Nigeria News
Senate reveals N1.04tn misappropriated funds from Special Funds Account
By Citizensplatform
The Nigerian Senate considered the probe report of its Committee on Public Accounts, on Tuesday which detailed how the sum of N1.04 trillion out N1.51trillion in the Special Funds Accounts was mismanaged by the Federal Government between 2002 and 2012.
The Senate expressed shock over the magnitude of the misappropriation and blamed the National Assembly for poor oversight.
The accounts are the Natural Resources Account which is meant to provide financial resources for the development of alternative mineral resources from oil and gas; the Derivation and Ecology Account meant for intervention in general ecological problems in the country; and the stabilisation fund which is jointly owned by the three tiers of government and is used as a stop gap measure for unforeseen contingencies, especially during economic downturns.
But a report presented by the Chairman Senate Committee on Public Accounts, Senator Ahmed Lawan revealed a large diversion of the funds to other uses, including loans to foreign countries, government agencies and private organisations.
He said the money accrued to the three accounts as of June 30, 2012, of which N1.24tn was paid out. He said a total of N580bn was also paid out to various organisations and individuals as loans contrary to the objectives of the funds, even as N348bn of the borrowed fund had yet to be refunded.
Giving a further break down of the loans, the report stated, “The operation of the National Resources Account is grossly abused because several releases under this account were not related to the intendment of the account. A total of N329,329,745,916 was granted as loan, out of which N200,585,790,991.64 is still outstanding under the National Resources Account. “Under the Derivation and Ecology Account, a total of N61,000,000,000 was granted as loan out of which N30,000,000,000 is still outstanding.”
It was observed that of the N701.5bn, which accrued to the Development of Natural Resources Account not a naira was used for the development of natural resources. Instead, the amount was used either as loans to other agencies and organisations to finance deficits and shortfalls, or were paid out to finance other government projects.
For the Derivation and Ecology Account, out of the total N329.9bn paid out, N149.9bn was allegedly diverted to other uses outsides its mandate.
The same observation was made on the Stabilisation Account, where a total of N191.8bn was allegedly misapplied out of the N255.5bn that accrued to the account.
Some of the inexplicable loans granted from the accounts, according to the committee, include the N87.7bn granted to the Independent National Electoral Commission in 2010 to commence fresh voters’ registration even though the exercise was provided for in the budget; N2bn granted to Gitto Construction Company; N1bn granted to the Edo State Government under the leadership of Mr. Lucky Igbinedion; N12bn granted to Ghana and Sao Tome and Principe in 2004 and 2007, respectively; and the N200m released to the Presidential Research and Communication Unit in 2002.
The committee observed that “several approvals of funds from the Special Funds Accounts do not conform to the purposes for which the funds were established. There are no operational guidelines for the administration, regulation, approval and procedures for the release of money from the funds.”
The committee stated in its report, “The funds are practically being operated as loan granting pools. Several beneficiaries of the funds utilise the funds for purposes that are not contemplated by the intendment of the funds.
“The socio-economic development and environmental integrity of Nigeria are threatened by the continuous misapplication of the money from the Special Fund Accounts to unrelated purposes. Loans granted from the accounts have not been paid back several years after such loans were granted.”
It also added that there were no regular reconciliation between the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
In observation of the huge alleged abuse of the funds, the Senate indicted itself, saying a situation where such abuses took place for almost 10 years without the knowledge of the National Assembly implied a flagrant negligence of its oversight function, adding that it was time it repented of such negligence.
The Senate President David Mark described the development “as truly an indictment on the National Assembly and a wake-up call for all of us to do our work properly”.
At the end of the debate on the report, the Senate resolved to enact a law to establish and regulate the operations of the special fund accounts and directed the committee to undertake further investigation.
The Senate, however, resolved that the committee would need to return to determine the actual beneficiaries of the loans that had not been paid back to the accounts as well as determine the details of what was outstanding.
A bill is already before the Senate seeking to make provisions for the administration of the accounts, it has passed first reading.
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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: Citizens Platform
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Nigeria News
Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic
The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
Nigeria News
COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Nigeria News
Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Tribune
Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune