Author: Chief Editor

Femi Falana In my training as a lawyer I was taught that it was a criminal offence for anyone to engage in stealing or theft, fraud, obtaining money by false pretences, corruption, looting and conversion of goods. My lecturers did not teach me about money laundering, illicit financial flows, shell companies, safe havens and other new terms coined to confuse the victims of grand corruption. In protest against such dubious use of terms, a Nigerian musician, the late Fela Anikulapo-kuti once exposed a multinational company for engaging in stealing, fraud and corrupt practices in Nigeria without being called to order.…

A former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has endorsed former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to lead the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as its Director General. The government of Nigeria had on June 9, 2020, nominated Okonjo-Iweala for the post of WTO Director-General to succeed the current Director-General, Mr. Roberto Azevêdo, who had announced he would step down on 31 August 2020. However, her candidature received a major boost when Brown said the two-time Nigeria’s former Finance Minister had a record of delivering results in “the toughest of jobs”. British newspaper, The Times, in its report quoted the former…

The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has released the final report on the helicopter crash involving Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, which occurred at Kabba, Kogi State in February 2019, blaming the incident on a misjudgment of distance by the crew members, inappropriate landing techniques and non-adherence to the landing process. The Agusta Westland 139 chopper with registration number 5N-CML, owned and operated by Caverton Helicopters Limited, crash-landed at Kabba Stadium. The chopper had on board Osinbajo and 11 others, including the crew members. Osinbajo was scheduled to launch the distribution of Traders’ Money to market women in Kogi State. AIB Commissioner/Chief…

•Clearance paves way for second term President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, got his path to a second term of office smoothened yesterday as the independent panel instituted to review his clearance of alleged corrupt practices by the bank’s Ethics Committee affirmed his innocence. The panel’s report, which became public, early yesterday morning, received an instant endorsement from President Muhammadu Buhari, who said it was an affirmation of the integrity of Nigeria’s candidate for the headship of the continental development agency. A petition by anonymous staff of the bank had earlier in the year accused Adesina…

•Denies dictating public policy to president Reputed to be the head of the kitchen cabinet of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the president’s nephew, Malam Mamman Daura, yesterday spoke on the vexed issue of zoning and rotation of the nation’s presidency, arguing that competence, not geography should determine the next president of Nigeria in 2023. “This turn-by-turn, it was done once, it was done twice, and it was done thrice… It is better for this country to be one…it should be for the most competent and not for someone who comes from somewhere,” he told the BBC Hausa Service in…

The Senate on Tuesday invited the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, and her Works and Housing counterpart, Babatunde Fashola, to explain the variation in the cost of major federal highways being executed through the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA). Also invited to appear before the Senate Committee on Finance in the next two weeks are the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris; the Managing Director of the NSIA, Uche Orji; and the contractors handling the projects. Some of the projects tagged Legacy Projects include Lagos – Ibadan Express Way, Second Niger Bridge and Abuja –…

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday held a virtual meeting with the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors and Caretaker Committee of the party on efforts being made to reposition the party. A statement by presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, said at the meeting attended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the president disclosed that he was satisfied with the work done so far by the caretaker committee. He said: “I am pleased with the chairman and the work of the committee. He is highly mobile in the efforts to coordinate and strengthen the party. I am happy with his personal efforts.” The president…

* 20m Nigerians suffer from hepatitis infection The federal government has said that it is committed to spending $3 billion to scale up immunization in the country. It said the programme will be implemented through ‘Nigeria’s Strategy on Immunization and PHC Systems Strengthening (NSIPSS)’. The government also said that the number of Nigerians suffering from acute hepatitis infection as at 2018 was 20 million. It said that a National AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey conducted in 2018 showed a prevalence of 8.1 per cent for Hepatitis B (HBV) and 1.1 per cent for Hepatitis C (HCV). The Minister of Health,…

*Says FG expecting $200m from Nertherland, Switzerland as part of OPL 245 Malabu Oil The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), on Tuesday, said the Ministry of Justice facilitated the recovery of $62 billion arrears owed the federal government by oil companies operating in the country. The amount is part of money accruable to the government from the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA). Malami, who made the disclosure at a workshop for Judiciary Correspondents in Abuja, said that the ministry had recorded landmark achievements in the last one year, following his reappointment as AGF in…

The federal government has said that the fight against corruption, a cardinal programme of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, is alive and well. It added that unlike the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the current administration will not cover up for anyone, including the members of its party and government, who are facing corruption allegations. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who stated this in Abuja on Tuesday, said the President, who is the African Union’s Anti-Corruption Champion, remains the driver of the fight. ‘’Let me state here and now that the fight against corruption, a cardinal programme of…