Sunday, 16 August 2015
Lupita Nyong'o grows out her hair...or is that a weave? (photo)
APC lists instances of looting in the last administration, says no worthy leader will ignore such cases
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as spine-chilling and mind-boggling the massive looting of the nation’s treasury by public officials, saying nothing but the total recovery of the funds will be acceptable to all patriotic Nigerians. In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said anyone who attempts, either by deeds or words, to sabotage the recovery efforts is not a patriot and deserves nothing but public opprobrium.
It therefore thanked Nigerians for their overwhelming support for the Buhari Administration in its tough but important task of tracing and recovering the loots, while also ensuring that the looters face justice.
”It is absolutely gratifying that Nigerians are vehemently opposed to the few who would rather have the government of the day turn a blind eye to the looted funds and, in their words, carry on with the process of governance.
”Truly, what sort of governance can go on if the billions of Naira in a few hands are not recovered? In the first instance, the government needs every kobo of the funds it can muster to bring about the change it has promised Nigerians. Secondly, leaving such hair-raising funds in the hands of the few looters is dangerous, because they can use the funds to destabilize any government. In fact, no one will be surprised if the looters use their dirty funds to sponsor public demonstrations against the government’s determination to recover the funds.
”Thirdly, allowing those who privatized the commonwealth to get away is offering a thumbs-up for looting. No responsible government will do that,” APC said.
The party said that already, the looters have embarked on a relentless and an increasingly-bold campaign to discredit the government of the day and sabotage the funds’ recovery process, using newspaper columnists, ‘talking heads’ and otherwise respectable opinion leaders.
”They and their paid hirelings have tried to employ sophistry to muddle the waters, but Nigerians are much wiser, and will not succumb to the dirty antics of the looters’ megaphones,” it said.
APC said it is necessary to remind Nigerians of the kind of massive looting of the treasury that took place in the past few years, so they can better appreciate the seriousness of the issue at stake. It therefore listed some instances of the looting as follows:
– 3.8 trillion Naira out of the 8.1 trillion Naira earned from crude oil (2012-2015) withheld by NNPC
– 2.1 billion US dollars from Excess Crude Account unaccounted for
– Department of Petroleum Resources’ unremitted 109.7 billion Naira royalty from oil firms
– 6 billion US dollars allegedly looted by some Ministers of the last Administration
– 160 million barrels of crude worth 13.9 billion US dollars lost between 2009 and 2012
– 15 million US dollars from botched arms deal yet to be returned to Nigeria
- 13 billion US dollars in NLNG dividends mostly unaccounted for
- 30 billion Naira rice waiver
- 183 billion naira unaccounted for at the NDDC
The party said the listed ‘missing’ funds constituted just a tip of the iceberg since they are mostly from a few sectors of the economy, mostly the oil sector, and were discovered even before the forensic audit now being undertaken in some key areas.
”The level of looting that went on in other sectors is better imagined, hence the need for all Nigerians to rally around the Buhari Administration to recover the loots, bring the looters to justice and to put in place measures to prevent such looting in the future,” it said.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed
National Publicity Secretary
National Publicity Secretary
Indonesia plane carrying 54 people goes missing
The Trigana Air Service flight carrying 44 adult passengers, five children and five crew members, left Sentani Airport at 2:22 p.m. and was supposed to land at Oksibil airport at about 3:05 p.m but disappeared 10 minutes before it was due to land. Indonesia Transport ministry said no distress call was made from the plane.
Search and rescue have begun though it has since been called off because of bad weather. Search for the plane, believed to have crashed in the steep mountains, will continue tomorrow. Quite sad!
Read the memo NNPC management sent out to its staff on lateness
Guess a new sheriff is in town...:-)
Male suicide bomber attacks checkpoint in Borno, kills 4
Shekau releases audio, says 'I am still alive, still in charge'
Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has released an 8 minute audio denying he had been killed or ousted as leader of the sect. He released the audio today August 16th
"I am still alive and I am not dead. And I will not die until my time appointed by Allah is up," Abubakar Shekau said in Hausa language
Alleged diversion of $600million railway loan: Okonjo-Iweala reacts
Representatives of the Transport ministry had on August 10th told President Buhari that $600 million had been diverted from the railway loan. Read Okonjo-Iweala's reaction as signed and released by her media aide Paul Nwabuikwu today after the cut...
Since this story was first reported, we have continued to receive media inquiries regarding an allegation reportedly made by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Alhaji Mohammed Bashar, that a substantial part of a $1bn loan obtained from the China-EximBank by the Jonathan administration for a Kano-Lagos rail project was diverted to other projects.
I want to state categorically that there is no truth in the reported allegation. Anyone who is interested can cross-check with the China-EximBank or the Chinese Embassy.
It is noteworthy that even though President Buhari, in his reported comments on the allegation, made no reference to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala but rightly stressed the need for due process and transparency in the execution of public projects, a sponsored media campaign has once again been launched by political elements to make the former Minister the culprit in a non-existent scandal.
The alleged diversion has no substance for the simple reason that the Kano-Lagos project was not even among the projects presented for funding by the China Exim Bank for several strategic infrastructural projects across the country.
In fact, it was the Lagos–Ibadan rail project, not Lagos-Kano rail project that was proposed in the original application to the China-EximBank. But in the end, no funds were assigned for the Lagos-Ibadan rail project by the China-EximBank.
The fact which can be confirmed is that the following projects which are at various stages of progress are being funded from facilities obtained from the China-EximBank:
- $500m for the expansion of four International Airport Terminals in Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
- $500m for the Abuja Light Rail project
- $984m for the Zungeru Hydro-electric power project
- $100m for the Galaxy Backbone project
It is also important to note that even if the alleged project was on the list of China-EximBank funded projects, diversion of any Chinese funds would have been extremely difficult because the terms of the contract and the processes would simply not have permitted such action.
Paul C Nwabuikwu
Media Adviser to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
The procedure is that funds for approved loans remain in the China-EximBank and are released directly to the Chinese firm executing the contract only after the presentation of duly certified proof of work by the responsible Ministry, in this case it would have been the Federal Ministry of Transport, based on the agreed milestones.
For the sake of emphasis, the China-EximBank does not disburse money directly to government and therefore the issue of diversion does not arise.
This is yet another example of the kind of whispering campaign of calumny, innuendo, misinformation, and outright distortions being perpetrated by certain political elements against Dr. Okonjo-Iweala in a bid to try to damage her reputation.
We are confident that those behind this campaign will continue to fail.
We respectfully request the media to refrain from attaching Dr. Okonjo-Iweala's name and photographs to spurious and unfounded allegations. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala as a Nigerian citizen in a democracy, a citizen who has served her country with honesty and integrity, also has some fundamental rights to justice and fair play.
Thank you.
Paul C Nwabuikwu
Media Adviser to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Footballer Vincent Enyeama is a domesticated man (photo)
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