Investors Moved N2.2 Trillion Away From The Nigerian Economy In 2015 -thecable

The confidence to invest and make profit in Nigeria has dropped drastically over the last year, with investors withdrawing more than N2.2 trillion from the economy in 2015. According to statistics from Nigeria’s Data Bureau (NBS), as quoted by Quartz Africa, investor confidence in Nigeria rose significantly between 2010 and 2013, only to take a little dive in 2014, and a drastic drop in 2015. When Goodluck Jonathan was announced acting president of the country in 2010, following the illness and subsequent death of Umaru Yar’Adua, investing interest in Nigeria rose by N1.17 trillion. In Jonathan’s second year, and after a “successful” presidential election, investing interest rose by N396 billion to an approximate N1.6 trillion. By 2013, investing interest in Nigeria had risen by N2.65 trillion to N4.22 trillion. In 2014, towards the build-up of the 2015 general elections, which predicted endless doom for Nigeria, some investors withdrew their monies from the Nigerian economy, leading to a drop from N4.22 trillion to N4.1 trillion. In 2015, however, there was a drastic withdrawal of investing interest in Nigeria, and according to NBS, investing interest declined by N2.2 trillion in 2015.

Some investors blamed it on the uncertainties that surrounded the 2015 elections, while many others blamed it on the lack of policy direction in the first five months of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Data from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) show that investors were voting their monies out of the economy prior to the election, but immediately after the relatively free and fair poll, they brought the monies back. Then three months before the election, NSE lost 8.40 percent of its worth, only to regain 8.30 percent in a single day after the election. By March 31, 2015 – while the election results were being collated – the NSE market capitalisation was at N10.718 trillion, but it rose to N11.62 trillion after Buhari’s victory. The bullish phenomenon was called ‘Bullhari’. As at December 31, 2015, the market cap was down from N11.62 trillion in April to N9.85 trillion.


https://www.thecable.ng/revealed-investors-withdrew-n2-2trillion-from-the-nigeria-economy-in-2015 [

President Buhari Orders Investigation Into Benue Killings

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into the clashes between herdsmen and indigenes of communities in Benue State.

President Buhari who expressed deep shock at the latest incident during the past week, which led to hundreds of deaths in four communities in Agatu, Benue State, ordered security agencies to get to the root causes of the problem.

“We will conduct an investigation to know exactly what happened; the only way to bring an end to the violence once and for all is to look beyond one incident and ascertain exactly what factors are behind the conflicts,” he said.

He added that all Nigerians must learn to live together as one, in peace and unity.

“We are all one nation and one people,” he said. “There should not be any reason why Nigerians of any group or tongue cannot now reside with one another wherever they find themselves after decades of living together.”

The President further expressed condolences to the government and people of Benue State, particularly the people of the Agatu communities, assuring them that the government would do everything possible to ensure that no such incident ever occurred in their midst again.

“Once the investigations are concluded, we will act immediately to address the root of the problem,” he said.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/199248-buhari-orders-investigation-benue-killings.html

ATTACKS ON BUHARI: Fayose Lacks Yoruba Training — Olumilua

Evangelist Bamidele Olomilua, former Governor of the old Ondo State and a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, in this interview spoke extensively on many topical and controversial issues including the formation of the APC and its presidential election victory, President Mummadu Buhari’s approach to governance, rule of law, anti-corruption crusade,  the economy and the attitude of Governor Ayo Fayose.


Do you think Gov. Ayodele Fayose’s consistent criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari is right?

On the contrary, we respect elders in Yorubaland. It is in other places that some people think that all animals are equal, whereas in actual fact, not all animals are equal. In politics a young man can stand up to raise an issue, but I personally think that it is not right to abuse the President or to insult him.

You are insulting the whole nation, when you are insulting the president, or when you are abusing him, you are abusing the whole range of people who believe in him and put him there. I don’t think it is right    for any governor or anybody at all to abuse the country and abuse the president.

You can make suggestion to him as to what you think should be done in certain areas, but nobody, either culturally and whichever consideration you put it, should abuse the President.

But we must respect those in higher authority, even if it is your opponent, you must try to respect and accommodate them. I don’t think it is right to abuse or make negative remarks about a well know leader. I don’t think it is proper.



Governor Fayose has been raising alarm for some time now that President Buhari is planning to use the outcome of the Military probe into the alleged partisanship of its officers in Ekiti 2014 governorship election to unseat him, do you think this fear has basis?

I learnt that the military disciplined their men as regard some misdemeanour, which means they must have got certain facts.

The only thing I feel is that if the Federal Government feels that the election had been wrongly interpreted to bring the wrong man here, they would start with the Independent National Electoral Commission, if INEC now admit that they use terrorism or oppression of somebody to declare the wrong candidate.

Or if they found a fault in the process, intimidation, oppression, can that be used as a basis for removing the Governor, would that be sufficient reason for removing him. Because he says they are threatening to remove him. How are they going to remove him? Who will make pronouncement for his removal? Is it the court,    the Federal Government or INEC? The fear of the Governor, would definitely create an atmosphere of fear for all the members of his Government. I think his fear is unfounded.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/attacks-on-buhari-fayose-lacks-yoruba-training-olumilua/

I Will Rather Die In Jail Than For Ohaneze Ndigbo To Claim Credit... Nnamdi Kanu

*IPOB disowns, warns Ohanaeze over negotiation for his release

By Anayo Okoli & Chimaobi Nwaiwu

Nnewi—The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB has warned those who are claiming to be representing the group, including the members of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and its youth wing to stop such move, that nobody speaks or represents them, unless such a person or persons are designated officers of IPOB worldwide.


The group also said that its leader Mr. Kanu said he would rather die in jail than for the Ohanaeze Ndigbo to claim the glory of his release as he has no business with the Igbo Socio cultural organization.

”I will rather die in jail than for Ohanaeze Ndigbo to claim the glory of my release,“ Kanu reportedly said.

IPOB in a statement signed by its United Kingdom spokesmen, Dr Clifford Iroanya and Emma Mmezu, a lawyer said: “We are in court and our wish is to expose the fraudulent charge of treasonable felony before the whole world. At the end of this case, the corrupt and compromised segment of the Nigerian judiciary will be publicly disgraced.

“Our march to freedom is unstoppable; this is something Buhari ought to know. We have come to die for Biafra if that is what it will take to be free. Our resolve should not be underestimated. As our leader will always say, “Nigeria will kill us, we will kill them but in the end, we will win.”

IPOB reaction follows an alarm raised from Enugu yesterday by some of the group’s members that some people suspected to be Ohanaeze Ndigbo and their youth wing were impersonating IPOB leaders in Enugu, claiming to be representing IPOB in meeting with some American officials who were in Nigeria to have a meeting with the group on the release of their leader. IPOB officials said such a negotiation would need the designated presence and contribution of IPOB members, but they were not informed.

“The people went ahead to speak for IPOB when they do not have the power and authorization of the group to speak for them.

“People alleged to be members of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Ohanaeze Youth wing were said to have met with some Americans at Nike Lake Resort Hotel between 6pm and 7pm Saturday evening.”

Information about the alleged meeting at the hotel was said to have gotten the attention of the United Kingdom spokespersons of IPOB, who felt embarrassed by the meeting and some of the demands the people claiming to be representing IPOB said should be done for the group for peace to reign.

“If any country or group is coming to Nigeria to discuss anything concerning IPOB and the release or freedom of our incarcerated leader and Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnandi Kanu, it is not Ohanaeze Ndigbo or their youth wing that will speak for us because they are not our members and so, cannot represent or speak for us. We urged the Americans who came for the meeting that the alleged representatives of IPOB did not represent or have our support. Nobody speaks or represents IPOB except its principal and designated officers.

“We learnt that they cornered some Americans who came to Enugu to have audience with the IPOB over the way forward on the issue of Biafra agitation and the continued incarceration of our leader Mr. Nnamdi Kanu. We want to let the world know that they do not have authority to speak or represent us. They are on their own and should be ignored.

“We want to use this opportunity to tell the Americans that came and the world that the people who claimed to have represented IPOB in the meeting were impostors, they are not members of IPOB, they are the usual Ohanaeze contractors who will always condemn IPOB, but will be fast to hijack anything good that is coming to the South East states through IPOB. They do not have our support and will never represent us in anything.

“We want to tell the representatives of the American government who met with them at Nike Lake Resort Hotel between 6pm and 7pm Friday evening to ignore them and whatever discussion concerning IPOB they had with them, because it does not represent our views or demands as IPOB members” they said.

Denying allegation
But in a swift reaction, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, OYC, denied that it was working to trade off MASSOB/IPOB, saying that it has rather continued to work hard to secure the release of the detained leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.

Reacting to the allegation that it held discussion with certain USA Embassy Group on the Biafran agitation where it allegedly traded off both MASSOB and IPOB, the group denied the allegation in a statement which read: “The attention of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council is drawn to a rumour peddled by some enemies of Ndigbo and busy body alarmists to the effect that a USA-based delegation that came to Nigeria held discussions with the National leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council and at the purported meeting, the Biafran cause was betrayed by the Ohanaeze Youth Council.

“This story and rumour is a blatant lie. Nothing like that happened. It’s the figment of imagination of the rumour peddlers.”

“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council had been at the forefront of the release of the Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu. They have always stood and called on the Federal Government to be fair, just and equitable to Ndigbo. They have interacted and continued to interact with MASSOB/IPOB leaders with a view to finding an amicable solution to the issue on ground.

“We call on all Igbos, MASSOB/IPOB members and Nigerians to disregard the rumour which is completely false. We must continue to seek for ways to address the issues and challenges confronting the Igbo nation within the contest of a United Nigeria that is just equitable and fair to all.

“We will not be deterred by the blackmail from enemies of Ndigbo in other to distract us. Radio Biafra should cross check their facts before broadcasting. Our advice to Biafra agitators in diaspora is to confirm any Information before disseminating it as we believe that self determination is a just cause but should be through referendum.

“Finally, dialogue is the best way of resolving conflicts, as we are the major stakeholder in Igbo land, we are at the final stage to see Nnamdi Kanu regain his freedom and no threatening calls and messages from enemies of Ndigbo will ever distract Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth council worldwide from playing the same historic role the late Senator Uche Chukwumerije played to release then Ralph Uwazurike and Uche Madu from detention, as only political solution remains the way to free Freedom Fighters worldwide.

“The National President of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council worldwide, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro will continue to work assiduously with other stakeholders to see that Nnamdi Kanu regains his freedom soonest”, the statement signed by the OYC Secretary, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike said.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/biafra-ill-rather-die-in-prison-than-for-ohanaeze-to-claim-credit-for-my-release-kanu-2/

FG Appoints Pwc As Growth And Employment Project Administrator

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) a professional services firm has been engaged by the Federal Government as the Grant Administrator for the Growth and Employment (GEM) Project. The GEM project is an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) and supported by the World Bank.

Dr. Bert Odiaka, Partner and Head of PwC’s advisory service who disclosed this said, “PwC is excited about this opportunity to be part of such an important project, which will create numerous opportunities for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME's) in Nigeria, as well as impact overall economic growth and non-oil revenue for Nigeria”.

The project aims to provide technical assistance and grants in support of bright ideas from firms across Nigeria operating in any of the following sectors: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Hospitality, Entertainment, Light manufacturing, and Construction. Access to GEM support is designed to be routed through the Business Innovation and Growth (BIG) platform.

The Business Innovation and Growth platform (BIG) is an online platform which will be the main channel through which the Growth and Employment (GEM) Project assistance is made available to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs), building the capacity of firms and helping them to organize, in order to facilitate better access to finance.

On the qualifications requirement for the grant, Odiaka said that a firm must be operating in the GEM sectors in Nigeria and must be a for-profit private sector company, partnership or sole trader adding that unregistered firms or entrepreneurs can be admitted to the BIG Platform.

In his words: “A firm must be operating in any of five GEM Sectors which include Construction, Entertainment, ICT, Light Manufacturing, Hospitality and Tourism. Firm’s business does not entail the production or distribution of weapons, alcoholic beverages, tobacco or/and gambling, or any activities in contradiction with the Nigerian constitution and must have no more than five hundred (500) full-time employees”.

During the launch of the BIG platform in Abuja recently, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah said that it will create employment through fostering the growth of MSMEs, which in his words are considered the unsung heroes of our economy.

https://www.pwc.com/ng/en/press-room/fg-appoints-pwc-as-growth-and-employment-project-administrator.html

FG Removes 23,846 Ghost Workers From Government Payroll

The Nigerian government said on Sunday that about 23,846 ghost workers were being removed monthly from its payroll.

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said consequently about N2.293 billion was reduced from the total salary bill for the ministries, departments and agencies MDAs for February 2016 when compared to December 2015 when the BVN audit process commenced.

The minister said the ghost workers were uncovered in payrolls of various MDAs during the ongoing bank verification number (BVN)-based staff audit and enrolment to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

The BVN is a unique number that identifies each bank’s customer for “Know Your Customer” (KYC) purposes.

The use of BVNs, rather than physical appearance of workers for biometric capture at the initial stage of verification, has significantly simplified and accelerated the progress of the payroll audit process and reduced the cost of implementation.

The BVN platform to audit and sanitise the salary payment system, ministry of finance sources said, has so far checked the details of about 312,000 civil servants currently enrolled on IPPIS, a development that has led to the discovery of a high level of irregularities in salary payment.

During the audit, names of some civil servants whose salaries were being processed were found to be inconsistent with those linked to the bank accounts into which salaries were paid.

Individuals in this category were therefore found to have either been receiving salaries from multiple sources in different MDAs, or were ghost workers.
The spokesperson to minister, Festus Akanbi, explained that the figure represented a percentage of the total number of ghost workers that have been receiving salary from the various MDAs.

“Further investigation into other suspected cases of non-existent workers will continue in conjunction with operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),” Mr. Akanbi said.

He said the federal government was also pursuing the recovery of salary balances in bank accounts as well as any pension contributions in respect of the workers whose names have since been removed from the payrolls.

The removal of the affected names, the spokesperson said, were being undertaken in active collaboration with the concerned banks and the National Pension Commission (PENCOM).

Equally, the Ministry said the Military Pension Board has revised its due pension contributions payable on a monthly basis by N575million following its annual verification exercise for military retirees.

The Board said the exercise had cut down on the number of pensioners by 19,203 as a result of deaths since the last verification exercise in 2012.

To reduce personnel cost, which constitutes over 40 per cent of government total expenditure, the federal government has said it would not relent on efforts aimed at sustaining the periodic verification programme on a regular basis.

Part of that effort would to continue strengthening its payroll control systems, apart from plans to undertake periodic checks, using the computer-assisted audit techniques under its new Continuous Audit Programme.

“This will ensure that all payments are accurate and valid,” Mr. Akanbi said.
“Requirements for new entrants into the Federal Civil Service have also been enhanced to prevent the introduction of fictitious employees in the payrolls in future,” he said.

The ongoing exercise, which Mr. Akanbi explained was part of the cost-saving and anti-corruption agenda of the present administration, would be key to funding the deficit in the 2016 budget.
Savings from the exercise would ultimately help reduce the amount to be borrowed to finance the budget.


On recent calls by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) for members of the panel investigating cases of indicted civil servants to be drawn from both government and labour, the Minister said the request would be difficult to meet, as the investigations were of a criminal nature and therefore the responsibility of the appropriate investigative agencies.

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/199246-nigeria-announces-removal-of-23846-ghost-workers-from-government-payroll.html

Abba Moro To Be Arraigned Today Over NIS Recruitment Scam

Abuja—After being detained for almost a week, former Interior Minister, Abba Moro, will be arraigned today before Justice Anwuli Chikere of the Federal High Court Abuja, to answer to charges of abuse of procurement process and diversion of public funds preferred against him and four others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.


The EFCC is slamming 11-count charge him and four others for allegedly collecting N676.6 million from 676,675 job seekers in the fatal Nigerian Immigration Service recruitment exercise in 2014.

Moro, a permanent secretary in the ministry at the time, Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, a deputy director in the ministry, F. O Alayebami, one Mahmood Ahmadu (at large), and the contracting firm given the recruitment job, Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd, are being accused of defrauding 676, 675,000 Nigerian applicants of N676,675,000.

The EFCC said N202,500,000 of the amount was spent on buying No. 1, Lahn Crescent, Maitama, Abuja while N120, 100,000 was used to upgrade No.2, Sigure Close, Off Monrovia Street, Wuse II Abuja.

The commission said the recruitment firm, Drexel Tech Nigeria Limited and Mahmood Ahmadu converted N101, 200,000 to US dollars for personal use.

The accused are also alleged to have contravened the Public Procurement Act, No. 65 of 2007 in the contract awards by not following the necessary procedure laid down by the government.

The commission said the recruitment firm, Drexel Tech Nigeria Limited, and Mahmood Ahmadu converted N101, 200,000 to US dollars for personal use.

The charges are:
“That you Abba Moro, Anastasia Daniel-Nwobia, F.O Alayebami, Mahmood Ahmadu (at large) and Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd on or about the 17th of March 2013 at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court with intent to defraud conspired to induce a total number of 676,675 Nigerian job applicants seeking employment with Nigerian Immigration Service to deliver property to wit: cumulative sum of N676,675,000 which sum represents the sum of N1,000 per applicant under the false pretence that the money represents payment for their online recruitment exercise into Nigerian Immigration Service and which pretence you knew was false, contrary to Section 8 and 1(1) (b) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences
Act, No. 14 of 2006

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/02/n676m-nis-recruitment-scam-abba-moro-4-others-to-be-arraigned-today/