by Admin | Oct 20, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI Even as it labors to swat aside allegations of corruption arising from the award of $25 billion contracts by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a fresh corruption scandal has erupted in the Presidency. This time, it is swirling around the State House Medical Centre, on which the whistle was blown by Mrs. Aisha Buhari, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari. Speaking last week at the opening of a two-day stakeholders meeting on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn Child, Adolescent Health and Nutrition held at the Presidential Villa, the first lady lamented the wretched situation at the State House Medical Centre, saying the facility lacks the most basic of things, including syringes, required in a hospital despite huge budgetary allocations. She lamented that she had to use the services of a private clinic owned by non-Nigerians when she was told that the X-Ray machine at the State House Medical Centre was not functioning. She lambasted the Dr. Hussain Munir, Chief Medical Director of the center, over its poor state, adding that the use of resources allocated to the facility must be probed. Documents obtained showed that the budget approved for the clinic in 2016 was N3.9 billion. However, the total amount spent on the purchase of drugs and other consumables was N25,983,620.00. This year, the documents stated, the approved budget for drugs and consumables stood at N290,455,312.00. From this sum, only N14,786,736.00 has been expended on drugs, with just N15 million spent on consumables. The facility, revealed the document, received no capital allocation for 2017. In a letter written by Dr. Munir to Mr. Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to...
by Admin | Oct 20, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Lagos zonal office, on Thursday, October 19, 2017, arraigned the duo of Eze Okoronkwo and Okechukwu Ariguzo before Justice Ridwan Mohammed Aikawa of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos on a five-count charge bordering on impersonation, forgery and obtaining money under false pretense to the tune of USD13, 275 (Thirteen Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy- five United States Dollars). The suspected fraudsters were arrested following a complaint received by the Commission from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). The duo allegedly used forged NAFDAC, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) documents to obtain the sum from one Yaser , an India national. The offense is contrary to Section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No. 14 of 2006. One of the counts reads: “ That you, Okonkwo and Okechukwu Ariguzo, between the 17th day of October 2016 and 10th day of November 2016 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, with intent to defraud, obtained the sum of USD13, 275(Thirteen Thousand, Two Hundred and Seventy Five United States Dollars) from one Mr. Yaser , an Indian national, through Ndukwe Darlington’s First Bank Dollar Account Number 2028486705 under the false pretense that the said sum represented the cost of registration of some regulated products from Indian by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) which representation you knew was false, contrary to section 1(1) (a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act No....
by Admin | Oct 20, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI Gunmen yesterday stormed an Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camp in Nkiedonwhro village, Bassa Local Government Area, Plateau State, killing 29 inmates. The victims were among the over 100 villagers taking refuge at the camp, a primary school. Eyewitnesses said the gunmen defied the curfew imposed on the area, sneaked into the camp at dawn and opened fire on the innocent victims, who were asleep. Twenty-seven died immediately; two died later in hospital. The displaced persons’ homes had been razed in the series of attacks in the locality, a situation that forced them to take refuge at the public school. President Muhammadu Buhari last night ordered security agents to stop the killings. The killings in Bassa Local Government began on September 7, about 20 persons were murdered. Several other attacks followed as the gunmen attack each village every night. Governor Simon Lalong imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the local government last weekend. The victims felt secured to stay at the primary school for the fact that troops deployed in the local government to stop the killings were also camped at the school where the 29 were killed. The government and people of the state were in confusion over how people displaced from their homes and left in the custody of armed security agencies could be killed so easily. A federal lawmaker from Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency, Hon. Suleiman Kwande, called on the Federal Government to investigate the killings. Kwande, who issued a statement, said the killings should be singled out for investigation, considering the way it happened. “I call on the Federal Government to set up a committee...
by Admin | Oct 13, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI Activist and National Youth Coordinator of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Austin Usman Okai, has accused the government of Kogi State, abetted by the Police, of planning to kill him. Okai made the allegation in a statement issued on Thursday. According to him, vehicles in the state capital, Lokoja, were painstakingly searched anticipation of his presence at the Federal High Court, Lokoja, where he was to attend proceedings in a case. The PDP National Youth Coordinator called on President Muhammadu Buhari and relevant authorities to call the state governor, Mr. Yahaya Bello, and his agents to order. “I want to use this medium to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to, as a matter of urgency, caution Governor Bello of Kogi State because he is using every instrument available to him to intimidate and threaten my life,” he alleged. A few days ago, the politician further claimed, persons disguised as police officers arrived his residence and made out as though they wanted to arrest him. Okai said he fled into the bush, where he spent the night. “From all indications, they were errand boys from Kogi State because I overheard them saying in pidgin that ‘White Lion’ say make we kill am if we no fit kidnap am.’ White Lion is a nickname of Yahaya Bello. They threatened to shoot me if I refuse to open the door and I asked what my crime was? One of them replied me saying, “today is your last day on earth,” he said. Scared, he said made his way through the ceiling and later escaped to the nearby bush. “The attempts...
by Admin | Oct 13, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday clarified that what he approved for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation when President Muhammadu Buhari was away on medical vacation were financing loans and not contracts. According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, the Vice-President made the clarification while answering reporters’ questions after the groundbreaking ceremony of the multi-billion naira Bonny-Bodo Road project, in Bonny, Rivers State. Akande quoted Osinbajo as explaining that the approvals he granted to the NNPC while he was Acting President were for financing arrangements for the Joint Ventures between the corporation and the IOCs, and not approvals for contracts. “These were financing loans. Of course, you know what the Joint Ventures are, with the lOCs, like Chevron, that had to procure. In some cases, NNPC and their Joint Venture partners have to secure loans and they need authorisation to secure those loans while the President was away. “The law actually provides for those authorisations. So, I did grant two of them and those were presidential approvals, but they are specifically for financing joint ventures and they are loans not contracts,” Akande quoted the Vice-President as saying. Osinbajo’s spokesman recalled that he had earlier in the day gave a similar explanation on his Twitter handle, @akandeoj. Akande had tweeted, “In response to media inquiries on the NNPC Joint Venture financing arrangements, VP Osinbajo, as Acting President, approved the recommendations after due diligence and adherence to established procedures. “This was, of course, necessary to deal with huge backlog of unpaid cash calls which the Buhari administration inherited, and to incentivise...
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