Scrutiny
Senate committee gets 14 days to process President Buhari’s N2.343 trillion loan request
The Nigerian Senate has given its Committee on Foreign and Local Debts 14 days within which to process President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for a fresh ₦2.343 trillion ($6.183 billion) for approval. Senate President Ahmad Lawan gave the directive at the commencement of Tuesday’s plenary session shortly after the Senate Majority leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, drew the attention of the Senate to the pending request. The Senator Clifford Ordia-led Committee on Foreign and Local debt had approved a total of $28 billion so far. The current request will take the total loan approved to $35.683 billion. Buhari had urged the Senate to approve N2.3 trillion ($6.183 billion) external borrowing. He said the loan was to finance the 2021 budget deficit of N5.6 trillion. The President indicated that the loan ...
BudgIT: Over 315 capital projects duplicated in 2021 budget
BudgIT BudgIT, a civic-tech non-profit organisation, says it has uncovered 316 duplicated capital projects worth N39.5 billion in the 2021 budget. In a statement, Iyanu Fatoba, communications associate at BudgIT, said the organisation’s findings is contained in its publication titled, “Demanding Budget Reforms for Resource Optimization”, released on Tuesday. On December 31, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2021 appropriation bill of N13.588 trillion into law. The signing was done more than a week after federal lawmakers passed the budget and raised its total sum by N508 billion. Speaking on the report, Gabriel Okeowo, BudgIT’s CEO, said out of the identified 316 duplicated projects, 115 are in the ministry of health. He said the development is “very disturbing” as the country is battl...
RCCG apologises to minister over Osun road project
File Photo Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), on Thursday, dismissed alleged payment of N151million to a firm for a road rehabilitated by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Osun State. Fashola in his submission before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, probing the allegation, said the claim by the church was untrue. He said the 15-kilometer road was awarded to Messrs Cartil Construction Nigeria Limited at the cost of N662.7million by the Federal Government in 2011. He said the Ministry paid N99million as 15% mobilisation fee and N52million to the contractor after the firm achieved 26.2 per cent of work done on the road in March and December 2011, respectively. He insisted that the award of the contract and the subsequent p...
Saudi Arabia executes three soldiers for ‘cooperating with enemy’
Saudi Arabia has executed three soldiers convicted of “high treason” and “cooperating with the enemy”, with a statement from the kingdom’s defence ministry saying the trio was sentenced to death by a specialist court after a fair trial. The state-run Saudi Press Agency identified the men as soldiers working in the defence ministry. It did not elaborate on how the men aided the kingdom’s enemies. The ministry did not name the “enemy” either but the executions on Saturday were carried out in the southern province bordering Yemen where Saudi Arabia has been at war for more than six years against the Iran-backed Houthi fighters. Saudi Arabia has come under increasing global scrutiny over its human rights record since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the kingdom’s Istanbul co...
Official: Why CCB denies Nigerians access to public officers’ assets information
The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) on Wednesday explained why it denies Nigerians access to the details of the assets declared by public officers. The chair person of the bureau, Muhammad Isah, also disclosed that assets declaration would soon become online-based. Mr Isah, represented by his special assistant, Mustapha Musa, spoke in Lagos at a meeting on ‘Promoting Transparency and Accountability in Asset Declaration by High-Ranking Public Officers’. Newsmen report that the meeting was organised by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP). On access to public officers’ assets information, the CCB chair said the bureau never honoured citizens’ requests for such information because the National Assembly had yet to give the guidelines for such public disclosure. He said the...
Rivers governor reacts as critics fault design of new bridge after truck accident
Critics are subjecting the Okoro-nu-Odu overhead bridge commissioned for use on Monday in Port Harcourt by Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, to scrutiny after the fall of a heavy duty truck that was trying to make a turn under it. Also, critics have also observed that rather than help alleviate the traffic gridlock in the area, the bridge seemed to have worsened the traffic jam. While commenting on the gridlock around the bridge and the fall of the truck while trying to make a u-turn, one Kachi Welsley said: “basically an engineering design is to address serviceability and human problems, not to compound them. “At the beginning sides of the overhead bridge at Rumuokoro, there ought to be turning points to enable cars coming and trying to get back in opposite directions turn easily without firs...
NAFDAC busts alleged illegal maize flour production facility in Yobe
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it has busted an alleged illegal maize flour production outfit in Potiskum town of Yobe. This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Nasiru Mato, Assistant Director, in charge of the North East Zonal office of the agency and issued in Abuja on Saturday. Mato said the facility which was using a single store space for processing of maize into flour came under regulatory scrutiny when a team of officials of the agency stormed the premises. He said the maize milling and packaging outfit was operating without adherence to set quality standards and good manufacturing practice.According to Mato, the operation is a gross violation of NAFDAC Act Cap No. 1 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (2004), hence the sanction. He...
How ICPC is combating corruption in MDAs, stopped diversion of N189 billion personnel cost
File Photo In the past few years, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission, as part of its statutory mandate, has been conducting systems study and review of ministries and organisations in the federal public service. The overall objective of a system review is reform of the systems and procedures of public agencies with a view to identifying and eliminating, preventing, blocking and obstructing opportunities for corruption. To achieve this, the exercise targets detecting areas of vulnerabilities, actual weaknesses, leakages and corruption risks and to recommend ways of strengthening these systems and removing the discretionary gaps and such opportunities for both individual and institutional malfeasance on public resources. In addition, the review also targe...
How ICPC is combating corruption in MDAs, stopped diversion of N189 billion personnel cost
File Photo In the past few years, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other-Related Offences Commission, as part of its statutory mandate, has been conducting systems study and review of ministries and organisations in the federal public service. The overall objective of a system review is reform of the systems and procedures of public agencies with a view to identifying and eliminating, preventing, blocking and obstructing opportunities for corruption. To achieve this, the exercise targets detecting areas of vulnerabilities, actual weaknesses, leakages and corruption risks and to recommend ways of strengthening these systems and removing the discretionary gaps and such opportunities for both individual and institutional malfeasance on public resources. In addition, the review also targe...
Apple’s App Store hosting multi-million dollar scams – developer
Mobile app developer Kosta Eleftheriou has a new calling that goes beyond software development: taking on what he sees as a rampant scam problem ruining the integrity of Apple’s App Store. Eleftheriou, who created the successful Apple Watch keyboard app FlickType, has for the last two weeks been publicly criticizing Apple for lax enforcement of its App Store rules that have allowed scam apps, as well as apps that clone popular software from other developers, to run rampant. These apps enjoy top billing in the iPhone marketplace, all thanks to glowing reviews and sterling five-star ratings that are largely fabricated, he says. Up to now, I’ve been in the “Apple *wants* to do the right thing” camp. My viewpoint is starting to change. How to spot a $5M/year scam on the @AppS...
ICC ruling brings hope for Palestinians, dismay for Israelis
Many Palestinians see a ruling by the International Criminal Court that it has jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories as a belated chance of justice for victims of Israeli attacks. But for many Israelis, Friday’s ruling is worrying because they say they are the “good guys” defending themselves against Palestinian violence. The ruling, delivered by a pre-trial chamber of three ICC judges, could lead to criminal investigations of Israel and Palestinian militant groups including Hamas. No probe was expected in the near future, however. ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she would now examine the decision and pointed to the 2014 Gaza war between Israel and militant groups in Hamas-controlled Gaza, the 2018 Gaza border protests and Israeli settlements in occupied territory. In Khan Youni...
Telegraph: Britain to tighten laws on imports linked to alleged Chinese human rights abuses
Britain will tighten the law on importing goods linked to alleged human rights abuses in China as ministers take a tougher stance on Beijing, The Telegraph reported on Monday. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will make a statement on Tuesday in the House of Commons on the government’s response to allegations of forced labour in China’s Xinjiang province, home to about 12 million Uighur Muslims, the report bit.ly/2LKt2Fe added. Among the measures expected to be unveiled by the government include expansion of the Modern Slavery Act, reacting to concerns that items manufactured under duress by the Uighur Muslim minority may be entering the UK, the Telegraph reported. Britain said last year there was credible, growing and troubling evidence of forced labour among Uighur Muslims. China has come u...
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