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‘False Asset Declaration’: #Magu Finally Appears Before CCB

The suspended Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has honoured the invitation of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) in Abuja.

Sources close to the matter also disclosed that the suspended EFCC boss was at the CCB office in Abuja on Thursday, December 3, 2020 with his lawyers over the CCB’s invitation on his asset declaration.

But Magu could not be attended to as the CCB was having its annual lecture with a theme titled: “Fighting Corruption for Socio-Economic Development”.

It was further gathered that Magu later visited the CCB on Friday, December 4, 2020 where he spent couple of hours for the interview on his asset declaration.

The CCB had earlier invited Magu on November 17, 2020 and asked him to come along with:

*Acknowledgement slips of all his assets declaration since he joined the public service.
*Copies of his Appointment Letter, Acceptance, Records of Service and payslips from January to May 2020.
*All title documents of his landed properties both developed and undeveloped.

But Magu replied in his two letters to the CCB that he would not be able to honour its invitation on the grounds of lack of access to the relevant documents which the CCB is demanding from him.

Speaking through his lawyer, Wahab Shittu, Magu explained that he did not shun the CCB invitation as reported in certain sections of the media but only sought for a new date over lack of access to relevant documents.

Nigeria Not Only At War, But A War Zone — Soyinka

Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has said Nigeria is not only at war but also is in a war zone.

Soyinka made this statement today against the backdrop of large-scale insecurity in the country while launching his latest novel, Chronicles Of The Happiest People On Earth, a book he published at 86.

“I think we are not merely at war, we are in a war zone, ” the literary icon maintained.

The Nobel Laureate also said there is a high level of insecurity in the country so much so that people now sleep with one eye open and the other closed, and cautioned that unless our leaders allow decentralization of governance and accept that they have failed, we might have a new set of conflagration along different lines unlike before.

“The term, one eye open and one eye close has become a common parlance everywhere” he said.

Asked how long it took him to write the novel, the Nobel Laureate said it took him forever, adding that writing the book was a problem he dealt with for many years. And he had to escape twice, first to Senegal and then to Ghana before he could concentrate on the book. And he actually spent about two years to write it.

“I just could not concentrate sufficiently within these borders,” he maintained.

Asked whether he feels things have changed since independence, the literary icon said nothing has really changed, adding that the more things seem to be changing, the more they remain the same.

Soyinka also decried the dependence of Nigerians on religion, adding that it reduces our humanity. He also said it is only when Nigerians learn to reduce their total dependence on religion that that is the only way they can habit with it. However, the Nobel Laureate said believing in something rather than oneself enlarges one’s humanity.

Asked again what his mood was, whether it was pessimistic or optimistic, the Nobel Laureate succinctly said: Happiness, adding that he takes everyday as it comes.

It was an evening of music spiced with readings of excerpts from the book, Chronicles Of The Happiest People On Earth. Guests who read excerpts from the book alongside the author included Somtom Asibelibua, who read in English, French and Spanish as well as Richard Move Damijo.

Guests in attendance included the Minister of Works and Housing, Rotimi Amaechi, Chief, Newton Jibunoh and Professor Ebun Clark.

Janet Yellen: A monetary mind at the US treasury, By John B. Taylor

•Janet Yellen

Former US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s forthcoming appointment to lead the Department of the Treasury is good news for advocates of rules-based monetary policymaking. Following a period of emergency measures, what the US needs now is a return to clear and predictable decision-making.

STANFORD – No US secretary of the treasury will have spoken out so often and with as much authority about monetary policy as Janet Yellen once she is sworn into that position. The only other former Federal Reserve chair to become treasury secretary was G. William Miller in 1979, and he had spent only one year at the Fed. Yellen, by contrast, previously served for two decades there – through good times and bad – with stints as staff economist, governor, president of the San Francisco District, vice chair, and chair.

Such experienced leadership at the top of the treasury department will matter greatly for monetary-policy rules and strategy in the months and years to come. In anticipating what Yellen might do, there is a long history to consider. In 1996, when she was a Fed governor, she spoke about policy rules in a speech entitled “Monetary Policy: Goals and Strategies.” Holding up the Taylor Rule as an exemplar, she said that it “has appealing properties as a normative description of how policy ought to be conducted.”

Listing some of these properties, Yellen noted that the Taylor Rule has a “long-run inflation target,” and that it entails “a strategy for handling tradeoffs … taken in the context of a systematic long-run strategy.” It has been shown “to deliver remarkably good performance in the face of a wide variety of shocks,” and it can “help the Federal Reserve communicate to the public the rationale behind policy moves.”

Some 16 years later, as a Fed vice chair, Yellen said that a good “benchmark rule should conform to the so-called Taylor principle, which states that, other things being equal, a central bank should respond to a persistent increase in inflation by raising nominal short-term interest rates by more than the increase in inflation.” She then added her own rules-based feature, arguing that “it is essential that policy rules incorporate a sufficiently strong response to resource slack … to help bring the economy back toward full employment expeditiously.”

Then, in 2017, Yellen, as Fed chair, stated that the Taylor Rule “embodies key principles of good monetary policy,” and went on to explain the differences between what it prescribes and the Fed’s actual policies. She indicated that a strict mathematical formula could be supplemented by easy-to-understand formulations such as, “When the economy is weak…we encourage spending and investing by pushing short-term interest rates lower … when the economy is threatening to push inflation too high down the road, we increase interest rates.”

Throughout 2017, Yellen and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC, the Fed’s rate-setting body) had been pushing actual monetary policy in a more strategic direction, dialing the benchmark federal funds rate toward a normal level and unwinding the Fed’s asset holdings. And that July, Yellen issued a new Monetary Policy Report that included, for the first time ever, a section on “Monetary Policy Rules and Their Role in the Federal Reserve’s Policy Process.” Noting that the same “key principles of good monetary policy” are incorporated into other policy rules, the report recognised the value of the Taylor Rule and four variations on it.

This emphasis on rules and strategies continued under Yellen’s successor, Fed Chair Jerome Powell. In a 2018 Monetary Policy Report, there were sections elaborating on the 2017 report, with Powell stating in Congressional testimony that,

“In evaluating the stance of monetary policy, the FOMC routinely consults monetary policy rules. … I find these rule prescriptions helpful. … I would like to note that this Monetary Policy Report provides further discussion of monetary policy rules and their role in the Federal Reserve’s policy process.”

Then, in March 2018, the Fed launched a new website on “Monetary Policy Principles and Practice,” which included a section on “Policy Rules and How Policymakers Use Them.”

But the COVID-19 crisis has changed all this. After six consecutive Monetary Policy Reports that echoed the fundamental changes made in July 2017, the July 2020 Report had absolutely nothing to say about policy rules. While the Fed’s emergency actions in March and April were both necessary and effective in opening financial markets, that period has since passed, and there is now hope for rapid deployment of vaccines and a return to more normal economic conditions.

We do not yet know what the future holds for monetary policy, but many commentators have been calling for a return to what David Papell and Ruxandra Prodan of the University of Houston call “policy rule forward guidance.” Fortunately, the minutes of the November 2020 FOMC meeting offered hints of a possible move in this direction, with “Many participants [judging] that the Committee might want to enhance its guidance for asset purchases fairly soon.”

In any case, the Fed will maintain its independence going forward. But with views from different parts of the new administration and Congress influencing future appointments and legislation, and with another pandemic spending package in the offing, it would help to have a more rules-based monetary policy in place at the Fed. This would greatly simplify negotiations and improve the design of fiscal policy more generally. Likewise, having a treasury secretary who supports the move to a clear, predictable, systematic, rules-based monetary strategy will be most welcome. (Project Syndicate)

•John B. Taylor, Under Secretary of the US Treasury from 2001 to 2005, is Professor of Economics at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is the author of Global Financial Warriors and (with George P. Shultz) Choose Economic Freedom.

Bahrain set to criminalise online slander, jail and BD20,000 fine proposed

A committee in the Bahraini parliament has approved a draft bill criminalising slander and defaming people on social media.

Motion yet to be approved by the kingdom’s legislature

Cairo: A committee in the Bahraini parliament has approved a draft bill criminalising slander and defaming people on social media, a local newspaper reported.

The draft endorsed by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security proposes tough penalties in libel cases, according to Bahraini newspaper Al Watan.

According to the panel’s recommendation, acts of online slander and defamation should be punishable by jailing and a maximum fine of BD20,000.

The bill will introduce a new addition to Bahrain’s law No 60 issued in 2014 about information technology offences.

The motion has yet to be approved by the kingdom’s legislature.

gulfnews

Egyptian Lady Dumps Fani-Kayode, Announces Separation

By Oyinlola Awonuga (The New Diplomat’s Entertainment, Fashion and Sports Desk)

Egyptian lady identified as Nesma Galal who recently described Femi Fani-Kayode as “all my stars my everything in my life,” has reportedly announced her separation from him.

The Egyptian Lady in November 2019 described Fani-Kayode has all her stars as he responded with the word “My Hatun”, an honorific word for women, equivalent to the English term “My lady.”

However, the love story has ended as Nesma returned to social media Sunday to announce her split from the former Nigerian Aviation minister.

In a post captured from her Instagram page, Nesma described Fani-Kayode as a “hallucinogenic man, traitorous, and a liar.

The lady claimed that the former Nigerian minister is mentally ill and not worthy to be her husband.

“I left this man forever because he did not deserve to be a husband. Because he’s a hallucinogenic man, traitorous, and a liar.
He begged my mother to come back to him again, but it’s impossible to come back to him.

“And I did block him from Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp and have all the conversations that prove that he’s begging me and my mother to come back, but I refused forever.

“This is a traitorous man. He’s mentally ill, I swear,” Nesma wrote on her Instagram page.

The development comes few months after his wife and mother of his triplets, Precious Chikwendu walked out of a marriage with him.

COVID-19 Spike Is Real, Prof. Ernest Ojukwu To New SANs, Urges Them To Celebrate In Low Key

Professor Ernest Ojukwu, SAN, has called on the lawyers newly conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria to thread with caution as the covid-19 pandemic is real

According to him, the covid-19 increase is real. He urged them to emulate the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and celebrate in a low key

“NEW SAN conferment on 14Dec- New SANs should follow the eg of CJN. Hold ltd low keyed celebrations. Thou shall not kill. Show good leadership. COVID Spike in Nigeria is Real.” he tweeted

Recall that the Supreme Court of Nigeria has said that in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols, families and well wishers of the 72 newly appointed SANs won’t be allowed into the venue of the inauguration ceremony to hold December 14 adding that interested member of the public would be able to monitor the events live on various media platforms.

TNL recalls that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had on Sunday 6th December recorded 318 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 69,255.

The 318 new cases were reported from 14 states- Lagos (104), Kaduna (59), FCT (50), Rivers (17), Ogun (16), Kano (14), Nasarawa (14), Akwa Ibom (10), Katsina (10), Edo (7), Oyo (5), Sokoto (5), Plateau (4), Taraba (3)

Court Upholds $1.7bn Arbitral Award In Favour Of NPDC On Brass, Forcados Assets

The Federal High Court in Lagos today upheld a landmark $1.7billion arbitral award in favour of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Co. (NPDC) Ltd against the Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nig. Ltd and Atlantic Energy Brass Development Ltd. 

Justice Ayokunle Faji Faji dismissed Atlantic Energy’s application to set aside the Arbitral Award of March 5, 2020. 

He upheld the submissions of NPDC lead counsel Prof Fabian Ajogwu SAN and granted orders recognising the $1.7bn Arbitral Award as well as for leave to enforce same as a judgment of the Federal High Court.

Sometime in August 2015, Atlantic Energy, through its lawyer, T. Fagbohunlu SAN, took the NNPC to arbitration for alleged breach of contract. 

NPDC in response, filed a counter-claim for funds due to the Federal Government on account of crude oil sales from the Oil Mining Leases (OMLS) 26, 30, 34, 42, 60, 61, 62 and 63 (known as ‘Brass and Forcados assets’) without payment of remittances due. 

NPDC also sought the recovery of unpaid net approved cash calls in respect of the OMLs. 

On March 5, 2019, the Arbitral Tribunal in agreeing with Ajogwu’s arguments, delivered a landmark Arbitral Award of $1.7bn in the NPDC’s favour. 

It ordered Atlantic Energy pay the $1.7bn to NPDC as the value of the 55 per cent crude oil portion of the Federal Government taken and sold by Atlantic but not remitted to NNPC. 

Atlantic Energy (Award debtors) sought an Order of Court to set aside the arbitral award delivered in favour of NPDC because the Arbitral Tribunal allegedly misconducted itself by wrongfully assuming jurisdiction over NPDC’s Counter-Claim, and dismissing their preliminary objection to the said Counter-Claim. 

NPDC, at the same time, sought for an Order of Court to recognise and enforce the arbitral award.

In upholding Ajogwu’s submissions, Justice A. Faji of the Federal High Court, held that NPDC’s Counter-Claim in the Arbitration was distinct in all material respects from the suit referred to by the Award Debtors. 

According to the Judge, as rightly argued by Ajogwu,, whilst the claim in suit 701 touched on criminal conversion/ diversion of revenue due to the Federation, the counter-claim to the Arbitration bordered on breach of the Strategic Alliance Agreement between NPDC and the Award Debtors. 

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the Award Debtors’ application to set aside the Arbitral Award. 

This landmark decision upholds one of the single largest Awards ever in a Nigerian Arbitration. It also settled the question of the impact of non-payment of signature fees on lifted crude oil as well as the principles of Unjust Enrichment in Crude oil lifting and recovery. 

Furthermore, the significance of this Arbitration to Nigeria, which depends mostly on Crude oil for revenue generation and economic development is enormous for the Nigerian economy, which is heavily dependent on crude oil revenues.

VIDEO: Huge Crowd Turn Out For #Endsars-II Protest In Abuja

The second wave of #EndSARS protest in Abuja on Monday has seen a very huge turnout of protesters.

Youths in Abuja are demanding the release of all detained protesters and unfreezing of their accounts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), took to the streets of Abuja.

Also, protesters took over the streets of Ondo state calling for good governance. They accused the government of paying lip service to their demands.

This comes as the police threatened to deal with protesters ruthlessly.

The video below:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_1Ckb8-DEaY%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Nothing Wrong In States Borrowing From Pension Funds — Gov.Fayemi

Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State on Sunday said there is nothing wrong in borrowing N17 trillion, partly from the pension funds, to enable the government provide infrastructure across states.

He explained that the funds would be used for the creation of revenue-generating infrastructure projects.

Mr Fayemi who spoke in his capacity as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), said this when he appeared on a Channels Television programme, Politics Sunday.

“There is nothing wrong and we are not going to be apologetic that we want to borrow to fund infrastructure. We are not borrowing for consumption and the various projects that are going to be allowed to access these funds are going to be determined by the committee that we set up at the National Economic Council NEC,” he said.

The NGF chairman was reacting to a statement by the forum that it proposed to borrow about N17 trillion from two sources intended for infrastructural developments.

The 36 state governors had agreed last week to borrow N2 trillion at nine per cent interest from the growing funds under the Contributory Pension Scheme, as well as accessing N15 trillion for national infrastructure funding through InfraCredit at a lower interest rate of five percent.

However, reacting to the development, members of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) and other groups have kicked against the plan of the state governors to borrow from the pension fund, stating that they have no authority over the money.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) also in an open letter on Sunday urged the President, Muhammadu Buhari to use his “good office and leadership position to urgently instruct the Director-General and Board of the National Pension Commission [NPC] to use their statutory powers to stop the 36 state governors from borrowing and/or withdrawing N17 trillion from the pension funds purportedly for infrastructural development.”

But Mr Fayemi on Sunday, while insisting the governors could access the funds, said there is an urgent need for the country to increase infrastructural developments, by sourcing alternative means beyond the budget.

He also said it was insufficient for the economy of the country to construct 120 kilometres of road from Lagos to Ibadan for about 10 years, compared to another African country like Egypt that constructed 4,800 kilometres of road in five years.

Speaking further, the governor said Nigeria is no longer as rich as it used to be.

“In the 2021 budget appropriation act, the ministry that has the highest allocation is the Ministry of Works and Housing with about over N400 billion, which is equivalent to less than $1 billion today.

“Between 2014 and 2019, Egypt for instance, constructed about 4,800 kilometres of road and spent in the middle of about $10 billion and the bulk of that came from the private sector.

“As we (governors) said, the way to go is to look at options that would enable us to undertake infrastructure development by accessing funding from the private sector. One such private sector funding is the pension fund which is sitting in various pension finance administrators and this money is already being borrowed by other elements.”

Asked by the anchor about critics who have expressed concerns over the governors borrowing, especially about fiscal responsibility and accountability, he described such fears as “misplaced” noting that it is not something that should be bothered about.

“There is also no doubt that there is a basis for a cost of governance reduction, that is not in doubt. But if you want a government that you have elected into office to provide amenities that are in need by the citizens, you certainly do not expect these governors to use private funds or personal funds to do these things.

“We are going to look for creative ways to ensure that they meet the demands of the populace. And what are those ways; multilateral findings, if you have a good relationship with the World Bank, Africa Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, in terms of developing financing and another private sector borrowing

“In itself, it does not distract from fulfilling the conditions of the Fiscal Responsibility act, because the Debt Management Office will not even allow some states that are distressed to access private or external borrowing if they have gone beyond the threshold given to them as states.

“So that fear is misplaced and it is not something that we should bother ourselves with. The bottom line is that Nigeria is not the rich country we make it out to be, either at the federal level or the state level, we do not have enough resources to run the country. We are also challenged in fulfilling the promises made to the people

“Not because states don’t want to do it, not the federal government, but the resources are not necessarily there. That is why we have to look for means of making the resources available. Many of the projects that we are talking about are projects that would refer to as revenue-generating infrastructure

“Roads that could be tolled, telecom projects, infrastructure manpower, water projects. So these are things that are necessary for infrastructure for us to improve our development indices, so borrowing isn’t necessarily a bad thing in that effect.”

NECO Investigates Exam Malpractice Exposed In Undercover Video

National Examinations Council (NECO) has said it will investigate reported cases of infractions at one of the examination centres, Fabian Kings and Queens International School, Kaduna.

The examination body noted that the centre located in Kabala West, Kaduna with Centre Number (0140721) may have allegedly indulged in malpractice during the just concluded 2020 SSCE (Internal).

An online news platform, Signature Television, had in a video exposed alleged malpractice in one of the centres during the just concluded examination.

NECO, in a statement by its Head of Information and Public Relations Division, Azeez Sani, said it has flagged the centre, identified and isolated all the candidates’ scripts for scrutiny.

The examination body also said it has constituted an Administrative Committee to investigate the allegation in order to enable it to take appropriate actions.

The statement reads: “The Authorities of Signature Television had on Wednesday 2nd December 2020 alerted the National Examinations Council (NECO) of some infractions at one of the examination centres, Fabian Kings and Queens International School, Kabala West, Kaduna with Centre Number (0140721) that may lead to malpractice during the just concluded 2020 SSCE (Internal).

“Based on the Council’s zero tolerance for examination malpractice, it swung swiftly into action by flagging the centre, identifying and isolating all the candidates’ scripts for scrutiny.

“Following this action, the council constituted an Administrative Committee to investigate the allegation in order to enable the council to take appropriate actions.

“If found culpable, the entire results of the candidates will be cancelled, the school will be derecognised and those examination officials involved in the act will be prosecuted in accordance with the Examination Malpractice Decree 33 of 1999.

“The council wishes to commend the authorities of Signature Television for their interest in ensuring the sanctity of public examination and enjoins stakeholders to emulate this gesture.”

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