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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.

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 shortage of
entrepreneurs is affecting the growth of Nigeria and its people,
chairman of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human
Development Fund in Osun State, Segun Aina, has said.

Mr Aina, a retired
Managing Director of the Fountain Trust Bank, who spoke at a
stakeholders meeting of the UNDP on Tuesday, said Nigeria is lagging
behind owing to low technical know-how and poor entrepreneurship skills
of its people.

He said Nigeria can only develop if it promotes technology and entrepreneurs.

“There is shortage
of entrepreneurs in the country today, and this is affecting the
nation’s development. A country can only develop if entrepreneurship is
developed. The most worrisome situation in Nigeria today is that even
those who have the entrepreneurship knowledge are not well trained if
at all they are trained,” he said To this end, Mr Aina explained that
the UNDP has concluded arrangements to establish Skill Acquisition
Centres in all the 30 Local Government Areas of Osun State, with the
aim of training youth on various entrepreneurship skills.

He disclosed that
the centres will commence operation by the first quarter of next year,
adding that the right group of people will benefit from the programme.

“This would reshape the lives of the youth and improve the nation’s economy,” Mr Aina said.

He also praised the
UNDP’s assistance to people through microfinance loans and community
intervention programmes, saying most communities in the state have
benefited from the UNDP Integrated Community Development Project.

“The UNDP is determined to alleviate poverty in the country through
provision of financial assistance and necessary needs for the teeming
populace,” he said.

A Shari’ah court in
Alkaleri, Bauchi State, on Tuesday, sentenced a 35-year-old man, Sani
Sallau, to death by stoning for having sexual intercourse with a minor.

The News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accused was arraigned before the court
by hisba officials (Shari’ah enforcers) in Alkaleri Local Government
Area.

The prosecutor,
Mohammed Abdullahi, a hisba official, told the court that the accused
person was caught having an affair with the ‘almajiri’ (name withheld).

Mr. Abdullahi said the suspect committed the offence on May 3 in Alkaleri, headquarters of Alkaleri Local Government Area.

He said the accused was charged with sodomy, which contravened the Shari’ah law being enforced in the state.

Mr. Sallau pleaded guilty as charged.

The judge, Muhammad Muhammad, ordered the accused be stoned to death
since he had confessed to the offence, in line with the provision of
the Shari’ah law.

Weeks after a bomb
explosion scared away government officials at a Niger Delta peace
confab in Warri, Delta State, another explosion on Monday again rocked
the Warri office of the Niger Delta Development Commission, causing
pandemonium around the city. The explosion, which occurred around 8pm
Monday after the workers had closed for the day, left a deep hole in
the granite floor of the building and ripped part of its roof. Resident
of the area said the explosion caused them a sleepless night, sending
shivers down their spine.

According to an eye
witness account; “We thought it was militant attack at the initial
stage, so we started running. Shops were hurriedly locked and people
just went to sleep until this morning when some of us went there and
saw what happened.”

The Delta State
Commissioner on the Board of NDDC, Emmanuel Ogidi, however, said the
explosion was not as a result of bomb but a fault with an
air-conditioner compressor.

“It wasn’t a bomb explosion, police sent expert here and confirmed that it wasn’t,” Mr Ogidi said. “It was an AC fault,

but this incident will also enable us relocate. We will try to repair whatever we can repair until we move somewhere else”.

He clarified that
the explosion should not be mistaken for the activities of some youth,
who have been threatening the commission’s office.

“There has been
couple of threats here and there. Some youths have been coming to
threaten the staff,” he said. “We have reported that to the Area
Commander and they have taken up the matter. But the youths are not
responsible for what happened. But when you issue a threat and
something happened, it can be tied to it”.

A detachment of
anti-riot police and conventional policemen seen yesterday at the
commission’s office however ruled out bomb attack from the explosion
when our correspondent visited.

The Divisional Police officer (DPO), B-Division, Warri, Christopher
Luke, who was at the scene also told newsmen that the explosion came
from the Air conditioner. He urged the staff and residents of the area
to go about their normal businesses.

The
Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), North West zonal
office, has alerted the business community in the ancient city of Kano
of the influx of fraudsters into the city recently.

The commission, in
a statement signed by its media head, Gbenga Aroyehun, said the
fraudsters have already duped several persons in the city, with
majority of their victims being businessmen.

Mr Aroyehun said
the commission is working assiduously to nab these fraudsters, and
warned the public, especially businessmen, to vet every business
proposal presented before them and know the personality introducing it
in order to avoid being defrauded.

The commission
identified one of the fraudsters’ mode of operation as the introduction
of a phoney supply of a bicycle part called WHW BALL RACER, which they
cajole their victims to purchase in order to supply same to a dubious
company introduced as potential buyers.

“Through this false
scheme, several persons in Kano have been duped of millions of naira
and still counting,” stated Mr Aroyehun. “Our office in Kano has
received petitions and personal complaints from victims of this scam.”

He added that the EFCC has started investigations into the scam, and
promised that they would soon arrest and prosecute suspects.

President
of the National Industrial Court (NIC), Babatunde Adejumo, shocked his
audience at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan, on Tuesday when
he declared that over 80 per cent of the cases before the court are on
“who should collect check-off dues and who should not.”

Mr. Adejumo, who
delivered the lead paper at a two-day national workshop for union
leaders and management of southern Nigeria based universities on
industrial harmony, said many of the strikes that have taken place
within the system were needless.

Jointly organized
by the NIC and the Consultancy Services Centre (UNIFECS) of the Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile Ife, the workshop sought to engender symbiotic
relationships among the unions and the management of the Nigerian
universities.

According to him,
most often, many members of the union are completely in the dark about
the cause their leaders are fighting for.

“Many times,
workers are not well educated on the need to go on strike,” he said.
“There must be constant and proper education for union members. Most
people believe that the union leaders are only there to manage the
check-off dues. That should not be the only active role and functions
the union should play. Before the issue of strike, how best have they
done to discuss the issue and educate their members? This is more
important.”

Improper strikes

While reaffirming
the inalienable right of workers to go on strike when their rights are
trampled upon by their employers, Mr. Adejumo cautioned union leaders
against leading their member to strikes that do not conform with the
provisions of the constitution on exercising their rights, saying the
effect could be counter-productive.

He hinted that
about eight court complexes of the NIC will soon be commissioned and
open for operation in the spirit of ensuring that litigants across the
country have access to an industrial court within a distance of less
than three hours.

He further revealed
that the National Assembly is almost through on the amendment of the
relevant legislation guiding the operations of the court, with a view
to empowering it to better deliver its mandate to the people of Nigeria.

In order to achieve
harmonious relationship between the university managements and unions
of their staff, Mr. Adejumo called for the creation of codes of conduct
within each of the universities.

“The aim of the code should be to lay down principles and guidelines
on the practice of industrial relations for achieving greater
industrial harmony,” he said.

The
Ondo State House of Assembly has fixed tomorrow as a mourning day in
honour of late president, Umaru Yar’Adua, who died last week in Abuja
after a protracted illness. The lawmakers made the resolution yesterday
in Akure during a special session, adding that the plenary would not
hold that day.

The House also
directed that letters of condolence be written by the assembly to the
family of Mr Yar’Adua, the Kastina State Government and the federal
government.

They praised late
Mr Yar’Adua for introducing amnesty programme for the Niger Delta
Region, adding that the former president needs to be immortalised. They
also appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan, to follow electoral
reform programme to a logical conclusion.

The Deputy Majority Leader, Ayodele Awodeyi described Yar’Adua as a forthright leader who had good aspirations for Nigerians.

“Yar’adua was a detribalised leader who was the only president who declared his assets to Nigerians,” he said.

Mr Awodeyi
commended the late president for establishing the Ministry of Niger
Delta, government machinery put in place to facilitate the development
of the Niger Delta Region.

Call for honour

The Deputy Speaker,
Francis Emiola, called on the Federal Government to immortalize the
late Yar’Adua by naming a national monument after him.

Mr Afolabi
Akinsiku, Ondo West I, also praised the late president for identifying
himself with the rule of law. He pointed out that the ruling Labour
Party in Ondo State reclaimed its electoral mandate due to Mr
Yar’Adua’s respect for the rule of law.

Two
NEXT reporters – Clara Nwachukwu, assistant business editor, and Daniel
Osunkoya, business reporter – have been nominated for the Diageo Africa
Business Reporting Awards.

Diageo, the world’s
leading premium drinks manufacturer, on Tuesday, announced finalists
for the eleven categories in the seventh annual awards ceremony.

Ms. Nwachukwu’s
story: ‘Adenuga’s Conoil owes N100 billion in taxes’ was nominated in
the Best Business News Story category, while Mr. Osunkoya’s portfolio
of three features: ‘Nigerian banks in battle of transparency,’
‘Flooding in luxury estates’ and ‘We fear for bonds’ were selected for
the Best Newcomer category.

According to the statement, over 750 entries were received from 20 countries across Africa and the rest of the world.

At a gala ceremony
in London on Thursday, July 1, where a panel of eminent judges will
select the winners of each category, Ms. Nwachukwu’s piece would
compete with stories by Felix Dela Klutse (Daily Guide Newspaper,
Ghana) and Bankelele (Bankelele, Kenya). Mr. Osunkoya’s stories would
contend with features written by Pia Minchener (African Decisions,
South Africa) and Gemma Ware (The Africa Report, France).

Obiageli
Ezekwesili, vice president of the World Bank, Africa Region, is
expected to be the keynote speaker at the awards ceremony. Ms.
Ezekwesili served as Federal Minister of Solid Minerals, and then as
Federal Minister of Education in Nigeria during the second term
presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo.

Proud of achievement

Commenting on her
nomination, Ms. Nwachukwu said, “This Diageo Award is particularly
significant because there have been (few or) no Nigerian in the
competition since the award was instituted, and this makes the award
special and unique because it will be a first for Nigeria. I am happy
for NEXT Newspapers for building a culture of professionalism.”

Mr. Osunkoya said:
“It’s a great honour and privilege to be nominated in this year’s
awards. I say a big thank you to NEXT for providing the platform, and
Diageo for the encouragement.” Devlin Hainsworth, managing director of
Guinness Nigeria, a subsidiary of Diageo, said the finalists represent
“those who are leading the way in creating a more balanced view of
business reporting on Africa. The shortlisted entrants have gone the
extra mile in reporting the opportunities and challenges of doing
business in Africa and have thoroughly investigated issues that matter
to business communities locally, regionally and internationally.

“The record
breaking number of entries from across the globe reflects the increase
in business reporting on Africa in 2009/2010. Also, the type of entries
we have received also indicates a shift in the way that news is being
delivered to audiences, with many more entrants being online citizen
journalists and bloggers.”

He added that with over 750 entries received for the award this
year, “those shortlisted in their category should be immensely proud of
their achievements and contribution to promoting a more accurate
understanding of the business environment in Africa.”

The
national leadership of the Labour Party, at the weekend, made a
passionate appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately
commence the process for a fresh and transparent registration of voters
in country.

The Party, in a
communiqué issued at the end of its 8th National Executive Council
meeting held in Akure, at the weekend, argued that the present Voters’
Register was totally dubious and full of errors.

The Labour Party,
in a communiqué signed by Dan Nwanyanwu and Abdusalam Abdukardir Salam,
National Chairman and National Secretary of the Party respectively
added that the current voters’ register could not be relied upon for
conducting credible polls in the country.

“We want to enjoin
President Jonathan to ensure that credible elections are conducted on
the basis of one person, one valid vote are put in place.

The Party also
lauded the recent sack of the former boss of the Independent National
Electoral Commmisssion (INEC), Maurice Iwu, saying that his leadership
was characterized by manipulation of votes and fraud in the
announcement of winners of elections.

‘As a party, we are satisfied with the removal of Maurice Iwu because he was not with the job given to him to do.

All we want
Jonathan to do is to appoint credible people to man INEC, people who
will able to conduct credible elections for the nation,” the party said.

The party also
commiserated with the immediate family of the late former President
Umaru Musa yar’Adua and the entire nation over what they termed
“painful exit of a man of peace,”.

For wage increase

The party’s NEC
equally threw its weight behind the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and
the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) in their agitation for the
payment of minimum wage of N52, 200 for workers in the nation.

It assured that
the party would be consciously re-positioned by aggressive drive to
further expand its membership base in all states of the federation,
resolving that the Party’s Congresses in all wards, Local government
Areas and States be held and concluded in August 2010 based on the
approved guidelines issued by the National Working Committee (NWC) of
the Party.