Wednesday, 29 September 2021
Ishaq Oloyede: Snake charmer By Ray Ekpu
There are two tough positions in Nigeria’s public service whose incumbents deserve tons of public sympathy. The chairmanship of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is one of them. The other is the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Politicians want to “win” elections at all costs so they use money and violence to get things to go their own way. Some parents want their children to get into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions by hook or crook so they and their children do anything fair and foul to secure admission.
So the JAMB office is a yearly theatre of battle and whoever is the Registrar bears the brunt of that battle. Since JAMB was set up in 1978 as the sole examination board for tertiary level institutions, there has been plenty wahala principally for three reasons. One, there are more children eager to go into tertiary institutions than there are vacancies for them. Two, many of the students eager to get in do not qualify by JAMB’s examination standard to have a place. Three, as there are no facilities provided for remedial programmes for these under-achievers, the pressure on JAMB becomes almost unbearable.
So why can’t the country provide a one year remedial programme for those who cannot get into tertiary institutions through JAMB? After one successful year they can get into the first year programme of the universities or polytechnics or colleges of education. I am not unaware of the fact that some universities offer one-year diploma programmes in some courses. Those who do well are promoted into the second year of that course. But you first have to be able to sell your mother into slavery to be able to pay the fees for such programmes. If you don’t have a mother or you have one that you do not want to sell into slavery or she is too old to be purchased as a slave, then I say to you “tough luck.” That is not the kind of programme I am referring to. I am talking of a year’s remedial programme that equips the student to be admitted into the first year programme of any of the universities. This means that the student who is unable to get into the university through JAMB can still get in through the remedial route. The only difference is that he has to put in one extra year to get there.
Why is that not possible today? We used to have this programmes years ago. The answer is that in Nigeria we do things differently. That is why people get into the universities on ridiculously low cut off points. The good thing is that it is the universities that now have to decide on their cut-off points. The dregs will go into universities that do not have high standards while the brilliant ones will aim at the high-flying institutions. These are some of the complicated decisions that JAMB has had to contend with since its inception.
One man who has faced these intractable problems with a great deal of courage, integrity and transparency is the current Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede. Oloyede, 66, is a thorough bred student of Arabic and Islamic Studies, having been trained in Islamic Studies in Agege, Lagos State, Offa, Kwara State and the University of Ibadan before he enrolled for a degree course at the University of Ilorin. In 1981 he was awarded a first class honours Bachelors degree in Arabic Studies. In July 1982, he was appointed an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Religions of the university. He went on to nick a Ph.D in Islamic Studies from his alma mater, University of Ilorin. During his student days he got several scholarships, prizes and awards as an attestation of his exceptional brilliance. Of course, his brilliance cannot be in doubt because Arabic, just as Mandarin or Russian uses its own peculiar alphabets, which are different from the regular alphabets that are used in the English-speaking world. Those hen-scrawls in Mandarin, Russian and Arabic look to me utterly undecipherable. How anyone could decipher them and still got a first class in it is a minor miracle. Arabic lacks the pin-point exactitude of mathematics or engineering so anyone who acquired a first class in it must have the attributes of a genius.
It was no surprise that Oloyede rose like a meteor through the Unilorin university system to become a professor at 41 and the Vice Chancellor of that university at 52 years. He had also been chairman of the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities. In 2015, he was appointed Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Fountain University. He is also Secretary General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. His tour of duty in various positions in the university system (he was also Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration as well as Academics) had amply equipped him for the JAMB job. And when it came he was ready for it.
JAMB is a place where there is always a lot of bustle and brouhaha. There are crooks within the system, who want to corrupt and damage the system for their own selfish ends. There are also crooks outside the system who want to reap unmerited dividends from a corrupted and damaged system. They both work hand in gloves to bring JAMB to a place it does not deserve to be. That was the situation before Oloyede was appointed. Oloyede’s entry brought an electric spark to the place because he put smiles on the faces of the workers whose welfare he took care of. When he started remitting huge funds into the coffers of the Federal Government a blush of pleasure must have risen to President Muhammadu Buhari’s cheeks.
Here are the figures: Between 2010 and 2016, JAMB remitted about N50.7 million to the Federal Government but in 2017 alone Oloyede remitted N5 billion, yes N5 billion, that is 10 times what was remitted by the preceding administration in six years. Let us look at more figures of remittances. In 2011, it was N11.5 million, in 2013 it was N25.3 million. According to the Accountant General’s office there were no remittances at all in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016. But under Oloyede JAMB was turned into a cash cow. Between 2016 and 2020 Oloyede remitted a staggering N28 billion to the government eventhough during this period he had actually reduced the fee for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) from N5, 000 to N3, 500 in 2017.
The impression that Nigerians got of JAMB before Oloyede’s arrival was not that of a possible moneyspinner. It was that of an organisation that needed to be pampered and bottle-fed by the government to do a difficult job that the nation wanted done for the good of all. However, when a former Registrar of JAMB, Professor Adedibu Ojerinde was arraigned on an 18-count charge of alleged fraud and alleged diversion of public funds to the tune of N5.2 billion the scales fell from our eyes. Even though the man is innocent and will remain innocent until convicted, most people never thought that there could be billions in JAMB that could be stolen without the place crashing like a pack of cards. Oloyede has proved that our public institutions can work if people of unimpeachable integrity manage them.
JAMB was not set up as a money-making institution but Oloyede has brought top drawer quality to the management of its affairs and turned a near moribund institution into a thriving money-spinning enterprise. Other government organisations that were specifically set up as money-making enterprises but are gulping money certainly have questions to answer for their incompetence. Oloyede is said to have instituted about 80 innovations which have had the overall impact of blocking leakages, improving the central admissions processing system, curbing illegal admission by streamlining and standardising admission data and generally making JAMB more efficient than hitherto. This is not to say that JAMB is perfect. It is not. Many complaints still exist because JAMB is a human institution and it remains a work in progress.
However, Professor Oloyede has brought unparalleled integrity, transparency and accountability to the management of the institution. He invites stakeholders in education and better society activists to JAMB’s meetings so that they can see, at close range, the range of problems he is dealing with, the methods of complaints resolution and he is willing to accept suggestions for the improvement of the institution. In the management of affairs in Nigeria’s public offices that is rare. That approach helps in fine-tuning ideas through interaction and it gives an inspirational impact to the organisation. It also puts the organisation at the cutting edge of educational admissions administration and makes it able to absorb new ideas and feedback from the viewing, critical public. Oloyede, a man of great courage did not allow himself to be encumbered by what has come to be known derisively as the “Nigerian factor,” the mean and obscene resort to unfair and unwholesome tactics in achieving results. That would have been the quest for worst practices. Instead he looked for innovations outside the system for examples of best practices. That is why JAMB seems to work.
There are two things to remark about Oloyede. He is a muslim. He is a professor. Some Muslims in public office have failed Nigeria by stealing our money and mismanaging our diversity. Some professors have failed Nigeria by rigging elections or harassing female students for sex or male students for money. So Oloyede’s success has nothing to do with his religion or his professorial standing. He is just a good man because it is not the hood that makes the monk or the cassock that makes the priest or the turtleneck that makes the reverend. It is the integrity in him, that rare quality that made him to charm the snakes that were swallowing JAMB’s money before he took office. The snakes vomited the money and where they could not they were put in zoos where they cannot escape. That way he made JAMB’s money inaccessible to greedy snakes.
© 2021 Guardian Newspapers
Tuesday, 28 September 2021
What makes eNaira different from money in your bank account by Victoria Edeme
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s eNaira website has gone live ahead of the October 1 official launch.
According to the website, www.enaira.com, “eNaira is a CB -issued digital currency that provides a unique form of money denominated in Naira.”
Find out what makes the eNaira different from the money in your bank account — according to the apex bank itself.
What is eNaira?
eNaira is a central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a legal tender. It is the digital form of the Naira and will be used just like cash.
What is an eNaira wallet?
The eNaira wallet is a digital storage that holds the eNaira. It is held and managed on a distributed ledger.
The eNaira wallet is required to access, hold and use eNaira.
Is eNaira wallet safe?
Yes. The eNaira system uses a two-factor authentication system in addition to cryptographic encryption to ensure the safety of customers’ wallets and the eNaira holding.
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How are eNaira wallets created?
For smartphone users, download the eNaira app (termed “Speed”) from either the Google Play Store or Apple Store and complete the registration process.
For feature phone users, utilize USSD codes and follow the registration prompts.
How do I connect my eNaira wallet to my bank account?
The eNaira app allows customers to identify a bank of their choice, connect to their bank accounts and perform transactions.
What makes eNaira different from the money in my bank account?
eNaira is the digital form of the cash and is a direct liability on the Central Bank of Nigeria while the customer deposits are direct liabilities on the financial institutions.
How do I resolve failed transactions or raise enquiries on eNaira?
Reach out to the customer support of the bank you selected when registering for eNaira through their available channels which include: phone, email, whatsapp, etc. Disputes will be resolved as soon as possible.
If issues are not resolved within 48 hours, send an email to CBN’s eNaira Customer Support via helpdesk@enaira.com
What are the different tiers of eNaira wallets that I can open as an individual?
These are different tiers of wallets and they include:
September 2021
TIERS CATEGORY REQUIREMENT DAILY LIMIT CUMULATIVE LIMIT
0 No Existing Bank Account NIN verified telephone number 20,000 120,000
1 No Existing Bank Account 50,000 300,000
2 Has an Existing Account BVN + valid means of identification 200,000 500,000
3 Has an Existing Account Tier 2 requirement + public utility receipt 500,000 5,000,000
JUST IN: Jurors find R. Kelly guilty of all charges
Jurors in R. Kelly’s sex trafficking trial in New York said have found him guilty of sex racketeering, involving a scheme to recruit and sexually abuse women, girls and boys.
He was convicted on all nine counts including violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits the transport of “any woman or girl” across state lines for any “immoral purpose.”
He faces life in prison.
The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about nine hours across two days before reaching their unanimous verdict, New York Post reported.
Prosecutors had painted Kelly, 54, as a “predator” who used his fame and a cadre of employees to prey on young victims.
“This case is not about a celebrity who likes to party a lot,” Assistant US Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez said in her opening statement last month.
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“This case is about a predator,” she said.
According to reports, the jurors began Monday by sending the judge a note asking for transcripts of testimony by two former Kelly employees and for a legal clarification.
Deliberations first began on Friday, before the panel of seven men and five women took the weekend off.
The 54-year-old Kelly had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Kelly is best known for the 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly”.
COVID-19: Protesters shut down Edo over compulsory vaccination by Adeyinka Adedipe
Members of civil society organisations and students on Monday took to major streets in Edo State to protest against the compulsory COVID-19 vaccination policy put in place by the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration.
The protesters, who grounded vehicular movement in the metropolis, carried placards bearing inscriptions as: ‘We need security in Edo, not vaccine’; ‘We will resist any form of executive rascality’; ‘Hunger is killing us, not COVID-19’; ‘Obaseki obey court order’; ‘My body is my right’; ‘Share COVID-19 palliative’.
They also threatened to completely shut down government houses, government agencies/parastatals, corporate organisations enforcing ‘no vaccine, no entry’ policies, stressing that the protest of Monday was just a warning.
Speaking at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Edo State Council, the coordinator of the Freedom Ambassador Organisation, Curtis Ogbebor, said they were out to express their displeasure over the compulsory vaccination in the state, noting that other pressing issues such as security should be the governor’s priority and not COVID-19 vaccination.
He said, “We have come out today to send a warning and an advice for him to urgently withdraw that enforcement order. If he refuses to withdraw that order in 48 hours, we will mobilise to shut down the economy of the state. We cannot fold our arms and watch the act of illegality happen in our state.
“There are issues of urgent concern like security which is enshrined in the constitution that the governor is under the law to secure the lives and properties of its citizenry. But as we speak, the governor is not concern about the security and welfare of the people.
“As of now, no street light is working in Edo State; Benin-Auchi Road is not safe to travel on because of bandits, herdsmen and other criminal elements.”
He urged the state governor to also focus on infrastructural development rather than enforcing COVID-19 vaccination.
Also speaking on behalf of students in Edo, National Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Student and Youth Association, Osamudiamen Ogbidi, said students in the state reject the forceful COVID-19 vaccination.
While noting that the protest was just a warning and that students would be mobilised to shut down the state, he said all other youths in the state also reject the compulsory vaccination.
Police threaten clampdown as IPOB declares sit-at-home on October 1 by Tony Okafor and Edward Nnachi
The Ebonyi State Police Command has threatened to deal with any group that foments trouble in the state on October 1, 2021.
Nigeria celebrates its Independence Day annually on October 1.
Ahead of this year’s celebrations to mark Nigeria’s proclamation of independence from British rule on October 1, 1960, the Indigenous People of Biafra, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, on Saturday, issued a sit-at-home order in the five South-East states.
The secessionist group also banned the flying of the Nigerian flag in the region on that day.
He said, “IPOB has declared October 1, 2021, total shutdown in Biafraland as a sign of our rejection of the evil construct called Nigeria and there shall be no movement in Biafraland on this day.
“Also, IPOB has declared from September 25, 2021, that all Nigerian flags mounted anywhere in Biafraland must be brought down, banks exceptional. IPOB leadership will communicate to banks directly and give them the reason they must peacefully bring down the Nigeria flag on their banking premises before we do it ourselves in our own way.”
But the state Commissioner of Police, Aliyu Garba, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abakaliki, on Saturday night, said operatives of the command will not fold their hands and watch a group of persons unleash illegality in the state.
He said, “This portrays illegality and we will not allow it. It is not the norm in our country and it’s unconstitutional. Our job is to maintain law and order so we will not take it lightly with anybody or group of persons who try to disrupt the peace of the state. We will deal with such a person or group of persons.”
According to the police spokesperson in the state, DSP Loveth Odah, the commissioner had rolled down an operational order to men of the command to prevent crimes or illegality in the state during and after the Independence Day celebrations.
She said, “We have been briefed and we are ready to contain every illegal act of any group of persons come October 1. We have already been given operational orders to this effect by the Commissioner of Police and we will not tolerate any act capable of causing a breach of the peace. On October 1, we will prevent any group from removing the Nigerian flag in the state.”
Meanwhile, IPOB has urged residents in the South-East states to celebrate Ambazonia’s 4th independence anniversary on October 1, 2021.
Ambazonia, also known as Ambaland, is a secessionist, self-declared nation in Cameroon, comprising the English speaking North-West and South-West Region of Cameroon.
The two separatist groups formed an alliance in 2020 to drive their push for self-determination from the two West African neighbours.
The statement read in part, “In line with the Memorandum of Understanding and alliance between Ambazonia and Biafra nations, we wish to ask Biafrans to support and celebrate Ambazonia’s Independence anniversary on October 1, 2021. We advise Biafrans to stand with the Ambazonian people as they celebrate their God-given freedom and independence.”
IPOB’s sit-at-home observed every Monday has grounded socio-economic activities in the South-East states namely Ebonyi, Imo, Anambra, Enugu and Abia with many residents abiding by the order. Despite the governors’ assurances to the people to ignore the order and go about their normal business on Mondays, they continued to obey it even when IPOB suspended the order.
The group announced the order in the region to protest the Federal Government’s prosecution of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, for offences bordering on treasonable felony. Kanu is advocating Igbo Nation. After announcing the suspension of the sit-home which the people didn’t obey perhaps in solidarity or for fear of attack, IPOB noted that the order would be observed only on the days Kanu would appear in court. It also threatened a one-month sit-at-home protest in the region if Kanu was not brought to court on October 2, 2021.
t PUNCH.
Why dead Nigerians’ names are still on voter register – INEC chair by Solomon Odeniyi
The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said the inability of the commission to get adequate data on death in the country has hindered it from removing names of dead Nigerians from the voter register.
He added that INEC had been periodically removing ineligible persons and multiple registrants using technology but the technology cannot assist the commission to identify and remove dead persons from its record.
Yakubu said this when he received the Chairman of the National Population Commission, Nasir Kwarra, at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja on Friday.
He, however, called on the NPC to ensure that data on dead persons in the country is made available to the commission for a proper clean up of the voter register.
He said, “Perhaps you may wish to start by availing us with the list of prominent Nigerians who have passed on, civil and public servants compiled from the official records of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other Nigerians from hospital and funeral records across the country.
“We appreciate that this is a herculean task but that is partly why we have the National Population Commission. We are confident that the NPC has the capacity to do so. This information is critical for INEC to enhance the credibility of the National Register of Voters”.
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According to Yakubu, the NPC and INEC have embarked on one of the most imaginative and extensive inter-agency collaborations in Nigeria in the area of delimitation of boundaries of electoral constituencies.
Earlier, Kwarra said the NPC was awaiting the approval of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), to conduct a national census by the first quarter of 2022.
According to him, the Enumeration Area Demarcation exercise which is a prelude to a national census was still ongoing, adding that INEC aims to complete the enumeration by October.
Copyright PUNCH
EXPOSED: HOW NIGERIAN AIRWAYS WAS KILLED AND THE MEN WHO EMBEZZLED THE AGENCY TO DEATH. - Agency Reports
On Tuesday, as the Nigerian government commenced payment of the pension of retired employees of the defunct Nigerian Airways, members of the House of Representatives passed a resolution to investigate those indicted for looting the resources of the fallen national carrier.
After weeks of verification, the government eventually cleared about 6,000 former employees to be paid from the N45 billion earmarked for the purpose. The former employees have not been paid their entitlements since 2003 when the airline went belly up.
The House resolution to identify those indicted by the white paper with the aim of ensuring they are “prosecuted and made to refund the loot,” followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by James Faleke (APC-Lagos) during plenary.
Mr Faleke said the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2002 set up the Justice Obiora Nwazota Judicial Commission to probe the operations of Nigerian Airways. He said the commission revealed the looting and misappropriation of the company’s resources to the tune of N60 billion.
“The white paper was approved by the federal government and further directed the Federal Ministry of Finance and the police to recover the stolen funds and prosecute the indicted culprits,” he said.
“Those indicted in the report are believed to be largely visible in the public arena while the ex-workers continue to languish in abject poverty having been denied their rights to their entitlements with many of them reportedly dead without receiving their entitlements.”
Mr Faleke then added that if the Obasanjo government and subsequent administrations had implemented the recommendations of the white paper, workers of the airline would not have suffered much pains and deprivation.
….An orgy of fraud
In 2013, an investigation on the judicial commission of inquiry’s white paper detailed the orgy of fraud and unbridled embezzlement that ultimately hastened the death of the once prosperous airline.
The airline, which had 32 airworthy aircraft in its heyday in the 1980s, saw its fleet reduced to just two barely functional airplanes. Outraged by the cascading status of the airline, Mr Obasanjo in 2002 set up the commission of inquiry to investigate its management.
The commission was mandated, amongst other things, to “examine all books of account and records and determine whether there has been compliance with appropriate regulations.”
The commission worked for a year going through documents and interviewing stakeholders and other experts. At the end of its assignment, it submitted a four-volume report that revealed mind-boggling fraud, misappropriations and wanton recklessness running into billions of naira involving several officials of the airline, administrators, travel agencies, financial institutions, local and foreign companies, as well as one prominent development organisation.
On December 11, 2002, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a draft White Paper on the commission’s report and directed the ministry of justice and the police to prosecute and recover the stolen funds. It also directed the office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to gazette the recommendations of the white paper.
That was the last heard of the white paper. The police, the justice ministry and the SGF failed to do as the FEC directed.
The Justice Nwazota-led Commission of Inquiry revealed that decency was thrown to the dogs in the management of the Nigerian Airways. It was a free-for-all contest of corruption with almost everyone involved in the running of the airline trying desperately to out-embezzle the other.
Due process was alien to the managers of the airline. Officials stole and misappropriated tens of millions of dollars. Administrators arbitrarily signed shady contracts with companies without recourse to regulations, monies were dubiously deposited and lost in moribund financial institutions. Functional airplanes were sold as scraps and the revenue stolen.
Officials collected huge loans from financial institutions with the name of the airline and kept the money for personal use.
…The indicted
Though several individuals, organisations, companies were indicted by the judicial panel of inquiry for their roles, which includes the stealing of several millions of dollars, in the eventual demise of Nigerian Airways, some persons received prominent mentions for their brazen and unrestrained looting of the airline.
Just like Mr Faleke said on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, many of them are still around today, free and enjoying the proceeds of their alleged fraudulent act after killing a national icon. Below is a list of these men.
1. Mohammed Joji
No single individual should be blamed as much as a former managing director of the Nigerian Airways, Mohammed Joji, the judicial commission found. In fact, the commission stated that Mr Joji, who owns Skypower Express Airways and is the secretary general of Aircraft Operators of Nigeria, was brashly corrupt and handled the affairs of the airline in such a reprehensible manner that it recommended he should be banned from ever holding public office in Nigeria.
However, last year, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration allegedly appointed him to head a committee that supervised the repair of the Abuja airport and the temporary relocation of international flight to nearby Kaduna Airport. That alleged appointment was, however, not publicly announced.
The Nwazota-led commission found that in 1993 Mr Joji “collected and spent” N4.37 billion ($12 million) royalty from Swissair without approval.
Also, in the same year, he diverted N3.57 billion ($9,800,000) to himself in a single transaction. According to the judicial committee, Mr. Joji claimed that he paid N3.93 billion ($10.8 million) to a defunct Belgian national airline, Sabena Airline, but he only paid N364 million ($1million), the panel discovered.
Further, the white paper revealed that in March 1993, Mr Joji “unlawfully approved” N2 million to one Grace Hembah as imprest account.
In the same year, Mr. Joji outsourced the maintenance of a Boeing 737 aircraft to Brazilian consultants paying them in full despite up to 75 per cent of the maintenance was done by employees of Nigerian Airways. The committee said the airline lost N1.28 billion ($3.53 million) in the process.
A year before, Mr. Joji had paid Nicon Insurance PLC N896.43 million ($2,458,064) less premium due to the then government-owned insurance company. Also, the judicial committee found that during the tenure of Mr. Joji as the managing director of the airline, N813.38 ($2,230,357) discounted from the premium accrued to the airline had vanished into thin air.
In all, the white paper revealed that Mr. Joji was responsible for the diversion or siphoning of N11 billion ($30,018,421) in 24 months.
When contacted in 2013, Mr Joji, said that his indictment was as a result of a witchhunt against him by former aviation ministers, Bablola Borishade and Kema Chikwe.
He described Mr Nwazota as a mere consultant, adding that the committee did not do a good job.
“There were several panels. Nwazota was just a consultant. Is that what you call a panel? They didn’t do a proper job,” he said in a telephone conversation.
“Do your research. The question you have to ask is who wrote the white paper? Was it gazetted? Was anyone charged?”
He wondered why there was an interest in the story 10 years after.
“At that time, no newspaper wrote about it. The White Paper was published 10 years ago, why are you just writing about it now,” he queried.
When told we had just started publishing, he replied:
“You are starting on a bad note. They will charge you to court. The White Paper is not gazetted. You’re playing a dangerous game. Ten years ago, something was written, and you just came overnight and want to write something about it.”
“It just a wishy-washy thing by Mr. Borishade and Kema Chikwe. It wasn’t gazetted and I wasn’t charged,” he said.
2. Jani Ibrahim
The second biggest culprit in the demise of the Nigerian Airways identified by the Nwazota commission of inquiry is Jani Ibrahim. The chieftain of the Nigerian ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Kwara State was indicted for several fraudulent and illegal acts between 1996 and 2001 that he was the managing director of the airways.
Mr. Ibrahim, who is now a director of Heritage Bank, was so enmeshed in corruption that the investigating commission declared that ““every project and contract was conceived with fraudulent intent.” The white paper specifically described him as “fraudulent and high-handed.”
According to the white paper, Mr. Ibrahim treated the airline’s account like his personal wallet and summarily sacked those “he thought were threats to his fraudulent practices.”
The judicial commission found that between 1997 and 1999, Mr. Ibrahim collected rent valued at N1.47 billion ($4,052,234.00) due to the airline and spent the money without recourse to laid down regulations.
He unilaterally paid $1.78 million without guarantee to Alpine Aviation, a travel agency for the 1999 Hajj operation. The agency failed to deliver. But only $560,000 was recovered from the agency. The balance of N444.92 million ($1.22 million) could not be recovered, the commission stated in the white paper.
Between 1997 and 1999 was the period Mr. Ibrahim was most profligate, the report stated. In that period, he appointed and paid a third-party company, Hak Air, N338.75 million ($928,895) to collect revenue on behalf of the airline. After analysing the deal, the judicial commission stated the Hak Air has no capacity whatsoever to carry out the job assigned to it.
Mr. Ibrahim also overpaid Hak Air (N529 million) $1.45 million for overhauling two aircraft – DC10-30 and B737, the white paper stated.
During the first C-Check of an Airbus in Nigeria by United Kingdom-based aircraft maintenance firm, Revilo Aerospace, Mr. Ibrahim made an over-payment of N224.68million ($616,052.26). He also “single-handedly signed and disbursed N379 million ($1,039,439.00) without the signature of the airline’s financial director as regulation required.”
Mr. Ibrahim also unilaterally allotted 24 plots of land belonging to the airline in the Ayobo area of Lagos to non-staff members of the airline.
In keeping faith with what the judicial commission described as Mr Ibrahim’s authoritarian approach to leadership, he went into a Wet Lease agreement with Al-Mahfooz Aviation, a Gambian chartered airline, that was to last for a year, but the venture collapsed because Mr. Ibrahim did not consult Nigerian Airways technical department. The failure of the agreement cost the airline N247.28 million.
In all, a whopping N3.63 billion disappeared as a result of corruption and the highhandedness of Mr. Ibrahim while he was managing director of the airline, the report stated.
3. Bernard Banfa and Patrick Koshoni
During his time as managing director of the Nigerian airways, the judicial commission revealed that Bernard Banfa, a retired air commodore, colluded with Patrick Koshoni, a retired admiral and the minister of aviation at the time, to sell airworthy A310 aircraft at giveaway prices against the advice of experts.
The commission recommended that the duo should refund N158.73 billion ($435.25 million) being the cost of an A310 aircraft.
There is no evidence that both men repaid the money as directed by the commission. Despite his indictment by the commission, in 2016, President Buhari appointed Mr Banfa, who was a member of the President’s defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) which later merged with other parties to form the ruling APC, into the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
4. Afam Nwagboso
Afam Nwagboso, who was the director of finance of the Nigerian Airways in 1992, with the approval of Mr Joji, designated a moribund bank (Continental Merchant Bank) as the collecting bank for all cash taking of the airline. Soon after the designation, the bank failed, and the airline lost N40 million already collected by it.
5. Olu Bajowa and Alabo Graham-Douglas
The managing director of Nigeria Airways between 1988 and 1990, Olu Bajowa, a retired major general, gave CES Travels the exclusive right to sell tickets for the airline in the United Kingdom and the United States. During the period, CES Travels failed to remit N2.29 billion ($6.3 million) worth of tickets it sold on behalf of the airline.
Commission recommended that Mr. Bajowa, Alabo Graham Douglas, a prominent Ijaw politician and member of the opposition Peoples democratic Party in Rivers State, M. Abdulsalam, T. Mgbhor and U.S.H Maigida, should refund the money to the airline’s account.
6. Mohammed Kari
The judicial commission also wrote in its white paper that in 1993, a former managing director and chief executive of Nicon Insurance, Mohammed Kari, colluded with other officials of Nicon Insurance and Nigerian Airways to divert N50.82 billion ($13,935,956) to a phony company – Alexander Services Limited in the Channel Island, an offshore tax haven.
In July 2015, Mr Buhari, in one of his first appointments made after being sworn-in as president, named Mr Kari the commissioner for Insurance and chief executive of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
For days, Mr Kari failed to respond to questions about his indictment sent to by PREMIUM TIMES through the spokesperson of NAICOM, Razaq Salami.
7. Ibrahim Bala
Bala Ibrahim was an area marketing manager of the airline. In 1993, he stole N860.50 million ($2,359,546.95) collected from the Jeddah station for excess baggage and luggage allowance, the commission revealed.
8. All-Well Brown
For two years, between 1995 to 1997, All-Well Brown, a director, “kept some crew of the airline in Miami for five months for no reasonable cause,” the commission discovered. Their stay cost the airline N44.49 million ($122,000.00).
9. Alexandra Howden
Some officials of the airways connived with a defunct UK insurance company, Alexandra Howden, and transferred N893.49 million ($2.45 million) to its account without rendering any service to the airline.
10. A. Olafisoye
According to the report, Mr Olafisoye, the Managing Director of Fidelity Bond Limited, and other senior management officials, stole millions of dollar from the airline. The report described Mr. Olafisoye as “all-in-all [who] manipulated the operators of the company at will.” The report said his involvement with the company “led to the looting of funds and other fraudulent activities that brought the [airline] on its kneels.”
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