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Hundreds of thousands of people pool resources for Buhari’s nomination form–Amaechi

Form

Abuja, Sept.11, 2018(NAN)

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said on Tuesday that the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms presented to President Muhammadu Buhari were purchased by a large number of people who made contributions.

Amaechi, who is also the Director-General, Buhari Campaign Organisation, made this clarification while briefing State House correspondents shortly after the forms were presented to Buhari at the presidential villa.

A group known as Nigeria Consolidation Ambassador Network (NCAN) presented Expression of Interest and Nomination forms to Buhari for the 2019 presidential election.

The group said it purchased the forms to encourage the president to seek re-election and continue his developmental strides.

Amaechi said that the gesture showed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was ready for the 2019 election.

“This is a group of persons; some people paid less than N1 million; some paid N50,000; it is a group of hundreds of thousands of people that came together to buy form for the president.

“I do not see any law we have broken by that.

“Not one person bought the form for Mr President; not one person brought the money; not two persons; not three; what we saw from their database is hundreds of thousands of persons that raised the money.

“You can see the huge delegation that came; it is an indication that we are prepared for the election.

“The president has put the first step forward to show that he wants to run for the second time for the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,’’ he said.

On his part, APC’s National Secretary, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni, said that even in advanced democracies, once the National Executive Committee (NEC) of a party passed a vote of confidence on the president, nobody would contest with him.

According to Buni, NEC is the highest organ of the party to take decisions where every interest is represented.

“So, NEC of APC has passed vote of confidence on Mr President; that means every APC member endorsed Mr President.

“it is a democracy, we are not saying nobody should come out and contest but the president has right of first refusal,’’ he said.

More so, Farouk Aliyu, Chairman, Board of Trustees (NCAN), told State House correspondents in an interview that the forms were purchased with contributions from across the country.

He said the NCAN was excited that Buhari accepted the forms, adding that the group would go back to their localities and work towards the re-election of Buhari in the 2019 presidential polls.

“What motivated the young Nigerians to buy the forms is their belief that whatever the president is doing is for the future of the younger ones,’’ he said

APC had earlier pegged its presidential nomination fee to N55 million but later reduced it to N45 million.

(NAN).

CJ//

PenCom recovers N14.76b outstanding contributions, penalties

Contribution

By Olawunmi Ashafa

Sept. 11, 2018 (NAN) The acting Director General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs Aisha Dahiru-Umar, says its appointed recovery agent recovered N14.76 billion outstanding pension contributions and penalties.

Dahiru-Umar disclosed this at a one-day interactive session with the Organised Private Sector (OPS) on “Challenges and Future Outlook of the Pension Reform Act (PRA 2014)” in Lagos on Tuesday.

Dahiru-Umar, represented by the Head, Compliance, PenCom, Mr Aliu Bwala, said the figure comprised N7.53 billion principal contributions and N7.23 billion as penalties respectively.

The acting DG also said the entire amounts were credited into the workers’ Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs).

According to her, the penalty is meant to compensate the workers for the income that would have been earned, if the principal contributions were remitted as and when due.

“The recovery exercise which has been largely successful has boosted the confidence of contributors and encouraged employers to embrace the CPS.

“We would like to again thank NECA and its members for their cooperation in the course of the recovery exercise.

The director general said the pension industry had transited from a deficit of over N2 trillion in 2004 to accumulated pension fund asset worth over N8.23 trillion, with registered membership of 8.14 million as at July 2018.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the commission was saddled with the responsibility of supervising the transfer of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) contributions of employees into their respective RSAs under the CPS.

The DG said only 136,377 NSITF members had applied for their contributions to be transferred into their RSAs to date.

“That number is a far cry from the over 1.2 million workers that transited from the NSITF Scheme to the CPS.

“To address the challenge of contributor apathy, the commission had severally featured advertorials in National Dailies requesting NSITF contributors to apply for the transfer of their contributions into their RSAs.

“I implore all employers to encourage their employees who have contributed to the NSITF Scheme to liaise with the PFAs and, in particular Trustfund Pensions, for guidance on how to have their contributions transferred to their RSAs.

“Members who contributed to the NSITF Scheme can also visit the commission’s website for the guidelines on the transfer of NSITF contributions,” she added. (NAN)

AWA/SA

Edited by Salif Atojoko

================

JAMB

By Angela Atabo

Abuja, Sept.11, 2018 (NAN) An All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) stalwart, Dr Chinedu Ekwalo, has called for scraping of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), saying it was more of money-making than placement of students.

Ekwalo made the call in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday when he visited the party’s headquarters in Abuja to pick Expression of Interest and Nomination forms.

According to him, JAMB has become more of a revenue generating organisation than an academic channel for children to tertiary institutions.

“I want JAMB to be scrapped and the reason is because Nigerian universities put together, has a carrying capacity of 600, 000 people and every year we have no fewer than two million persons who sit for JAMB.

“Even if universities should absorb more than their capacities, there are always many who remained without admission, and this happens annually.

“JAMB, for me is just a waste of time, because when it was established in the ‘70s, its primary responsibility was to serve as a vehicle that will move our children from secondary to tertiary institutions.

“Today, the only thing the examination body does is remitting several billions of naira to the government, which ask it to start generating revenue for this nation,’’ he said

Ekwalo, who is aspirant for Anambra North Senatorial seat in the National Assembly in 2019, also called for review of educational laws of the country to accommodate the peculiarities of the society and make the system better.

He said that innovations introduced by JAMB had not in any way improved the standard of education in the country.

He also said the huge fees the university admissions body usually demanded from applicants had devastating effect on poor Nigerians who wanted to go school but lacked the means.

“We have to make Nigeria home for our people and one of the ways we can do that is to look into the education system; there is need to overhaul the system.

“This will pave way for a lot of innovations and youths will have the capacity to express their creativity and make the nation better since they are the majority. (NAN)

ATAB/AZA/OPI
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By Edeki Igafe
Militants
Warri (Delta), Sept. 11, 2018 (NAN) AVM Napoleon Bali, the Air Officer, Commanding Mobility Command of the Nigerian Air Force, Yenagoa, has warned militants to desist from sabotaging the nation’s economic assets in the Niger Delta.
Bali gave the warning on Tuesday during his maiden visit to the 371 Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Detachment in Warri, a unit under his Command.
The air chief said that the suspected criminals, who indulged in attacking Federal Government’s facilities in the region, should henceforth be ready for the consequences of their actions.
He said that the idea of creating the command was to add values to the security arrangement in the oil-rich region.
Bali said that the Mobility Command had units in Uyo, Calabar, Warri and some other parts of the country with the purpose of providing adequate security for the law abiding citizens.
“Militants should hold their fire, but where they dare, they should be ready for whatever comes their ways.
“The idea of the Mobility Command is to add values to whatever security arrangement done in the Niger Delta.
“This is to ensure that the law abiding citizens go about their legitimate businesses without harassment.
“We also collaborate with other security agencies to ensure that the Niger Delta is free of criminals and economic saboteurs,” he said.
Bali, who inspected some projects under the Warri Unit, inaugurated the Medical Centre in Jeddo Community and Officers Mess.
He said that the idea of the visit was to get on the spot assessment of what was happening in the 371NAF Detachment.
“The Chief of Air Staff, AVM Sadiq Abubakar, provided funds to build facilities for the comfort of the officers and men after the hard day work.
“The Commander of the 371, NAF Detachment, Commodore Yakubu Daniel, used the fund judiciously.
“The mess were renovated and furnished, courtesy of Chief of Air Staff,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Daniel, flanked by some officers of the detachment, led the visitors to inspect the facilities. (NAN)
EDI/GOK
Edited by Olagoke Olatoye
 
 
 

NSE: Trading maintains bearish trend

Shares

By Lilian Okoro

Lagos,Sept. 11, 2018 (NAN) The bears continued to dominate trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with the All-Share Index declining further by 112.69 points.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the index shed 112.69 points or 0.34 per cent on Tuesday to close lower at 33,499.00 against 33,611.69 on Monday.

Also, the market capitalisation shed N59 billion or 0.48 per cent to close at N12.211 trillion in contrast with N12.270 trillion achieved on Monday.

An analysis of the price movement chart shows that 30 stocks recorded price depreciation, while 14 stocks appreciated.

Nigerian Breweries led the losers’ table with a loss of N4.5 to close at N88 per share.

GTBank trailed with a loss of N2 to close at N32.5, while Dangote Sugar decreased by N1.6 to close at N14.4 per share.

Forte Oil was down by 95k to close at N18.1, while UACN dipped by 8k to close at N210.2 per share.

On the other hand, Nestle recorded the highest gain, leading the gainers’ table with N130 to close at N1, 485 per share.

DangoteFlour followed with a gain of 55k to close at N8.4, while Access Bank appreciated by 1k to close at N9 per share.

Learn Afrca added 9k to close at N1.1 while Neimeth increased by 6k to close at 72k per share.

GTBank emerged the most active stock, trading 17.47 million shares worth N562.78 million.

United Bank for Africa followed with an account of 15.63 million shares valued at N117.42 million, while Diamond Bank traded 13.83 million shares worth N18.61 million.

Access Bank exchanged 1.88 million shares valued at N103.26 million, while Zenith international Bank sold 11.68 million shares worth N236.05 million.

In all, investors bought and sold 150.67 million shares valued at 1.59 billion in 3,678 deals, representing an increase of 9.48 per cent.

This was in contrast with a total of 137.625 million shares worth N1.36 billion achieved in 3,104 deals on Monday.

The market has maintained the downward trend for two consecutive weeks.

Mr Fakrogha Charles, Chief Relationship Officer, Foresight Securities & Investment Ltd., attributed the downward trend to the economic and political uncertainty in the country.

Charles, also a market operator, said the downward trend would persist until after the primaries of the political parties. (NAN)

LUC/SA

Edited by Salif Atojoko

=================

Gridlock
By Yunus Yusuf
Lagos, Sept. 11, 2018 (NAN) The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) on Tuesday urged  Federal and Lagos State Governments to check the excesses of security personnel controlling trucks loading at the Apapa Port.
Mr Tayo Aboyeji, the NUPENG’s Chairman Lagos Zonal Council, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Aboyeji also appealed to the Lagos State Government to urgently disband the task force and allow the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) personnel and the police to do their jobs.
He alleged that the security personnel attached to the task force controlling trucks loading at the Apapa were in the habit of extorting and brutalising the tanker drivers.
The NUPENG’s chairman also said that activities of the security personnel posed serious threats to the truck drivers, adding that this had impeded loading of oil and free flow of traffic.
According to him, activities of the security personnel are the major challenges facing tanker drivers.
“We want activities of the security personnel to be checked; they are not trained to be controlling traffic. Their activities are affecting our operations.
“Two members of our union (NUPENG) were hospitalised on Monday. We don’t want more people to die due to their extortions and illegal operations. We want them to be withdrawn from the roads.
“In fact, the gridlock in Apapa area was caused by the excesses of the security personnel who will not allow our members to pass without paying them.
“Those that were unable to meet their demands faced stringent punishment and harassment,’’ Aboyeji alleged.
He, however, appealed to the Lagos State Government to urgently disband the task force and allow the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) personnel and the police to do their jobs.
Aboyeji urged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to decentralise port operations to other locations to decongest Apapa Ports and end gridlocks in the area.
He appealed to the management of NPA to develop other ports like Calabar, Warri, Port Harcourt and others, to reduce business concentration at Apapa port.
According to him, the management of NPA should extend ports infrastructure to accommodate incoming trucks, saying that they were blocking other road users.
“They can also create another port in Epe and Badagry to decongest the one in Apapa.
“The problem of NPA is over-concentration of activities in Lagos due to the concession of some parts of the port to private owners.
“NPA should also look for parking place for the containers outside Apapa to ease traffic, just as we did to trucks loading petroleum,’’ he said. (NAN)
YO/AOM/GOK
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Edited by Abdullahi Mohammed/Olagoke Olatoye
 
 

Election

By Cecilia Ijuo

Abuja, Sept. 11, 2018 (NAN) Presidential Aide, Sen. Ita Enang, says National Assembly Joint Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has no final say on source of funds for  2019 general elections.

Enang, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), made this known when at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.

The National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC had on Aug. 30, recommended that INEC’s N143 billion for the elections should be funded from Service Wide Votes under the Special Intervention Programme (Recurrent).

Chairman of the committee, Sen. Suleiman Nazif, had said that the recommendation was to ease the consideration and avoid increasing the size of the 2018 Expenditure Framework.

But, Enang said that the lawmakers’ recommendation could not be final as the whole process would have to be approved by all the lawmakers at plenary.

“The call is inquorate because it can only be complete if it is presented to the plenary.

“When the committee was considering it, I asked if there is the budget of the Office of the National Security Adviser, DSS, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service and others.

“Is your committee going to consider these budgets? they said no, that those other ones will be considered by other committees.

“If they are not considering the budget of other agencies, the question of where to source the money has not even arisen.

“Until each of the other committees considers the budget of these other agencies and recommend it to the House and the house sits to consider it, only then will the question or otherwise arise,” he said.

The presidential aide noted that the National Assembly acted in error to have asked the joint committee to sit when the source of funding for the general budget for the election had not been determined.

“The question of sourcing of funds. What should have been done first is to source for money before it can be appropriated by the committee.

“It should have been the Appropriation Committee and Finance Committee sitting and either amend this or decide if we will take money from somewhere else.

“The president has stated that he does not want to increase the size of the budget because the budget already is a deficit budget and a great part of it is going to be funded from borrowing.

“He is saying, look at the money within the budget you have done thus far and I am suggesting that you take it from this head.

“You are not bound to take it only from that head. You can take from that head and from any other thing which you may have forgotten but does not reduce the project of the executive.

“So, until all these are done and the source of the money gotten, nothing has approved,” he said.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC had adjusted its budget for 2019 elections from N189 billion to N143 billion in line with recommendation of the National Assembly committee.

The committee had on Aug. 27 recommended N143 billion for approval for the commission’s preparation ahead of the general elections.

This was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s request on July 11 when he sought the legislators’ approval of N242 billion for the elections.

Specifically, he said that N164.10 billion of the funds was urgently needed to enable INEC to commence preparations for the elections, while the balance of N78.34 billon would be provided for in 2019 Budget.

The President had in his letter of request explained that the urgently needed N164 billion would be allocated as follows: INEC, N143.51 billion; Office of National Security Adviser, N3.86 billion and Department of State Services (DSS), N2.90 billion.

Others are Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, N1.85 billion; Nigeria Police Force, N11.46 billion and Nigeria Immigration Service, N530.1million.

The president recommended that the money be vired from the 2018 Budget, especially from the N587 billion, which he said was inserted by the lawmakers into the budget, raising it from N8.6 trillion to 9.12 trillion. (NAN)

CJM/OPI

Declare emergency in health sector, don urges FG

By Moji Eniola

Ikeja, Sept. 11, 2018 (NAN) A university lecturer, Prof. Oladejo Olowu, has told the Federal Government to declare an emergency in the health sector, to tackle various diseases ravaging Nigerians, including cancer.

Olowu, who is the Dean of the School of Law at the American University of Nigeria in Yola made the appeal at a seminar in Lagos on Tuesday.

Citing specific problems, he lamented that some Federal Government funded hospitals in Lagos had insufficient machines to treat cancer, in spite of the apparent increase in the number of Nigerians down with the disease.

He named key hospitals lacking vital machines for treating cancer as the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), National Orthopedic Hospital Igbobi, Lagos (NOHIL) and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) at Ebute-Meta, Lagos.

The don spoke at a public hearing on “Building the Capacity of Citizens on the Use of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in Promoting Transparency and Accountability in the Health, Education and Water Sectors.’’

The hearing was organised by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and supported by a group, known as Omidyar Network.

Olowu’s paper was entitled: “Failing Healthcare: How the Federal Hospitals are Letting down the Poor and Making Healthcare a Privilege rather than a Right”.

Drawing from a study released earlier this year, the lecturer said that the study discovered that “LUTH, NOHIL and FMC do not have enough cancer treatment machines and other key facilities.

“The few in Federal Government-owned hospitals throughout the country are not working optimally, due to erratic electricity even as the hospitals do not have back-up plans.

“Investigations revealed that a LINAC costs about five million dollars and the six that the Federal Government procured for six teaching hospitals have packed up.

“The dialysis machine at LUTH is out-dated and its functionality at the time of study was zilch.”

The professor said that a number of federal hospitals in the country also faced a number of challenges and cannot cater to the rapidly growing population.

“Empirical records of the federal government funded hospitals revealed that these hospitals were constructed at a time the total population of Nigeria was less than 80 million.

“By current estimates and projections, Nigeria has more than doubled in population with all possibility of reaching 240 million by 2025 according to the World Bank.

“Yet, there has not been any commensurate growth in the number of hospitals neither has there been an expansion to cater for the rapid population growth.”

Olowu noted that scientific studies reveal that each university teaching hospital in the country serves 8.3 million patients, each FMC serves 8.8million patients and each specialty centre serves 13.5 million patients.

“Apart from insufficient budgetary allocation, the acute shortage of medical resources and infrastructural decay, it was glaring that corruption, malingering, favouritism and other sharp practices were rampant among hospital workers.

“There was shortage of skilled personnel and morale was low among health workers.

“During the study, there were a number of strike actions by health workers under various labour unions, due to agitations against discrepancies and irregularities in the remuneration of medical and other health workers.”

He recommended that there should be non-discrimination of individuals seeking medical care and transparency in availability of healthcare information to the public.

Dr Olajumoke Akinyode, the Executive Director of the Centre for Ethics and Sustainable Development, charged Nigerians with demanding accountability from stakeholders in the health sector.

“Every one of us is supposed to be involved in governance and part of it is to ask questions.

“When you have the right information at your disposal, it guides you to make informed decisions. We have a culture of mediocrity and do not demand excellence,” she said.

Earlier, Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, the Executive Director of SERAP, in his address, said the public hearing was organised in line with SERAP’s mandate of accountability and transparency.

Mumuni noted that the hearing was a follow up to the presentation on the FOI Act given by Prof. Ayodele Atsenuwa, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos on July 25.

“The most important office in Nigeria is the office of the citizen of Nigeria, if we take that to heart, we would know that citizens myself make continual demands from people we elected into office.

“Water, education and health are essential services, rather than these sectors delivering good services to us, we have seen the opposite. Once services in these sectors are not offered, Nigeria will continue to suffer.

“The FOI represents serious legislations and as far as SERAP is concerned, we have not explored the possibilities provided by the FOI,” he said. (NAN)

MAE/SN
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Edited by Silas Nwoha

Instruments

Abuja, Sept. 11, 2018(NAN)The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is to  partner with the UN and African Union (AU) to facilitate the implementation of all human rights instruments that Nigeria is party to.

Mr Tony Ojukwu, Executive Secretary of the commission, made this known in his address at a Two-day Training Workshop for MDAs on the Implementation of UN Agenda 2030 (SDGs) and AU Agenda 2063 respectively in Abuja.

“In line with its mandate, the commission has organised this training workshop in order to ensure that stakeholders are abreast with development of both agendas.

“It is my sincere hope that with collective participation, cooperation and collaboration, the set objectives for this programmed would be achieved.

“The SDGs Agenda 2030 and Africa Union Agenda 2063 are Human Rights Instruments with commitments from various nations.

“The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), as a National Human Rights Institution has the mandate to promote and facilitate the implementation of all human rights instruments that Nigeria is party to.

“Various national institutions of government have mandate and functions that fall within the implementation of the goals and targets of the SDGs and Agenda 2063. That is why you are all here today’’, Ojukwu said.

He said the overall aim of the SDGs and Agenda 2063 was to provide guidance and contribute effectively to transformative changes in support of rights issues.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the AU Agenda 2063 is a strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent over the next 50 years.

It seeks to accelerate the implementation of pasts existing continental initiatives for growth and sustainable development.

Some of the aspirations of the agenda are aimed at promoting flourishing culture of human rights, democracy, gender equality, inclusiveness and peace among others.

The National Coordinator of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, Mrs Gloria Akobundu, expressed delight in the approach the Nigerian Government had taken to address the goals set by the AU Agenda 2063.

She said AU was interested in using the set goals to eradicate poverty from the continent, adding that the agenda was also aimed at accelerating the empowerment of women and the youths. (NAN)

OMO/SH

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edited by Sadiya Hamza

Teenagers
By Moronke Boboye
Ikeja, Sept.11, 2018 (NAN) Three teenage sales boys were on Tuesday charged before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, for alleged theft of a cell phone valued at N18, 000.

The accused, Dada Tejumola, 18; Ganiyu Lateef, 18 and Matthew Oyetayo, who all reside at Ekoro, Abule Egba in Lagos, are facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, assault and stealing.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Raji Akeem, the accused committed the offences on Aug. 21 at Amikanle Road, Alagbado, a suburb of Lagos.

Akeem said the accused accosted the complainant, Mr Adebayo Adetayo, in his tricycle with an intent to collect the tricycle.

“The complainant held on to it and they started beating him.

“In the process, they stole his mobile phone, valued at N18, 000 before the complainant raised alarm,” he said.

Akeem said that the complainant was rescued by some passersby, who apprehended the accused and took him to the police station,” he said.

The offences contravened Sections 175, 287 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In her ruling, the Chief Magistrate, Mrs Jadesola Adeyemi-Ajayi, granted each of the accused bail of N50, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

Adeyemi-Ajayi adjourned the case until Oct. 23. (NAN)

MTO/EOB/GOK
==========
Edited by Edith Bolokor/Olagoke Olatoye