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An audit of the Natural Resources Fund under the federal ministry of agriculture and water resources has uncovered a fraud of N96 billion. The fund was set aside by the federal government to take care of natural disasters whose repercussions prove beyond the capacities of state governments to remedy.

About 4.5 per cent of the Federation Account is set aside to make provisions for natural disasters such as erosions, and 1.6 per cent of the fund is used for the development of natural resources, including support for agriculture, solid minerals and river basin development activities.

Presidency sources said yesterday in Abuja that the fraud, which has since been traced to the managers of the ministry’s Agricultural and Food Seed Programme, was discovered when the outgoing chairman of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Hamman Tukur, who is retiring from service, ordered an auditing as part of the handing over process.

Central bank’s records of the Federation Accounts Income and Expenditure financial statement for the natural resources fund last year, show that the balance of the account brought forward from the previous year reduced from a total of about N110.5 billion at the beginning of January to about N73.5 billion by last December.

No official of the agriculture ministry could offer any insight on how the sum of N95.186 billion released on August 25, 2009 for the Agricultural and Food Seed Programme was used.

Most of the officials who spoke with NEXT referred our correspondent to the immediate past minister of agriculture and water resources, Sayyadi Abba Ruma.

The officials were also unable to explain what another N1 billion released to the ministry on August 31, 2009 was spent on, and attempts to reach Mr Ruma had to be aborted when he could not be reached on his phones. He had apparently changed numbers since he ceased to be a minister.

Sources claimed that the N95 billion may have been diverted for the construction of new silos to boost the country’s grain storage and food production capacities. There is however a $150million World Bank-supported special intervention funding facility to government for the completion of this particular project.

One billion naira was also allegedly used for the development of some water resources projects at various locations across the country.

Though the silos was initiated under the federal government’s agro-allied value chain infrastructure development project slated for 20 states and scheduled for completion next year, indications are that nothing is happening at most of the selected sites.

Twenty years

The silos, with a combined storage capacity of 1.025 million metric tonnes, were to be located in the different grains producing parts of the country, including Ekiti, Kebbi, Zamfara, Borno, Imo and Bayelsa states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, all of which have 100,000 metric tonnes capacity.

Those at Yobe, Bauchi, Osun, Nasarawa, Taraba, Ogun, Anambra, Kogi, Sokoto, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Kano and Katsina states have about 25,000 metric tonnes capacity.

The contracts for the construction of the silos were awarded more than 20 years ago, but Mr. Ruma had said during a visit to the Abuja facility located near the National Food Reserve Agency, Gwagwalada, that construction work was only completed on 11 of them, while the rest 14 were abandoned. He said there was need for government to invest in the completion of the silos to provide storage for the production of grains such as rice, beans, maize, soya beans, millet, wheat as well as other food items.

A case against the contract for one of the silos in Akwa Ibom allegedly inflated by over N500 million, was last month filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja by Baraj Nigeria Limited, which claimed that it was manipulated out of the award on Mr. Ruma’s directives.

The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), failed to bring charges of the
alleged N32 billion financial misappropriation against Nasir El-Rufai,
when the former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
appeared for the first time at the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday.

The anti-graft
agency rather brought an 8-count charge bordering on abuse of office
against him. The EFCC had, since November 2008, invited the former
minister over the alleged N32 billion fraud and other matters and
subsequently declared him wanted last year.

Femi Babafemi, the
spokesman of the EFCC, told NEXT in Abuja that the commission had not
dropped the financial misappropriation charge against Mr. El-Rufai.

“It is a matter still being investigated,” Mr. Babafemi said.

Not so, said the
media consultant to Mr. El-Rufai, Muyiwa Adekeye, who claimed that the
EFCC, without evidence, had deliberately tried to smear his client’s
name in the Nigerian media .

“It is just a
deliberate falsehood. The repeated reference to the N32 billion is a
deliberate attempt by the EFCC to decieve the public,” Mr. Adekeye said
in Abuja yesterday.

Mr. El-Rufai in court

At the High Court
yesterday, Mr. El-Rufai, arraigned before Adamu Bello, pleaded not
guilty to the eight count charge brought against him.

All the charges
revolved around the allocation of parcels of land to Mr. El-Rufai’s his
wives, Hadiza El-Rufai and Asia El-Rufai as well as his associates. The
EFCC accused the former minister of ‘wrongfully and/or intentionally’
revoking the portion of land originally allocated to Power Holding
Company of Nigeria Plc for the purpose of reallocating same to his
relatives and friends.

Under Section 19 of
the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act (2000), Mr.
El-Rufai could face a 5 year jail term if found guilty.

Mr. El-Rufai was,
however granted bail of N100 million after his attorney, Akinlolu
Olujimi, SAN, made an oral application for the accused to be granted
bail on the basis of self recognisance.

Mr. El-Rufai is
also to provide a surety as another bail condition and is to be
remanded in the EFCC custody pending the fulfilment of the bail
conditions. He, however met the conditions later in the afternoon and
was subsequently released.

Speaking on the
ability of the former minister to meet his bail condition, his media
aide said: ‘El Rufai has never pretended to be a man branded by
poverty. There is a difference between being successful in private
practice before joining the government. It is unfair to wonder where he
got his bail money from.”

Suing the EFCC

Mr. El-Rufai exited
Court 5 of the Federal High Court and headed for Court 6 of the same
court, amidst a cluttering of reporters and EFCC operators. In Court 6,
Gabriel Kolawole was sitting over another case involving the former
minister. Only this time, the former minister is bringing charges
against the EFCC and the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Mr. El-Rufai is asking that the courts should declare that his
actions as the FCT minister were proper and valid under the Nigerian
Law while also challenging the competence of the EFCC to charge him to
court over land matters. Both Mr. Bello and Mr. Kolawole adjourned the
cases to the 22nd and 29th of June, respectively.

The governor of Edo
State, Adams Oshiomhole, on Tuesday, ordered that the chairman of the
state’s Committee on Illegal Structures and Street Trading, Felix
Igiebor, and four members of the committee be arrested for allegedly
extorting money from the public.

Mr. Igiebor allegedly arrested a bishop and demanded N10, 000 as bribe from him.

The governor said
his administration would not tolerate acts capable of bringing hardship
to the people and denting the image of the government.

“You people have
been doing a lot of damage to the image of government. You go about
arresting innocent people and extorting money from them, and today you
arrested a Bishop and demanded for bribe,” Mr. Oshiomhole told the
members.

Narrating his
experience at the hands of the alleged extortionists, Gabriel Dunia,
the bishop of the Auchi Catholic Diocese, said upon his arrival from
Europe, he noticed that members of the committee were about to tow his
vehicle for parking illegally along the Airport Road.

The Reverend Dunia said he immediately apologized but they demanded the bribe from his driver.

Reacting to the incident, Mr. Oshiomhole announced the immediate dissolution of the committee .

Confirmed extortion

A statement by
Pally Irase, the Secretary to the State Government, said the
dissolution is sequel “to confirmed cases of extortion under the guise
of wrong parking, harassment of innocent persons, physical assault and
dehumanizing methods which are unacceptable to government”.

The statement
advised the committee’s former members to return all government
properties in their possession to the Permanent Secretary, Central
Administration.

“Aggrieved members
of the public who have genuine complaints against members of the
dissolved task force are encouraged to lodge their complaints to the
permanent secretary Government House Benin City”, the statement said.

Efforts to provide the nation with a new electoral law moved closer to reality yesterday when the Electoral Act passed a second reading at the Senate.

It has subsequently been committed to the Senate’s standing committee on constitution review and the committee on INEC to conduct a public hearing on it.

The electoral bill is part of the ongoing attempts to reform the electoral system in the country. The bill was read for the first time in the Senate on April 20, 2010 and is composed of 161 clauses – with additions of the clauses expunged from the draft amended constitution.

“This bill, which seeks to repeal the 2006 Electoral Act and re-establish the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), regulates the conduct of federal, state, and area council elections, and deals with related matters, is broadly aimed at strengthening democracy and the electoral process in Nigeria,” Ike Ekweremadu, the deputy Senate president who led debate on the bill, said.

The new Electoral Act will contain some major parts that will define future political systems in Nigeria.

Firstly, in line with the amendment of the constitution, the bill provides for independent candidates. More so, it has absorbed the issue of political party formation and administration from the old constitution, “for ease of reassessment as the dynamics of time might require,” Mr. Ekweremadu said.”

Furthermore, with this bill, the procedure for election into local government councils, which hitherto forms part of the existing act, has been expunged, as the issue of local government elections need not be included in the federal legislations on election matters.”

No more free money

Highlights of the bill include the elimination of the annual grant clause in the existing Act, which currently compels the government to pay out grants to political parties annually. A similar clause in the constitution has also been expunged in the draft amended constitution.

“I don’t know how, in the first place, the idea came about to give grants to political parties,” the Senate President, David Mark, said. “Right now, it does not meet our political needs, and we have to expunge it.” Grace Bent (PDP, Adamawa State), argued that the removal of the grants will distinguish the real political parties from fake ones: “All the political parties should be denied grants so we will know who is real,” she said.

Uche Chukwumerije (PPA, Abia State), also supported the argument, saying it will scrap the current “kleptocracy” many pseudo political parties practice and institute real democracy.

The bill will also empower INEC to monitor both the administrative and financial activities of political parties, in order to ensure that few wealthy individuals, foreign agents, or interest groups do not control the operations of political parties.

The bill also provides serious penalties for offenders of the various rules in the Act, as well as provisions that will expedite the process of litigation by providing for time saving measures in the dispensation of electoral cases.

The
former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), Maurice Iwu, officially handed over the reins of leadership to
the Acting Chairman, Solomon Soyebi, on Wednesday in Abuja.

The brief event
that was held behind closed doors at the INEC Headquarters on Zambezi
Crescent, Maitama, officially marked the end of Mr. Iwu’s embattled
tenure at INEC.

The change of
leadership at the commission came on the heels of a letter signed by
President Goodluck Jonathan and received at INEC yesterday, directing
Mr. Soyebi to assume office as INEC’s Acting Chairman, pending the
announcement of a substantive chairman by the federal government.

The letter had
effectively ended the popular expectations that INEC National
Commissioner in charge of Public Affairs, Phillip Umeadi Jr., was set
to be named as the Acting Chairman, having already acted in the
capacity last week.

Mr. Soyebi, the
representative of Ogun State, was until this appointment, the National
Commissioner in charge of INEC Operations.

Although Mr. Iwu, a
professor of Pharmacology, did not attend the press conference later
addressed by the new helmsman, it was learnt, however, that he
physically handed over his leadership notes before breezing out to
evade the prying eyes and lenses of the media.

Efforts made to
uncover the content of the handover notes at INEC office was not
fruitful, even as the Acting Chairman avoided any direct reference to
it during his address at the INEC Conference Hall.

Voters register for review

Mr. Soyebi, who was supported by Mr. Umeadi at the press conference, said the task before INEC was enormous.

“The task before us
is very enormous, considering the fact that we are going to have the
presidential election and other elections in less than one year. We are
here to fine tune our strategies, to fast track our preparations
towards ensuring a free and fair election in 2011. There will be a
purification of the voters register so as to make future elections
credible,” he said.

“The commission has
a renewed vigour for election service delivery. On our own part, we are
going to be prepared to ensure a credible election in 2011.”

He called for
greater patience from the public, so as to allow the establishment of a
new INEC to take proper place before next year’s general elections.

He also announced
the return to office of the INEC National Commissioner on Legal
Matters, Victor Chukwuani, who was hitherto directed by the presidency
to go on terminal leave, but whose situation was reviewed by Mr.
Jonathan’s letter to INEC on Tuesday.

N2.8 billion illegal withdrawal

Mr. Soyebi, who had
also met with the workers of INEC before and after the briefing, did
not disclose if he was going to de-froze INEC’s accounts, which were
allegedly frozen last week on the order of Mr. Umeadi, over allegations
of illegal withdrawal of about N2.8 billion immediately after Mr. Iwu
was asked to proceed on terminal leave.

It was further
gathered that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is currently
investigating the allegation, even though it could not be confirmed as
at press time how far it has gone with the work.

Someone! Anyone!
Help! I was forced to endure a one-hour flight sitting next to a
sharp-looking gentleman. He was dressed in crisp, clean clothes and
polished shoes. He sported a fashionable watch and he had well-trimmed
hair, clean nails, a ready smile, and kind eyes. He also STANK!!!

Someone! Anyone!
Please tell me what is going on! I regularly train emerging leaders on
how to deliver unpleasant news or give performance feedback to their
subordinates in a respectful way. One of the most popular, yet
distressing exercises I use in developing this skill is a simulation of
being sent by your colleagues to inform a team member that s/he has bad
body odour! Very few people want to do it, and even fewer know how to
do it well – even with guidance. Sometimes it is hard to tell from the
squirming going on, whether it is the person giving the feedback who is
most uncomfortable, or the poor person being told that they have been
perfuming the air with ‘eau de putrid’ – the strong and lingering aroma
of rotten boiled eggs, wet carpet and vomit.

I have had occasion
to very kindly and respectfully advise staff, colleagues and service
providers to avail themselves of the use of a deodorant that is
conveniently at hand in my drawer, in my bag, or in my guest toilet.
But what is the protocol when the offence to the nostrils and to one’s
comfort is being committed in a public space or when the offender is a
complete stranger?

Let’s go back to
the aeroplane. Confronted by Mr Odoriferous, I felt supremely sorry for
myself, sorrier for my fellow passengers (don’t ask me why), and sorry
for the crew whose work space had been infiltrated. You find that, in
times of adversity, solidarity forms instantaneously, and it happened
here too. Speaking glances, grimaces, and shows of sympathy flew back
and forth amongst the newly formed fellowship of suffering passengers.
Still, no one said anything.

Shouldn’t there be rules about this sort of thing?

Business etiquette
teaches you suitable dress for the workplace. Could there not be
etiquette about appropriate personal hygiene in public? Could Health,
Safety and Environment (HSE) standards against air pollution be
expanded to include odious body odour? Anyone who has been trapped in a
lift, a car, or a bus with someone reeking of unwashed flesh knows what
I am talking about.

Don’t get me wrong;
I doubt if anyone sane would step out of their abode smelling bad. On
enough occasions, the offender is not even aware that s/he is smelling.
Once they are informed, the majority are mortified and take immediate
action to suppress it.

Other times, body
odour is simply a function of lifestyle – the combination of humidity,
working outdoors in the heat and sun, sweat, and wearing clothes that
were not completely dried after washing. Many cannot afford to buy
deodorants and powders, and have to rely on their morning baths or
rubbing lemon and other native remedies. This is not adequate in our
climate if you are physically active or move around a lot outdoors.

Yet, some people
simply won’t scrub their bodies, wash their clothes or change their
underclothes daily. Others do not shave their underarm hair, wash their
hair regularly or clean themselves properly after ‘easing’ themselves.
It is pure carelessness.

A friend asked me
why the body odour here is so much worse (in her estimation) than in
the Western world. Well, for starters, how a person smells when they
sweat is affected by what we eat and drink. In the Western world, their
food is partially uncooked, like salads, and mostly bland to the taste.
Our food is generally boiled or fried, and pungent with spices. Hence
‘pungent’ sweat.

An unfunny joke

Secondly, our odour
also has to do with the quality of the air. Our air quality here is
poor. We breathe in all kinds of pollutants from vehicles, generators
and badly disposed waste. Those toxins find their way out of our bodies
in our sweat.

Thirdly, our public
transport system is choked with people rubbing up against each other.
Workers trek long distances to bus stops, they wait and sweat in the
sun, they squash into cars, buses, and onto the backs of trucks. Is it
any wonder that they do not arrive at their destinations smelling fresh
and fragrant?

Let’s go back to
the aeroplane again. In situations where the cabin air quality has been
compromised by a reeking passenger, what should the crew do? Should
they behave the way up-market restaurants with a strict dress code do?
They have a stock of jackets and ties to lend to patrons who arrive
without them. Could the crew legitimately invite the ‘oozing’ passenger
to make use of their stock of deodorants and fabric fresheners in the
cabin toilets, and deny the person service until they co-operate?

I don’t have the answers but, really, we should do something.
Anything. This joke is no longer funny. Life is too stressful to have
to put up with a corrupting presence in close quarters. Let’s find a
way to deal with the offence while respecting the sensibilities of the
offender

For the second
time, a Lagos High Court on Wednesday has foiled the attempt of the
Lagos Assembly to investigate allegations of financial impropriety
levelled against the Governor Babatunde Fashola administration

Justice Opeyemi Oke
ordered an injunction, on Tuesday, restraining the ongoing
investigation by a 7-man committee set up by the legislative house.

Consequently, the
injunction, which was served on the House on Wednesday morning stalled
the interrogation of the state’s attorney general, Supo Sasore, who was
invited by the House to answer questions on his directive that
ministries, departments, and agencies of the government should not
appear before the probe committee.

A special plenary
session was scheduled for the interrogation because Mr. Sasore could
not appear before the House on Tuesday due to a court engagement.

However, the
injunction means that any matter relating to the investigation remains
suspended until the determination of a pending suit at the Appeal court
on the matter.

“An interim
injunction restraining the defendant whether by itself, agents,
members, officers, privies, committees, or by whomsoever howsoever from
proceeding with or acting on the purported investigation of allegation
of financial impropriety levelled against the executive arm of Lagos
state government by a group which calls itself ‘The True Face of
Lagos,'” said Justice Oke after listening to the argument of Bamidele
Aturu, the counsel to Richard Akionla, a human right activist who filed
the ex-parte application.

After the
injunction was read, Speaker of the House, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, asked the
attorney general to leave the chamber on the ground that the House “has
so many things to do and therefore will not be able to interrogate him.”

Sanai Agunbiade (Ikorodu constituency), made an attempt to get the lawmakers to debate the injunction.

“Sincerely, I am confused and I need the help of the House,” he said.

However, he was cut short by the Speaker who subsequently forbade any further debate on the matter.

Partial judiciary

Debo Adeniran, the
president of the Campaign Against Corrupt Leaders, believes the
judiciary is not neutral as far as the probe issue is concerned and
says that “it is an indictment on the executive government that it
needs a judicial bailout instead of seeking to absolve its name of any
allegation.”

Mr. Adeniran also condemned the fact that “somebody who calls himself a human right activist is the one initiating the case.”

Voting on the
number of parties the country should register for future elections was
yesterday aborted in the House of Representatives when its session
became rowdy over a proposal for a two-party system.

Members disagreed
over the proposal, stalling debate for more than 20 minutes.
Consequently, Speaker Dimeji Bankole adjourned the session and asked
the lawmakers to come with their card today with a view to voting
electronically on the issue.

Minority Leader,
Mohammed Ali Ndume, while contributing to the resumed debate on the
report of the House ad-hoc committee on the review of the 1999
Constitution, at the committee of the whole, called for the reduction
of the number of parties in the country to two.

Mr Ndume, who is a
member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) proposed the insertion
of a clause under Section 80 of the Electoral Act 2006 to provide for a
two-party system.

Supporting the call, Olaka Nwogu (PDP, Rivers) said the country has operated different systems which, according to him, failed.

Mr. Nwogu said the
provision of a two-party system with a provision of independent
candidacy would lead to a vibrant political situation in the country.
He described the multi-party system being operated today as a “giant
and grasshopper situation.”

Lanre Agoro (PDP,
Oyo) recalled that the best democratic system the country ever had was
when it operated a two-party system, adding that it is the reason why
all nationalists and federalists are asking for a return to the system.

Dino Melaye (PDP,
Kogi) said only election riggers, ballot box stuffers and ballot box
snatcher will support anything but two-party system.

Limited choices

Others, who spoke
in support of the two-party system include Leo Ogor (PDP, Delta), Nkiru
Onyejiocha (PDP, Abia), Femi Gbajabiamila (AC, Lagos), Ahmed Mohammed
(PDP Bauchi) and Samson Positive (PDP, Kogi).

Those who opposed
the two-party system include Cyril Maduabum (PDP, Anambra), Uche
Ekwunife (PDP, Anambra), Nnenna Ukeje (PDP, Abia), Soli Sada Jibia
(PDP, Katsina), John Enoh (PDP, Cross River) and Emmanuel Bello (PDP,
Adamawa).

Mr. Enoh reminded
his colleagues of the stringent conditions provided for independent
candidacy to avoid its abuse, warning that there would not be enough
parties for people to join if the number of the parties in the country
is limited to two.

According to Ms.
Ukeje, Nigeria is nation that is diverse in several aspect, stressing
that two parties would be inadequate for its population.

Ms. Ekwunife, on
her part, suggested that the country should not have more than five
parties, while Mr. Maduabum, who invoked Section 40 of the constitution
during the debate, said the two party system would deny Nigerians
freedom of association.

Ita Enang (PDP,
Akwa Ibom) warned against the proposal saying it was wrong to make law
limiting the number of parties in anticipation of the amendment of the
constitution, stressing that two-party system is a “contamination of
the Electoral Act and Constitution.”

Worried about the direction of the debate and the rowdiness, Mr
Bankole, adjourned the matter. He said today’s session would be
televised live.