EFCC to Falae, Odili, Ladoja: refund cash or face trial

Commission retrieves Dasuki’s memos to Jonathan

Ex-MILAD refunds 60 per cent

All politicians who shared in the allegedly diverted $2.1billion arms cash must return what they got or face trial, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has said.

A former Military Administrator of Kaduna State, Gen. Lawal Jafaru Isa, has refunded 60 per cent of the money he allegedly collected from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), The Nation learnt yesterday.

Also yesterday, it was gathered that  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Publicity Secretary Chief Olisa Metuh had admitted the transfer of N400million into a company in which he has substantial interest.

According to sources, EFCC decided on refund of cash after retrieving some of the memoranda which the embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd.), wrote to President Goodluck Jonathan to request for funds.

A top EFCC source said none of the memos seen so far indicated that the funds would be used for political purposes, party funding and the 2015 general election.

Based on the vetting of the memos and disbursement of money to PDP chieftains and other highly-placed Nigerians, the EFCC has drawn the battle line of either “you make a refund or face trial”.

Some of the beneficiaries of the cash include former governors Peter Odili (N100m);  Rashidi Ladoja(N100m), Attahiru Bafarawa(N100m), Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi (N100m), and Jim Nwobodo(N500m).

Others are: Chief Tony Anenih(N260m); ex-PDP National Chairman Ahmadu Ali(N100m); Chief Bode George (N100m/ $30,000), Yerima Abdullahi (N100m); Chief Olu Falae (N100m); Tanko Yakassai (N63m); Gen. Bello Sarkin Yaki(N200m); Raymond Dokpesi, Iyorchia Ayu’s company(N345m); BAM Properties(N300m); Dalhatu Investment Limited(N1.5b); ex-PDP National Chairman Mohammed Bello Haliru, Abba Mohammed, Sagir Attahiru, serving and former members of the House of Representatives(over N600 million); former Chairman of the House of Representatives on Security and Intelligence, Bello Matawalle(N300m); ACACIA Holdings(N600m); Bashir Yuguda (N1,950,000) and many companies.

Based on the vetting, the EFCC is insisting that all those implicated so far must refund the “illegal disbursement” of cash to them or face trial.

A top EFCC source said: “We have conducted a thorough investigation and we have retrieved some of the memos sent to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan by the former National Security Adviser; none of them indicated that the cash should be for political purposes.

“There was never a memo for cash advance for political matters like campaign or election.

“We have also traced some of these funds directly to the accounts of these bigwigs or their proxy companies.

“Having gone far, we are asking them to return these funds or else, we will go after them any moment from now. I think they should respect themselves and make urgent refund.

“In the alternative, we will arrest them and arraign them in court to defend such strange allocations.

“We will retrieve every kobo given out from ONSA. It is insufficient to say somebody gave me this money. Once we trace undeserved public funds into your account or phony and proxy  companies, we will ask for refund.”

Regarding the interrogation of Gen. Isa, the source added: “He admitted collecting money from ONSA and he has refunded 60 per cent of the sum credited to him. I think it should be about N100 million.

“Isa is the only person who has so far refunded money among the political figures who collected funds from ONSA. We have granted him bail to allow him time to source for the balance.”

On the detention of the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, the source said: “So far, Metuh has admitted the transfer of N400 million by ONSA  into a company in which he has substantial interest.

“It is left to him to justify why he deserved such benefit from arms cash. We are still questioning him on other remittances into the company’s account. We are also demanding how he will refund the cash.

“Contrary to the noise outside, we did our homework very well. Anybody we bring to the EFCC this time around, we used to make sure that we have established a case against him.

“So, we don’t invite or arrest on frivolous basis. We do thorough investigation this time around.”

Source: The Nation

Depots, filling stations selling above pump price to be sealed for three months – NNPC

Dr. Ibe Kachikwu

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation says any depot or filling station found selling petrol above the official N86.50 pump price will be sealed for three months.

The Minister for State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, announced this while addressing newsmen on Monday in Abuja.

Kachikwu said licences of those found to have consistently breached the rules and regulations would be withdrawn to ensure discipline in the system.

He said: “With all the effort put in place, it is observed that a lot of filling stations continue to sell at prices above what is stipulated.
“This is very intolerable.

“It is ripping off innocent Nigerians and they are doing it at a time when there is very zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour.

“So, I am using this opportunity to give last warning to all those who own filling stations and depots to go back to the price approved by Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.”

The minister also urged the DPR to raise enforcement to ensure complete compliance to the policy.

Kachikwu said: “If any filling station is found selling product above the price, we are going to seal it.

“But first, we are going to dispense the product for free and then we will seal the station and not open it for the period of three months.

“If any depot does same, the same thing will happen.

“We cannot afford to allow indiscipline in the system when people know what to do.”
Kachikwu urged Nigerians to contact DPR through text messages to the designated numbers to help ensure full compliance.

This, he said, would help stop sharp practices, adding that strict monitoring would continue to enable Nigerians enjoy the benefits of the new pump price policy.

According to him, the allegation that most depots are not buying at a cost that would enable them to sell to marketers to dispense at official pump price is false.

He said the DPR and NNPC would collaborate with the relevant security agencies to continue the monitoring, adding that effort would be made to ensure full monitoring of situation in the rural areas.

Also, Mordecai Ladan, the Director of DPR, said the 300 staff of the Department would be involved in the monitoring process.

Ladan added that DPR was working on electronic tracking of all supply across the country, adding that on Tuesday, all its staff would go out again to ensure full compliance to the policy.

Ladan said NNPC affiliate stations would also be monitored to ensure selling at the appropriate price.

NAN.




Source: Eagle Online

Fashola unfolds 13-point agenda to revive power sector

Babatunde Fashola, Nigeria Minister of Power, Works & Housing

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on Monday unfolded a 13-point agenda to drive efforts towards enhancing power supply in the country. Fashola said in Abuja during his maiden meeting with power generation, distribution and transmission companies, and other stakeholders that the agenda was drawn up to ensure effective monitoring of the sector.

The minister said the agenda involves continuous public engagement on tariff collection, debts, power generation, maintenance, ancillary services, dispatch orders and discipline. Others areas include gas requirement and constraints, transmission constraints, 33KV load offtake, imbalances-locations of excess, overload safety, service quality, new captive and embedded generation, franchising and other issues relevant to the growth of the sector.

According to Fashola, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved that all stakeholders in the sector should hold monthly meetings on issues concerning the industry. He said that the meeting would be rotated among the various GENCOs, DISCOs, TCN and other stakeholders across the country. Fashola said that all decisions reached in such meetings would be binding on all the stakeholders.

In this respect, the minister stated that the various companies and stakeholders would each be represented by a management member with authority to take decision on behalf of their companies. He explained that in order to minimise the cost of hosting the meetings, the companies were advised to jointly pull up resources required to hold the meetings.

The minister further said the meetings would also involve lawyers, engineers, planners and other stakeholders, adding that
the ministry would issue a communiqué at the end of each meeting on steps taken to address challenges in the sector.

Source: VANGUARD

Army Captain Who Exposed Election Rigging In Ekiti Reabsorbed Into Army

Sagir Koli, the Nigerian army captain who put his career and life on the line when he exposed the 2014 rigging of the gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, has been reabsorbed into the Nigerian army, SaharaReporters has authoritatively learned.   

Capt. Koli, secretly recorded politicians rigging Ekiti State electionSahara Reporters Media

Army sources speaking with SaharaReporters also said Captain Koli, who is being praised by both peers and superiors, will receive a letter of commendation for his outstanding conduct and non-partisanship in the course of duty.

The captain, it will be recalled, fled the country after he exposed the rigging of the Ekiti State election, successfully making an electronic recording of a meeting where top politicians of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Nigerian army strategized on how to place in office Ayo Fayose, who eventually “won” the contest.

Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh, in collusion with then Minister of Defense Musiliu Obanikoro, former Osun State Senator Iyiola Omisore, former Minister for Police Affairs Jelili Adesiyan, Anambra politician Chris Uba, gubernatorial candidate Fayose, and others were caught on Captain Koli’s secret audio recording plotting to intimidate members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in order to successfully rig the gubernatorial race.

In the audio recording, which was subsequently published by SaharaReporters, Mr. Obanikoro was heard bribing General Momoh to use the military to deny APC voters access to polling stations and arrest leading opposition politicians in Ekiti State. The politicians were also recorded plotting with General Momoh about how to use their tactics in Ekiti to rig another election in Osun State.

News of Captain Koli’s reabsorption into the army follows the release of the Nigerian Army Board of Inquiry’s report where several high-ranking military officers were recommended for disciplinary proceedings.

It is unclear what other measures may be taken by the government, including possible prosecution of non-army personnel who were involved in the rigging.  It should also be recalled that the army, in the course of searching for Captain Koli, tortured his teenage younger brother, a secondary school student.

Source: Sahara Reporters

Switzerland Government To Transfer A Further $300 Million In Abacha Loot To Nigeria

On Monday, Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama announced that the government of Switzerland would transfer a further $300 million in recovered loot from the family of former dictator Sani Abacha.

Sani Abacha

The funds are part of an estimated $5 billion which was stolen and then funneled into various foreign accounts by the military dictator.  

It will be recalled that in December 2015 SaharaReporters published several stories concerning former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s authorization of a diversion of $300 million, taken from the loot recovered from Mr. Abacha, to the Office of the former National Security Advisor (NSA) Colonel Sambo Dasuki a few weeks before the 2015 Presidential elections.

Subsequent reports published by SaharaReporters indicated that the funds were used for a last minute media campaign for former President Goodluck Jonathan.  Since December, the scandal has taken on the name of “Dasukigate” and has led to the indictment of several high profile figures including the spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olisa Metuh, and media mogul Raymond Dokpesi.

Source: Sahara Reporters

NBC Director-General, Emeka Mba, Arrested

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested Emeka Mba, the Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission over an alleged N15 billion fraud.

Mr. Mba was arrested on Monday morning in Abuja and taken to the EFCC’s headquarters where he is currently being interrogated.

Those familiar with the investigation say the EFCC had been investigating the NBC in the past one month.

Last week, some detectives stormed the headquarters of the NBC, ransacking computers and files in the Finance and Account unit.

During the operation, some key Accounts staff where taken away.

Sources said the arrested officials made confessional statements to the EFCC implicating Mr. Mba and some top officials of the NBC.

When contacted, the EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, said he was on an official assignment in Lagos and had not been briefed.

But a top official of the anti-graft agency said: “Yes, he (Mr. Mba) is with us. We are investigating massive diversion of public funds and we’re making progress. Mba definitely has questions to answer.”

Source: Premium Times

PRESS STATEMENT ON FOREIGN EXCHANGE DEPOSITS IN COMMERCIAL BANKS AND SALES TO BDCS BY GOVERNOR GODWIN I. EMEFIELE

1. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The Management of the Bank has called this Press Conference to give you updates on recent developments in our Foreign Exchange Market as well as the decisions we have taken to ensure that we continue to strive to attain our mandates as set out in the CBN Act of 2007. In order to do so, let me first give you a brief overview of both the global and domestic contexts. 

2. As we all know by now, Nigeria has been dealing with the effects of three serious and simultaneous global shocks, which began around the third quarter of 2014. These include: 

• The over 70 percent drop in the price of crude oil, which contributes the largest share of our Foreign Exchange Reserves; 
• Geopolitical tensions along critical trading routes in the world including between Russia and Western Powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, etc; and 
• Normalization of Monetary Policy by the United States’ Federal Reserve Bank. 

3. In the aftermath of these shocks, growth in the global economy in the first two quarters of 2015 was less than envisaged thereby leading to a weak outlook for the rest of the year. Indeed, estimates of global growth for 2015 have been revised from almost 4 percent to 3.1 percent. The challenges of these global developments are having lopsided effects in many emerging and developing countries. Within this context, and especially when juxtaposed with comparable countries, the Nigerian economy remains moderately robust. Nonetheless, these strong global headwinds are impacting the domestic 3 economy considerably. In 2015, GDP growth decelerated from 3.9 percent in the first quarter to 2.4 percent in the second quarter. However, it has increased slightly to 2.8 percent in the third quarter. 

4. Although headline inflation remained single digit, it stayed slightly above the Bank’s tolerance range of 6—9 percent, having risen marginally from 9.3 percent in October to 9.4 percent in November 2015. A breakdown of the inflation dynamics indicates that the underlying pressure derives largely from the lingering base effects of unfavourable energy prices and exchange rate passthrough, which may have been exacerbated by delayed harvests. 

5. Following the drop in crude prices from a peak of US114 barrel in July 2014 to as low as US$33/barrel in January 2016, the country’s reserves has suffered great pressure from speculative attacks, round tripping and front loading activities by actors in the FX market. This fall in oil prices also implies that the CBN’s monthly foreign 4 earnings has fallen from as high as US$3.2 billion to current levels of as low as US$1 billion. Yet, the demand for foreign exchange by mostly domestic importers has risen significantly. For example, the last we had oil prices at about US$50 per barrel for an extended period of time was in 2005. At that time, our average import bill was N148.3 billion per month. In stark contrast, our average import bill for the first nine months of 2015 is N917.6 billion per month, even though oil prices are now less than US$35 per barrel. The net effect of these combined forces unfortunately is the depletion of our foreign exchange reserves. As of June 2014, the stock of Foreign Exchange Reserves stood at about US$37.3 billion but has declined to around US$28.0 billion as of today. 

6. To avoid further depletion in the reserves, the CBN took a number of countervailing actions including the prioritization of the most critical needs for foreign exchange. In this regard, and in order of priority, we decided to provide the available but highly limited foreign exchange to meet the following needs: 

• Matured Letters of Credit from Commercial Banks 
• Importation of Petroleum Products 
• Importation of critical Raw Materials, Plants, and Equipment, and 
• Payments for School Fees, BTA, PTA, and related expenses 

7. In total disregard of the difficulties that the Bank is facing in meeting its mandate of “maintaining the country’s foreign exchange reserves to safeguard the value of the Naira”, we have continued to observe that stakeholders in some of the subsectors have not been helpful in this direction. In particular, we have noted with grave concern that Bureau de Change (BDC) operators have abandoned the original objective of their establishment, which was to serve retail end users who need US$5,000 or less. Instead, they have become wholesale dealers in foreign exchange to the tune of millions of dollars per transaction. Thereafter, they use fake documentations like passport 6 numbers, BVNs, boarding passes, and flight tickets to render weekly returns to the CBN. 

8. Despite the fact that Nigeria is the only country in the world where the Central Bank sells dollars directly to BDCs, operators in this segment have not reciprocated the Bank’s gesture to help maintain stability in the market. Whereas the Bank has continued to sell US Dollars at about N197 per dollar to these operators, they have in turned become greedy in their sales to ordinary Nigerians, with selling rates of as high as N250 per dollar. Given this rent-seeking behaviour, it is not surprising that since the CBN began to sell foreign exchange to BDCs, the number of operators have risen from a mere 74 in 2005 to 2,786 BDCs today. In addition, the CBN receives close to 150 new applications for BDC licenses every month. 

9. Rather than help to achieve the laudable objectives for which they were licensed, the Bank has noted the following unintended outcomes: 

• Avalanche of rent-seeking operators only interested in widening margins and profits from the foreign exchange market, regardless of prevailing official and interbank rates; 
• Potential financing of unauthorized transactions with foreign exchange procured from the CBN; 
• Gradual dollarization of the Nigerian economy with attendant adverse consequences on the conduct of monetary policy and subtle subversion of cashless policy initiative; and 
• Prevailing ownership of several BDCs by the same promoters in order to illegally buy foreign currencies multiple times from the CBN. 

10. More disturbing, though, is the financial burden being placed on the Bank and our limited foreign exchange. The CBN sells US$60,000 to each BDC per week. This amount translates to US$167 million per week, and about US$8.6 billion per year. In order to curtail this reserve 8 depletion, we have reduced the amount of weekly sales to US$10,000 per BDC, which translates into US$28.4 million depletion of the foreign reserve per week and US$1.476 billion per annum. This is a huge hemorrhage on our scarce foreign exchange reserves, and cannot continue especially because we are also concerned that BDCs have become a conduit for illicit trade and financial flows. 

11. In view of the above, the Management of the Central Bank of Nigeria has reached the following decision, which take immediate effect: 

• The Bank would henceforth discontinue its sales of foreign exchange to BDCs. Operators in this segment of the market would now need to source their foreign exchange from autonomous source. They must however note that the CBN would deploy more resources to monitoring these sources to ensure that no operator is in violation of our anti-money laundering laws; 
• The Bank would now permit commercial banks in the country begin accepting cash deposits of foreign exchange from their customers. 

12. In closing, let me note very importantly that these measures are not intended to be punitive on anyone or any group. Rather it is meant to ensure that the CBN is better able to carry out its mandate in an effective and efficient manner, which guarantees preservation of our scarce commonwealth, and that our hard-earned financial system stability remain intact to the benefit of all Nigerians. 

Thank you