SERAP sues Sani, Wike, others ‘over failure to account for N5.9trn, $4.6bn loans, publish agreements’
AFOLABISocio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against Nigeria’s governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Mr Nyesom Wike “over their failure to account for N5.9 trillion and $4.6 billion loans obtained by their states and the FCT, and to publish copies of the loan agreements, including details and locations of projects executed with the loans.”
The suit followed the disclosure last month by Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State that the immediate past administration of Nasir El-Rufai left $587m, N85bn debt and 115 contractual liabilities, making it impossible for the state to pay salaries.
In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/592/2024 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to “direct and compel the governors and Mr Wike to account for N5.9trn and $4.6bn loans obtained by their states and the FCT and to publish copies of the loan agreements, location of projects executed with the loans.”
SERAP is also asking the court to “direct and compel the governors and Mr Wike to invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission [ICPC] to investigate the spending of all the loans obtained to date by their states and the FCT.”
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that, “It is in the public interest to grant the reliefs sought. Nigerians have the right to see and scrutinise the loan agreements and know the details of how the domestic and external loans obtained by the governors and FCT minister are spent.”
According to SERAP, “Opacity in the spending of the loans obtained by the governors and Mr Wike would continue to have negative impacts on the fundamental interests of the citizens.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “Many states and the FCT are reportedly spending public funds which may include the loans obtained by them to fund unnecessary travels, buy exotic and bulletproof cars and generally fund the lavish lifestyles of politicians.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “Many states and the FCT are also allegedly mismanaging public funds which may include domestic and external loans obtained from bilateral and multilateral institutions and agencies.”
According to SERAP, “Many states and the FCT reportedly owe civil servants’ salaries and pensions. Several states are borrowing to pay salaries. Millions of Nigerians resident in the state and FCT continue to be denied access to basic public goods and services such as quality education and healthcare.”
According to SERAP, “Transparency in the spending of the loans obtained by the states and FCT is fundamental to increase accountability, prevent corruption, and build trust in democratic institutions with the ultimate aim of strengthening the rule of law.”
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi and Ms Valentina Adegoke, read in part: “States and the FCT should be guided by transparency and accountability principles and proactively account for the loans obtained and publish copies of the loan agreements.”
“Widely publishing copies of the loan agreements and spending details of the loans obtained would ensure that persons with public responsibilities are answerable to the people for the performance of their duties in the management of public funds.”
“State governors and Mr Wike cannot hide under the excuse that the Freedom of Information Act is not applicable to their states and the FCT. The legal obligations to publish the information sought are also imposed by the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
“According to Nigeria’s Debt Management Office, the total public domestic debt portfolio for the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory is N5.9 trillion. The total public external debt portfolio is $4.6 billion.”
“The domestic and external loans obtained by the states and the FCT are vulnerable to corruption and mismanagement. The states and FCT have a responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability in how any loans obtained by the states and FCT are spent, to reduce vulnerability to corruption and mismanagement.”
“Directing and compelling the states and FCT to publish copies of the loan agreements would allow Nigerians to scrutinise them, and promote transparency and accountability on the spending of public funds including the loans obtained.”
“Providing and widely publishing the details of the spending of the domestic and external loans obtained by the states and FCT would enable Nigerians to effectively and meaningfully engage in the management of the loans.”
“The constitutional principle of democracy also provides a foundation for Nigerians’ right to know the details of loan agreements and how the loans obtained are spent. Citizens’ right to know promotes openness, transparency, and accountability that is in turn crucial for the country’s democratic order.”
“The effective operation of representative democracy depends on the people being able to scrutinize, discuss and contribute to government decision making, including on the spending of loans obtained by the states and FCT.”
“To do this, they need information to enable them to participate more effectively in the management of public funds by their state governments and the FCT.”
“The public interest in obtaining information about expenditures relating to the loans obtained by the states and FCT outweighs any privacy or other interest.”
“The oversight afforded by public access to such details would serve as an important check on the activities of the states and FCT and help to prevent abuses of the public trust.”
“There is a significant risk of mismanagement or diversion of funds linked to loans obtained by state governments and the FCT. The accounts of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT are generally not open to public scrutiny.”
“The Nigerian Constitution, human rights and anticorruption treaties to which Nigeria is a state party also impose obligations on the states and FCT to prevent mismanagement or diversion of public funds including the loans obtained.”
“Many years of allegations of corruption and mismanagement of public funds including the loans obtained by the states and FCT have contributed to widespread poverty, underdevelopment and lack of access to public goods and services.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
British actor Bernard Hill, best known for his supporting roles in “Titanic” and “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, died on Sunday aged 79, his agent announced.
He played Captain Edward Smith in the Oscar-winning 1997 epic romance “Titanic”, and earned worldwide recognition playing Theoden, King of Rohan, in two of the three “The Lord Of The Rings” films directed by Peter Jackson.
His agent Lou Coulson confirmed his death in the early hours of Sunday to British media outlets.
Early in his career, Bernard Hill featured in the BBC’s 1982 acclaimed drama “Boys from the Blackstuff”, which won numerous awards and is still lauded as one of the finest examples of its genre from the era.
He is set to return to television screens in series two of a contemporary BBC drama, “The Responder”, starring Martin Freeman, which begins airing in the UK later on Sunday.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disassociated itself from a circulating report in the media alleging the release of a list of 58 ex-governors, under investigation for corruption, to the tune of N2.18 trillion.
In a press statement on Sunday, the EFCC clarified that it has not issued any such list nor discussed the investigation of the former governors with any media outlet.
According to the statement signed by EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, the report titled ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex-Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ was “a phantom report,” deemed “false and mischievous.”
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, feels obliged to dissociate itself from a phantom report circulating in sections of the media, claiming it has released a full list of ex-governors being investigated for alleged corruption.
“The report headlined ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex- Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ in one of the news outlets, is false and mischievous as the commission neither issued the said list nor entertained discussions on the investigation of ex-governors with any news medium.
“This invariably means that the so-called list is a disingenuous fabrication designed to achieve motives known only to the authors,” the statement read.
Oyewale urged the public to disregard the report and advised the media to verify information regarding ongoing investigations directly with the commission, to prevent the spread of false and inaccurate information.
The EFCC had said it would consider the fresh petition it recently received over the alleged N70 billion corruption case of Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.
The EFCC’s acting Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwajuren, stated this while addressing protesters under the aegis of the APC Akida Forum who were at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday to demand the reopening of the pending case.
On May 18, 2023, the EFCC, through its Director, Media and Publicity Affairs, Osita Nwajah, had said it was probing corruption activities, award of phantom contracts, and diversion of over N70bn allegedly carried out by the minister during his tenure as Zamfara State governor between 2019 and 2023.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disassociated itself from a circulating report in the media alleging the release of a list of 58 ex-governors, under investigation for corruption, to the tune of N2.18 trillion.
In a press statement on Sunday, the EFCC clarified that it has not issued any such list nor discussed the investigation of the former governors with any media outlet.
According to the statement signed by EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, the report titled ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex-Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ was “a phantom report,” deemed “false and mischievous.”
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, feels obliged to dissociate itself from a phantom report circulating in sections of the media, claiming it has released a full list of ex-governors being investigated for alleged corruption.
“The report headlined ‘EFCC Releases Full List of 58 Ex- Governors that Embezzled N2.187 Trillion,’ in one of the news outlets, is false and mischievous as the commission neither issued the said list nor entertained discussions on the investigation of ex-governors with any news medium.
“This invariably means that the so-called list is a disingenuous fabrication designed to achieve motives known only to the authors,” the statement read.
Oyewale urged the public to disregard the report and advised the media to verify information regarding ongoing investigations directly with the commission, to prevent the spread of false and inaccurate information.
The EFCC had said it would consider the fresh petition it recently received over the alleged N70 billion corruption case of Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.
The EFCC’s acting Director of Public Affairs, Wilson Uwajuren, stated this while addressing protesters under the aegis of the APC Akida Forum who were at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday to demand the reopening of the pending case.
On May 18, 2023, the EFCC, through its Director, Media and Publicity Affairs, Osita Nwajah, had said it was probing corruption activities, award of phantom contracts, and diversion of over N70bn allegedly carried out by the minister during his tenure as Zamfara State governor between 2019 and 2023.
he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed banks reduced loans to the private sector to N71.21 trillion in March.
Credit to the private sector describes monetary resources given to the private sector, such as advances and loans, purchases of non-equity securities, trade credits, and other accounts receivable, which create a claim for repayment.
According to the CBN’s money and credit data, the current figure represents a month-on-month decline of 11.93 percent or N9.65 trillion drop, compared to N80.86 trillion recorded in February.
However, on a year-on-year basis, credit to the private sector rose by 65.57 percent compared to N43.01 trillion recorded in the corresponding period in March 2023.
In January, credit to investors was N76.29 trillion.
Also, data obtained from the CBN showed credit to the government decreased to N19.59 trillion in March from N33.93 trillion in February — representing a month-on-month decline of 42 percent.
On a year-on-year basis, CBN reported that credit to the government rose by 28.8 percent against N27.52 trillion in March last year.
Credit to the government stood at N36.18 trillion in January.
The decline in credit to the private sector and government follows CBN’s monetary tightening.
CBN has raised interest rates 10 consecutive times since May 2022 — a move that has increased the cost of borrowing — to tame inflation.
Also, in line with its monetary tightening, CBN announced a downward review of the loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) from 65 percent to 50 percent on April 17.
LDR is used to assess a bank’s liquidity by comparing its total loans to its total deposits.
An increase in the loan-to-deposit ratio allows banks to expand their credits to businesses and individuals, however, a decline in LDR reduces their ability to loan customers from depositors’ funds.
The federal government has disclosed that following the report of investigation done by some committees set up by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), it will not hesitate to withdraw funds from any non-performing Centre of Excellence out of the 23 established years back.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, in Abuja while receiving two reports of TETFund’s ad hoc committees on Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence and Operationalisation of Skills Development Special Intervention.
Mamman, who noted that the report analysed is a major policy shift in education, said government will not continue to reward indolence by giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.
He said, “The government is encouraging our scholars to simply rise to the occasion and deliver on their scholarship, what world class scholars do; and we are not going to reward indolence. We can’t be giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.”
Speaking, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono, agreed that the Fund will not continue to throw money away to centres that are not living up to expectations.
On the non-performing institutions, he said: “If you were established five years ago and you are still at your infancy, you have not been able to provide modern laboratories, facilities for scholars to come and learn, we want to know why. But we don’t want to be arbitrary.
He however admitted that some of the centres have done fantastically well since inception, stating that a lot of them are doing innovations.
Earlier, the Committee on the Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence, led by Prof. Oyewale Tomori, in its report, declined to recommend any centre for upgrade.
[DailyTrust]
Veteran journalist, Dele Momodu has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of “misfiring” in the ongoing case against former Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello.
Momodu said the EFCC failed to do due diligence during their investigation against Bello.
Speaking during an Instagram Live, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain faulted EFCC’s claims of Bello using government funds to pay his children school fees upfront before the expiration of his tenure.
He faulted EFCC’s conduct in its attempt to prosecute Bello, stressing that the commission’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede should have learnt from the cases of his predecessors, who he said were “booted out ignominiously”.
According to Momodu: “When they brought in the new chairman, I thought oh, you will have the benefit of learning from your predecessors.
“All of them were booted out ignominiously and if I were in the shoes of the current chairman, what I will simply do is make sure I do my job as meticulously, as professionally, as efficiently as possible. And, you will never go wrong if you obey the rule of law.
“I watched the EFCC chairman, I think either last week or the week before the last, I was almost crying because the way he went on and on..if I don’t do this… spitting fire and all.. you don’t have to do media trial.”
Asked if the EFCC was lying about Bello, Momodu said: “I have no idea, I don’t work for EFCC but from all the things that I have read, a lot of them, they misfired. That is the honest truth. They misfired. They didn’t do their due diligence.
“When you said a man took out money and paid for his children’s school fees, just as he was about to leave power, and you go and check the documents and you see that these things started happening from 2021, 2022 (laughs); I am not an illiterate.”
The EFCC had accused Bello and three others of alleged money laundering to the tune of N80.2 billion while he was governor.
Olukoyede also accused Bello of withdrawing $720,000 to pay for his children’s school fees before leaving office.
This, the former governor denied.
The impeached deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, has expressed plans to reunite with the former Governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole.
Naija News reports that Shaibu made this known in an interview with PUNCH, stating that he is not ready to support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate, Asue Ighodalo.
The former deputy governor said he would not support Ighodalo because, despite several attempts to know his plans, the latter failed to open up to him about his governorship ambition.
Shaibu noted that he has consistently apologised to Oshiomhole. However, he does not regret his past actions because the former Governor led them to fight against godfathers.
He said, “First, I am not ready to support the governorship candidate of the party, Asue Ighodalo, and until the PDP does the needful, I may not be able to answer the question. I cannot support him because he didn’t open up to me about his ambition despite asking him several times, including at my house. The last time I asked was in November. So, I was taken aback when he spoke on TV that he was being pushed to run.
“I called him and asked who was pushing him to run, but he told me to ignore the report and that it was a social media thing. But his younger brother, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, said that the move to make his elder brother the governor of Edo State started two years ago. Edo State needs a “homeboy” to govern them, not people who will rent houses during their tenure and leave as soon as it ends. We need people who we can relate to and understand the challenges of the people. The PDP governorship candidate is more of an Ibadan man than an Edo man.
“I am ready. I have also consistently apologised to Comrade, and I am using this avenue to do so again over what happened in 2020, especially the language I used during that period. I look at some of the videos and the only thing I can do is apologise. However, I don’t regret the action I took because Oshiomhole is the one who led us to fight against godfathers. I felt what he was trying to do at that time was wrong. Reuniting with him will be interesting. Even amid the fight, I have maintained that he is my father. I will reunite with him sooner or later. He is also my mentor. So, a lot of things that I do, I learnt from him.”
Warns them to work with FG tripartite c’ttee
‘We are generous with N615, 000 demand’
Organised Labour, at the weekend, fires back at state governors, warning them against inflammatory utterances that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire over the new national minimum wage, NNMW.
It faulted the statement credited to the governors through the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, that they were working on what individual states could sustainably pay.
Labour contended that the governors must work within the 37-member committee saddled with the responsibility of fashioning out a new national minimum wage for the country.
According to the Organised Labour, it is being magnanimous with N615,000 new minimum wage’ demand because, based on the socioeconomic indices on the ground, it would have demanded much higher which the governors “are more than able to pay”.
Recall that in a statement, last Thursday, by the NGF Chairman and Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, at the end of NGF’s virtual meeting held Wednesday night, the governors said, among others, “As members of the committee, we are reviewing our individual fiscal space as State Governments and the consequential impact of various recommendations, to arrive at an improved minimum wage we can pay sustainably.
“We remain committed to the process and promise that better wages will be the invariable outcome of ongoing negotiations.”
Misquoted
Reacting to the statement, Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, and President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, Dr Tommy Okon, told Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, that Organised Labour believed the governors were misquoted.
“They can’t say that they are working on what individual states can pay. I think the governors may be talking about what they can add to the minimum wage at the end of the day because what will be agreed upon is the baseline which nobody should pay less than”, Okon said.
“But they can pay higher than that. I think that is what they are saying.
“They cannot be telling us that they are reviewing or setting up a committee to work on what they can pay individually. Two committees cannot be working on the same issue.
“The governors are members of the tripartite committee on the New National Minimum Wage, so they cannot set up another committee or work independently from the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government.
“Maybe the governors are talking about implementation. It is right for the governors to set up an implementation committee. They need to know their staff’s strengths and sources of funds to implement the new wage
“But to say that they are working on what individual states can pay outside the committee that the Federal Government has set up cannot be correct.
“Do not forget that the governors are members of the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government. So, they cannot do anything outside the committee.
“If what is reported is correct or if the governors own up to the statement as reported, it is a recipe for serious industrial unrest.
“And no nation can accept that because any nation that works like will face unprecedented industrial unrest and can never grow. No nation grows amid industrial chaos.
“We think the governors will tread with caution and avoid inflammatory utterances. We still believe the statement was not from them.”
Negotiation table
On its part, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, declined a response, saying it has made a demand before the tripartite committee on the minimum wage and whatever the governors want to say should be brought to the negotiation table since they are members of the committee on the new minimum wage.
However, an official of NLC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday Vanguard that the governors are treading on dangerous ground that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire.
“You cannot be talking about reviewing what individual state can pay sustainably outside the committee set up to look out will be the baseline or minimum”, he said. “Whatever opinion you have is what you should bring to the negotiation table. You come to the negotiation table and argue your opinion.
“We do not want to trade words with the governors because they are members.
“(But) they are treading on a dangerous ground that can set the nation’s industrial space on fire.
“We have made our demand which is a very generous one from the breakdown we released on Thursday on the N615,000 demand.
“You can see that we have been very magnanimous. Several expenses, including basic things like recharge cards, entertainment, extended family and others, are missing.
“Don’t forget that this demand was a product of questionnaires we sent out to states and local governments. We did not manufacture it.
“Again, take the issue of electricity which we allocated N20,000 a month. At the time we did it, the electricity tariff had not been adjusted by about 300 per cent. With the adjustment, it has affected nearly every other thing in terms of inflation.
“We know the governors can do much more than what we are demanding. We have passed through this road before.
“The problem with the governors is that they place their aggrandizement far above public good and workers’ welfare.
“That many former governors are facing prosecution by the nation’s anti-graft agencies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is a pointer to the fact that governors have the resources to pay much higher than our demand.”
‘How we arrived at N615, 000’
NLC had, on Thursday, given the breakdown on how Organised Labour arrived at its demand of N615,000 as the new minimum wage, and also countered the government on the commencement date for the proposed new minimum wage.
The Minister for State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, had, on Wednesday, while addressing workers at the May Day celebration in Abuja, said the new minimum wage would take effect from May 1, 2024.
But the NLC is arguing that it will take effect from April 19, 2024.
In a statement, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said: “It has become imperative at this point that we inform Nigerians who may not have known already the foundations upon which our initial demand for a N615, 000 new National Minimum Wage is based.
“The figure was a product of a painstaking effort through which we captured the cost of living of Nigerian workers and masses in all parts of the country.
“It was essentially an outcome of independent research conducted by the NLC and TUC on the cost of meeting the primary needs of an average family around the country.
“Our research was based on a family with both parents alive and four children without the burden of having other dependents with them.
“A questionnaire was designed and sent to all the State Councils of NLC and TUC from where these questionnaires were sent to our members in all the local government areas in the country to gather the monthly cost of living for the average family as described above.
“Below is a summary of our findings and we hope that this will enable Nigerians understand what propels our demand so that better clarity is made to create better engagement around the ongoing National Minimum Wage Negotiation process.
“A cursory look at the table above shows that we have deliberately removed certain elements from the basket used in calculations of this nature.
“However, it should also be noted that we have not included things like expenditure on calls and data, offerings in churches and Mosques, community dues, entertainment, savings and security etc.
“These are therefore just for the bare necessities.
”It should be noted that we arrived at this figure before the increase in electricity tariff and the recent scarcity of petrol across the nation leading to the appearance of long queues with attendant increased transport fares.
“Any figure below this amount becomes a starvation wage and condemns Nigerian workers and their families to perpetual poverty.
Commencement date
”We have to remember that the old one has expired on the 18th day of April 2024, and a new one is expected to have come into effect on the 19th day of April 2024. “However, because of the government’s inability to comply with the law that demanded negotiations for a new national minimum wage to have begun six months before the expiration of the existing one, concluding the new one has become unfortunately delayed.
”We are sure that our social partners would see our demonstration of understanding, sacrifice and reasonableness in our demands and thus accept this figure without much delay.
“We also enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to implore the government and employers to meet our demands for the sake of justice, equity and national development.”
Veteran journalist, Dele Momodu has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of “misfiring” in the ongoing case against former Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello.
Momodu said the EFCC failed to do due diligence during their investigation against Bello.
Speaking during an Instagram Live, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain faulted EFCC’s claims of Bello using government funds to pay his children school fees upfront before the expiration of his tenure.
He faulted EFCC’s conduct in its attempt to prosecute Bello, stressing that the commission’s Chairman, Ola Olukoyede should have learnt from the cases of his predecessors, who he said were “booted out ignominiously”.
According to Momodu: “When they brought in the new chairman, I thought oh, you will have the benefit of learning from your predecessors.
“All of them were booted out ignominiously and if I were in the shoes of the current chairman, what I will simply do is make sure I do my job as meticulously, as professionally, as efficiently as possible. And, you will never go wrong if you obey the rule of law.
“I watched the EFCC chairman, I think either last week or the week before the last, I was almost crying because the way he went on and on..if I don’t do this… spitting fire and all.. you don’t have to do media trial.”
Asked if the EFCC was lying about Bello, Momodu said: “I have no idea, I don’t work for EFCC but from all the things that I have read, a lot of them, they misfired. That is the honest truth. They misfired. They didn’t do their due diligence.
“When you said a man took out money and paid for his children’s school fees, just as he was about to leave power, and you go and check the documents and you see that these things started happening from 2021, 2022 (laughs); I am not an illiterate.”
The EFCC had accused Bello and three others of alleged money laundering to the tune of N80.2 billion while he was governor.
Olukoyede also accused Bello of withdrawing $720,000 to pay for his children’s school fees before leaving office.
This, the former governor denied.
[DailyPost]
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JAN 1966 Coup: Igbos Will Not Apologise For The Murder Of Ahmadu Bello And Abubakar Tafawa Balewa – Ohanaeze
AFOLABIThe President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has said that the Igbos will not apologise for the murder of Sir Ahmadu Bello and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa during the 1966 coup.
He dismissed claims by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) that he plans on apologising to the Fulani ethnic groups.
The elder statesman insisted that the Igbos had nothing to do with the coup, adding that it was unfair and unjust to accuse them of being responsible.
He declared that Ohanaeze Ndigbo would never apologise for something they did not do.
Iwuanyanwu stated this in Owerri, Imo state, last weekend.
He said, “I was shocked to read a voice mail message which was circulating all over the country and all over the world alleging that we held a meeting in Enugu and that the meeting was poorly attended where the decision was taken that we are going to Sokoto to apologise to the Fulanis over the death of Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa and other Northerners. They abused me and insulted me. I read it and I was sad. I don’t expect that somebody or a Christian will come out and tell a completely false story against me. I never said anything like that.”
He explained that the recent retreat in Enugu was a meeting of committees established for the development of Igboland, and the issue of apologising to the Fulanis was never discussed.
“Igbos didn’t kill anybody or leader but the Igbos were killed. So, as far as Ohaneze Ndigbo is concerned, Igbo did not have any business with that coup, that coup was purely a military affair like other coups that occurred in the country,” he added.
The Federal Government may consider the suspension of the $56.7bn peer-to-peer cryptocurrency market after a crucial meeting between the Securities and Exchange Commission, and digital asset operators scheduled for Monday.
Nigeria’s volume of crypto transactions grew by nine per cent year-over-year to $56.7bn between July 2022 and June 2023, according to the 2023 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report by Chainalysis, a United States of America-based international blockchain analysis firm.
The latest move by the SEC signals a broader effort by the Federal Government to tighten regulatory oversight within the cryptocurrency space amidst growing concerns over illicit activities and the manipulation of the naira exchange rate.
Earlier this week, the Central Bank of Nigeria had stopped major fintech firms from onboarding new customers in an ongoing audit of their Know-Your-Customer process. Following the regulatory action, major fintech firms, including Opay and PalmPay, sent emails to their customers on Friday, warning them against trading in cryptocurrency or any virtual currency on their apps, and threatened to block any accounts found engaging in such activities.
The threat to block accounts has faced heavy criticism, particularly from the 33.4 million individuals actively trading cryptocurrencies; many of whom rely on cryptocurrency trading as their primary source of income.
However, Sunday PUNCH learnt that during the proposed Monday meeting, the government may choose to announce a temporary halt in the P2P crypto trading to enable it come up with a comprehensive set of rules for effective regulation of the space.
Other sources privy to the meeting said the government might choose to engage the crypto stakeholders on a new set of rules that could be deployed to better regulate the space.
They ruled out the possibility of imposing a temporary halt on P2P crypto trading. As of Sunday, details of the exact decision the government might take during or after the meeting with the crypto operators remained sketchy.
However, operators in the crypto market confirmed the meeting, saying the meeting would bother on the current development in the space. The Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria, in a notice posted on its X handle on Saturday, noted that the meeting had been at the instance of the new Director General of the SEC, Dr Emotimi Agama.
BICCoN said, “The newly appointed Director General of the Nigeria Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed an industry-wide meeting with the Nigeria blockchain community. The meeting will be facilitated by the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria.”
Officially, the SEC has yet to confirm the Monday meeting, but sources close to the commission confirmed the meeting on Saturday. They, however, said that ‘nothing was cast in stone yet’.
In 2021, the CBN had restricted banks and other financial institutions from operating accounts for cryptocurrency service providers. However, in December 2023, the financial regulator lifted the ban and announced a reversal of the policy.
Fresh concerns emerged in February over the activities of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, on its peer-to-peer platform, such as implementing a price cap on USDT trading.
Authorities said those activities contributed to the devaluation of the naira and destabilised Nigeria’s economy.
Worried over the significant volume of transactions through Binance Nigeria, the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, stated that $26bn had passed through the platform over the past year from ‘unidentified sources’.
Amid the crackdown, the crypto exchange ceased all naira services, including deposits, withdrawals, and trading pairs, starting in early March 2024.
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, the Chairman of BICCoN, Lucky Uwakwe, said that the group would be seeking to reach a middle ground with the regulator, which had so far this year introduced stiffer guidelines for digital asset operators, as well as a proposed increase in the registration fees.
Ukakwe said the meeting “is for us to try and bring the industry to be compliant and remove bad actors who abuse technology, especially the concern raised by the government on those that use the technology for market manipulation of naira.
“We also hope that innovation in the industry is encouraged to enable the industry to gain more foreign inflow that will aid the current administration’s drive for foreign investment into the nation as seen in other countries such as China and the UAE, and not to stifle the industry.”
On his part, the President of Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria, Obinna Iwuno, told one of our correspondents that there was no official communication on the ban of cryptocurrency transactions from regulators. He said, “There is a whole lot going on. It is not just clear the direction as we speak, but hopefully, on Monday, we will get to have a position, “What we have done to solidify our position with the Nigerian government is that local exchanges stopped their naira services. The government raised an alarm that cryptocurrency was responsible for naira depreciation; operators stopped,” Iwuno explained.
The ‘Know Your Customer’ compliance level of fintechs has also been a source of worry for regulators. This involves verifying a customer’s identity and understanding their financial activity to prevent financial crimes, such as money laundering, terrorist financing, and fraud. According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System’s fraud watch report, fraud losses increased by 496.96 per cent over the past five years, and financial institution customers had lost N59.33bn between 2019 and 2023.
The report read in part, “The amount lost to fraud has increased over the past five years, along with the growth of financial transactions in the digital payments sector.”
A source from one of the major fintechs in the country, who preferred anonymity, disclosed to Sunday PUNCH that the CBN was not declaring cryptocurrency illegal, but was rather focusing on addressing regulatory and identity management issues.
“Some of the expectations from the meeting would be to have a more robust and safer ecosystem that will prevent fraud, and protect the funds of customers.
“The CBN is not saying that cryptocurrency is illegal, but there have been issues surrounding regulations and identity management. Those are the grey areas that the CBN is trying to address. They don’t want a situation where people are getting into Nigerian systems to defraud others, or engage in any negative activity that could harm innocent Nigerians.
“It is more or less about finding a way to make this thing work better. Sometimes, people can simply create a virtual account, and one won’t even know who is behind the account. So, it’s really about ensuring end-to-end verification, from the first line of payment to the very end, with the account holders’ identities attached to it. I think it is necessary at this time,” the source explained.
Nigeria’s volume of crypto transactions grew by nine per cent year-over-year to $56.7bn between July 2022 and June 2023, according to the 2023 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report by Chainalysis. Despite Nigeria now leading in peer-to-peer exchange volume, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for only 2.3 per cent of the global cryptocurrency transaction volume between July 2022 and June 2023, making it the smallest crypto economy in the world.
In an interview with Techpoint Africa, Youssef said most of the P2P transactions did not happen on Binance or any other platform, but on social platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and ‘everywhere on the streets’.
“Most peer-to-peer (transactions) don’t happen on Binance P2P, NoOnes, or any of those other platforms. They happen on WhatsApp, Telegram, coffee shops, and everywhere on the streets. That is where most peer-to-peer is happening. I think most of that is peer-to-peer volume. They are trying to cover up too, because Nigerians are very crafty and have ways of using things for reasons other than what they were created for,” he maintained.
In March, the SEC, under the former DG, Lamido Yuguda, revealed plans to issue updated guidelines for the operations of digital assets and virtual asset service providers in the country, saying the new guidelines would ensure criminals did not gain entry into the country’s capital market.
The SEC notice, dated March 4, 2024, partly read, “The SEC has also developed a new AML/CFT/CPF onboarding manual for licensing, registration, and ongoing screening of digital and VASP beneficial owners to ensure that criminals are not registered as operators in the capital market. The SEC is ready to interface with genuine VASPs based on these clear rules and regulations.”
The SEC also proposed that for virtual (crypto) asset service providers, ‘no person or entity shall provide any virtual asset service unless registered with the Commission; a company seeking to operate as a VASP shall be incorporated and have an office in Nigeria. Its Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director or its equivalent shall be resident in Nigeria.”
When questioned about the SEC’s proposed guidelines in the crypto sector at the last Capital Market Committee meeting that he chaired, the former SEC DG said investor protection was a driving motive.
“We want to ensure that investors who decide to get involved in digital asset products are well protected. We want a platform where certain capital market functions are duly segregated. If you are an exchange, we don’t want you to also be a custodian, and such.
“Also, we are very mindful that AML/CFT considerations are very important when one is dealing with crypto assets. We want to make sure it is not money laundering or funds used to promote terrorist financing,” the former SEC DG said.
The Chief Operating Officer of Fintech Association of Nigeria, Babatunde Obrimah, told Sunday PUNCH, “I am not privy to the circulars sent to the Fintechs, and I am not aware that crypto is illegal. The meeting will put things into perspective.”
“I think the issue is that to trade, one must be licensed by the SEC. So, if one is trading without a license, then one is technically illegal. But, we should talk after the Monday meeting, instead of speculating,” he added.
In March, the SEC proposed a 400 per cent increase in crypto firm registration fees. However, checks by Sunday PUNCH, on Saturday, showed that the proposed guidelines had been deleted from the SEC’s website. It is unclear when the PDF was removed from the regulator’s website.
The proposed amendments to the rules for crypto issuers, exchanges, and custody platforms include hikes to all supervision fees. Instead of a N100,000 application fee and a N30m registration fee, the SEC proposed N300,000 with every application, N1m as a processing fee, and N150m as registration fee, with the sponsored individual fees raised to N300,000 from N100,000.
An economist, Aliyu Ilias, emphasised the need for urgency in addressing the deficiencies within the fintech ecosystem, citing the ongoing struggle of the apex bank to effectively regulate them, as illustrated by the recent case involving Binance.
Ilias argued that in the dynamic tech industry, regulatory clampdowns often led companies to exploit loopholes, stating, “Even the Know Your Customer requirement proves insufficient.”
Another industry stakeholder, who is also the founder and coordinator of Blockchain Nigeria User Group, Chuta Chimezie, expressed hope that the Monday meeting would ‘help the industry significantly, and improve the relationship between regulators and policymakers’.
“The last few months have been nothing short of wars. as the CBN keeps clamping down on P2P platforms,” he lamented.
[Punch]
Organised Labour, at the weekend, fires back at state governors, warning them against inflammatory utterances that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire over the new national minimum wage, NNMW.
It faulted the statement credited to the governors through the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF, that they were working on what individual states could sustainably pay.
Labour contended that the governors must work within the 37-member committee saddled with the responsibility of fashioning out a new national minimum wage for the country.
According to the Organised Labour, it is being magnanimous with N615,000 new minimum wage’ demand because, based on the socioeconomic indices on the ground, it would have demanded much higher which the governors “are more than able to pay”.
Recall that in a statement, last Thursday, by the NGF Chairman and Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, at the end of NGF’s virtual meeting held Wednesday night, the governors said, among others, “As members of the committee, we are reviewing our individual fiscal space as State Governments and the consequential impact of various recommendations, to arrive at an improved minimum wage we can pay sustainably.
“We remain committed to the process and promise that better wages will be the invariable outcome of ongoing negotiations.”
Misquoted
Reacting to the statement, Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, and President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, Dr Tommy Okon, told Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, that Organised Labour believed the governors were misquoted.
“They can’t say that they are working on what individual states can pay. I think the governors may be talking about what they can add to the minimum wage at the end of the day because what will be agreed upon is the baseline which nobody should pay less than”, Okon said.
“But they can pay higher than that. I think that is what they are saying.
“They cannot be telling us that they are reviewing or setting up a committee to work on what they can pay individually. Two committees cannot be working on the same issue.
“The governors are members of the tripartite committee on the New National Minimum Wage, so they cannot set up another committee or work independently from the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government.
“Maybe the governors are talking about implementation. It is right for the governors to set up an implementation committee. They need to know their staff’s strengths and sources of funds to implement the new wage
“But to say that they are working on what individual states can pay outside the committee that the Federal Government has set up cannot be correct.
“Do not forget that the governors are members of the tripartite committee set up by the Federal Government. So, they cannot do anything outside the committee.
“If what is reported is correct or if the governors own up to the statement as reported, it is a recipe for serious industrial unrest.
“And no nation can accept that because any nation that works like will face unprecedented industrial unrest and can never grow. No nation grows amid industrial chaos.
“We think the governors will tread with caution and avoid inflammatory utterances. We still believe the statement was not from them.”
Negotiation table
On its part, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, declined a response, saying it has made a demand before the tripartite committee on the minimum wage and whatever the governors want to say should be brought to the negotiation table since they are members of the committee on the new minimum wage.
However, an official of NLC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sunday Vanguard that the governors are treading on dangerous ground that could set the nation’s industrial space on fire.
“You cannot be talking about reviewing what individual state can pay sustainably outside the committee set up to look out will be the baseline or minimum”, he said. “Whatever opinion you have is what you should bring to the negotiation table. You come to the negotiation table and argue your opinion.
“We do not want to trade words with the governors because they are members.
“(But) they are treading on a dangerous ground that can set the nation’s industrial space on fire.
“We have made our demand which is a very generous one from the breakdown we released on Thursday on the N615,000 demand.
“You can see that we have been very magnanimous. Several expenses, including basic things like recharge cards, entertainment, extended family and others, are missing.
“Don’t forget that this demand was a product of questionnaires we sent out to states and local governments. We did not manufacture it.
“Again, take the issue of electricity which we allocated N20,000 a month. At the time we did it, the electricity tariff had not been adjusted by about 300 per cent. With the adjustment, it has affected nearly every other thing in terms of inflation.
“We know the governors can do much more than what we are demanding. We have passed through this road before.
“The problem with the governors is that they place their aggrandizement far above public good and workers’ welfare.
“That many former governors are facing prosecution by the nation’s anti-graft agencies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is a pointer to the fact that governors have the resources to pay much higher than our demand.”
‘How we arrived at N615, 000’
NLC had, on Thursday, given the breakdown on how Organised Labour arrived at its demand of N615,000 as the new minimum wage, and also countered the government on the commencement date for the proposed new minimum wage.
The Minister for State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, had, on Wednesday, while addressing workers at the May Day celebration in Abuja, said the new minimum wage would take effect from May 1, 2024.
But the NLC is arguing that it will take effect from April 19, 2024.
In a statement, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said: “It has become imperative at this point that we inform Nigerians who may not have known already the foundations upon which our initial demand for a N615, 000 new National Minimum Wage is based.
“The figure was a product of a painstaking effort through which we captured the cost of living of Nigerian workers and masses in all parts of the country.
“It was essentially an outcome of independent research conducted by the NLC and TUC on the cost of meeting the primary needs of an average family around the country.
“Our research was based on a family with both parents alive and four children without the burden of having other dependents with them.
“A questionnaire was designed and sent to all the State Councils of NLC and TUC from where these questionnaires were sent to our members in all the local government areas in the country to gather the monthly cost of living for the average family as described above.
“Below is a summary of our findings and we hope that this will enable Nigerians understand what propels our demand so that better clarity is made to create better engagement around the ongoing National Minimum Wage Negotiation process.
“A cursory look at the table above shows that we have deliberately removed certain elements from the basket used in calculations of this nature.
“However, it should also be noted that we have not included things like expenditure on calls and data, offerings in churches and Mosques, community dues, entertainment, savings and security etc.
“These are therefore just for the bare necessities.
”It should be noted that we arrived at this figure before the increase in electricity tariff and the recent scarcity of petrol across the nation leading to the appearance of long queues with attendant increased transport fares.
“Any figure below this amount becomes a starvation wage and condemns Nigerian workers and their families to perpetual poverty.
Commencement date
”We have to remember that the old one has expired on the 18th day of April 2024, and a new one is expected to have come into effect on the 19th day of April 2024. “However, because of the government’s inability to comply with the law that demanded negotiations for a new national minimum wage to have begun six months before the expiration of the existing one, concluding the new one has become unfortunately delayed.
”We are sure that our social partners would see our demonstration of understanding, sacrifice and reasonableness in our demands and thus accept this figure without much delay.
“We also enjoin all well-meaning Nigerians to implore the government and employers to meet our demands for the sake of justice, equity and national development.”
A Nigerian couple based in the United States has been convicted of forced labour by a federal jury in New Jersey and faces 20 years imprisonment.
Isiaka Bolarinwa, 67, and Bolaji Bolarinwa, 50 — who are both US citizens were also found guilty of operating a coercive scheme to compel two victims to perform domestic labour and childcare in their home.
Speaking at the end of the trial on April 24, Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general, said the husband and wife lured the victims to the US with promises of a better life and an education but instead subjected them to hours of physical and psychological abuse.
“The defendants confiscated the victims’ passports, threatened them, degraded them, physically abused them and kept them under constant surveillance, all to coerce the victims’ labor and ruthlessly exploit them for the defendants’ own profit,” Clarke said.
“Human trafficking is a heinous crime, and this verdict should send the very clear message that the justice department will investigate and vigorously prosecute these cases to hold human traffickers accountable and bring justice to their victims.”
According to the evidence presented at trial, including the testimony of two victims, the incident happened between December 2015 and October 2016.
“Once Victim 1 arrived in the United States in December 2015, Bolaji Bolarinwa confiscated her passport and coerced her through threats of physical harm to her and her daughter, verbal abuse, isolation and constant surveillance to compel her to work every day, around the clock for nearly a year,” the court heard.
“Isiaka was aware of his wife’s threats and abusive behavior toward Victim 1 and directly benefited from Victim 1’s cooking, cleaning and childcare.
“The defendants then recruited Victim 2 to come to the United States on a student visa.
“When Victim 2 arrived in the United States in April 2016, Bolaji Bolarinwa similarly confiscated her passport and coerced her to perform household work and childcare but relied more heavily on physical abuse.
“On at least one occasion, Isiaka Bolarinwa also physically abused Vitim 2, and he was aware of his wife’s coercive, abusive behavior toward Victim 2 and directly benefited from her cleaning and childcare.”
The US department of justice (DOJ) said both victims endured the abuse until October 2016, when one of them (victim 1) summoned the courage to outcry to a professor at her college, who in turn, reported the targets to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Both defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each forced labour count and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the alien harbouring count.
The DOJ added that they will also be required to pay mandatory restitution to the victims and each faces a fine on each count of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss from the offence, whichever is greatest.
A sentencing hearing will be scheduled at a later date.
[TheCable]