Not less than 2,000 workers in different ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government have had their November 2023 salaries withheld.

It was learnt that the salaries of the affected workers were withheld over issues with their status on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

Naija News recalls the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) recently conducted a verification exercise for civil servants on the IPPIS platform.

Sources familiar with the development however told Punch on Monday that some workers were not cleared due to discrepancies in their records, hence their November 2023 salaries have been withheld.

A senior civil servant at the Federal Ministry of Defence was quoted to have said under anonymity due to Public Service Rules which forbid civil servants from speaking to the press, that the majority of workers in the ministry had not received their salaries.

Another senior civil servant in a top federal government agency explained that a certain percentage of civil servants had their salaries withheld.

“About 2,000 civil servants are actually involved and it’s due to failed verification on the IPPIS,” he said,

Speaking on the development, the spokesperson for the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa, told the platform that, “Salaries started dropping on Thursday last week. It’s not all civil servants. When I get the position of the director of IPPIS, I will get across to you.”

Similarly, the National President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants, Tommy Etim, said that the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation had already started working on the issues.

He noted that salaries for November have been concluded therefore, those affected will not be able to get their salary for the month of November but once cleared, they would get their December salaries and November arrears.

The Labour leader also appealed to the government to ensure December salaries are not delayed.

“As of today, only those who had earlier completed their verification exercise but were mistakenly delisted have had their salaries restored while 5,000 civil servants still have discrepancies on their date of first appointment and dates of birth.

“A total of 2,772 have been verified and forwarded to IPPIS for payment because there were no issues. The names of 5,000 workers who have discrepancies are to be forwarded to their DHR for confirmation.

“There are six teams working tirelessly to ensure that the exercise is completed on time. It is advisable for public servants to develop the habit of checking the HOS website for regular updates. We have confirmed that the salary for the month of November 2023 is concluded, therefore, those affected will not be able to get their salary for the month of November.

“However, effort is being made by the HOSF to ensure that those cleared will get their salaries for December 2023, including the arrears from September.

“We appeal to the Federal Government, through the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, to expedite action to ensure that the salary of December is not delayed,” Etim said.

[Naijanews]

Fintech company, Opay, has been down for over an hour as Nigerians cannot send money through its app on Monday evening.

This is even as Nigerians have gone to various social media platforms to express their fears.

A social media user, @8jagistplug tweeted: “I no understand weytin Opay Dey do this night make I just sleep wake up first. Abeg make nothing happen to my 1.5 Billion”

Another user, @iamvinicius_snr, said: “If opay crashes the amount of small businesses that would crash with it would be crazy.”

Also, @cajal_ebuara: “Please oh I made a transfer of 80k from my Opay and I haven’t gotten the money in my other account and the most scary thing is that it’s not showing in my transactions!”

Meanwhile, Opay, via its app had explained that it was undergoing maintenance, adding that all services will be restored soon.

The statement reads: “Dear user. The system is currently under maintenance and all services will be restored soon. Please bear with us.”

[Leadership]

More than five years after the Anti-Torture Act was enacted, security operatives have continued to subject suspects to varying shades of savagery in the name of interrogation. Even with Section 8 of the Act providing for vicarious liability for torture, both senior and junior officers dehumanise their “victims” without a care in the world. NGOZI EGENUKA reports that several factors including lack of political will, ignorance, conspiracy of silence, capacity gap, etc., were behind the gross lack of implementation of the Act.

Yambali Umaru, a carpenter, was in detention for seven years after his friend alleged that he was a member of Boko Haram insurgents, in 2011.

The “friend” who framed Umaru up was arrested when he attempted to return a stolen motorcycle from a village, which had been raided by the insurgents.

Following his detention, Umaru, alongside others, who were unable to write a statement for three months, was taken to an underground cell in the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCIID) Area 10, Abuja, where they were stripped to their panties, and allowed to feasted on by bedbugs, which resulted in skin infections.

“They asked us to claim that we are Boko Haram members or risk death. They hung me on the rafters, used live electric cables to shock my penis, whipped me with everything in sight including an iron rod, cane, and whip lashes, as well as used pliers to remove my toenail. From the barbaric experience that we were subjected to, about five people among us died.

“From there, we were transferred to Wuse Zone Three, where we were further tortured and starved routinely. They, thereafter, moved us to Sankangi Road, Niger State, where they kept more than 3,000 people in a hall. We were masked and handcuffed, while the policemen kept collecting money from our family members on the pretext that they would soon release us,” he narrated.

He explained that after three years, a police officer advised their parents to engage the services of a lawyer. It was the lawyer who was engaged that petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP). “The IGP then ordered the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) to take us to court.”

The victim said that he and others went through a harrowing experience, of deprivation while the matter lingered in court before they were eventually discharged and acquitted for lack of evidence on March 30, 2018.

Also, Patrick Okachi, a hotel Janitor at the Statement Hotel, on November 3, 2022, was brutalised by officials of the Department of State Services (DSS), over an alleged foreign currency and jewelry theft leveled against him by his employer.

According to him, the hotel’s representative called in the DSS operatives, who on arrival, started beating him with an electric cable, while threatening him with a handgun and knife. He was thereafter stripped, blindfolded, and taken away to a Portakabin, where the operatives, in collaboration with a vigilante group, continued beating him with pieces of wood, and belts, and also smashing bottles on his head, just as he was teargased.

After spending the night inside the container, was taken to a police container at Katamkpe, on the outskirts of Abuja. Upon hearing of his ordeal, the police officers asked the DSS officials to take him to the station.

Okachi said that immediately after the policemen left, the DSS boss sent for him, but on seeing his near-death condition – bleeding eyes, nose, and genitals- he immediately sent him back to the security post (Portakabin) to avoid dying at the DSS’ Office.

The company’s representative, Okachi stated, then invited the police to take full custody of him. But the DPO, who was equally alarmed by his condition, refused to detain him but ordered that he be taken to the Police Hospital, Garki for treatment, where he was freed upon recovery.

Like Okachi, Victor Oduka, a victim of state torture now has to live with an ear defect, after being slapped and beaten multiple times when he was detained for three days in Ogun State, after he was accused of having soft copies of some company documents, in August 2022, by his boss, an Indian.

Oduka explained that being an administrator sometimes required the exchange of documents on the phone.

He said while in detention, his phone was forcefully seized, and when they didn’t find any soft copy of the alleged documents, the mobile phone was returned to him and he was released from detention. But the case is currently ongoing.

Since 1975, Nigeria has been a signatory to the “United Nations Treaty Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” which prohibits torturing suspects to extract information, or to subdue them.

Section 34 of the Nigerian Constitution provides that every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and accordingly (a) No person shall be subject to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.

Determined to check the continuous use of torture by state agencies in the course of doing their jobs, on December 29, 2017, the Eight National Assembly passed the Anti-Torture Bill, and former President Muhammadu Buhari signed it into law.

The Anti-Torture Act was established to put an end to torture and other forms of inhuman treatment.

The Act fills the existing legislative gaps by explicitly making the right to freedom from torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment a non-derogable right, criminalising torture, and protecting victims and witnesses of torture.

Section 1 of the Act titled “Duty of Government” imposes an obligation on the government to ensure that all persons, including suspects, detainees, and prisoners are respected at all times, and that no person under investigation, or held in custody is subjected to any form of physical/mental torture.”

It admonishes the government to adhere to domestic and international standards on absolute condemnation and prohibition of torture.

More than five years later, this Act is observed more in breach, as the majority of law enforcement officers, whose duty it is to interrogate suspects brazenly abuse the law with the continuous use of force and torture against suspects.

In September 2023, the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba, said that the Nigerian government has taken strategic measures aimed at unequivocally routing out torture in the country.

Jedy-Agba who is also the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice said that the nation would review anti-torture legislation and institutionalise anti-torture measures in law enforcement and detention facilities.

Speaking on the blatant failure of implementation of the anti-torture law, a legal practitioner and the Executive Director, of Sterling Law Centre, Deji Ajare, said that a combination of factors including a lack of political will, corruption within the force, the prevailing culture of violence and impunity in were to blame.

According to him, despite the promising provisions outlined in the legislation, there has been a distinct lack of urgency and commitment from political leaders to actively enforce and promote its implementation. This, he said, may be due to a lack of understanding regarding the gravity of torture as a human rights violation, or a failure to prioritise this issue amid other pressing concerns.

His words: “Corruption, which unfortunately pervades many aspects of the Nigerian society, also undermines the successful implementation of the Anti-Torture Act. This legislation requires effective enforcement mechanisms and institutions, as well as, the allocation of resources, staff, and training within the internal and external accountability mechanisms to prevent and address torture within law enforcement agencies.

“However, corruption within these institutions hampers efforts to build effective systems, as it perpetuates a cycle of incompetence, dishonesty, and lack of accountability.”

Ajare explained also that Nigeria faces a general culture of violence and impunity that further obstructs the implementation of the Act. He said that violence has long been ingrained within society, exacerbated by factors such as economic inequalities, ethnic tensions, and social unrest.

Sometimes, citizens, he pointed out, mobilize law enforcement agencies to arrest and brutalise other citizens for civil matters that ought to be resolved through the usual methods of conflict resolution.

“Similarly, you see citizens sometimes cheer law enforcement agencies on when they perpetuate violence as was the case in North-East in the counter-insurgency quest and currently in the South-East under the guise of an anti-secessionist offensive,” he stressed.

He stated that to ensure implementation of the Act, efforts must be directed towards fostering political will, promoting transparency and accountability within institutions responsible for enforcing the act and changing societal attitudes towards violence and impunity.

The Deputy Director of Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), Mrs. Ogechi Ogu, a lawyer, said that Section 10 of the Anti-Torture Act, mandates the Attorney General of the Federation and other law enforcement and investigative agencies to ensure that mechanisms for the implementation of the Act are put in place.

“Though there are recorded efforts made concerning the implementation of the law, these efforts have not made much impact because the element of investigation, prosecution, and punishment of offenders are yet to be seen by the general public,” she said.

Explaining, she said Section 8 of the Act provides for vicarious liability for torture, which means that the person who participates in the perpetration of torture, a person present during the commission of the act, and the superior officer of the perpetrator who issues an order to lower ranking personnel to torture a victim are all liable as principal perpetrators.

“Consequently, there is in existence what can be called a conspiracy of silence, which then makes the report of cases of torture, or proper investigation of such sabotaged to save the many officers that would be affected by the outcome of such investigations,” she said.

Ogu, however, said that from experience gathered through training of officers, especially the police, most of them are unaware of the Act and its implications.

“Also, Rules and Regulations for the effective implementation of the Act as provided for in Section 12 are yet to be made by the Attorney General of the Federation, though this is in progress.

“Section 11 of the Act, which provides that the AGF and other concerned parties shall ensure education and information for law enforcement personnel, civil or military, medical personnel, public officials and other persons who may be involved in the custody, interrogation or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment, is yet to be implemented.

“Very little has been done in the area of capacity building, awareness creation, and sensitisation by the government. The most that is done currently is by NGOs,” Ogu said.

She added that the issue of the capacity gap, and unavailability of modern equipment and technology for investigation, makes officers resort to torture as a matter of practice and available means of eliciting evidence from suspects need to be addressed.

For the former National Coordinator of Network of Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN Foundation), Emmanuel Ikule, the implementation of the Act is possible because it was enacted to ensure things are done rightly.

He said that torturing suspects to get confessional statements promotes laziness among officers. He noted that there is a need to ensure accountability of the powers given to security agencies and demand transparency in their investigations.

According to him, implementation can thrive if the law enforcement agents are ready for it by adhering to all the processes of investigation.

Ikule added that having a functional national committee on torture, which is the oversight agency on the law that ensures its implementation would aid execution.

He also said that the police should develop its capacity to use forensic equipment to get perpetrators of crime make use of camcorders and CCTV for documentation and collaborate with other organisations to enhance their jobs.

He emphasised, however, that all these laws work better when there is a political will to push for implementation.

In his reaction, the National Coordinator of Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), Chino Obiagwu (SAN), said the Act is not implemented because agencies responsible for enforcement are the main culprits.

He added that a major factor fueling the continuous violation of the Act is that victims are worried that if they complain and seek redress, they might be targeted for more victimisation since the same security agencies are still empowered to handle such complaints.

“The Anti Torture Act prescribed punishment of up to 14 years for acts of torture, but no one has been effectively prosecuted despite the widespread reports of torture.

“Without the victim’s complaints, it is not possible to identify perpetrators and enforce the law,” he pointed out.

[Guardian]

Nigeria’s 2024 budget of N27.5 trillion has continued to generate mixed reactions in the public space.

There is a blend of pessimism and optimism on whether the budget would impact the lives of ordinary people, especially the proposed N1.33 trillion on infrastructure.

The concerns were heightened as Nigeria’s Budget in recent years had hardly witnessed optimal performance.

The 5 per cent infrastructure allocation, which is N1.33 trillion despite the country’s huge infrastructure deficit, has further compounded the fears among Nigerians.

Infrastructure, including provisions for works and housing, power, transport, water resources and aviation, are major drivers of the country’s economy; some experts believed the N1.33 trillion would not address the country’s annual infrastructural gap.

Meanwhile, a single annual budget cannot address the nation’s infrastructural challenges, another expert told DAILY POST.

Christened Budget of Renewed Hope, a perusal of the Budget showed that Security and Defence took the highest allocation with N3.25 trillion, representing 12 per cent, going in the same trend as former President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

With a budget allocation of N2.18 trillion, education trailed behind security and defence.

An additional analysis of the 2024 budget indicated that the total figure is 10.8 per cent higher than N24.82 trillion in 2023.

Accordingly, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu, said the budget targets an estimated revenue of N18.32 trillion, with a deficit of N9.18 trillion.

Also, in the proposed budget, N8.490 trillion, representing 30 per cent, is for debt servicing, N9.918 trillion is for recurrent non-debt expenditure, and N7.717 trillion is for contribution to the Development Fund for capital expenditure.

Other highlights include a Crude Oil Benchmark of 77.96 USD per barrel benchmark, a daily oil production of 1.78 million bpd and a foreign exchange rate (Naira-USD) of N750.

This has become most important as the survival of the country’s economy heavily relies on infrastructural development. The sector has been strained by fuel subsidy removal since June 2023, resulting in a ripple effect in the high cost of transportation, food, and other essential services.

Speaking with DAILY POST on Monday, the CEO of SD & D Capital Management, Mr Idakolo Gbolade, expressed pessimism about the proposed budget achieving its set goal, especially concerning its impact on ordinary Nigerians.

He said the N1.33 trillion budgeted for infrastructure failed to reflect the savings from fuel subsidy removal in June.

According to him, the saving of fuel subsidy in five months was allegedly squandered by the three tiers of Government instead of being used to impact ordinary Nigerians positively.

Gbolade opined that the budget estimate hinged on N750/$1, and a daily crude oil production of 1.78 bpd is unrealistic and may hamper its implementation.

“The Federal government budget titled ‘Budget of Renewed Hope’ might dampen the hope of Nigerians if not properly implemented.

“Although the figure earmarked for debt servicing in the 2024 budget is a little lower than 2023 debt servicing estimates, it is still very high and will affect infrastructural development.

“The savings from oil subsidy removal in the past five months have not been put to judicious use because ordinary Nigerians have not felt the impact.

“Instead, it has left more money for the Federal Government, the states, and the LGs to share and squander, especially the states.

“The budget for infrastructures like electricity, roads, transport and housing is grossly inadequate to meet the challenges on the ground, coupled with the haphazard manner in which budget implementation is done in the country.

“The N534 billion budgeted for social development is by far the highest budget estimate to target poverty alleviation, but for it to be effective, the investment must be made seriously on alternative energy like Compressed Natural Gas and electric vehicles to reduce the high cost of petrol, agriculture, education, e.t.c.

“Also, I strongly believe that the budget estimates hinged on 750/1$ and daily crude oil production of 1.78 Mbps is not realistic and may affect the implementation of the budget. The previous administration’s budget was implemented sometimes up to 70 or 80 per cent.

“Yet, it was not impactful due to continuous inflation and wrong monetary policies, so it is left to be seen if the 2024 budget will be a departure from the past,” he told DAILY POST.

On his part, a don at the Lead City University in Ibadan, Prof Godwin Oyedokun said historically, Nigeria’s budget performed below expectations.

He said the 2024 budget should be business unusual as Nigerians were under serious hardship.

He envisaged that the 2024 budget should take a percentage of Nigerians out of multidimensional poverty if properly implemented.

Oyedokun called for more fiscal responsibility on the part of the Government.

He told DAILY POST: “Historically, Nigeria’s budget has not performed the way it should. That doesn’t mean that we should continue the trend.

“The budgetary allocation should take Nigerians out of poverty so that we will have fewer people in the multidimensional poverty index.

“Every Budget should have a positive impact on every Nigerian. For instance, road infrastructure would impact all Nigerians positively despite the location.

“But, if ordinary Nigerians are looking for the cash in hand through the Government, a direct impact may not be seen but an indirect impact.”

However, a renowned economist, former President, and Chairman of the Council of Chartered Institute of Bankers, Prof Segun Ajibola is optimistic that the budget would impact Nigerians if all the provisions were implemented.

“The infrastructural deficit in Nigeria has been put at about $300 billion by analysts. This figure cannot be accommodated via the annual budget of the national and sub-national governments. Different funding arrangements are sine qua non as the budget is largely constrained.

“A more realistic funding template to fix the infrastructural deficit may include Public Private Partnerships, Joint Ventures, Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) among other models.

“As of today, some of these alternatives are seen in transportation (railway), roads, etc. It is, therefore, not feasible to think that an annual budget will resolve the perennial infrastructural deficit in the country.

“Most times, the budgetary figures for the various infrastructures may not be adequate to maintain what is already on the ground, plus some small new ones.

“On the social development and poverty reduction programme, the extent of its impact would be the manner of its implementation.

“The responsible agency should do all that is necessary to eliminate ‘middlemen’ in the distribution process. This would help assist the targeted beneficiaries: the downtrodden in society. And by doing so, the impact would be resounding.

“Overall, the 2024 budget is expected to improve the life of an average Nigerian. But much depends on the level of implementation of its various provisions,” he told DAILY POST.

[Dailypost]