LOOTING CENTRE !! Nigeria has ‘lost N11trn’ to power sector corruption since 1999

The Centre for Health, Equity and Justice (CEHEJ) estimates that corruption in Nigeria’s power sector has gulped N11 trillion since 1999.

This was made known in a report titled ‘Kept in Darkness — holding non-performing electricity contractors accountable’ released in Lagos on Thursday.

The report indicated that the figure might increase to N20 trillion in the next decade.

According to Yemi Cole, an associate professor of law at the University of Lagos who made the presentation, the report established that the corruption in the power sector “manifests significantly in the process and procedure for contracts to certain (privileged corporations)”.

“The total estimated financial loss to Nigeria from corruption in the electricity sector from the return to democracy since 1999 to date is over Eleven trillion Naira (N11 Trillion Naira),” the report stated.

“This represents public funds, private equity and social investment (or divestments) in the power sector.

“It is estimated that it may reach over Twenty Trillion Naira (N20 Trillion Naira) in the next decade given the rate of Government investment and funding in the power sector amidst dwindling fortune and recurrent revenue shortfalls.

“The entire infrastructure of a community – its home, offices, agriculture, industries, hospitals, banks, shopping malls, transport, communications, and recreational facilities – all depend on electricity as a form of energy.”

The report also provided details of electricity contracts where it alleged that huge sums of money were embezzled, as well as contracts that were abandoned despite funds released for its implementation.

The report recommended, among others, that bidding and award of contract processes in the sector should be more transparent.

It also suggests that the “federal government should consider fully divesting its states in the power sector to allow for efficient, decentralized sector governance by federal and state governments, as appropriate, in line with the provisions of the Second Schedule, paragraph 13 and 14 of the Constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”.

In his remarks, Ahmed Abdul, who represented Saleh Mamman, the minister of power, said: “I will convey it to the honourable minister. We are going to study it and advise the government as appropriate”.

Sunday Oduntan, chairman of Association of Nigeria Electricity Distributors, said the report should be treated with seriousness and consequence by the government.

“There has been a lot of reports in this county and I have not seen any government that will say let me go and see those reports. I am saying there is a need for there to be consequences,” he said.

In attendance at the event were Benjamin Okoli, national coordinator of Open Government Partnership; Abiodun Ajayi, CEHEJ board chairman; representatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); representatives of Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC); as well as other stakeholders in the power sector.

-THECABLE

EFCC arrests 25 LAUTECH students for Internet Fraud

Operatives of the Advance Fee Fraud Unit of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC Abuja Headquarters, have arrested 25 students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, Ogbomosho, Oyo State, for their involvement in various forms of cybercrime including romance scam, love scam, possession of forged documents, and obtaining money by false pretence.

The students, who are aged between 18 and 29 years old, were arrested at their off-campus hostels, following a three-day raid carried out between September 16 and 19, 2019. Operatives acted on the intelligence report, which was investigated using sophisticated equipment. The raid also followed months of surveillance and monitoring of their activities.
They include Pelumi Adigun, 18; Umaru Frederick, 21; Damilola Emmanuel, 22; Tomiwa Oyewole, 29; Adeleke Owolabi, 24; Oladosu Abdullahi, 23; Abdulmusaq Ismail, 25; Isajimi Joshua, 23; Olaniyan Tunde, 22, and Ebosele Francis, 28.

Others are: Oladejo Ibrahim, 26; Oluwadamilare Abimbola, 25; Orimoloye Joshua, 23; Alfred Samuel, 22; Bayewu Ishola, 23; Abiola Gbenga, 25; Alfred Daniel, 20; Agboola Solomon, 21; Arolewola Damilola, 25; Amoo Tunmise, 23; Akeem Taiwo, 25; Segun Ajibola, 25; Hassan Segun, 24; Onicha Joel, 23, and Tafa Basit, 25.

In the course of executing the search, Ismail, who confessed to being involved in internet fraud, took operatives round hostels, leading to the arrest of many of the culprits. Some of the suspects who jumped over the fence to escape arrest were nabbed in the process.

A display of some of the arrested suspects and their gadgets.

Some of the items recovered from them, which are believed to be the proceeds of their illegal activities online, include, a 4matic  Benz, a Toyota Camry, a Toyota Corolla, two Macbook computers, two iPads, two iPhones and many other documents, which will be subjected to forensic analysis.

L-R A 4matic Benz and a Toyota corolla belonging to two of arrested suspects.

The seized suspect property, a Toyota Camry

The suspected internet fraudsters, who are currently in the custody of the EFCC will be soon be arraigned in court.

- PM NEWS

LOOT RELOADING !! Nigeria approaches World Bank for $2.5bn loan

Hafez Ghanem, World Bank’s vice-president for Africa, says the lender is in talks with the Nigerian government for a $2.5 billion concessionary loan.

Ghanem made this known in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja.

The Bretton Wood institution official said Nigeria received $2.4 billion from the bank in 2018.

“We’re talking about a new set of programmes of about the same amount, it should be about $2.5bn,” Bloomberg quoted him to have said.

“It’s important to resolve the problems of the power sector in Nigeria to bring in more investments. Because you need to bring down the cost of power to make the economy more competitive for the development of industries.

“Nigeria has a comparative advantage in that area because of the youth, a majority of the population is young. So if we want to create jobs, we need to invest much more in the digital economy.”

Ghanem said the World Bank would support Nigeria’s digital transformation because of its potential ability to transform other areas of the economy including industry, agriculture and services.

The latest figures released by the Debt Management Office (DMO) showed that the country’s debt increased by N560 billion between December 2018 and March 2019.

By March 2019, the total foreign debt stood at N7.8 trillion ($25.6 billion) while domestic debt was N17 trillion ($55.6 billion).

Foreign debt constituted 31.5% of the total debt stock while domestic debt constituted 68%.

The federal government had proposed N1.86 trillion as deficit in the 2019 budget to be funded by loans but it was reduced to N1.64 trillion by the senate before the budget was passed.

Commenting on the country’s debt profile, Zainab Ahmed, minister of budget, national planning and finance, said the country has a revenue problem; not a debt problem.

To this end, the federal government announced an increase in value-added tax to shore up revenue.

- THECABLE

Volkswagen, Porsche recall 227,000 cars for airbag, seatbelt problems

Volkswagen and Porsche have recalled around 227,000 cars due to problems with airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners, Germany’s Stuttgarter Zeitung said on Thursday.

The newspaper said the Tiguan, Sharan and CC models built in 2015 as well as Porsche 911, Boxter, Cayman and Panamera models from 2015 and 2016.

It cited Germany’s KBA federal motor authority as saying the cars needed an update to the software of the airbag control units.

Volkswagen said 227,000 VW and Porsche cars were affected, citing possible problems with airbags in some of them and adding that new software needed to be installed.

A spokesman for Porsche said around 23,500 Porsche models could be affected by airbags or seatbelt pre-tensioners triggering even if the vehicle was not involved in an accident.

It said the models affected were built in 2015 and 2016 and added that of the vehicles affected, around 3,900 were in Germany. 

- PM NEWS

70 percent of prison inmates in Kano are awaiting trials – PRAWA

The Prisoner Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) a Non governmental Organization, has revealed that 70 Percent of prisoners in Kano Prisons are awaiting trails that span years.

The NGO further discovered that lack of speedy trails, putting of minor offenders in prisons and general non charlatan attitudes of government to the welfare of the inmates result in the heavy overcrowding of prisoners in the country.

Speaking during an advocacy Media Workshop in Kano, the rehabilitation action group Head of Programs, Kaltumi Mohammed Obeirian, said until government agreed that the administration of criminal justice is not just to punish somebody but prevent and control crimes, the nation would continue to solve the nightmare of prisons congestion.

The group, which, accused the Police of obtaining statements from suspects under duress, said, the Administration of Criminal Justice Kano State insists that statements could only be obtained with an accused lawyer present or a Civil Society group or anybody of his choice.

Similarly, Kaltumi said section 35(4) of the nation Constitution of 1999 as amended said an accused must be brought to Court within reasonable time for him to know his offences, ” and that section 36(5) indicate that an accused remains innocent until proven otherwise.”

- DAILY POST

REVEALED: FG paid UK firm N8.5m monthly for PR — before company went bust

The federal government paid Pagefield Global, a UK-based public relations firm, N8.5 million monthly for “public affairs and public relations advice”, TheCable can report.

The company has now gone under before the expiration of the contract.

TheCable understands that the business deal, which was officially documented in May 2019, was entered for the Federal Republic of Nigeria on behalf of Dayo Apata, solicitor general of the federation.

Apata has been contacted for comments.

Documents obtained by TheCable stipulate the actual payment for the service as £21,600 (N8.5 million at current interbank rate) to be paid per month on a one-month notice period.

TheCable obtained copies of exhibits to the registration statement filed before the US Department of Justice (DOJ) pursuant to the foreign agents registration act (FARA) of 1938, as amended.

The act requires all US individuals that are agents of a “foreign principal” to register with the DOJ within 10 days of entering such agreement. It defines a “foreign principal” is “not only a foreign government, but also a foreign political party, person, or organization outside of the United States, and any entity organized under the laws of a foreign country or with its primary place of business in a foreign country.”

‘NO WRITTEN CONTRACTS’

In its ‘Exhibit A to registration statement’ dated May 2, 2019, a copy of which was obtained by TheCable on Wednesday, Pagefield Global listed the “Federal Republic of Nigeria” as the foreign principal the company entered the agreement with.

The statement with registration number 6675, was signed by Stuart Leach, Pagefield Global chief executive officer (CEO), and listed Apata as Nigeria’s representative.

The exhibit B, with the same registration details noted, however, that the contract was not documented in writing.

It said: “There is no written contract between the parties. Our understanding is that we will be paid £21,600 per month by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on a one month notice period.”

In the description of the activities required, Pagefield stated: “Public affairs and public relations advice and monitoring, undertaking outreach and relationship building with various stakeholders and the media in connection with legal disputes that the Solicitor General is conducting on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The company confirmed that “the activities on behalf of the above foreign principal include political activities as defined in Section l (o) of the Act.”

Although the statement listed May 31, 2020 as the expiration date, checks by TheCable reveal the company shut down in early September.

PR Week, a leading online PR platform, reported the closure on September 11. It quoted a spokesperson of the company, founded in 2017, as confirming the incident.

The firm was co-founded by Mark Gallagher and had Oliver Foster as chief executive, Sara Price as

 founding partner and Gráinne Warner as finance director.

Among their clientele were British Airways, University of Warwick, Hugo Boss and Santander Bank.

- THECABLE

Biafra: Details of Nnamdi Kanu meeting with UN emerge

Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, on Thursday, disclosed that issues concerning the Biafran people were before the various arms and agencies of the United Nations, adding that Biafra’s case would no longer be swept under the carpet.

The IPOB leader had led a delegation to a series of meetings with various UN agencies and officials at Geneva where he presented Biafra’s plight on Tuesday.

Emma Powerful, the IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, in a statement on Thursday, said Kanu’s emergence from the meeting was met with chants of the eulogy by a congregation of Biafrans.

Powerful disclosed that Kanu demanded urgent action against the numerous rights abuses inflicted daily upon Biafra agitators by the government of the day and the need to support the undeniable right of Biafrans to self-determination as enshrined in law, statute and various UN conventions.

The statement added, “Every issue concerning our people is now before the various arms and agencies of the United Nations. Our case will no longer be ignored.

“The case of RUGA settlement was also raised and the august body was left in doubt that Biafrans will never allow Fulani terror settlements in Biafraland.

“Incessant killing of Biafrans in their own land by terrorist Fulani herdsmen, extortion and killing of Biafran motorcyclists and commercial drivers by the Nigerian army and police over refusal to give N50 bribery.”

It added that Kanu was accompanied by his deputy, Mazi Uche Mefor, Head of Directorate of State, Mazi Chika Edoziem and other top echelons of the struggle.

The Biafran leader raised the continued illegal detention of Omoleye Sowore, the relentless persecution of the members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria led by Sheikh El-Zakzaky, among other issues.

- DAILY POST