The newspapers for Wednesday August 9, 2017 focus on the list of properties recovered from former minister of Petroleum Resources under President Goodluck Jonathan, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke amongst other top stories.
The Nation reports that a massive investigation has revealed former Minister of Petroleum Resources Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke’s love for property.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) has so far traced N47.2 billion and $487.5million to the ex-minister.
The agency also claimed that Mrs. Alison Madueke has N23,446,300,000 and $5milion (about N1.5billion) cash in various banks.
But only the about $37.5million Banana Island property has been forfeited to the Federal Government by the ex-minister.
On Monday , Justice Chuka Obiozor, a vacation judge sitting at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, ordered the final forfeiture of the property.
These revelations were contained in a fact-sheet released by the Public Affairs Directorate of the EFCC.
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The fact-sheet is signed by two officers of the directorate, Mr. Tony Orilade and Aishah Gambari.
The document reads: “Apart from the jewellery, the EFCC, Nigeria’s foremost anti-corruption agency, has traced N47.2billion and $487.5million in cash and properties to the former Minister of Petroleum Resources in ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
“This followed painstaking investigations by operatives of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).”
The Nation newspaper for Wednesday August 9, 2017, photo credit: Snapshot from NAIJ.com
Vanguard reports that Anambra state Police Command, yesterday, invited the chairman of Ekwusigo Local Government Area, Mr Ikenna Ofodeme; President-General of Ozubulu Town Union and Chairman of Ebubechukwuzo Foundation owned by Aloysius Ikegwuonu, Mr Jovita Ofomata, over last Sunday’s shooting incident at St Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu in which many worshippers were killed and many others injured.
This came as Ofomata said the person suspected to be the target of the Sunday attack, Mr Aloysius Ikegwuonu, was never a drug baron as being insinuated in some quarters. This came as Yoruba socio-cultural group, Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, condemned the Sunday’s killings, demanding that those behind the coldblooded slaughter be immediately unearthed and brought to justice. The three indigenes of Ozubulu were questioned on what they knew about the people being associated with the incident and other issues relating to the personalities suspected to be involved in the crisis.
Vanguard newspaper for Wednesday August 9, 2017, photo credit: Snapshot from NAIJ.com
The Guardian reports the Federal Government is breaching its own local content policy in the construction of over $20 billion rail tracks across the country, as indigenous firms are being excluded from the execution of the projects.
If the extant policy, which provides that 40 per cent of such projects should be executed by local contractors, is followed, Nigeria would retain about $8 billion in its coffers and address unemployment and other social challenges.
The $8 billion, equivalent of N2.416 trillion, is about one-third of Nigeria’s 2017 national budget, and can almost fund the entire Lagos-Kano standard gauge railway projects estimated at $8.3 billion.
There are a number of other rail projects, 98 per cent of which were awarded to Chinese firms. They include: Kano State rail, $1.85 billion; Lagos Blue Line light rail, $1.2 billion; Lagos monorail, $1billion; and Abuja light rail, $841.64 million expected to be completed in October. Ogun and Oyo states are also working on some rail projects.
Assessing the scope of work, experts have insisted that Nigerians have the capacity to handle key aspects of the projects, especially laying of tracks, survey and design. They also expressed the fear that Nigeria would end up becoming a dumping ground for rail contractors engaged just to provide infrastructure without adequate manpower to operate and maintain it.
In the $1.5 billion Lagos-Ibadan end of the Lagos-Kano railway project alone, Nigeria would have saved about $0.6 billion, if part of the projects were handled locally, the experts said.
Already, anxiety is beginning to peak among Nigerians that the country may lose out on the other benefits accruing from the award of the contracts, saying that the money to be realised would have helped in salvaging the nation’s ailing economy, reduced poverty level and boosted local capacity development.
Defending the exclusion of indigenous firms, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, told The Guardian that since China is financing the projects through the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the contractors have 100 per cent execution right of most of the rail projects.
Guardian newspaper for Wednesday August 9, 2017, photo credit: Snapshot from NAIJ.com
Thisday the Senate Tuesday lashed out at civil society organisations (CSOs) protesting the prolonged medical vacation of President Muhammadu Buhari abroad, asking the protesters to leave the president alone as he had not violated any law.
It noted that Buhari, before his medical trip to the United Kingdom, fulfilled the constitutional requirement of informing the National Assembly of his vacation and transmitted power to the vice-president.
Some CSOs had in the past two days besieged Abuja, demanding that the president either resumes duty immediately or resigns his position.
The protest march, which was led by entertainment icon and activist, Mr. Charles Oputa (Charley Boy), however, took a new turn Tuesday as the police dispersed it, firing tear gas at the protesters that had gathered at their Unity Fountain, Abuja rendezvous.
The police explained later in the day that it disrupted the protest to forestall the breakdown of law and order.
The Senate in a reaction to the protest by its Chairman of Media and Publicity Committee, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, cautioned the protesters against overheating the polity with what it called their unreasonable demands, saying their actions were creating unnecessary tension in the country.
It said the protests could divert the attention of the federal government from its efforts at tackling the economic and security challenges facing the nation.
“The president has broken no law and therefore we do not see any justification for this diversion and noise making,” the Senate said, adding: “The sponsors are merely seeking cheap publicity at the expense of the peace of Nigeria.”
It denied the claim of the protesters that the president’s absence had created a vacuum and disrupted the workings of government. “We, in the National Assembly, are satisfied that there is no vacuum. The federal government is working. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo is providing the required leadership. So, there is no reason for the protests.” it said firmly.
According to the upper legislative chamber, “All Nigerians now should focus on praying for the safe return of the president. We in the Senate are happy about the report by the governors and party leaders who recently visited President Buhari in London and we know he will soon return to continue to provide leadership to our people and the rest of Africa.
“We, therefore, call on the protesters to stop all these demonstrations and let their sense of patriotism overshadow the zeal for activism by joining other Nigerians to pray for the president, the acting president and Nigeria as a country at this critical period.”
But the protesters were swift in replying the Senate Tuesday, saying the position of the upper legislative chamber was an embarrassment to Nigerians, who were asking necessary questions on the whereabouts of their president.
The protesters under the aegis of #OurMumuDonDo said they would not back down from their request calling on the president to either resume or resign, despite the harassment by the police.
Thisday newspaper for Wednesday August 9, 2017, photo credit: Snapshot from NAIJ.com
The Punch reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it had so far, through painstaking investigations by its operatives, traced N47.2bn and $487.5m in cash and properties to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.
These, the anti-graft agency said, were apart from “boxes of gold, silver and diamond jewellery, worth several million British pounds sterling,” discovered during a search of Diezani’s palatial residences in Abuja.
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The EFCC said it discovered several of Diezani’s landed properties scattered all over Lagos and other parts of the country in the course of its investigations, adding that it was doubtful if the former minister declared her true assets as required of public officials.
This was contained in an article entitled, “Diezani Alison-Madueke: What an appetite,” jointly authored by two officers in the EFCC’s Public Affairs Directorate, Tony Orilade and Aishah Gambari.
Punch newspaper for Wednesday August 9, 2017, photo credit: Snapshot from NAIJ.com
In the video below, NAIJ.com TV asked some Nigerians if they consider the police as their friend.
