ALGON seeks four years tenure for council Chairmen By Dennis Agbo

BAN ON OPEN GRAZING: ALGON backs Southern govs' The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, has disclosed that top of its submission at the recently concluded national assembly zonal public hearings on the amendment of the 1999 constitution was its quest to extend the tenure of local government chairmen to statutory four years. ALGON, therefore, asked its members and affiliates to pursue the matter through persistent engagement with both National and States legislators to ensure that the amendment is enacted in the process of the constitution amendment. ALGON also said that it is asking for an increment of the federal allocation to the councils from its present 20.60 to 35.5 percent, so as to make the local government system more effective in its grassroots development. Furthermore, the association wants the state and local government joint accounts to be scrapped in order to free the councils from the stranglehold and domination of the state governments. ALGON made the disclosures at its third rotational National Executive Council meeting, just concluded in Enugu, where its National Publicity Secretary, Hon. Solomon Onah disclosed that other resolutions reached at the meeting included ALGON’s support to the issue of State Police so as to curtail the rising insecurity challenges. On the issue of the ALGON Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Centres, the NEC expressed its dissatisfaction and displeasure with the Contractor over the limited and poor number of projects executed across the country. NEC directed that the Contractor should move back to the site within one week and that an additional 300 PHCs should be completed, fully equipped, and delivered to ALGON on or before the end of August 2021. The association threatened to take necessary steps to enforce compliance by the Contractor. Onah said that ALGON has taken the initiative of bringing to an end ‘Multiple Taxation of goods and services, and illegal roadblocks across the country with National Anti Multiple Taxation Scheme, NAMTAXS, and National Transit Insurance Scheme, NATIS. “This will optimally address food security challenges, reduce the cost of goods and inflation in the country and strengthen the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the Local Governments and Area Councils in collaboration with the States, Federal Government, and their stakeholders. NEC is happy that the projects will seek to assemble all the road users and capture them into its tax net. NEC equally set up a five (5) man committee to properly harmonize all modalities for their take-off and report back in two weeks for implementation,” Onah said. On the sustainable paradigm shift to develop the capacity of members and collaborate with Local and International Agencies, NEC approved continuous engagement with key stakeholders. They also passed a vote Of Confidence on the National President, Hon Kolade David Alabi, for his inclusive leadership. Vanguard

Four arrested over online abuse of England players Agency Report

Four people have so far been arrested in connection with online abuse directed at England players, the UK Football Policing Unit said on Thursday. Investigations continue into abusive posts targeting Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after England’s defeat on penalty kicks to Italy in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday. A statement issued on Thursday read, “Following England’s defeat against Italy on Sunday a torrent of racist comments aimed at some of the team’s black players appeared on platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. “A hate crime investigation is under way by the UKFPU, with a dedicated team of investigators working their way through a large number of reports from across the country. “So far, dozens of data applications have been submitted to social media companies and four people have been arrested by local police forces.” Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs’ Council football policing lead, said, “The racial abuse aimed at our own players following Sunday night’s game is utterly vile. “It has quite rightly shocked and appalled people across the country.” On Wednesday Greater Manchester Police confirmed a 37-year-old man from Ashton-upon-Mersey had been arrested after social media posts were directed towards England players following Sunday’s match. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the Government was extending the scope of football banning orders to include online abuse. Banning orders exclude people from attending matches for between a three and 10-year period. (dpa/NAN)

NDDC: Forensic auditors uncovered 12,128 abandoned projects— Akpabio.By Chris Ochayi

*…says why Niger Delta remains most peaceful *…as UN backs FG on exercise Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has said that the interim reports from the ongoing forensic verification exercise of activities of Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, have uncovered over 12,128 abandoned projects in the region. Senator Akpabio, who noted that the abandoned projects have no specific ownership attached to them, stressed further that the development was against the 9,080 projects listed by the government to be considered in the verification process. The minister, who made the disclosure during the visit of the United Nations, Deputy Secretary-General, Hajia Amina Mohammed, to him in Abuja, however, sought for the collaboration with United Nations to maintain peace and development in the Niger Delta region, which he said remains the most peaceful region in Nigeria. According to the minister, “Most of these abandoned projects have become sanctuaries to criminals. Projects were embarked on without consultations. “There was no initial coordination. So, as part of its mandate, the Ministry has adopted a programme called ‘Strategic Implementation Work Plan’, SIWP, which will coordinate the activities of development partners and stakeholders to prevent duplication of projects in the region.” Akpabio, the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State, explained that the Ministry is developing a programme “Catch them young” where young people in primary and secondary schools are enlightened on the importance of peace and the dangers of destroying oil installations, which has serious impact on the ecosystem and the nation’s economy. He said that since the discovery of crude oil in the region in 1956, several interventionist agencies had been set up to address the social and environmental degradation of the area, but they all failed to provide the needed succor to the people. “In other to address the situation, the present administration decided to set up a forensic auditing process to access and evaluate the achievements that have been made by NDDC in the region since its existence.” The minister acknowledged that Mohammed was a frontrunner in championing the course of the Niger Delta region and the Ogoni clean-up during her tenure as Minister of Environment. Responding, the United Nations, Deputy Secretary-General, Hajia Amina Mohammed, noted that issues bordering on the Niger Delta region are peculiar to the heart of the UN and would do everything within UN programmes to address all issues of disillusionment in people’s expectations. She commended the efforts of the Federal Government and the Ministry in the way they have handled the Niger Delta affairs as well as move to sanitise the NDDC. Mohammed laid emphasis on the need to maintain peace and stability in the region, because without peace there cannot be any meaningful development, especially when the aspirations and rights of the people are not recognized. In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr. Babayo Ardo, stated that the Ministry is charged with the responsibility of ensuring developmental programmes and supervises the NDDC. He added that the Ministry as part of its mandate over the years had provided infrastructure and high impact programmes for youths and women, and the Ministry is willing to collaborate with the UN system in actualising its programmes to improve living standards. Vanguard

FG vows to recover N37bn from airlines, restates Emirates’ ban by Stephen Angbulu

The Federal Government has vowed to recover a total of N37bn from airlines still owing various categories of debts. This is just as the government stated that the ban on Emirates Airlines will continue. The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, revealed this at this week’s ministerial press briefing organised by the Presidential Communication Team at the presidential villa, Abuja. Sirika who said airlines owe federal agencies N37 billion also explained that Arik owes between N13 billion and N14 billion. The minister added that construction firm, Bi-Courtney, owes the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria about N14 billion. He said the aviation service provider had not repaid any part of that amount in its last 13 years of operations. This, he said, contravenes the existing agreement between it and the government. Sirika stated that the debt is spread across government agencies including the FAAN, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, among others. When asked about the disbursement of the N5bn COVID-19 palliative to aviation stakeholders, the minister said it was initially decided that airlines owing aviation parastatals should not benefit but the President wanted to cushion the effect of the pandemic on businesses. Sirika added, “So, this brings us to the question of the money owed to the parastatals. It is about N37bn that they owe them, especially, Arik, the culprit. I know they owe us about N13bn, N14bn “If you owe FAAN, you owe the government. Bi-Courtney owes about N14bn as of the last count. It has not paid a single dime since the time he started to run the terminal building. “And we have not ceased giving him electricity, water, fire cover, and so on and so forth. He hasn’t paid a dime for 13 years. And if we go to shut his doors, the media, of course, and Nigerian people will say we’re killing businesses but he is killing our services too because we have to have that money to provide for that toilet that you’re seeing in Lagos airport. Most of these are living by their IGRs and so, we need the money but we will go after the money.” Sirika explained that the company flouted government regulations from its inception when it built the Lagos terminal in the wrong location. He explained, “They did not build in the original location that we gave. They moved to another location. They also annexed what is not part of the agreement, like the car park and the school and so on and started to build a hotel, which is not part of the agreement. But that’s another issue. “So, they produced a terminal. But when you produce a terminal, you should be paying the agreed money back to the government over time to a point where you will return the terminal building. “In this case, it was supposed to be 12 years because he didn’t do anything ab initio. After two years of doing nothing, he now quickly built when already two, three, four years has gone from 12 years.” Sirika added that in those 13 years, the firm had not paid FAAN or any agency a single dime for operating the terminal. “So, yes I said, he has not paid a dime to us and is still there and we are providing electricity for him. We are providing security to him. We are providing fire cover to him, and so on so forth. And we’re providing our own runway for him to land. We are also providing our own apron because it is our space, our land. He is not paying a dime yet,” he said. Speaking about the suspension of Emirates Airlines’ operation in Nigeria, the minister said the government took that step because the company is “discriminatory against our country and it is not acceptable.” He said there is no resumption date yet. According to him, Dubai demands that Nigerians cannot fly to UAE except through Emirates airline and if they choose to do so through other airlines like Ethiopia, Qatar, Turkish or other airlines, they must remain in the country of that airline for two weeks if they are Nigerians before they continue to Dubai. “Nigeria considers this as discriminatory and will not allow that to stand,” Sirika said. He said with the 200 million travelling population from Nigeria, and the huge foreign exchange from travellers, “we cannot afford to be hoodwinked to their own terms and conditions.”

Grass-cutting Contract Scam: Ex-SGF, Babachir Lawal’s lawyer questions EFCC’s phone evidence

The former SGF’s lawyer tries to suggest that a phone brought by the EFCC as evidence in the grass-cutting contract scam trial may have been hacked. The legal team of Babachir Lawal, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), on Thursday, took a prosecution witness to task over pieces of phone evidence tendered against him in his ongoing corruption trial. Fatima Umar, a deputy head of Digital Forensic Laboratory of the EFCC, who earlier gave her evidence-in-chief as the third prosecution witness in March, was cross-examined by Mr Lawal’s defence team on Thursday. Mr Lawal and his co-defendants are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before the FCT High Court in Jabi, Abuja, on amended 10 counts of criminal conspiracy, fraud, and diversion of over N544million belonging to the federal government. The defendants were accused of fraudulently converting the N544million proceeds of the grass-cutting contracts which Mr Lawal, as then SGF, allegedly awarded to the companies in which he had interests. Mr Lawal is being prosecuted along with his co-defendants, comprising his younger brother, Hamidu Lawal, Suleiman Abubakar, Monday Apeh, and two companies – Rholavision Engineering Ltd and Josmon Technologies Ltd. They all pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were re-arraigned on November 30, 2020, before the new trial judge Charles Agbaza, who was assigned the case after the first one died last year. Mr Lawal, the first SGF appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari, was removed from office because of the scandal in 2017. Evidence Ms Umar’s evidence-in-chief, in essence, tried to link Mr Lawal to one Musa Bulani, whose roles in the transactions leading to the charges are not immediately clear. The EFCC’s digital analyst tried to achieve this examining an iPhone 7 collected from Mr Bulani. She told the court how she received a request from the anti-graft agency’s investigation team to search for deleted SMS, iMessages, phone logs, documents and any other item that could have been possibly deleted on the device. She described how she used ‘manual and logical extraction’ to extract the deleted items, adding that she came across the name “SGF” using the cellebrite camera. The results of the extraction were burned into a CD using the HP workstation, printed out using the HP LaserJet Pro m402dn, and handed over to the investigators, she said. Cross-examination on hacking At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Mr Lawal’s legal team led by Akin Olujinmi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, suggested while cross-examining Ms Umar that the phone analysed by her could have been hacked and data implanted into it. Fielding questions from the defence lawyer, Ms Umar confirmed that as a digital expert, she knew that the internet offered various possibilities in terms of use. She admitted being aware of the activities of hackers on the internet and their ability to take over a third party’s device without physically touching it or obtaining the consent or authorisation of the owner. Ms Umar, however, said that before a device could be hacked and data transferred into it using Bluetooth facility, pairing of devices must be achieved first. She said this ultimately meant that the owner of the device would have knowledge of the transfer. Mr Olujimi also asked Ms Umar to confirm if there is a possibility of such pairing and subsequent transfer of data happening when the device is in the possession of another person without the knowledge of the owner. She confirmed the possibility, but said it was not the case in the suit. More questions on hacking The defence lawyer noted that the phone which was taken from one Musa Bulani by one Ibrahim Ahmad, an EFCC’s operative in November 2017, did not get to Ms Umar until March 9, 2018. He then asked Ms Umar to confirm the chain of custody of the device during the period and confirm if the phone was not tampered with and incriminating evidence planted in it during the period. Responding, Ms Umar confirmed that the phone was in perfect condition when it was brought for data extraction and analysis, accompanied by consent, specific analysis and chain of custody forms. Ms Umar said she had to interact with the owner of the phone as he needed to be brought to the laboratory because the phone had a pass code. “He was brought to the lab because in the consent form which was supposed to know the state and information of the device, whether it had a password or not and in this case. “In filling the form, he included a password that was wrong, so I requested him to be brought to give the correct password,” she explained. Mr Olujinmi, in response, pointed out that the evidence about the phone being passworded was not in any document tendered before the court. In conclusion, Mr Olujinmi asked Ms Umar if she could hack into another person’s phone with her knowledge as a digital forensic expert. She answered in the affirmative, but added “not in this case.” Adjournment The judge, Mr Agbaza, on Thursday, adjourned the matter till October 6 and 7 for cross-examination of the witness by the remaining four defence lawyers. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that at the previous proceedings in June, the court rejected some documents tendered by the prosecution following the objection raised by the defence. Agreeing with the defence, the judge ruled that the documents failed to meet the conditions of admissibility. (NAN)

Inbound traveller imports COVID-19 Delta variant into Nigeria by Dayo Ojerinde

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Thursday said it had detected a confirmed case of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, also known as lineage B.1.617.2. The NCDC in a statement said the variant was detected in a traveller to Nigeria, following the routine travel test required of all international travellers and genomic sequencing at the NCDC National Reference Laboratory, Abuja. The deadly Delta variant is recognised by the World Health Organisation as a variant of concern, given its increased transmissibility. The variant has been detected in over 90 countries and is expected to spread to more countries, according to the NCDC. The NCDC Head of Communications, Dr Yahya Disu, in the statement said the variant had been linked to a surge in cases in countries where “it is the dominant strain” in circulation. “There are ongoing studies to understand the impact of the variant on existing vaccines and therapeutics. As part of Nigeria’s COVID-19 response, NCDC has been working with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, African Centre for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, and other laboratories within the national networ, to carry out genomic sequencing. “This is to enable the detection of variants of concern, and initiate response activities. All data on variants from Nigeria have been published on GISAID, a global mechanism for sharing sequencing data. Given the global risk of spread of the Delta variant, positive samples from international travellers to Nigeria are sequenced regularly,” the statement partly reads. Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has said the state would not relent to punish international travellers evading isolation. He said, “Anybody who tries to bypass the Presidential Steering Committee regulations will have their passports deactivated and will face sanctions when they are brought to the attention of the law enforcement agencies. “We have a number of people that we published in the newspapers who need to present themselves to the Lagos State Government and explain why they have chosen to beat the guidelines. We are in the process of applying sanctions to many people or deactivate their passports. “We are expecting a large number of children returning to the country from Europe for the summer vacation. We know that the Delta strain is circulating in Europe and, therefore, these sanctions are very important.” PUNCH.

Madam Kemi Adeosun: Please don’t push your luck, By Wale Oloko

Mrs Adeosun deserves our collective gratitude in taking the courage to go to court to challenge a grey area in the NYSC law. Importantly, Madam Adeosun must know that what led to the uproar and strident calls for her removal was not whether she had a NYSC certificate or needed the certificate to be able to hold the office of a minister, but the fact that she presented a forged Exemption Certificate to the authorities. The forgery was not discovered until the press exposed the lie. On July 7, a Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that Mrs Kemi Adeosun, as of the time she was appointed a Minister in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari, did not need an NYSC Discharge Certificate or any form of waiver to be able to hold such a high public office or contest any election in Nigeria. The Presiding Judge, Honourabe Justice Taiwo Taiwo, declared that, as a British citizen who graduated from a United Kingdom university at 22 years of age in 1989, Mrs Adeosun was unqualified to participate in the NYSC programme meant for Nigerian graduates. As reported in online edition of This Day newspaper of July 8, Honourabe Justice Taiwo argued that when Mrs Adeosun returned to Nigeria and became a Nigerian citizen at over 30 years old, she had become ineligible to participate in the NYSC scheme, adding that it would have been a criminal offence if she had participated in the NYSC under any guise. For clearly understandable reasons, the former Minister took a victory tour across the social media to congratulate herself, family, lawyers and just about every other person in her orbit. Hear her: “The court, presided over by Honourabe Justice Taiwo Taiwo, ruled that the constitution does not require me to present my first degree certificate or any other certificate, including the NYSC certificate, to be appointed a Minister. More importantly, he also ruled that I was not eligible to perform NYSC by virtue of the constitution.” The triumphant former minister went further to declare that “the ruling vindicates me after a very traumatic spell.” Basking in victory, Mrs Adeosun made sure to throw in a veiled threat, declaring that “in light of the court’s ruling, I will at the appropriate time and without hesitation, take all further steps necessary within the law to protect my reputation.” Mrs Adeosun deserves our collective gratitude in taking the courage to go to court to challenge a grey area in the NYSC law that affects many young Nigerians born to Nigerian parents abroad with the right of dual citizenship. Like many Nigerian parents and their offsprings who would benefit from Honourable Justice Taiwo’s ruling, I must congratulate Mrs Adeosun on her legal victory. Indeed, Madam Adeosun has every right to protect her reputation, but she must not push her luck too far by threatening legal action against her traducers. Nigerians have come to accept the fact that she was unfortunate to mix with the wrong crowd or some persons who sought and got the forged NYSC certificate on her behalf, only to expose the big lie when apparently they could not bend her to do their bidding. Such shenanigans are some of the reasons not a few decent Nigerians stay far away from politics to protect their reputations. Apparently Madam Adeosun could not resist the lure and glitter of politics; hence she was forced to swallow a poison pill in the public square. On a personal level, my unsolicited advice to you, Madam, is to not push your luck. Even in your treatise on social media, you conveniently choose not to answer whether you presented a forged certificate or not; a question that agitated the minds of not a few Nigerians while this debacle lasted. You do not need to answer that now, because even though the past may be a prologue, it is not destiny. Importantly, Madam Adeosun must know that what led to the uproar and strident calls for her removal was not whether she had a NYSC certificate or needed the certificate to be able to hold the office of a minister, but the fact that she presented a forged Exemption Certificate to the authorities. The forgery was not discovered until the press exposed the lie. The former Minister must not also forget that the judgment was silent on the vexatious issue of a forged NYSC certificate, because that was never an issue before the court. The court only made a ruling based on the relief she herself sought, namely, that she did not require the NYSC certificate to be appointed as a Minister. That should be good enough for Madam Adeosun, especially because the threat to retrieve a ruined reputations from a highly charged public interest disputation can be a slippery slope. Nigerians are a very forgiving people; they have moved on, so Madam Adeosun should let sleeping dogs lie. On a personal level, my unsolicited advice to you, Madam, is to not push your luck. Even in your treatise on social media, you conveniently choose not to answer whether you presented a forged certificate or not; a question that agitated the minds of not a few Nigerians while this debacle lasted. You do not need to answer that now, because even though the past may be a prologue, it is not destiny. Your colourful launch of the DashMe Foundation, with the Vice President in attendance, amply demonstrated your continuing star power and potential for a great comeback. Keep your eye on the ball and do not look back, for the past is gone and only the future beckons. And now, Madam Adeosun, whatever be the case, accept my best wishes for a glorious future where NYSC certificates do not rule the roost.