NEWS
Reps Quiz WAEC Boss over N6bn Deficit Incurred in 2023
The House of Representatives has quizzed the Head of the National Office, West African Examination Council (WAEC) Nigeria, Mr Josiah Dangut, over a N6 billion deficit the agency incurred in 2023.The House Committee on Basic Examination Bodies, led by Rep. Oforji Oboku, grilled Dangut during an investigative hearing in Abuja on Tuesday.
The committee queried WAEC over a loan of N5 billion it got in 2022 for the purchase of a customised calculator. Dangut, in a defence, provided the cashbook of the agency to the committee but the members declined, insisting that it must submit bank statements. The committee chairman said WAEC had to explain how it generated N34 billion in 2023, but spent N40 billion.He also wondered how the examination body could approve a loan of up to N5 billion when even the Ministerial Board could not approve such an amount.He asked the WAEC boss to tell the committee how many students participated in the 2022 examinations for which the calculators were obtained.Following the unsatisfactory response by the WAEC representatives, the committee resolved that WAEC must submit all its bank statements from 2018 to date “within a week”.A member of the committee, Awaji-Inombek Abiante, described WAEC as uncooperative, saying that it must be held accountable.“WAEC Nigeria was an uncooperative witness in this process, shielding and denying Nigerians the value of whatever investment the country has had in that office.“WAEC should submit all its bank account statements to the committee in furtherance of the investigation,” he said.The committee said that out of eight submissions demanded from the examination body in a bid to probe its expenditure, only one – nominal role – was submitted.The committee demanded that WAEC should provide the expenditures that led to the N6 billion deficit and all correspondences related to the purchase of customised calculators.The committee further said that evidence of approval for the N5 billion loan to purchase the customised calculators must be provided.The committee also demanded evidence of due process followed for the award of the contract as well as evidence of payment, including payment vouchers and bank records.It queried WAEC for breaching the public procurement and financial regulations act in the payment of 50 per cent of the contract for the construction of its Taraba office valued at N532 million.Dangut, however, pleaded with the lawmakers to give him another date to enable him present the statement of account and other documents demanded.He also explained that he had to pay 50 per cent of the Taraba office contract sum to avoid the astronomical rise in the inflationary trend in the country. (NAN)
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has stressed the need to collaborate with the Media and Civil society in the Fight against Corruption.
Okukoyede said this when the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ali Muhammed Ali, paid him a courtesy visit at the commissions, Headquarters in Abuja.
He described the media as an important ally in fighting and defeating the monster of corruption in the country.
He said that public enlightenment was one of the tools deployed in the fight against corruption, which he said could only be achieved using the media.
“We believe that concerning our mandate, we must have strong synergy with the media; the News Agency of Nigeria.
”It is extremely important because part of the factors we can deploy to really fight this war against corruption is public enlightenment, and the major stakeholders are the media people.
“Without you it will be extremely difficult to reach the grassroots and let the people know how endemic this problem is, and the need for us to all come together to collaborate.
”The job is not only for the law enforcement agency, it is for everybody,” he said.
According to him, there is nowhere in the world that anti-corruption agencies win the war against corruption without collaboration with the civil society and the media
”Because these are the people that will drum up from whatever you are doing and where there is sentiments, they are the people that will be able to balance things up,” he said.
Speaking on the effect of corruption in Nigeria and Africa in general, the EFCC boss said that corruption had a strong relationship with insecurity.
He said that security could only be achieved when the fight against corruption is won.
”As a matter of fact, if you can deal with the issue of corruption, the issue of insecurity will become an issue of the past. So we are going to collaborate with you,” he said.
Responding, the Managing Director of NAN stated that the visit to the EFCC was to intimate the Chairman on the agency’s plan to organize an international lecture on insecurity and the fight against corruption.
“We are coming to first intimate you on our plan to have the first international lecture organised by the agency.
”The agency, as part of its efforts to also contribute to the body of knowledge, has to go about having a resolution to this lingering crisis of insecurity in the country and beyond.
”We took it on a bigger scale. We are looking at insecurity in the Sahel, how it has affected Nigeria.
‘:We are dissecting the origin, the genesis, the impact and the options available to the country,” he said.
Speaking on insecurity and corruption, Ali identified a strong relationship between the two menace bedeviling the African region
He said that the EFCC, under the leadership of Olukoyede, had made significant strides in the anti-corruption fight over the years.
“We have seen the commendable job you’ve been doing in the last couple of months.
“We said let us go to the EFCC and intimate them and this is what is happening.
“We don not want to just have the Chairman as a mere invitee. The whole management came to intimate you about our plans,” the NAN MD said.(NAN)
By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Central Bank of Nigeria has denied the re-introduction of the controversial cyber security level it abandoned in May after public outcry.The apex bank clarified this in a circular on Friday, made available on Friday. The apex bank said the clarification was necessary due to certain instances of misinterpretation or misrepresentation of its biennial publication on Monetary, Credit, Foreign Trade, and Exchange Policy Guidelines published on September 17, 2024.
On May 6, 2024, the apex bank directed banks and other financial institutions to start deducting a cybersecurity levy.The levy was set at 0.5 per cent of all electronic transactions introduced under the newly enacted 2024 Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Amendment Act.In the Monetary, Credit, Foreign Trade, and Exchange Policy Guidelines, the bank highlighted the levy which was widely reported.CBN said, “Some recent media publications referencing aspects of the Guidelines refer to policy positions of the Bank issued prior to 31st December 2023, which have changed in the light of revisions and updates in 2024.“One example is the Cyber Security Levy, which was suspended in May 2024, superseding the circular reported in the Guidelines.“Certain technical aspects of the Guidelines have been widely misreported and misrepresented. For example, reports have mistakenly sought to link the fuel subsidy removal to external reserves.”
The Mutawalle of Borno, Alhaji Kashim Imam, says he engages in feeding 10,000 victims of Maiduguri flood disaster daily based on the victims’ critical requirement for now.Imam in an interview while monitoring the feeding programme, said, he would sustain the feeding, which he scaled it up from 6,000 to 10,000 for the victims in camps to complement government’s efforts.
According to Imam, as the victims gradually move out of camps in few weeks, they will be supported with rice to start cooking for themselves as against the current practice of cooked food distribution. He commended his family members and volunteers for the daily cooking and distributing food to flood victims in various camps.“I want to particularly commend the military, who are not only actively engaged in search and rescue operations but also assist me in sharing the food to victims as well as ensuring orderliness and decorum during the exercise,” Imam said.The former Board Chairman of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), also lauded the concern and response from government, organisations, philanthropists, and all other individuals to the people of Borno over the sudden incident that took people unaware.“Nobody was prepared for this, people were caught unaware in the middle of the night.“Many escaped with the only clothes they were wearing, with some trapped for more than a week.“As the flood recedes, many cannot even go back to their homes because there’s no home to go back to,” Imam lamented.A cross section of the victims benefitting from Imam’s gesture, expressed gratitude for the support and urged other leaders and well meaning Nigerians to emulate the good gesture in complementing government efforts at all levels.“The most pressing issue now is saving lives and stabilising the survivors through feeding and shelter.“We want to sincerely thank the Mutawalle of Borno, other philanthropists and organisations doing similar exercise in various camps.“May God Almighty bless them and continue to touch their lives with joy and happiness as they touched our lives at this moment of need,” Habiba Idris, a displaced woman with two children prayed. (NAN)
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