Strong indications have emerged suggesting that one of the embattled “Cardoso girls” allegedly earning 35 million naira monthly and who also doubles as Board Member of Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing System of Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Miss Daphne Dafinone outrightly countered the renewal of contracts staff pointing that the decision was to cut cost in NIRSAL.

Sources within the organization who pleaded anonymity lamented that “NIRSAL plc services may not be accessible to all farmers, particularly those in remote or hard-to-reach areas particularly now that it has cut down manpower in the State offices despite the fact that the sacked foot soldiers in the State offices are the ones who know where the farmers reside and have first hand information about all Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP) loan transactions. “”This will make the process of loan recovery cumbersome, deterring NIRSAL from recouping the intervention funds which will amount to waste of taxpayer money and deter farmers from participating in prospective intervention programs in the future. It will ultimately prevent NIRSAL from meeting the demands of Nigeria’s large and diverse agricultural sector.” She added.Meanwhile the Managing Director Saad Hamidu in a leaked audio obtained by this medium assured contracts staff of renewal in 2025. This was after he resumed in September 2024.Investigation suggested that NIRSAL most influential Board member Daphne Dafinone allegedly countered the Managing Director’s decision forcing the life saving decision to abort.However, when Newsguide Online contacted NIRSAL’s Head of Corporate Communications Mr. Jude Nnadozie for balancing, he maintained that the contract staff were sacked because their contract had elapsed.New Telegraph reports say Mr Cardoso, in September 2024, appointed Miss Daphne Dafinone to the board of the Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing System of Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), a non-bank financial institution owned by the CBN and charged with redefining measuring, re-pricing and sharing agribusiness-related credit risks in Nigeria.Despite her ongoing trial, Ms Dafinone is combining her role on NIRSAL board with her controversial consultancy at the CBN.According to Premium Times Online report, the CBN has four deputy governors: Emem Usoro (Corporate Services Directorate), Muhammad Dattijo (Economic Policy Directorate), Philip Ikeazor (Financial System Stability Directorate), and Bala Bello (Operations Directorate). However, staff members now derisively refer to Ms Balonwu and Dafinone as the fifth and sixth deputy governors of the bank, saying the two have amassed so much power to be so called.Directors said the consultants now write memos on CBN letterheads, issuing directives even when they are unknown to the bank’s structure and organogram.“They said they are consultants, but they have permanent offices in the bank, and their consultancies have no end dates,” one director said. “I am tempted to say they are even more influential than the deputy governors. Their offices are on the eleventh floor, just like the governor’s. The deputy governors are on the tenth floor, below the so-called consultants. They even bypass deputy governors to give direct instructions to directors.”Another bank insider corroborated the director’s claim, saying he once overheard one of the women boasting that “if she draws a line at the bank, even the governor dare not cross it”.“I can tell you the women are the real people running the CBN. Cardoso has become a mere figurehead,” a third director said. *Consultant earning salary of 15 directors* Staff members also accuse Mr Cardoso of paying the women obscene salaries. For instance, Ms Balonwu, they said, pockets N50 million naira monthly, earning more than the governor and the deputy governors. Her salary also dwarfs the combined pay of 15 directors, who earn below N3 million monthly.On her part, Ms Dafinone earns N35 million monthly, said to be higher than the combined salaries of 10 directors.Meanwhile, inside sources said NIRSAL is falling short of its intended purpose.According to the source, “despite its mission to de-risk and facilitate flow of affordable finance into the agricultural industry, the organization has struggled with critical issues. This has ultimately hindered its progress. Recall that NIRSAL Plc’s former management teams have been embroiled in several corruption scandals. One notable case involved a multi-billion naira loan guaranteed by NIRSAL for three investor companies to cultivate and harvest wheat in Kano and Jigaya states. However, the loan was allegedly diverted by the companies in collusion with NIRSAL officials.”Also speaking, another source pointed that “another instance of corruption involved the pioneer managing director, Aliyu Abdulhamed, who was linked to a case where a private consultant, Dr. Steve Ogidan, returned N1.5 billion to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to avoid conviction. The EFCC alleged that the funds were proceeds of unlawful activities, while Ogidan and Abdulhamed claimed they were legitimate earnings from consultancy services. These corruption allegations led to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sacking the top three executives of NIRSAL Plc; The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Abbas Umar Masanawa, as well as two executive directors, Kennedy Nwaruh and Olatunde Akande.”He revealed that NIRSAL’s policy somersault, high staff turnover, staff maltreatment, witch hunt and victimization, litigation battles and others have adversely impacted its ability to deliver sustainable results. Some typical examples are the cases of Olalekan Olusanya, a former Head of Internal Audit and Olusola Omole, a former Head of the Technical Coordinating Unit, who were among employees unlawfully sacked by the pioneer Managing Director of NIRSAL, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed, for speaking against mismanagement of public funds under his administration. Also, Noel Dilli, a field officer and Coordinator of Nasarawa State, who stood against maltreatment of contract staff particularly under the previous MDs, was relieved of his contract recently. Kesman Samson, Murtala Mohamud who were coordinators of Adamawa and Gombe state offices were disengaged while some others were transferred or had there contracts terminated. The pioneer MD and his successor are alleged to have control over some of the management staff who serve their interests in the organization. This raises concerns about the organization’s effectiveness and accountability.” These challenges, according to inside sources will continue to result in food shortages and increases in food prices particularly for staple crops like rice, maize, and wheat. Malnutrition, particularly among vulnerable groups like children, pregnant women, and the elderly will equally take precedence as a result of these challenges.

The National Assembly on Tuesday made corrections on some sectorial allocation items in the N54.

9 trillion 2025 Appropriation Bill earlier passed on Thursday,

This decision, followed a motion presented by Sen. Solomon Adeola and Rep. Abubakar Kabir, chairpersons of the respective appropriations committees, citing the need for accuracy and alignment with national priorities.

The Senate made corrections to some sectorial allocations for various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as some recorded increased allocations while others had their allocations reduced.

The capital expenditure was reduced by more than N500 billion, while recurrent spending recorded an increase by same amount.

Following the adjustments, the capital allocation was put at N23.439 trillion, while the recurrent expenditure increased to N13.588 trillion.

These figures differed from the sectorial allocations approved on Feb. 13.

The Deputy Senate President, Sen. Jibrin Barau (APC-Kano), said that it was not out of place that after every a budget process, errors are usually identified, due to clerical staff mistakes.

“As a former Chairman of the Appropriation Committee in the Senate, as well as the House of Representatives, I know that normally, after every budget process, you will have some errors.

“Some errors are due to clerical staff errors or calculation errors, these errors are usually corrected and cleaned after scrutiny.

“Thank God, we have been able to discover these errors at this point before the bill has been assented to by the President and in which case, an amendment would have been required to correct the errors.

“I commend the chairman and members of the committee for being able to discover these errors. So the best thing is for us to move forward and get these errors corrected,” Barau said.

The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, expressed gratitude to the Appropriation Committee for quickly detecting the errors.

Akpabio said that the Senate had to go into details, ensuring that clarity became the ‘mother of the game’.

“Particularly the transparency exhibited by the two committees of the appropriations, both in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

“We can now say that yes, indeed, the appropriation bill has been passed, but just this errors that were detected and now corrected,” he said.

Adeola thanked the Senate President for his leadership role and also apologised to lawmakers for the errors.

“I just want to use this opportunity to thank Mr President, the principal officers and the entire Senate for their usual support and for the stress we took you through.

”As the chairman of the committee, we say we are sorry. We had no other choice than to go through this process,” he said.

The lawmaker said that when the budget was initially passed on Feb. 13, N13.64 trillion was allocated for recurrent expenditures, while capital projects received N23.963 trillion.

“The first breakdown of the N54.9 trillion proposal also included N3.645 trillion for statutory transfers and N14.317 trillion for debt servicing.

The fiscal deficit stood at N13.08 trillion, with a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 1.52 per cent,” he said. (NAN)

By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Capital Market, Senator Osita Izunaso has announced that the National Assembly has transmitted the Investments and Securities Bill 2024 to President Bola Tinubu for assent.

Speaking during the Securities and Exchange Commission’s budget defense on Tuesday in Abuja, Sen.

Izunaso stated that lawmakers expect the President to sign the bill into law within the next 30 days.

According to him, “The Senate President has signed the Investments and Securities Bill 2024 and it has now moved to the Executive for assent. We have 30 days for that to happen and we expect that the President will assent to it”.

Senator Izunaso also told the meeting that the Committee has followed up with a written directive to the Minister of Finance to include a N10 billion special fund for investor education in the capital market as part of the 2025 budget.

In his remarks, Senator Anthony Yaro commended the Commission for the approach taken in 2024 adding that with the positive happenings like the ISB and the reduction in deductions, the SEC is expected to perform better.

“I believe these developments will boost your performance in 2025. We know your capacity and what you can do, but you need to do more”, he stated.

In his presentation, Director General of the SEC, Dr. Emomotimi Agama expressed the appreciation of the Commission to the National Assembly for the support and contribution of the Committee which has moved the market forward in 2024.

Dr. Agama noted that in 2024 Nigeria was one of the best performing markets in the world.

“Your support has gingered the market, there is a new spirit and that support has assisted us to achieve what we achieved together.

“Last year, we wished that the Federal Government’s 50% deduction would be reduced to 20% but we could not achieve that in 2024.

“We are glad to say that with the intervention of the committee and the Chairman, the Minister has signed the reduction of the deduction from 50% to 20%. We are hopeful that the implementation will take effect from March 1”, he stated.

Agama pointed out that the 2024 budget was properly administered; stressing that while projected income was N22.4 billion, gross income received was N26.9 billion with a surplus of 20.34%.

“We achieved 100% and went above it by 20%. Expenditures for the period was N20.8 billion while N12.68 billion went to deductions. Our net surplus was then N2.5 billion”.

On the reductions in penalties collected in 2024, Agama stated that the role of the Commission is to encourage market participants to comply with laid down rules and regulations.

The SEC DG stated that penalties are charged when participants do not comply adding that the reduction is due to high level of compliance in the market.

“If you prepare participants and they comply, penalties will certainly be reduced. That reduction means the market is beginning to comply which increases efficiency”.

Agama explained that the capital market operates a disclosure regime rather than a merit regime adding that “every company and director has a responsibility for figures that disclose to the public. It is our responsibility to monitor the same to ensure that documents provided to members of the public are accurate. If they do not meet standards, such institutions will be penalised”.

Contributing to the 2024 budget performance, Senator Victor Umeh expressed worry about false information being put out to the public by companies in a bid to defraud Nigerians.

“I am worried about regulation and enforcement so that companies would not just bring up cooked figures to defraud Nigerians. Let your eyes be on those that use the market to defraud Nigerians” he added.