RE-LOOT RELOADED !! FG receives $311m Abacha Loot from US, Jersey

The federal government has received $311,797,866.11 as part of recovered assets of Sani Abacha, former military dictator.

The funds were repatriated from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey.

Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, special assistant on media and public relations to Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.

According to Malami, the amount increased significantly from over $308 million mentioned in the press release issued in February 2020 to over $311 million because of the interest that accrued from February 3, 2020 to April 28, 2020 when the fund was transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He said the litigation process for the return of the assets titled “Abacha III” commenced in 2014 while the diplomatic process that culminated in the signing of the Asset Return Agreement on February 3, 2020 by the governments of Nigeria, US and the Bailiwick of Jersey commenced in 2018.

“This Agreement is based on international law and cooperation measures that set out the procedures for the repatriation, transfer, disposition and management of the assets,” he said.

The statement cited the $322m recovered from Switzerland in 2018 which it said “is being transparently and judiciously deployed in supporting indigent Nigerians as specified in the agreement signed with the Switzerland and the World Bank”.

The statement said Malami, who who led the negotiation team, described the Tripartite Agreement and the process towards the implementation as representing “a major watershed in International Asset Recovery and Repatriation as it seeks to provide benefit to the victims of corruption”.

“In line with the 2020 Asset Return Agreement, the fund has been transferred to a Central Bank of Nigeria Asset Recovery designated account and would be paid to the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) within the next fourteen days. The NSIA is responsible for the management and execution of the projects to which the funds will be applied,” Malami was quoted to have said.

He said the federal government has committed the assets to support and assist in expediting the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Abuja-Kano road, and the Second Niger Bridge, adding that the country is in the process of establishing a project monitoring team to oversee the implementation of the projects and report regularly on progress made to the public.

Malami added that to ensure transparent management of the returned assets, the federal government will also engage a civil society organisation, which has combined expertise in substantial infrastructure projects, civil engineering, anti-corruption compliance, anti-human trafficking compliance, and procurement to provide additional monitoring and oversight.

In November 2013, the US filed a civil forfeiture action alleging that approximately $625 million located in Jersey, France, and the United Kingdom was traceable to money laundering activity in the country involving Abacha and his associates.

A total of $308 million was subsequently recovered and frozen in same year but the repatriation process was stalled, following a lawsuit filed by the Abachas.

There was controversy over the $321 million earlier repatriated from Switzerland. Malami had engaged Oladipo Okpeseyi and Temitope Adebayo, Nigerian lawyers, for the recovery of the sum.

But Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss lawyer who had been on the recovery job since 2000, told TheCable in a series of interviews that hiring the new lawyers was needless because he had already completed the task.

Despite an outcry, the Nigerian lawyers were secretly paid $15 million by the federal government.

- THECABLE

COVID-19: Nigerians react as Jigawa records 100 mysterious deaths

Nigerians have reacted to a report of over 100 mysterious deaths in Jigawa State.

DAILY POST reported on Monday that about 100 persons have died in the Hadejia area of the State, which has raised serious concerns.
The government in response set up a five-man committee to investigate the deaths in the area.
The Special assistant to the local government council chairman on media, Sani Kakabori told DAILY POST that over one hundred people, mostly of old age, died within the last ten days in the area.
It is not yet proven if the deaths are related to COVID-19, just like in Kano State.

Nigerians, reacting on their social media pages, linked the deaths in Jigawa to its proximity to Kano State.

Here are some comments gathered by DAILY POST:

@Ken_ibene “Just so you know, Jigawa is next door neighbor to Kano state and the misery behind the deaths in Kano have not been unravelled. Now Jigawa is faced with the same fate. Sad!”

@Nissybright “Not surprised. Kano shares a border with Jigawa. Both states were part of the old Kano state before Jigawa was carved out.I suspect it is the recent mass exchange, or internal deportation of almajiris, that is accelerating the spread of Covid-19 in the North.”

@Ebonomon “So the new trend in the North is mass mysterious deaths but these won’t have been termed mysterious if they took the right steps on time.My heart goes out to the health workers in these states.”

@Stellacookey “Kano is spreading it to Jigawa.they are technically part of Kano.”

@Idigwu1 “COVID-19 is killing them. There’s nothing as mysterious death.”

@Joe_olomu “Tell Northerners to stay home and stay away from mosques they’ll start rioting and killing people, well here’s the results.”

@Kenny_agapitus “Coronavirus death in Africa is often labeled as mysterious. Before you know it now they will begin to accuse their ancestors. Adhere to the tips laid down by the health authorities and stay safe.”

@Eze theophilus “I hate this English mysterious. All of us know how reckless people has been in this part of the world even with the outbreak of coconavirus. Pls call a spade a spade.”

@Wuwe_Rino “That is where they missed it, calling deaths by COVID 19 mystery. You’ll pay the supreme price when u refused to abide by the safety rules.”

@Udommilliego “Religion and illiteracy will wipe out the north.”

@Mandako77 “I’m aware this COVID-19 issue will be different when it enters the North, their things are always different.”

@Chukwu_eo “What are all these committees being setup by the government actually doing?A 100 mysterious death in Jigawa and the government has immediately setup a 5-man committee, and my question is “they are to do what exactly”? What is really going on in this nation?”

@Kayode Bankole “It’s not mysterious death, it’s COVID-19, they have not been testing at all.”

- DAILY POST

Just 273 people who arrived in UK in run-up to lockdown were quarantined

Fewer than 300 people out of the 18.1 million who entered the UK in the three months prior to the coronavirus lockdown were formally quarantined, figures reveal.

Passengers on three flights from Wuhan, in China, the source of the Covid-19 outbreak, and one flight from Tokyo, Japan, that was carrying passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, were taken to government-supported isolation facilities between 1 January to 22 March.

The figures, provided by the government to the Labour MP and member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Stephen Doughty, show this totalled 273 people.

Additional data provided to the committee shows that there were 18.1m arrivals at the UK border by air, land and sea in the same period.

Although that includes arrivals from all destinations, it is understood that Home Office estimates would still put the number of potentially infected individuals entering the UK from coronavirus-affected countries in that period in the tens of thousands.

Doughty said: “The admission that just four flights from two locations, barely a few hundred individuals – out of literally millions of arrivals – were formally quarantined while the pandemic was already raging in a series of locations beggars belief.

“On what scientific basis were a handful of flights from Wuhan and one from a Tokyo singled out for extreme attention? But not a single flight from Northern Italy, Spain or the US?

“The fact that many of these people then likely arrived and travelled onwards across the UK with little or no adherence to social distancing, and with no checks or protections at the border – barely a whiff of hand sanitiser – is deeply disturbing. Let alone the arrival of 3,000 fans from Madrid as the pandemic picked up speed.

“Yet arrivals continue to this day – with no formal quarantine requirements. It is simply staggering. Who made these decisions? And on what basis?”

On 31 January, 83 passengers arrived in the UK on an evacuation flight arranged by the Foreign Office from Wuhan and were taken to a facility in Merseyside. On 2 February, a further 11 passengers arrived in the UK on a French-organised flight evacuation from Wuhan and were taken to the same site.

On 9 February, 147 passengers arrived in the UK on a final evacuation flight from Wuhan and were taken to an isolation facility in Milton Keynes. And on 22 February, 32 passengers arrived in the UK on an evacuation flight from Tokyo and were taken to the site in Merseyside.

The Government continues to allow arrivals into the UK without screening or enforced quarantine, which the home secretary Priti Patel said was based on advice from the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage).

Patel told the committee that air passenger numbers were down 99% year on year, while maritime passengers were down 88.7% and international rail travellers were down 94%.

Total arrivals have plunged to below 10,000 a day, compared to as high as 300,000 in the months before the crisis struck Europe.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, said: “It was incredible that the home secretary couldn’t answer clear questions from the select committee regarding controls on flights from areas suffering from extensive coronavirus outbreaks. It appears crucial opportunities were missed, meaning significant numbers of people may have been entering the country with coronavirus.

“This leaves urgent unanswered questions for the home secretary. Further information needs to be made public on how the decisions were made and on what scientific basis – it is vital past mistakes are learned from to help shape policy as we move to the next stages of managing this crisis”

- THE GUARDIAN, UK

I left Liverpool to join Real Madrid because of Jamie Carragher – Michael Owen

Former Liverpool striker, Michael Owen, has disclosed that he left Anfield in 2004 to join Real Madrid because of a former teammate, Jamie Carragher.

According to Owen, he left the Reds to join the Los Blancos in order to prove Carragher wrong.

The former England international claimed that Carragher tried to persuade him not to move to the Santiago Bernabeu because he would not have regular playing time.

Owen told talkSPORT: “I was in America. Jamie Carragher and I were sharing the same room.

“We were on a pre-season tour, and manager, Rafa Benitez, had just taken over at Liverpool.

“My agent called me on the phone and said, ‘Madrid want to buy you.’

“I just remember putting the phone down after a few minutes discussing it, and Carragher looked at me and said, ‘don’t do it.’
“And I said to him, ‘why not?’ and he said I would not play there.

“That actually made me sign for Real Madrid, thinking I am going to prove Carragher wrong.

“I always say to myself that it was an excellent problem. How could you complain about Real Madrid being interested in you?”

- DAILY POST

Salawa Abeni clocks 59

Nigerian singer Salawa Abeni celebrates God’s goodness in her life as she turned 59 today May 5th 2020 amidst the pandemic.

Taking to social media, she wrote a note to herself and shared a video of her lovely photos:

Alihamidulilahi oo, modupe modupe… thanking Almighty Allah for another year. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me. Please rejoice with me my family. . Thank you @besteditorstudio for this beautiful collage. @musicvibes9ja

The musician was crowned “Queen of Waka Music” by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi in 1992.

 In 1976, she released her debut album ‘Late General Murtala Ramat Mohammed’ on Leader Records.

Salawa who started a career in waka music, an Islamic-influenced traditional Yoruba music, is from Ijebu Waterside, in Ogun State.

- PM NEWS

Coronavirus: Ronaldo missing as Serie A players begin training

Juventus forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, is yet to resume training even as Serie A players returned on Monday, SportsMail reports.

The Italian league has been suspended for two months due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

But the Interior Ministry has given the go-ahead, for players to return to club training.

Ronaldo arrived from the Portuguese island of Madeira and will have to spend two weeks in quarantine.

Italy’s Sports Minister, Vincenzo Spadafora, has warned that although individual training can resume, training in groups must wait until May 18.

“Nothing has changed compared to what I have always said about football.

“Team training will not resume before May 18 and the resumption of the championship, for now, is not really discussed,” he said.

- DAILY POST

Nigeria taps the power of music to try to beat coronavirus

Two dozen Lagos healthcare workers in scrubs and face masks rushed outside the isolation tents and, making sure to keep six feet apart on the bright green grass, danced and swayed as a saxophone and trumpet struck up the band.

Inside the tents, some of the patients, all battling the coronavirus, watched through plastic windows and, if strong enough, danced and swayed along with them. 

Abolaji Banjoko, a 32-year-old also known as BeejaySax, typically would have spent the day playing to a crowd of thousands at a packed megachurch in Nigeria's thrumming commercial capital.

But this was no ordinary Sunday. Lagos was under lockdown, mass gatherings were banned and Banjoko and his musicians were under special orders from the state to play their gospel tunes to try to speed the recovery from a virus that has killed hundreds of thousands worldwide.

 "The purpose was to lift the spirits – to deliver spiritual healing," Banjoko said. "That was greatly achieved."

The virus is still spreading though the capital, the epicentre of the outbreak in Africa's most populous nation, upending life for its 20 million residents and stretching government resources.

On Monday, there were 2,558 confirmed cases in Nigeria, home to large Christian and Muslim communities, 1,107 of them in Lagos.

Music plays an integral role in Nigeria, the nation of Fela Kuti, Afrobeats and a steady stream of chart-topping artists including  WizKid, Davido and Burna Boy. Thumping gospel at weekly church services propels congregants to feel the power of God. 

Akin Abayomi, Lagos state's health commissioner, launched the Art4life project last year to add music, painting and poetry to the healthcare arsenal. Now it includes weekly concerts outside coronavirus isolation and treatment centres.

 Abosede Lewu, a Lagos doctor, called the initiative essential.

"If we have something that can stimulate people fighting back, which you cannot quantify in terms of the number of pills or whatever you give ... we have to encourage it," she said.

Peter Oluwadare, a 23-year old violinist, said it was scary to be so close to the pandemic but said the music helped him conquer his fear.

"It was refreshing to see the affected people and healthcare workers, you know, revitalised with the music," Oluwadare said. "I feel so honoured to play there."

- Reuter

Mercy Johnson gives birth to child No.4 in U.S.

Mercy Johnson’s husband, Prince Odi Okojie announced the birth of their 4th child on his instagram page on Monday.

The popular Nollywood actress was delivered of the baby at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in the United States.

The husband of the actress displayed the baby’s picture with her name as: Divine-Mercy Ehinomen Okojie.

He said: “Every good and perfect gift is from God. The wait is finally over. Please share in our joy as we announce the arrival of our daughter. Divine-Mercy Ehinomen Okojie.”

Some celebrities also congratulated the couple on the same page.

Among them were Nkechi Blessing and Oluwabukola Arugba and a host of others.

Blessing wrote: “Thank you Jesus.”

Arugba said: “Congratulations darling.”

Nollywood actress Mercy and Prince Okojie got married in 2011.

- PM NEWS

Did you know Nigeria’s poverty line is less than a dollar a day?

What is poverty? 

Pause. Think really well about the question. Take a hard long look at Nigeria and repeat the question to yourself; what is poverty? Do you know poverty? Have you seen poverty? Does poverty mean the absence of food or the basic needs of life? 
Are you done thinking? Is there an answer? Did you say poverty is the inability to spend below $1.90 — N740 — a day? Or the inability to eat three meals a day? That’s right. But let us have a look at the numbers from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

On Monday, NBS released its 2019 report on “Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria”. In that report, the NBS said 89.2 million Nigerians are living in poverty. This represents 40.1 percent of the nation.
But let’s break it down. The NBS says “poverty is measured using consumption expenditures rather than income in Nigeria— similar to the approach taken by many other countries globally”. What this means is that the NBS did not define poverty based on income or the globally popular poverty line of $1.90.

This is not to say NBS had a flawed approach. No, they simply had a national approach. Let me explain it to you by comparing it to the global picture:

Nigeria’s poverty line is less than a dollar

The nation’s stats office also did not define the poverty line based on the previous indices of $1.25 a day, which was in use from 2008 to 2015 before the review to $1.90. According to NBS, Nigeria has its own poverty line, which was used in measuring poverty in the latest report.

“National poverty line is calculated by adding food poverty line and cost of non-food basic needs. This results in value of poverty line equal to 137,430 Naira per person per year”.

Therefore, any Nigerian living in a household where the average amount of money spent on food and non-food basic needs is less than N137,430 is “considered poor by national standards”. To put this in context, we’ll need a simple division of N137,430 by 365 days in a year.

This means any individual, who spends less than N376.5 a day on food and other basic needs like shelter, clothing, health, education, electricity, and security (or sleep) is considered poor.

The global poverty line is N740 per day for this same needs, but the national poverty line in Nigeria is N376.5, which by today’s exchange rate of N389/$ is only 97 cents — less than a dollar. The last time the global poverty line was $1 a day was at least 2007 — 13 years ago.

So when you think of the 89.2 million Nigerians living in poverty, think of a man or woman, girl or boy, who spends N376.5 on food, water, house rent, school fees, electricity, clothing, and security per day.

The World thinks there are 102 million poor Nigerians

The World Poverty Clock, an online tool designed to monitor realtime poverty across the globe, estimates — based on data from the NBS, UN, WorldBank, and the International Monetary Fund — that 102.4 million Nigerians are living in extreme poverty. This is 13.2 million people more than what the NBS reported on Monday.

However, this is not a problem, it is only a difference in methodology. NBS data shows that the national poverty line is $0.97, while the World Poverty Clocks uses the global standard of $1.90 as the poverty line. If you use different benchmarks, the result are bound to be different.

So how many poor people are in Nigeria? NBS says 89.2 million. The world thinks 102.4 million. It would be interesting to see if the World Data Lab would adjust its numbers to reflect the latest NBS data.

EDUCATION AS THE SOLUTION TO POVERTY

It is not all gloom or doom, there is an opportunity in the numbers released by the NBS: In 2019, at a UNGA side event, Muhammad Sanusi II, the former emir of Kano, said the easiest way for northern governors to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was by simply educating the girl child.

“If I were to advise governors in the northwest and the northeast, which goal should they focus on? It’s one, and it’s a subset of one;  just educate the girlchild,” Sanusi had said. “If you educate the girls and make sure that they finish secondary school and have skills before they get married, they would not have eight children, they would not accept domestic violence, and they are more likely to stop their husbands from having a second wife.

“So you deal with high fertility rates, you deal with out-of-school children because if a woman is educated her children go to school, you deal with malnutrition.”

Monday’s data supports Sanusi’s stance perfectly.

The numbers show that the more educated you are, the less likely you are to live in poverty. The highest rate of poverty was recorded in households where the head of the family did not complete primary school education. The lowest level of poverty was recorded in households where the head of the family concluded secondary education.

The finer details show that where the head of the household is female, the likelihood of poverty is lower. Where the head of the house is female and educated, the likelihood of poverty is even much lower. Clearly, educating a female has great potential to lower poverty levels in Nigeria.

To get Nigeria out of extreme poverty, President Muhammadu Buhari, his team, and the governors have one major job: E-d-u-c-a-t-e t-h-e g-i-r-l c-h-i-l-d!

- THECABLE

NCDC confirms 245 cases of coronavirus as toll jumps to 2802

A total of 245 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Nigeria on Monday.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, confirmed this in a post on its official Twitter page.

With this development, the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus now stands at 2802.

NCDC tweeted, “245 new cases of #COVID19;

“76-Lagos, 37-Katsina, 32-Jigawa, 23-Kano
19-FCT, 18-Borno, 10-Edo, 9-Bauchi
6-Adamawa, 5-Oyo, 5-Ogun, 1-Ekiti
1-Osun, 1-Benue, 1-Niger and 1-Zamfara State.

“2802 confirmed cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria

“Discharged: 417, Deaths: 93.”

- DAILY POST

COVID-19 : FG hints on fresh lockdown as Nigerians flout directives

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC),Chikwe Ihekweazu has warned Nigerians of risking another lockdown if they continue to violate some health guidelines.

Ihekweazu made this known while speaking at the presidential task force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday, stating that new cases of the virus may arise if people continued to flout the health directives in some parts of the country where the lockdown was eased.

He said that the Federal government might be forced to impose another lockdown if there are more cases of coronavirus.

He said “How do we want to manage the risk of explosion and transmission?

”Today, we might forgive a little bit because it is the first day.

“We will definitely have more cases because of what happened today, no doubt about that.

“But how can we learn from the mistakes of today into tomorrow, next tomorrow so by Friday hopefully we have normalised some of these things.

“Yes, we knew today would be a problem because for the first time, people were let out of their homes but now they are out and we have seen the sunlight again, the challenge for us as a society is how do we now organise ourselves to mitigate these risks and limit transmission?

“We might have a few extra infections today and tomorrow but what we don’t want is an explosion of new infections.

“If the cases of the virus infection increases, there will be almost no choice left for the leadership of the country than to ask all of us to go back into our homes.

“So for the benefit of coming out to reopen parts of the economy, there is a price to pay which is to reorganise ourselves to do this safely.”

Recall that the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and FCT ended on Monday as residents were allowed to resume work.

However, DAILY POST gathered that some commercial buses, popularly known as ‘Danfo’ flouted the Lagos State transportation guidelines. Pictures and videos of Nigerians overcrowding in public places also emerged online.

- DAILY POST