Imo State parades over 80 magistrates, but a good number of them have no individual court halls and chambers.
The Acting Chief Judge of Imo State, Justice Ijeoma Agugua, disclosed this in a 21-page address, delivered in Owerri, during the 2020/2021 Legal Year and Assizes of the state judiciary.
Her words: “We have over 80 magistrates. A good number of them have no individual court halls and chambers.
“On my resumption of office in March this year, I met a sordid state of magistrates daily sharing court halls and chambers, with time allocated to each.
“This arrangement not only gave rise to strife, when a magistrate could not rise on the dot of the stipulated time, but it also reduced the dignity of the office of a magistrate.
“The affected magistrates now sit on alternate days, affording them the opportunity of a whole day in chambers and court halls unhampered by time constraint, to conduct their cases freely.”
Continuing, Justice Agugua said that no fewer than 225,240 cases are pending in Imo State High Court, as at September 1, 2020.
Giving details of the cases, Justice Agugua said that while 209,406 cases were pending as at October 1, 2019, and 16,254 fresh cases filed, “420 cases were disposed in the High Court, from October 1, 2019, to September 1, 2020”.
After rolling out the staggering figures of filed, disposed and pending cases before the Customary Court of Appeal, magistrate courts, Agugua said: “What emerges from the statistical data, is that the number of cases pending in both the High Court and the Customary Court of Appeal, is on the high side.
“The people of Imo State, are litigious people. The number of judges and magistrates, manning these courts have increased since the last Legal Year, but then, we all know the effect of Covid-19 pandemic and total lockdown, which started March 2020, on the productivity of the nation. The courts were not exempted.”
Speaking also, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Sir C. O. C. Akaolisa, opined that “there is the need for a paradigm shift in the administration of justice through the deployment of appropriate technologies, to drive the administration of justice in the state”.
He also encouraged judicial officers to be cautious in granting remand orders, except in exceptional cases, subject to the guidelines to be put in place by the Ministry of Justice and the Nigerian Correctional Service.
“Alternative Dispute Resolutions, ADR, or out of court settlements should be encouraged in the state in non-contentious civil cases.
“There is need to give greater attention to plea bargaining option, within the context of Section 270 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015”, Akaolisa said.
For the Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, the country is being run in breach of the nation’s statutes.
Chief Mike Ahamba, SAN, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, particularly mentioned the non-payment of pension and gratuity, as one of the critical areas where the Constitution is flouted without qualms.
If only Boma had understood how wrong it was for her boyfriend of just one month to yell at her in public.
She had met Sam at a cocktail organised by the chambers where she worked. Sam worked for one of the top banks and he ticked the right boxes – handsome, charming, good prospects.
Four weeks later, they were both at a birthday dinner for one of his friends. There was a heated but friendly conversation about the state of insecurity in the country.
Some of the guests, including Sam, thought the government was not doing enough to make citizens safe.
Boma sided with others who felt that the situation had started deteriorating under the previous administration with huge amounts of sums earmarked for security ending up in private pockets.
As the lively exchange was going on, and Boma was speaking, Sam yelled at her in a thunderous tone ‘Shut up!’.
Everyonewas taken aback at this rude behaviour. The conversation stalled, and the guests made awkward attempts at small talk, but the damage had already been done. The evening was ruined.
Later on, Sam accused Boma of trying to impress people with her intelligence, just to let them know she was a Lawyer. Boma said she was only expressing her opinion to which Sam replied, ‘I had already stated my own opinion. Why should your own opinion differ from mine?’.
Boma’s friends discussed the episode with her and she told them that Sam was only behaving the way most men behave, they want to be seen as the boss. It didn’t mean that he did not care for her. If only.
If only she had told her friends about the first time he slapped her. She only told them the third time he hit her, and that was a week to their wedding.
They had argued over something minor, and she muttered under her breath that he was so sensitive about everything. He asked her to repeat what she had just said and she claimed not to have said anything.
All of a sudden, she was spinning from the blow he dealt her and that scary tone of his, ‘So I am now a liar?’.Her committee of five friends were divided. Two of them advised her to leave the controlling bxxxxxd and forget about the wedding, someone better would come along.
A man who has not married you and is already beating you will do worse once you become his wife. Three of them told her to let her Pastor know. Bomawas in love.
She had a wedding to plan. After the wedding there would be plenty of time to talk to Sam as carefully as she could about his behaviour.
He always apologised when he hit her and would promise not to do it again. He couldn’t be that bad as to continue, maybe he was feeling insecure because they were not married yet.
She did not have time to start telling long stories to their Pastor, who would only advise them to pray and for her to submit to him wholeheartedly, which she was already prepared to do.
She did not want to involve others because she did not want to give Sam another excuse to attack her before the wedding. It was too close to risk getting bruises that makeup would not be able to cover.
Boma’s older brother David would have been another option, but he lived in Abuja and Boma did not want to have the conversation over the phone.
Both her parents lived in Ibadan, they were Professors at the University. That was another sore point with Sam.
His father was a civil servant and his mother was a teacher. He accused Boma of acting as if she was superior to him because she felt her background was more illustrious than his.
She kept saying this was not true and wondered why he would think that way.So Boma did nothing and said nothing.She focused on the wedding not the forthcoming marriage. If only.
The honeymoon was uneventful, unless you want to count the kick in the thigh she received when she did not get out of bed quickly enough to open the door for room service.
Months passed, then years, three in all. The days, weeks and months were all a blur of fear, tears and blood.
After the beatings would come the pleas for forgiveness, gifts and promises. Till the next time. She lost her first pregnancy.
When she called her mother from the hospital to tell her what had happened, her mother demanded to know the cause of the miscarriage. Boma told her mother that she didn’t know, the doctors said things like that happen.
She did not say anything about the fall as she was trying to escape Sam’s blows. Her mother-in-law came to stay with them for a few weeks when their daughter Tiwa was born.
When the woman was leaving, Boma clung to her as if her life depended on it. When Sam’s mother was around, the beatings stopped. Mama Sam was a very religious woman.
She advised Boma to be more prayerful and hopefully he would change, just as his father had done.
Mama Sam went up the mountain to do a special one-week vigil and fast to ask God to soften Sam’s heart and watch over his young family.
When Boma’s mother was around, Sam did not show that much restraint. During one encounter with his wife, when Boma’s mother intervened, Sam asked her to leave his house and take her daughter with her.If only.
Boma stopped working when she was pregnant with Tiwa. Sam had managed to convince her that the stress of commuting to work was a threat to their baby. Boma got too weary and scared of arguing with him about it.
Without a job she felt trapped even more, but she soldiered on. Her parents and brother attempted to stage an intervention, but it did not work.
Boma was too afraid to leave Sam because he had threatened to kill her if she tried. By this time, her committee of friends operated at a safe distance, through WhatsApp and the few phone calls she could manage in between the times Sam raided her phone to check for ‘unauthorised communication’.
They had all seen their smart, beautiful friend shrink before their eyes and they felt powerless. They each had their own issues to deal with, so Boma’s violent marriage was sad, but it was her problem.If only.
Boma stared at her photograph. Her image smiled back at her, though she didn’t like the shade of lipstick she had used when the photograph was taken, and the foundation was a shade too dark for her skin tone.
The fresh flowers were lovely though, her favourite pink roses. She looked around the church. David’s wife was holding Tiwa’s hand, while David had his head bowed for most of the time.
She wondered why her parents where not there, then she realised that they couldn’t be there. She saw her friends, as well as old colleagues from work.
After the service, she followed them to the cemetery, and watched as they lowered the casket into the ground. Her friends were no longer trying to comport themselves like they did in church, they weptopenly. Hot tears of regret. Tears of ‘If only’. David fell to his knees, his wife held on to him with one hand, clutching Tiwa with the other.
Boma watched the casket going further into the ground and felt herself being drawn higher up as if she was in sync with the casket lowering device.It came back to her in flashes. The yelling. The familiar blows and punches. Tiwa crying at all the commotion. The choking.
She had fought back to try and get away and that is when the push came as if the devil himself was the force that propelled her over the railings. She felt herself suspended in mid-air for what seemed like an eternity, till she crashed and struck her head hard against the floor.Then everything went black.
As David walked away from the graveside, feeling as if he had stones tied to his feet, he took comfort in the fact that Sam was not allowed to attend the funeral, he was awaiting trial without bail. If only he had done more to protecthis sister.
He looked back at the grave. ‘Look up’, Boma wanted to shout out to David, but she couldn’t. Then she saw a bright ball of light speeding towards her. If only.
Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a Gender Specialist, Social Entrepreneur and Writer. She is the Founder of Abovewhispers.com, an online community for women. She is the First Lady of Ekiti State, and she can be reached at [email protected]
Anyone who dispassionately followed the facts that emerged from last week’s two-day ministerial performance review retreat, put together by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, would, no doubt, award the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government a pass mark for its stewardship over the last five years.
At a point, I was even tempted to up the score to a B- – what with all the landmark achievements in the areas of road, rail, aviation, education and health (especially, in its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic) as well as the impressive post-pandemic economic recovery plan (including all the monetary and fiscal policies articulated by the Central Bank and other relevant agencies), Second Niger Bridge, the AKK Gas Pipeline, Security, the anti-graft war and all.
It was understandable, therefore, that President Buhari could thump his chest and say he is proud of (and satisfied with) the administration’s achievements. Who wouldn’t be?
I too would be just as satisfied, if, like the President, I’m buffeted and bamboozled with so much PowerPoint and theoretical colourations of success. The tendency would be to forget that what is on ground is not always the same thing as the PowerPoint presentations and textbook growths claim.
The reality on ground is that many of us are worse off today than we were five years ago. Hunger is gnawing at our intestines. Of course, that is not saying we might not have gotten to this point if PDP were still in power. It is just that all this is happening while the APC that promised us a better deal is in power. But, partisanship apart, the fact remains that more people than used to be the case have fallen into poverty. We are now the poverty capital of the world. And the situation is so dire that even officials of the administration have begun differentiating between ‘poverty’ and ‘extreme poverty’.
That we have not poured out into the streets in protest might not be because we’re happy with you. Rather, it is because we’re too hungry, wearied and wary to even put up a fight.
However, dear President, it would do your legacy and our survival a world of good if you begin to look beyond the rhetorics to the realities.
Yes, the rails have come alive, and we can say, without fear of contradiction, that Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi is one of the few aides of yours whose rhetorics before you match the reality they have on ground. But, even then, the quantity and quality of the coaches are nowhere close to nearly enough.
Of course, I wouldn’t want to ask the question, ‘at what cost?’ because that would drag us into the controversial Chinese loans. We wouldn’t also want to go into the equitable spread of the rail and other projects across the six geo-political zones – lest we would be touching the sore spot of nepotism, marginalization, and outright abandonment of certain parts of the country.
Dear Maigaskiya, before you join them in celebrating our handling of the Covid-19 situation, based on the humongous amount you approved for palliatives, have it at the back of your mind that the bulk of the money got lost in transit; that many of us who qualified to receive the conditional cash transfer are still waiting for bank alert. That the joke of the much trumpeted lockdown school feeding is still on you.
As for the grains you cleared to be released from the strategic games reserve, the same people troubling your already weary ears with figures of distributed grains have probably opened rice supermarkets for their wives and concubines with the wholesome batch.
What they eventually distributed to the ‘lucky’ few of us were the contaminated bags in our Customs warehouses, which you had long declared unfit for human consumption, and ordered that they be taken out and destroyed.
Nothing probably captures the gulf between official rhetorics and reality better than the pranks the banks are playing with us. While genuine manufacturers and the real sector, for lack of access to credit facilities, are daily closing down their businesses and throwing family breadwinner out of employment, by their thousands, the banks are chasing after merchants and large-deposit customers with loans they don’t need, or have any plans of ever paying back.
Meanwhile, small businesses are deliberately fenced off credit facilities with impossible pre-qualification requirements. The result is that the proposed N2.3 trillion government response to reflate the economy from the covid-19 induced meltdown would just disappear into the wrong pockets, with no appreciable impact on the economy.
As for the war against corruption, it would appear that a major ‘Mumu button’ of the president’s is the trophies that come from the anti-graft war.
So, the smart Alecs around PMB regularly load his platter with the severed heads of a few yesterday’s men of power, garnished with the entrails of one or two out-of-favour presidential aides.
The president thus contentedly distracted while deals, more heinous than Malabu and P&ID scandals, are carried on right under his nose. And it would seem the ring is so carefully woven to ensure the president never gets the luxury of a counter narrative.
This, largely, has also been our lot with the worsening insecurity in the country. While it might be difficult to fault the fact that this Buhari administration has devoted more attention, and committed more materials and resources to the fight against insurgency and terrorism, PMB might do well to look beyond the rhetorics of the military high command as to how we have liberated all the local government areas under Boko Haram control and continue aerial bombardment of the insurgents’ bases.
He should view this against the backdrop of how, despite having routed the insurgents, indigenes of such liberated communities are still stuck in IDP camps, with the military insisting it is not safe for them to return to their villages. How then are we claiming that we’re winning the terror war?
Or are we planning to put the liberated villages to other use, while their original inhabitants permanently roam abroad landless? Why do we continue to get this impression that some people, for some reason, do not want the war to end?
And, while we are still at it, my dear President, you may also want to look beyond the now tired rhetoric of communal clashes and farmer/herder clashes in the situation in Southern Kaduna, Benue and much of the North Central states – and now spreading to the Southern parts of the country.
The narrative of ‘bandits’ and ‘cattle rustlers’ might look temptingly acceptable for the situations in your native Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara and other adjoining states, but it is increasingly not providing all the answers to the questions arising therefrom. I know these explanations are straight forward, more simplistic and less-tasking on the brain than such strange terminologies as ethnic cleansing, state-sponsored terrorism and artificial demographic re-engineering, through the instrumentality of open border emigration from West Africa and the Maghreb, but time has come for us to explore new narratives for the realities that confront us today.
Mr. President, in the spirit of separating reality from rhetorics, you may also need to look beyond the narratives of field commanders who are clearly desperate to bring home a trophy in this unending war against terror and insurgency, as you seek to unravel what actually happened in Benue State last week regarding the death of that state’s most wanted criminal, Terwase Akwaza, a.k.a Gana.
Do take a second look at the counter narrative coming from Gov. Samuel Ortom, his predecessor, Sen. Gabriel Suswan, and other leaders of Benue State. Resist the temptation to swallow hook-line-and-sinker, the tale that Gana, was working hand in glove with the political leaders in Benue – who, for now, happen to be in a political party opposed to your ruling APC.
Ask for explanation on how and why Gana got to be where he was when the army killed him. How could an unarmed man engage soldiers in a gun battle, where he now got killed in the gunfire?
Your Excellency sir, you may also ask to see the special gun that our police and soldiers use these days. Special guns which fire knives instead of bullets, and inflict machete cuts and not bullet wounds on targets. For it appears to have been the same ‘gun’ used on the notorious kidnapper,
Boborisky, who was apprehended in Port Harcourt at the weekend. In that instant too, while the police said it engaged the kidnap kingpin in a gun duel, it also confirmed that the kingpin and his driver died from machete cuts and bullet wounds.
The simple truth, sir, is that, rather than interrogate arrested criminals and use them to lead to other gang members, our police and soldiers regularly resort to the extrajudicial killing of these suspects – usually with machetes and other such crude weapons and cudgels.
The result is that we never really get to the root of any criminal gang, or crime, to completely uproot it. We just treat the symptom, while the disease continues to fester – resurfacing again a short while later.
Mr. President, Sir, I’m particularly interested in this Gana matter because it reminds me of the killing of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf in July 2009.
Yusuf who was arrested, unharmed and unarmed, and handed over to the police for proper processing and transfer to Abuja, was suddenly said to have been killed while trying to escape from police detention.
Yes, a handcuffed, unarmed and even shirtless so overpowered our heavily armed police formation that the officers and men had no other option than to shoot him dead. Not even demobilizing with a shot to the leg, if a shot ever needed to be fired.
Clearly, somebody somewhere was too scared to allow Yusuf his day in the open court. For if he were to ever open up on the how and why of Boko Haram, a few big names might have had to run for cover.
My fear, however, is: like it happened with Boko Haram, where the elimination of Yusuf paved the way for the emergence of a more bloodthirsty Abubakar Shekau, and ultimately yanked the leash on the insurgents out of our control, I pray that we have not taken out Gana to hand control of his militia to a new leader who might not be as enamored by the proposal of ‘amnesty’ as Gana appeared to have been towards his last days.
So, Mr. President, before rhetorics lead us into celebrating pyrrhic victories, let’s for a moment flip over the coin to see what the reality really is. Checkmate!
A Malaysian man who lost his phone found it full of Monkey selfies and video of the animal he believes stole the device after retrieving it from a jungle near their house, CNN reports.
Zackrdyz Rodzi thinks the animal had stolen the phone when he fell asleep.
Rodzi shared the images and video of the animal on social media which have since gone viral.
The pictures show the animal starring into the lens of the camera while the video shows the animal trying to push the phone into its mouth in apparent move to eat the device.
Rodzi said he realised his phone was missing when he woke up on Sunday morning.
“There was no sign of robbery. The only thing on my mind was is it some kind of sorcery,” he told the BBC.
He said it was not until the following day his uncle saw a Monkey nearby and after dialing the phone discovered it lying under a palm tree just beyond their back garden.
His uncle suggested that there could be a picture of the thief in the phone and so when they opened the phone gallery, they saw it was full of money selfies.
“Something that you might see once in a century,” he tweeted when sharing the images and videos.
He also shared some of the images and videos in a TikTok post, calling the monkey a “sneaky little hairy toyol”, an undead baby used in witchcraft to commit theft and mischief in south east Asian folklore.
In a follow up tweet, he joked: “Hey @Apple I need a new phone since im giving mine to the monkey.”
A member of the Parliament in Thailand was caught looking at porn on Wednesday while a budget was being read.
Ronnathep Anuwat staring intently at his phone the House was in session.
Shocked reporters at the press gallery snapped the pictures of the politician who removed his face mask to look more closely at the pictures.
One showed a young woman with her top off, another was lying naked on a bed and a third showed a close up of genitals.
When reporters confronted Ronnathep, he admitted looking at the pictures but said he was doing so because a girl had sent them to him. He said he wanted to make sure the girl was not in any trouble.
He said he wanted to ‘observe the environment surrounding the girl in the picture’ as he feared she was ‘being harassed by gangsters who had forced her to take the pictures’.
Mr. Ronnathep said he eventually realised the girl was ‘asking for money’ so he deleted all of the content.
Government officials summoned the MP for an explanation but ruled no further action would be taken against him.
House speaker Chuan Leekpai said the images were a ‘personal matter’ and added there were no rules about what MPs could look at on their phones in the meeting room.
He said no MPs had complained about the matter so no action would be taken, and further warned the public to separate personal matters from MPs duties.
Mr. Ronnathep represents Chonburi province for ruling military Palang Pracharath Party.(theexpressng)
Scientists have been left in a state of shock after thousands of birds dropped dead from the sky.
Biologists at New Mexico State University are trying to find out why hundreds of thousands of migratory birds have been found dead across the state.
The mystery started August 20 with the discovery of a large number of dead birds at the US Army White Sands Missile Range and White Sands National Monument, according to Martha Desmond, a professor at the university’s department of fish, wildlife and conservation ecology.
What was first believed to be an isolated incident turned out to be a much more serious problem when hundreds more dead birds were found in regions across the state, including Doña Ana County, Jemez Pueblo, Roswell and Socorro.
“It’s just terrible,” Desmond told CNN. “The number is in the six figures. Just by looking at the scope of what we’re seeing, we know this is a very large event, hundreds of thousands and maybe even millions of dead birds, and we’re looking at the higher end of that.”
Dead migratory birds — which include species such as warblers, bluebirds, sparrows, blackbirds, the western wood pewee and flycatchers — are also being found in Colorado, Texas and Mexico.
Alongside biologists from White Sands Missile Range, Desmond and her team began identifying, cataloging and examining about 300 dead birds on Saturday to learn more about the condition they were in when they died.
Residents and biologists reported seeing birds acting strangely before they died. For example, birds that are normally seen in shrubs and trees have been spotted on the ground looking for food and chasing bugs.
Many were lethargic and unresponsive so they were getting hit by cars, Desmond said, in numbers “larger than ever seen before.”
On the missile range golf course, swallows, which are aerial insectivores that don’t even walk, were sitting on the ground and letting people approach them, she added.
Possible reasons
One of the factors biologists believe may have contributed to the deaths of the birds is the wildfires burning in California and other Western states, which may have forced the birds into early migration before they were ready.
“Birds who migrated before they were ready because of the weather might have not had enough fat to survive,” Desmond said. “Some birds might have not even had the reserves to start migrating so they died in place.”
Some birds might have had to change their migratory pathways, while others could have inhaled smoke and sustained lung damage.
While the fires and dry weather in New Mexico may have amplified the number of migratory bird deaths, that still leaves many questions.
“We began seeing isolated mortalities in August, so something else has been going on aside the weather events and we don’t know what it is. So that in itself is really troubling,” she added.
The birds will be sent to the US Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory in Oregon for necropsies and to determine their cause of death, but it could take weeks to get results.
“This is devastating. Climate charge is playing a role in this.” Desmond said. “We lost 3 billion birds in the US since 1970 and we’ve also seen a tremendous decline in insects, so an event like this is terrifying to these populations and it’s devastating to see.” (CNN)
The United Nations is to mark the 75th anniversary of its founding amid the ruins of World War II with a large online event on Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.
Guterres is expected to deliver in-person, remarks in the gilded General Assembly Hall, while world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will deliver pre-recorded video speeches.
“It’s very unfortunate but it’s going to be a pretty gloomy birthday celebration for the UN,” UN expert Richard Gowan from the think tank Crisis Group said. Leaders are set to adopt a declaration agreed on in July, committing to a reinvigorated multilateralism.
Gowan described the declaration as a “perfectly fine but pretty anodyne statement of support for UN principles, weakened by the fact that the U.S. did not want strong language on climate change.”
The commemoration comes at a time when the world body faces questions over whether it is still fit for purpose in a more multipolar world, and whether it can muster consensus to deal with current conflicts and challenges, including the coronavirus pandemic.
“In this 75th anniversary year, we face our own 1945 moment. We must meet that moment; we must show unity like never before to overcome today’s emergency,” Guterres told a news conference last week.
A day after the event, the UN’s annual general debate kicks off, with leaders also sending in video speeches due to the pandemic. Trump, who had expressed interest in being the only head of state to address the General Assembly live, is now said not to be heading to the UN’s New York headquarters. (NAN)
Since Nigeria returned to Democracy, some projects presented and approved by FEC had to be cancelled because of facts that later emerged showing flaws in the process or lack of value for money. Successive governments have always talked about increasing debts, falling sales of crude oil, lack of liquidity to fund important projects yet we spend a lot on frivolous projects that are not adding tangible value to the economy except, in the minds of those that concieved them.
We had the Air Nigeria saga, the bullet proof cars and the second Abuja runway project which was to cost over $40 million dollars than a brand new airport with two runways and taxi way of same length, and other brand new facilities that was being built in an Asian Country around the same time. We’ve also had a case in 2011 when Nigeria spent over N1.5 Trillion ($11.96 Billion using N153 to $1 rate of 2011) on fuel subsidy. These and other allegations of financial misconducts in huge sums of dollars ranging in billions and the people involved usually just get a pat on the back, and in some cases resurface with another portfolio.
In some of the aforementioned cases, the FEC had to renege on its approvals and steered a new course of action. In all the cases, the Presidency had no hand in it, and the spacialists we expend so much estacodes training abroad were unable to discover the faux paux, thereby misleading their principals to present a shody proposal to the FEC. It’s about time we start expending our money on tangible legacy projects that will not only alleviate the poverty level in Nigeria, but place the nation as an ICON in Africa.
We have the human, capital, intellectual potentials to achieve this, and at the moment, a noble leader like President Buhari that can implement such projects, given the right counsel and advise. The article is a bit lengthy so is the quantum of cash that is being analysed.
Now on the $3.1 Billion for the Customs Process Automation.
The day Hajia Zainab Ahmed presented the $3.1 Billion Request to FEC for approval, I thought she made a mistake which would be noticed and later corrected. But Alas, such was not the case, I became restless since that day, and thought within myself: not again. There is need for us to critically examine the project, because it would further endorse a wrong pattern running the nation aground. Nonetheless, before coming to conclusions, let’s examine some facts about $3.1 Billion for the project.
Value for Money: Highlighted below are the value Nigeria can get for the $3.1 Billion dollar approved by FEC for Automation of Nigeria Customs Services.
Automobile Industry:
Assembly Plant: Volkswagen’s opened a small Assembly Plant in Rwanda in 2018 with a $20 million dollar investment. This implies that $3.1 Billion will build about 147 of such in Nigeria. See links below:
Toyota planned to spend about $1 Billion to build a new Assembly Plant in Mexico that will employ more than a thousand people and produce 200,000 cars a year. This implies $3.1 Billion can build 3 of this plant with $100 million left.
Ford planned to build a Mega Car Manufacturing Plant in Mexico for $1.6 Billion in 2018 that will employ more than 2800. This implies $3.1 Billion will build two of this plant, with another $100 million added.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/ford
Mega Car Manufacturing Plant:
South Africa planned spending $819 million on a Mega Car Manufacturing Plant in 2016 to be funded by a Chinese Company.
The cheaper alternative of Embraer has not even been considered that would probably double the Boeing option. If we go into housing, the amount will give us 155,000 units of bungalows at N7.5 million per Unit and more than 1.5 million Nigerians can be engaged assuming 10 people are involved in constructing one building.
The above are Legacy projects we can embark on for the nation. With proper negotiations, the nation can get these companies to invest in these projects which will be evident to all, instead of a Customs Automation process that is virtual. Moreover, there is an existing state of the art Software and other hardware/equipment which are being used by several Nations… with commendable results. You may have other projects in mind that you can juxtapose the figures to compare with the value of “Automation”.
Debt Profile:
The Honourable Minister of Finance and the Government have been hammering so much on the debt the country is owing. The Minister informed the FEC that the Project would be financed by the Conglomerate and Nigeria does not have to provide funds immediately. It’s like a man going to a car lot advertising that “drive away a car for free and pay later”. The moment the man signs and drives away the car he becomes a debtor and, if for any reason, he is unable to pay, it becomes another story.
Likewise on the Customs Automation project, whether financed or not, as soon as the contract is signed, the fact is that it becomes a public debt that has to be settled, which only results in increasing Nigeria’s debt profile. A lot of agencies have gotten the country indebted over the years through initiatives like this.
Contravention of the Procurement Act 2007:
The proposed Customs Implementation violates the procurement law. Section 16 sub Section I sub sub section (b) states that “based only on procurement plans supported by prior budgetary appropriations and “no procurement proceedings shall be formalized until the procuring entity has ensured that funds are available to meet the obligations” and subject to the threshold in the regulations made by the Bureau”
In this case, the Nigeria Customs Service does not have the funds, hence, going into the project as it is, violates the Act, unless it is being implemented as a loan which must pass through due process in accordance with the Laws of the Federation.
Existing Automation Capability:
The NCS currently has an existing Software ASYCUDA++ with Full Process Automation used by over 92 Countries with commendable results.
Info Link: https://customs.gov.ng/?page_id=3167
Link to ASYCUDA: https://asycuda.org/en/
Before going into a new product, it is important to know the shortcomings of the existing platform and how the new product intends addressing the identified shortcomings. There must be a clear demonstration of the new product to everyone if it really exists and that it can address the limitations with the old. If it is just conceptual, then, there is no guarantee it will work and would end up being a white whale project (you can see the carcass of a dead elephant but a dead whale remains buried in the sea).
A $3.1 Billion concept is too expensive an adventure for Nigeria in its current state.
Moreover, someone needs to tell the Minister that it is the human beings that are mostly the problem in our system and not the tools being used. The right tools in wrong hands with wrong motives is still ineffective and would be frustrated.
Fact Check on the Product:
The Product may not exist at the moment and may just be an integration of different hardware and a Software to be developed. Otherwise, let the Minister tell us details of the Equipment and Software for the subject “Full Automation” and Countries where it is currently being used. It would be necessary to carry out an appraisal of those implementations, if any, to ensure it is robust enough to address the supposed challenge. Nigeria cannot afford to be a $3.1 Billion dollar Guinea Pig.
Fact Checks on the Parties Involved:
Messrs E. Customs HC Project Limited:
A check on the Internet revealed that Messrs E. Customs HC Project Limited does not exist. The only results available online are the Online Newspapers reporting the FEC meeting and reflected the name of the Company as part of the Ministers presentation. We need to know what other projects this ‘”Conglomerate” has executed in the past, before Nigeria becomes indebted to the tune of $3.1 Billion.
We also checked on the Company in the BPP search engine and no record of the Company was found as at today. We know someone might be smart after reading this article to claim there was an engine error or some funny stories. Search engine is fine because other genuinely registered companies have credible results on the portal.
Bionica Technologies West Africa Limited:
The Company is registered with CAC. Reg No is 90893.
Search on BPP Website (https://federalcontractors.bpp.gov.ng/#/search) indicates no record found. Again, a smart alec will probably come up with the story that BPP Website had a problem. How did company get Due Process No Objection Certificate?
No credible information on the company after an online check. Results for the company was generally only three (Sites with related info considered as one):
www.dnb.com pulled up something on the Company. Gave company address as: BIONICA, 2B Batna Close, Off Agadez Street, Off Aminu Kano, Crescent, Abuja FCT Nigeria. This had two contacts with no phone numbers.
www.manpower.com.ng puts company address as Address: Plt 1678 Olukunle Bakare Close Victoria Island. No phone numbers or contact person.
Visit to websites with Company’s domain name showed error/not available or under maintenance. This is a usual gimmick for upcoming companies who try to put up a front.
Another link in ICIJ Website reported a Company with same name was registered in British Virgin Island incorporated 22 October 2004 was struck off on 30 April 2008 and finally deactivated on 2 May 2008, having defaulted. Company’s Agent was Mosac Fonseca as reported in the Panama Papers (https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/10110048). You may wish to conduct a search on the personality of Mosac Fonseca yourself.
Can Nigeria really commit $3.1 Billion project to a company like this?
Bargain Securities and Supplies Nigeria Limited:
Company not found in CAC Registration or BPP Portal
No information about this Company online except for online news on the contract award. Also a search on BPP website. No record found. Not even a website.
Mmmmm. This is now becoming interesting…..
African Finance Corporation (AFC) has some credible information on it.
Huawei as we all know is a Chinese Company that does exist.
In conclusion. Somebody has not done his/her work well in considering this so called “Conglomerate” for $3.1 Billion project for Nigeria. We believe the father of the nation will not allow this to go through. Just like Obasanjo withdrew from the Air Nigeria project, Jonathan withdrew from the second Abuja Runway project, Nigerians are sitting down to watch what will happen.
Secondly, all the projects being presented for approval because of this great faux pas on the so called Customs Automation needs to be scrutinised, including the N19 billion approved for “Aviation Automation” in the FEC. Thirdly, what Nigeria needs are not sharks but men and women of sound mind who can sense a fraud even before the proposers complete their presentation.
In this matter, it appears some very top government officials have been deceived and sweet talked, and in turn (giving a benefit of doubt) misled the FEC. A nation struggling to pay minimum wage and complaining of dwindling income and need to diversify should not even be contemplating spending $3.1 Billion frivolously. It’s like a man who owns a 2-year old Mercedes that is struggling to pay his childrens fee and provide for his family, and suddenly wants to buy a Ferrari on Credit because the Benz is slow. Meanwhile, he cannot even drive the Ferrari in his neighbourhood because the roads are bad.
In all of these, we may be wrong; but we invite the sponsors and approving authorities, including the NCS, Federal Ministry of Finance, or even the FEC to prove this article wrong. We are waiting.
God bless Nigeria and our President.
▪︎ Omale, a businessman, sent this material via e-mail from Onitsha, Anambra State
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has inaugurated the Steering Committee on the Commercialization of the
Nigeria Film Corporation (NFC), saying the country’s film industry had the potential to make Nigeria the entertainment capital of Africa.
The Minister said at the inauguration on Monday that the Federal Government was now set to reposition the NFC for effective service delivery.
According to him, “What we are doing today is to simply reposition the NFC in a manner that will enable it to play the role statutorily assigned to it.”
He said that “the film industry drives entertainment and has brought fame to the country, hence the need to reposition the sector and provide the necessary enablement for the industry to thrive.”
He pointed at the lack of critical infrastructure to drive the film industry in Nigeria, saying, for example, that “Nigeria has only 142 cinema houses compared to South Africa with 782 cinemas, United States of America, 40,393, India, 11,209 and China with 50,976 cinemas.”
He therefore appealed to state governments to invest in the provision of infrastructure for the entertainment industry, in view of its huge potential to generate employment and contribute to the economy.
He stated further: “It is important to appeal, especially to our state governments, to invest in infrastructure in the industry.
“I don’t think it will be too much for the state governments to ensure they build at least one cinema house in each local government area of their state. That will give us additional 774 cinema houses.”
The minister said “at the moment, the NFC, which is expected to regulate and organise professional practice in the film industry, is facing numerous challenges, which include NFC’s inability to engage in commercial film production; the fact that the law establishing the Corporation limits its operational functions such that it cannot leverage on the private sector-led growth of the industry, and also that NFC’s civil service structure comes with bureaucratic limitations, budgetary constraints and operational inefficiency among others.”
He said in order to address these challenges and reposition the NFC for improved performance, the Federal Government had engaged the services of a Business Development Consultant to conduct due diligence on the corporation and the sector and recommend a strategy that was suitable for its reform and commercialization.
He declared: “Dear members of the SC, your appointment into this committee come with huge trust and belief in your ability and capacity to make this reform happen. I therefore urge you to consider this a critical national assignment that requires unflinching commitment and zeal.”
Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprise, Mr Alex Okoh, clarified that the reform of the NFC was not a privatization but commercialization, with no transfer of ownership and sale of share, so as to ensure that the resident values of the corporation were enhanced.
Members of the Steering Committee are: Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Alhaji Mohammed as Chairman; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Deaconess Grace Isu-Gekpe; Director General, BPE, Mr Alex Okoh; Managing Director, NFC, Dr Chidia Maduekwe, and Director, Industries and Communications, BPE, Abdullahi Dikko, as Secretary.
The Acting Chairman, Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Mr Victor Muruako, has said that over N1. 8trillion had been paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) by agencies and state-owned enterprises listed in the schedule to FRC 2009.
Muruako made the disclosure at a one-day training, organised by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission in collaboration with Brevic Consultants and Investment Ltd. and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) held in Lagos on Monday.
Muruako said that the N1. 8trillion paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) was the operating surplus of 80 per cent of yearly operations of the agencies and state-owned enterprises listed by the schedule to FRC 2007.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Fiscal Responsibility Acts (FRA) 2007 was signed into law by Former President, Umar Yar’Adaua, in 2007 while the Commission was inaugurated in 2008.
The act had mandated the Commission to strive in promoting prudent management of the nation’s resources, ensuring long-term macro-economic stability and transparency in fiscal operations of the nation’s economy.
Muruako said that the Commission had been seen as an institutional response to the quest for a regime of prudent, ethical and efficient management of public finances at all tiers of the government in Nigeria.
He explained that Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 was signed into Law in ensuring the dream of the nation to instill a new transparency and accountability framework was unstoppable.
Muruako said that the inauguration of the commission had enable public finance management to be more positive, transparent and prudent.
“The Commission has reformed the budgetary process through the introduction of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
“This is being put in place to link policy, planning and budgeting over the medium-term three years at best.
“In order to ensure that the FRA, 2007 was adhered to, the Commission had to devise alternative strategies to nudge the MDAs to discharge their functions through stakeholders’ interactions and bilateral engagements geared towards increasing awareness and understanding the requirements of the FRA, 2007.
“The key areas traditionally monitored include: Preparations and approval of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF); Preparation and approval of the Annual Budget (Appropriation Acts; Execution of the budget and publication of Budget Implementation Reports (BIR).
“Also other areas are: Determination (and monitoring of) appropriate Operating Surpluses due for payment by scheduled corporations into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government; Savings and assets management; and Revenue Monitoring.
”The Commission has also developed a Template for the calculation of Operating Surplus, which has been approved by the Honourable Minister of Finance, who has also issued a circular in that respect since 2016.
“We are working towards recommending more agencies for addition to the Schedule, whilst also looking critically at some of them that may be removed from the list for certain considerations relating to their operations and the welfare of the Nigerian people.
“Unfortunately, the Commission has not got enough support to push up this template and engage these agencies including the Nigerian Railway Corporation on what constitutes Operating Surplus. This part of why we are here today,” Muruako said.
He said that the situation presently was not best of times for Nigerian Economy, particularly as the nation struggle to recover from the debilitating challenges of COVID-19 pandemic, which took the whole world unawares.
Muruako said that in spite of the fact that COVID-19 challenges affected every country, adding that the commission had been guided by getting every hand on deck in ensuring that Nigeria do not fall back into recession the second time.
According to him, it is indeed possible looking at the economic programmes of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.
“The Fisacal Responsibility Act, 2007 are sensitised to understand what is expected of them by the Act. One of it is majorly the payment of Operating Surplus.
“Since we started operation in 2009, the Commission has caused the remittance of more than N1.8 trillion into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government with just about Government investment of N5.8 billion covering Personnel, Overhead and capital projects on the Commission.
“I want to particularly commend the management of the Nigerian Railway Corporation for seeing the importance of partnering with the Commission for this important programme.
“We have worked hard to ensure that all the agencies in the schedule in spite of some challenges, the implementation of the spirit and letters of the Act has led to some outstanding achievements namely: Reform of the budgeting process through the implementation of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) among others,” Muruako said.
He commended the efforts and support of President Muhammadu Buhari, and the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, for making it possible for the Commission to carryout it functions diligently.
The Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Mr Fidet Okhiria, said that the Federal Government was investing heavily on railway infrastructure, adding that it was indeed imperative that NRC shown capacity in all feats to manage and maintain the huge investment.
Okhiria, who was represented by the Director, Operations of NRC, Mr Niyi Ali, said that NRC with its vision to become a World Class Rail Transport Organisation, providing safe, efficient, affordable, reliable, widely linked network, customer oriented service’ and mission.
He said that according to Tejvan Pettinger, fiscal responsibility implies a government pursues the appropriate level of government spending and tax to maintain sustainable public finances; ensure fiscal policy aids the optimal rate of economic growth and maintain appropriate levels of public investment.
Okhiria said that the subsisting fiscal environment was generally ineffective coupled with poor savings culture, uncoordinated borrowing, poor access to fiscal records, amongst others.
“This led to economic instabilities, inefficient public sector investments, debt overhang, poor service delivery and worsening socio-economic conditions in the country before the Commission was created.
”We appreciate the rich course content design for our staff, which is very suitable as we undertake the era of the railway modernization. The course content which include: The overview of the FRA Act 2007; MTEF and its roles in the budgeting process.
“Operating surplus computation using FRC operating surplus calculation template and FGN Revenue sources and monitoring will definitely aid the expansion of the horizon and better understanding of this important discourse by our the participants,” he said.
Okhiria, however, urged the participants to take full advantage of the programme to acquaint themselves of more knowledge in government policies, business and transcend, adding that participant should extend the knowledge to their colleagues after the training. NAN
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