NYSC secures N200m bank facility for disbursement to corps members as loans

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on Friday said it had secured over N200 million bank facility for disbursement to corps members as loans to enbale them start their businesses.

Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, the Director-General of the corps, said this when the Commander, Guards Brigade, Nigerian Army, Brig.-Gen. Musa Yusuf, paid a familiarisation visit to the NYSC Headquarters in Abuja.

“That has been a challenge; we train these corps members in the camp after the camp we have partners all over the country where corps members also receive training throughout the service year.

“Now, the issue is that when they get this training they don’t have start-up capital but we have been doing a lot to see there is opportunity for them to get startup capital. We have the NYSC foundation as we speak, the NYSC foundation has just approved loan worth N10 million for corps members.

“ Corps members based on the business plan they submit could get as much as N250, 000 and N400, 000. We have also signed an MoU with Bank of Industry though it is yet to take off but we are working on it.

“ A couple of months ago, I also approached Heritage Bank and Heritage Bank is setting aside the sum of N200 million under a package where corps members will get a soft loan and the only collateral they will have to drop will be their discharge certificate.

“ We are also talking with Central Bank Governor to see that a micro credit loan could be arranged specially to address corps members in this category.” He debunked allegations that the corps has yet to provide skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development to corps members, adding that the exercise had been ongoing since 2012.

According to Olawumi, the NYSC has so far trained over 400,000 corps members since the commencement of its skills acquisition programme in over 12 different skills.

He said that the NYSC, under the sponsorship of the World Bank, was currently partnering with an international organisation to train corps members interested in going into the building and property development sector.

Olawumi also called on the Guards Brigade to continue to assist the NYSC in ensuring the safety of corps members serving in the Federal Capital Territory as well as those serving in other states.

The director- general also directed the Director,Skills
Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) of the corps, Mrs Mary Dan-Abia, to commence partnership with the brigade’s skills acquisition centre in Keffi, Nassarawa State.

Earlier, Brig.-Gen. Yusuf assured the NYSC that the brigade had made adequate security arrangements to ensure the safety of corps members serving in FCT. Yusuf said that part of the security arrangements put in place included regular patrolling of the FCT, adding the safety of corps members was one of the priorities of the Guards Brigade.

He also assured the NYSC boss that the brigade would
continue to support and partner with the corps in the area of training of corps members and other related needs. “I am here on behalf of the Guards Brigade, officers and their families to commend you on the collaboration and support we have received from the NYSC so far.

“ I want to promise that this collaboration, support and
understanding will be maintained. “ If there is anything we need to improve on in terms of our relationship or training to new corps members or any other area the Guards Brigade is here to support and assist.”

Nigerian, David Oyelowo is new James Bond

Actor David Oyelowo has been asked by the Ian Fleming estate to record the audio book for Trigger Mortis, a new officially commissioned Bond book written by Anthony Horowitz.

Oyelowo’s previous roles include Henry VI for the Royal
Shakespeare Company – which made him the first black actor to play an English king in a major Shakespeare production.

He also played the MI5 officer Danny Hunter in the BBC TV drama Spooks and was acclaimed for his performance as Martin Luther King in Selma.

Oyelowo will play Bond, and other characters, in the
audiobook version of Trigger Mortis, written by Anthony Horowitz and commissioned by the Ian Fleming estate.

Describing himself as “very honoured”, Oyelowo said: “I am officially the only person on planet Earth who can
legitimately say: ‘I am the new James Bond’ – even saying that name is the cinematic equivalent of doing the ‘to be or not to be’ speech.”

He added: “I was asked specifically by the Fleming estate, which is really special.”

Born in Oxford to Nigerian parents, his performance as Henry VI drew critical acclaim, but also “very real resistance”, particularly from one academic. Oyelowo said: “He said that we open ourselves to ridicule if we allow black people to play English kings when English kings have never been black. But I’ve never seen an Egyptian play Cleopatra … so it’s a nonsensical statement.”

President as Minister of Petroleum?

THE news has been making the rounds in both the
conventional and internet media that President Muhammadu Buhari is to assume the position of Minister of Petroleum when he appoints ministers next month.

According to the information reportedly leaked after a
meeting of the president with chieftains of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja over the impending ministerial appointments, Buhari said he would take the action as part of his move to sanitise the oil sector and rid it of corruption.

Ordinarily, this should be a welcome development for several reasons. Number one is that the president’s reputation as “Mr Clean” remains intact, even among his political adversaries. Number two is that the fight against corruption, especially in the cash-cow oil sector, has been a major concern of Nigerians which Buhari promised to address during his campaigns. Number three and most importantly, is that President Buhari is a veteran in the management of the
sector. He spearheaded the establishment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) when he was oil minister in the late 1970’s. He has the cognate experience to do a thorough job and creating the right template before ceding the position to a cabinet minister.

However, we are concerned about issues of transparency and accountability if the president chooses to take up the post in addition to his onerous and overloaded duties as the nation’s Chief Executive and Security Officer. The nation is still at sea over the way in which former President Olusegun Obasanjo
handled the same job for six years from 1999 when he
assumed power. A number of turnaround maintenance
projects were undertaken and billions of naira sunk and yet the refineries remained comatose until after Buhari took over, and they started bouncing back, as if by magic. We do not want a repeat of the nation being put in the dark about proceedings in the industry.

One big disadvantage of having the president of the country as Minister of Petroleum Resources is that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for him to be summoned by the National Assembly to be grilled over any misgivings that might arise, and to supply information that will help to set the minds of Nigerians at rest when the “clean-up” of the industry begins. The story will be different if a minister is on the job.

We suggest that the president appoints a person of proven competence and integrity to carry out his mandate in the industry and be available and accountable to Nigerians through the federal legislature, the media and civil society.

Once bitten, they say, twice shy. A minister should be put on the job for greater transparency, accessibility and accountability.

Nigerian anti-corruption activists drag Fashola to EFCC over N78 million website scandal

The Civil Society Network Against Corruption, a coalition of anti-corruption organisations in Nigeria, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission over the “questionable expenditures” of the administration of Babatunde Fashola, the immediate past governor of Lagos State.

In a petition dated August 10 and addressed to the EFCC Chairman, the group called for the probe of the
controversial N78 million spent on the personal website of Mr. Fashola

There was outrage last weekend after analytic firm,
BudgIT, revealed that Mr. Fashola approved, before he
left office, N78.3 million from the state’s treasury for
an upgrade of his personal website.

The contract for the refurbishment of the website was
awarded to Info Access Plus Limited by the office of the
Chief of Staff to the former governor.

The company, however, denied receiving the amount,
insisting that it was paid N10 million.

Other ‘questionable expenditures’

In addition to the amount purportedly spent on the
website upgrade, CSNAC also urged the anti-graft
agency to probe the N1.2 billion spent on the
construction of pedestrian bridges along Eti-Osa – Lekki – Epe expressway “which did not specify the number of bridges.”

Other areas of possible probe include the N17 million
awarded for the provision of wall signage in three
magistrate courts; N3.46 billion spent for the
construction of a beach resort in Ilase; and N61 million
disbursed for a Range Rover SUV and two Toyota Hilux trucks as the official vehicle of Chief Judge of State.

The group also want the EFCC to probe Mr. Fashola’s
spending of N85 million for the repair and replacement
of street signs; N330 million spent on the development
of the residence of Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, the
immediate past deputy governor; and N94 million spent
on printer consumables.

CSNAC petition came following a similar outcry by
another anti-corruption group, the Coalition Against
Corrupt Leaders.

Debo Adeniran, CACOL’s Executive Director, had stated
in an interview recently that his organisation’s
independent investigation showed that the 1.36
kilometre Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge cost N6 billion, and not
the N25 billion stated by Mr. Fashola’s administration.
Mr. Adeniran also stated that several petitions written
to the EFCC to probe the various projects in the state in the face of the more than N500 billion debt left by Mr. Fashola’s government was ignored.

Another organisation, the Socio-Economic Rights
Accountability Project, had also alleged that the state
refused to disclose details of the US$200 million World Bank education fund during Mr. Fashola’s tenure.

“CSNAC is hereby requesting that these allegations
against the former governor of Lagos State be
thoroughly investigated and the falsity or verity
proven,” said Olanrewaju Suraju, Chairman, CSNAC.

“We would like to believe that this petition would be
given utmost attention as speculations in the media and among the general public is that members of the
governing party currently enjoy special consideration
and therefore not investigated by the anti-corruption
agencies.

“This perception, if allowed to fester, will be detrimental
and dangerous to the spirit of the new wave in fight
against corruption led by the current administration.”

Amosun sacks permsec, 5 others over ‘offensive’ exam question

ABEOKUTA — Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, yesterday ordered the sack of six officials of the Ministry of Education, including an acting Permanent Secretary, Mrs Folashade Oresegun, three directors and an examiner over an ‘offensive’ Senior School English language summary passage.

An examiner, Adegbenro Joel had prepared English language exams questions for the third term academic session of the state’s Unified Examination in Public Secondary Schools, which had a summary passage that took a critical look at the alleged negligence of the education sector by the government.

The governor reportedly got infuriated over the development and allegedly ordered the sack of the officials of the ministry that were directly in charge of the examination.

Gov Ibikunle Amosun Those affected were; an acting Permanent Secretary, who was a level 17 officer, Folashade Oresegun; Director of curriculum, Mr. Ganiu Odunsi and a deputy director, curriculum and evaluation simply identified as Mr Majekodunmi.

Others were; the examiner who also taught at Mayflower School, two desk officers whose identity were not known as at press time.

Vanguard gathered that, Oresegun and Odunsi’s sack was converted to compulsory retirement while the four others were summarily dismissed.

Vanguard however, obtained the question paper with the ‘offensive passage’ which in essence examined the situation of the sector in the country.

The passage read; “There is no arguing about the fact that the government is merely paying lip service to the
development of the education. It is true that a lot of money is being spent on education sector but, with little or no impact felt by the people, except where we want to deceive ourselves.

“Many schools run by the government, which were formerly known for academic excellence have suddenly lost their prestige and are living on past glory. No wonder many parents and guardians are left with only one option, to withdraw their wards from these schools to other ones that are better managed.”

When asked to comment on the development, the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa told Vanguard on phone that he could not.

Adeoluwa said; “The issue is a civil service matter. The best person to comment is the Head of Service. Please call Head of Service”.

While confirming the sack, Adeoluwa said, “I heard it
yesterday the way you did and I asked them what happened.

It is a civil service matter, and I cannot react to it.”
Attempts to get a reaction from the Head of Service was however unsuccessful as she did not pick her call nor respond to the text message sent to her mobile phone.

Police tear gas Peterside, Abe, others at INEC headquarters

ABUJA—The crisis trailing the conduct of the 2015 general elections in Rivers State took a dangerous turn yesterday, with security agencies attached to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, tear-gassing the candidates of the All Progressives Party, APC, in the elections who had besieged the commission to register their displeasure over what they termed the refusal of the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in the state, Mrs. Gesila Khan to release the documents used for the polls.

The politicians led by the Rivers State APC governorship candidate, Mr Dakuku Peterside and Senator Magnus Abe got more than they bargained for when the police after failing to stop them from getting close to the main gate of the Commission, quickly locked the gate and immediately threw
the tear-gas which left everybody within the vicinity chocking and coughing, ceaselessly.

Meanwhile, INEC’s Director of Security, Shetima Ngelare explained to the gathering that there was no prior knowledge that the APC candidates from Rivers State were coming to the commission, but he received a petition submitted by the party to the commission’s Chairman.

PROTEST: Rivers State All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship candidate, Dakuku Peterside (left) and APC South East Senatorial candidate, Sen. Magnus Abe, gasping for breath after they and other Rivers State APC candidates were tear gassed at the gate of INEC head office, during a protest to the INEC National Chairman in Abuja, yesterday.

Addressing newsmen after the stand-off which lasted over two hours, Peterside said they decided to collectively visit INEC to lay their complaint after the Rivers REC, allegedly refused to give them the documents that were used in the conduct of the elections for them to present at the tribunal.

According to him, the continuous refusal by the electoral body to give them the documents was a calculated attempt to deny them the opportunity of presenting damming evidence to prove that the elections in the state were widely manipulated.

“Before our various petitions were filed, we had through our respective counsels applied to the REC Rivers State for the release of certified true copy of materials used in the conduct of the said elections to enable us prosecute our respective petitions. The law stipulated that we have 180 days within which the petition should be determined but we are being frustrated by the same INEC that caused the whole problem.”

The politicians comprising senatorial candidates, House of Representatives candidates as well as state Assembly candidates arrived the headquarters of INEC at 11.15 a.m., and the security operatives comprising the police and Department of State Services, DSS, stopped them at the barricade just before the main entrance.

Senator Abe told the securitymen that they were at the
commission to register their displeasure to the acting INEC Chairman, Mrs. Amina Zakari over the alleged refusal of the Rivers State REC Khan, to give them documents used in the conduct of the polls won by the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

We must have steady electricity for faster economic development – Buhari

Abuja – President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday in Abuja pledged that his administration would ensure steady electricity supply for faster socio-economic development.

Buhari stated this after being briefed by the Permanent
Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Amb. Godknows Igali.According to the president, his administration will give the fullest possible attention to boosting power supply in Nigeria because it was convinced that steady electricity will launch the country into faster economic growth.

He said that the Federal Government had already identified the critical problems in Nigeria’s power sector and was taking appropriate actions to address them.

The president revealed that his administration had also
prioritised certain measures in its action plan to boost
electricity supply in Nigeria.

“The problems besetting our power sector are not difficult to identify. Therefore, priorities can be easily set in order to tackle them.

“The problems are more with transmission than generation,and we equally need to secure the power infrastructure round the country.

“We will address all these issues,’’ he assured.
Igali had informed the president that power generation in Nigeria, which was 1,750megawatts (MW) in 1999, had now peaked at 4,600MW.

He added that gas was available to take generation to 5,500MW in a short time, but that the country needed to expand its electricity infrastructure to accommodate additional power generation.