IMF says Nigerians getting poorer, calls for ‘urgent and coherent’ economic policies

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Nigerians are getting poorer and that “coherent and comprehensive” economic reforms are urgently needed in the country.

The gross domestic product report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday showed that the economy recorded a growth of 0.83 percent in 2017.

The Bretton Wood institution said it expects the government to “muddle through” in the medium term, and any progress could also be threatened if elections next year consume political energy and resources.

 Reuters reports that the IMF said that although the outlook for growth has improved, the climate still remained challenging.

“Comprehensive and coherent economic policies remain urgent and must not be delayed by approaching elections and recovering oil prices,” IMF said in its annual Article IV review of Nigeria’s economy.

“Higher oil prices would support a recovery in 2018 but a ‘muddle-through’ outlook is projected for the medium term under current policies, with fiscal dominance and structural constraints leading to continuing falls in real GDP per capita.

“Further delays in policy action — including because of pre-election pressures — can only make the inevitable adjustment more difficult and costlier.”

The lender reteirated that Nigeria needs to simplify its complex foreign exchange system.

“Moving towards a unified exchange rate should be pursued as soon as possible. (IMF) staff does not support the exchange measures that have given rise to the exchange restrictions and multiple currency practices.”

It also said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should stop its intervention activities in the foreign exchange market.

The CBN has been injecting money into the forex market to ease the pressure on the naira. - Cable Nigeria

Shocking !!! My husband got Imam to sleep with me for rituals – Woman

A divorce seeking wife, Musilimotu Olashuyi, on Wednesday told the Igando Customary Court in Lagos that her husband employed an Islamic preacher to have sex with her for money-making ritual.

The 48 year old woman, claimed that she introduced her husband, Gbenga Olashuyi, 55, to the unnamed Alfa because she used to frequent his mosque for prayers.

Olashuyi said her husband’s business wasn’t going well, a situation that made her to introduce the Alfa to him.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Musilimotu said the Alfa ended up committing adultery with her, on the instruction of her husband.

She said, “It was with my husband’s consent that the Alfa slept with me for three days,’’ Musilimotu disclosed, while praying the court to dissolve the marriage.

She alleged that her husband had also conspired with the Alfa to use her for money ritual.

She narrated to the court, “Actually, my husband got to know the Alfa through me because I always go to his mosque to pray.

“When he told me that my husband’s business was not moving fine, I brought him home to meet my husband.

“Before I knew what was happening, my husband had conspired with him to use me for money ritual. It was with my husband’s consent that the Alfa slept with me for three days.

“After the incident, I started getting sick and getting emaciated and I told the people around me what happened, which led to the arrest of the Alfa; but my husband ran away.

“Gbenga resurfaced at the station after the Alfa brought a remedy to cure me.”

Musilimotu alleged further that Gbenga had refused to repay a loan she collected on his behalf in which she stood as the guarantor.

She said that Gbenga packed out her belonging from his house last October and stole N1m belonging to her.

Musilimotu pleaded with the court to terminate the union, saying that she was no longer in love with Gbenga after four years of marriage.

But Gbenga told the court that it was Musilimotu who lured him to buy the coffin for the money ritual to turn their fortunes around.

“My wife and her concubine persuaded me to buy a coffin for money ritual and she brought the Alfa to the house,” Gbenga said.

He added that the cleric had told him that God revealed to him that his business was collapsing and that he would make some rituals for him.

“I agreed to make the ritual because truly, my business was not moving well. Since that day, my wife has been coming home with the Alfa and with different objects and concoctions for me to drink and have my bath with.

“Later, Alfa asked me to bring N800,000 to buy some items for another ritual. He also told me to buy a casket for money ritual, which I will put in a separate room where nobody will enter except me.

“My wife begged me to comply with Alfa’s request, but I declined,” Gbenga claimed.

The businessman accused his wife of infidelity, alleging that Alfa always made love to Musilimotu on their matrimonial bed.

He said he knew about the adulterous relationship when his wife had Alfa arrested and accused the cleric of using charms to rape her.

“The cleric told the police that he did not hypnotise my wife to rape her, saying that it was with her consent that he made love to her on those three occasions,” Gbenga said.

Gbenga confessed that he packed Musilimotu’s belongings out of his house.

He also pleaded with the court to dissolve the marriage, saying that he was no longer interested in the relationship.

The President of the court, Mr. Akin Akinniyi, however, advised the couple to maintain the peace while he adjourned the case until March 22 for judgment. - Daily Post

BASTARD !!! Witness Reveals How $1m Was Recovered in Badeh’s Wardrobe

Anna Awe Akuson, a witness in the N3.9billion fraud trial involving Alex S. Badeh, former Chief of Air Staff, on Wednesday, February 28, 2018 told Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja how a search conducted on a property allegedly belonging to defendant led to the recovery of $1million (One Million US Dollars) suspected to be proceeds of illicit deals.

Akuson, an operative of the EFCC, who testified as PW20, said that the money was found in a wardrobe at the upper apartment of the building located at No. 6 Ogun River Street, Off Danube Street, Maitama, Abuja.

Led in evidence by Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, counsel to the EFCC, Akuson said:

“I am a cameraman working with the EFCC. On February 24, 2016, I was assigned to go on a search with some operatives. The team leader told me the properties (we were to search) belong to Alex Badeh."

“On reaching the place, I started my recording from outside. In the master bedroom (upstairs), we found a travelling bag covered with a pillow-case in the wardrobe. We opened the travelling bag and found US dollars inside. We brought the bag down and the money was counted."

“After the search, we returned to the office and I copied the visual from my camera to a hard drive, after which I burned it to a DVD disc.”

Thereafter, the prosecution sought to tender the certificate of identification and the DVD disc of the recording, but its admissibility was strongly objected to by Badeh’s counsel, Akin Olujimi, SAN.

While relying on Section 379 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, Olujimi argued, “I am for the first time seeing these documents in court now that the Registrar handed them over to me.

“There is no doubt that the prosecutor did not include these two documents in the information he filed before this court. That means we have been deprived of the rights of an accused person by the law. These two documents ought to have accompanied the information which the court has.”

Responding, Jacobs argued that the documents had been made available to the defence when the EFCC’s investigating officer (who testified as PW19) gave his evidence. However, he offered to avail the defence counsel copies of the documents.

Olujimi further applied that the next date of hearing, which is March 1, 2018, be vacated to enable the defence study the documents and prepare their defence.

Consequently, Justice Abang adjourned to March 14, 2018, for the continuation of trial.

Badeh is facing trial alongside Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, on a 10-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N3.9billion.

He, among other things, allegedly between January and December, 2013, used dollar equivalent of the sum of N1.4billion (One Billion, Four Hundred Million Naira) removed from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force to purchase a mansion situated at No. 6, Ogun River Street, Off Danube Street, Maitama, Abuja.

Wilson Uwujaren

Head, Media and Publicity

28 February 2018

SELL NIGERIA TO FOREIGN INVESTORS !! Reps summon Adeosun, Emefiele over ‘missing’ N10bn NHIS fund

The House of Representatives committee on healthcare services has invited the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele over N10 billion said to have been deducted from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Also summoned were the Minister of National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo-Udoma and the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze.

The deductions, which became a public issue just as the reinstated Executive Secretary of the NHIS, Prof. Usman Yusuf, resumed duty, had generated a fresh controversy at the agency.

It had initially been tagged as “missing,” prompting the House Committee on Healthcare Services summoning Yusuf on Wednesday to explain what happened to the N10bn.

The panel, headed by Hon Chike Okafor (APC, Imo) said the amount was domiciled at the CBN but appeared to be deducted ‘arbitrarily’.

The money was taken in two tranches of N5bn in December 2016 and N5bn in January, 2018.

Executive Secretary of NHIS, Prof Yusuf Usmam, speaking before the committee, described the allegations as “misleading and irresponsible”, stating that N10bn missing was deducted from the NHIS Treasury Single Account, as unremitted revenue, by the Federal Ministry of Finance between December 2016 and January 2018

He said the transaction was done in two tranches, with N5bn deducted in each of the transactions in December last year and January this year.

Yusuf said “In December 1, 2016, NHIS got a memo from the Federal Ministry of Finance stating that NHIS is a revenue generating agency.

“I went to the minister and the Accountant-General of the Federation and told them that NHIS is not a revenue generating agency. “On 28 December, 2016, N5bn was deducted from the NHIS Account; another N5bn was deducted on 11 January, 2018, totalling N10bn.

“The money was deducted as surplus unremitted revenue from the agency. I don’t know whether it has been used or what it was used for,” he told the panel.

The committee chairman, Okafor said the panel would get to the bottom of the matter to ascertain how and why the amount was deducted.

The committee insisted on hearing from Adeosun, Adewole, Udo-Udoma, Emefiele, Idris and Akabueze before deciding on the next line of action to take.

The motion was immediately endorsed by the session to summon the aforementioned officials of government. - Daily Post

Queen of corruption !! Diezani forefeits $4.760m penthouses

The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday ordered the final forfeiture of two penthouses valued at $4.760m belonging to former Petroleum Resources Minister Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke.

They are: Penthouse 21, Building 5, Block C, 11th floor (Bella Vista Estate) Banana Island, Ikoyi; and Penthouse 22, Block B (Admiralty Estate), also in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Ruling on an application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), JJustice Mojisola Olatoregun ordered that they be forfeited to the Federal Government.

The commission’s lawyer, Mr ABC Ozioko, told the court that he had a motion on notice for a final forfeiture order in respect of the properties.

He added that the interim forfeiture order made last December 5 was advertised in The Nation  as ordered by the court.

He also prayed for an order prohibiting the disposal of any mortgage or sale of the properties, and for an order authorising the EFCC to appoint a competent person or firm to manage the properties.

Respondents’ counsel Mr Emmanuel Bassey did not object to the prayers.

Justice Olatoregun granted the orders as prayed.

She said: “I have observed the facts and exhibits attached and I am also mindful that the second, third and fourth respondents have no objections to the application.

“I, therefore, have no hesitation in ordering a final forfeiture of the properties to the Federal Government.”

Mrs Alison-Madueke, Donald Amangbo, Schillenburg LLC and Sequoyah Property Limited are the respondents.

The commission said the companies in whose names the properties were acquired belong to the former minister.

An EFCC investigator, Abdulrasheed Bawa, in an affidavit, said sometime in 2016, a search warrant was executed at Amangbo’s premises.

He said Amangbo was “an acquaintance of former Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs Alison Madueke”.

The investigator said one of the documents recovered from Amamgbo led the operatives to the Deputy Managing Director, YF Construction Development and Real Estate Limited, Mr. Fadi Basbous.

The deponent said Basbous made a statement where he stated that the two properties were sold at $3.570million and $1.194million and are owned by Sequoyah Properties Limited and Schillenburg LLC.

Bawa said the properties were paid for by Mrs Angela Jide-Jones and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited.

According to him, Mrs  Jide-Jone was married to Mrs Alison-Madueke’s associate, Jide Omokore, who registered and promoted Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept.

The EFCC investigator said Omokore paid for the properties through his wife, Angela.

According to the operative, Omokore allegedly directed the developer (seller) to sign the agreements with Schillenburg LLC and Sequoyah Properties.

The deponent said Schillenburg LLC was registered in Hong Kong and was transferred on March 30, 2012, to Amamgbo as sole owner.

Amamgbo, according to EFCC, incorporated Schillenburg LLC and handed it over to Mrs. Alison-Madueke “for a transaction”.

The deponent added that Sequoyah Properties “is among 18 companies registered by Donald Chid Amangbo for holding the properties of Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke”. - The Nation

Corruption gang !!! How Patience Jonathan, Shagaya Used NGO To Launder N3.3bn – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday urged the Federal High Court in Lagos not to unfreeze a Unity Bank account with a balance of N1,902,673,399.93 belonging to Hajiya Bola Shagaya.

The anti-graft agency claimed that the N1.9bn was the balance of a total of N3,305,150,000, which Shagaya received as “founder fees” on behalf of an organization, “Women for Change” being spearheaded by a former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.

The EFCC claimed that the N3.3bn was realized through Shagaya’s “fraudulent activities in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation,” where she allegedly “influenced the fraudulent allocation of Dual Purpose kerosene to Index Petrolube Africa Ltd., with the aid of the former First Lady, Mrs. Dame Patience Jonathan.”

According to the EFCC, the N3.3bn was paid by Index Petrolube Africa Ltd. and its sister company, Autodex Nigeria Limited.

The two companies, it said, belong to one Honourable Ezeani ThankGod, adding that the reason for the N3.3bn payment was to “fraudulently facilitate Dual Purpose Kerosene to ThankGod’s company, Index Petrolube Africa Ltd.”

The anti-graft agency claimed that out of the N3.3bn, Shagaya had “paid a cumulative sum of N1,212,000,000 to the former First Lady, Mrs. Dame Patience Jonathan, through her account, ‘Women for Change Initiative’ account domiciled in Diamond Bank, to which the former First Lady is the sole signatory.”

It said after paying N1.2bn to Patience, Shagaya kept the balance of N1.9bn for herself by “warehousing” same in her personal bank account in Unity Bank.

The EFCC said it was on this basis that it secured an order of Justice Muslim Hassan of the Federal High Court in Lagos on December 29, 2016, to freeze the account.

It, therefore, begged Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo of the same court not to unfreeze Shagaya’s account, so that Shagaya would not “use this honorable court as a shield against criminal investigation and prosecution.”

These were contained in a counter-affidavit filed by the EFCC in response to an originating summons filed by Shagaya, urging the court to give her access to her Unity Bank account, which had been frozen since December 29, 2016.

Shagaya, through her lawyer, Mr. Napoleon Emeaso-Nwachukwu, contended that she was not given a fair hearing before Justice Muslim Hassan made the freezing order.

She urged Justice Oguntoyinbo to set Justice Hassan’s order aside by declaring it unconstitutional, null and void “as same violates the applicant’s right to own movable property as guaranteed by Section 44(1)(k) of the I999 Constitution of Nigeria.” - Saharareporters

Like father like son !! Money Laundering: EFCC Docks Dariye Son, Nanle Miracle for N1.5bn

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, February 27, 2018, arraigned Nanle Miracle Dariye, son of former Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye, on a 6-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N1.5billion before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Dariye was arraigned alongside Apartment le Paradis, a hotel where he was a director.
 
The defendant sometime in 2013 failed to report a cash transaction to the tune of N1.5billion which he received through the hotel’s account in one of the old generation banks. The amount is above the threshold of the N10million permissible by law. Additionally, the hotel was also not registered as Designated Non-Financial Institution, DNFI.
 
The offense is in contravention of Section 5(1) (a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under Section 5 (b) of the same Act.
 
Count two of the charge reads:
“That you, Nanle Miracle Dariye, while being a Director of Apartment le Paradis Limited and Apartment le Paradis Limited on 28th day of March 2013 in Abuja within the Jurisdiction of this Honorable Court did commit an offence to wit: Failure to report within 7 (seven) days, a cash transaction in the sum of N551,555,428.50 (Five Hundred and Fifty One Million, Five Hundred and Fifty Five Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty Eight Naira, Fifty Kobo) paid to Apartment le Paradis Limited BY BGL Securities Ltd vide your First Bank Plc Account No 2014165731 on 28th day of March 2013 which is above the threshold of N10,000,000 (Ten million Naira) and you hereby committed an offence contrary to Section 10(1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under Section 10 (3) of the same Act".
 
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge when they were read to him.

In view of his plea, counsel to the EFCC, George Adebola, asked the court to fix a date for trial and for the defendant to be remanded in prison custody. 

However, Dariye’s counsel, Charles Abalaka, pleaded that he was yet to file an application for bail as he was served with the charge late yesterday. He urged the court to admit his client to bail while presenting two sureties - Mr. Amana Yusuf, a Grade Level 12 civil servant working with Ministry of Defence and Mrs. Rose, a Grade Level 13 officer working in the Office of the Head of Service in Abuja.  
 
Justice Ojukwu admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N5million with two sureties in like sum. The sureties must be resident of Abuja and must provide tax evidence for 2015, 2016 and 2017. 
 
The judge, thereafter, adjourned to April 10 -12, 2018 for a commencement of trial.
 
“The defendant is to be remanded in EFCC custody pending the fulfillment of the bail conditions”, the judge added.                                                  

Wilson Uwujaren

Head, Media & Public

27 February 2018