhari is voting for somebody that believes that killings should continue in Benue, Zamfara and other parts of the country.

“Do you think he cares when people die? That is why we should just give him red card and send him back to Daura and start farming.”

The protesters were prevented from gaining entry into the presidential villa. - TheCable

The Japanese passport is now the strongest in the world

The Japanese passport is now the strongest in the world, overtaking Singapore, according to research released today (Tuesday).

According to the 2018 Henley Passport Index released today (Tuesday), Japanese citizens can travel without a visa or gain a visa on arrival in 190 destinations – the most globally.

The Japanese passport overtook the Singapore passport, which allows travel to 189 destinations without a prior visa, after gaining visa-free access to Myanmar earlier this year.

Third place is shared with Germany, South Korea and France with its citizens able to enter 188 countries without a prior visa. France and South Korea jumped to third place after gaining visa-free access to Uzbekistan and Myanmar respectively.

The UK and the US, both with 186 destinations open to their citizens, slid from fourth to fifth place in this year's ranking, as neither can access any new country without a visa since the start of this year. In 2015, the UK and the US passports were most powerful.

At the other end of the spectrum, Iraq and Afghanistan continue to hold the bottom (106th) spot. Citizens of both countries can only access 30 destinations without getting a visa first.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) came in at 21st place, up from 62nd place in 2006, making it the most powerful passport in the Middle East.

Two of the biggest countries in the world, Russia and China, stayed in broadly similar positions. Russia, which fell from 46th to 47th place, had a short-term boost when in September Taiwan announced that it would offer a visa waiver programme for its nationals, valid until next July. China fell two places to 71, although its citizens gained entry to St Lucia and Myanmar without a prior visa.

The Henley Passport Index, a global ranking of the world’s passports according to the number of destinations holders can access without a prior visa, is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (Iata).

The passport rankings come as British citizens are waiting for clarity over whether they will be able to travel visa-free within the EU after 29 March 2019.  - Independent, UK

Plateau attacks: Yoruba community decries loss of members, property

The Yoruba community in Northern Nigeria has lamented incessant cases of violence in Jos, Plateau State, leading to the loss of lives and valuable property among its members.

Last week, Jos erupted in violence, leading to the killing of several persons. Most hit by the violence are, Nasarawa Gwom, Tina Junction, Angwa Rukuba, and Dutse-Uku communities that are dominated by Yoruba in the state.

Reacting in a statement signed by the President-General of the group, Alhaji Abdulhakeem Ayinde Aka, the community frowned at “frequent attack on its people who are enterprising, known for peace, and law abiding.”

He continued, “The Yoruba community is known to keep cordial relationship with their host communities and indeed other communities in Plateau and Nigeria in general, and thus shouldn’t suffer attacks and losses for no reason.”

While commending the efforts of the state government, security apparatus, community and religious leaders for arresting the recent violence in Jos, Aka charged all stakeholders to always be proactive to avert such unfortunate incidents.

He said, “The Yoruba community sees the wanton killings of innocent citizens and destruction of properties as inhumanity to humanity, barbaric and very unfortunate, especially with the tireless efforts of security agencies and community leaders towards restoring peace in Plateau State.

“We commensurate with the Executive Governor of the state, Rt Hon Simon Bako Lalong, Council of Chiefs, the residents and the entire people of Plateau State over the ugly incidents that happened especially in Jos North, Bassa, and Riyom Local Government Area.” - Daily Post