How civil servant allegedly stole N103 million meant for feeding students in Federal Govt. Colleges

An official of the Federal Pay Office, Abeokuta, is currently assisting investigators from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to recover over N100m meant for the use of three government colleges in Ogun State, which he diverted for personal use.

The suspect, Olusegun Lawal, stole the funds budgeted for students’ meal subsidies and also payment of contractors carrying out developmental projects in the three schools.

The schools affected are Federal Government College, Odogbolu, Federal Government Girls College, Sagamu, and Federal Science Technical College, Ijebu-Mushin.

The suspect, over a two-year period, carried out an elaborate scam, whereby funds channelled to the three schools were diverted through the use of companies operated by him and his cronies.

Between February, 2014, and March, 2015, Mr. Lawal allegedly diverted the monies sent to the three schools via the Zenith Bank account of the Pay Office and another Central Bank of Nigeria account and utilized the funds for personal purposes.

The amount he allegedly stole through the pay office account with Zenith is N61, 150, 691.75 while he also diverted a total of N42, 520, 755. 00 from the CBN account.

In all, he stole a total of N103, 671, 466. 75.

Apparently, Mr. Lawal came up with the ingenious scheme to divert the schools’ funds after the other official signatory of the accounts operated by the pay office, one Mrs. Iyabode, was redeployed from the Abeokuta office in 2012.

Mr. Lawal neither informed the relevant authorities of Mrs. Iyabode’s transfer nor did he ask for another co-signatory to be deployed or assigned to the school.

Subsequently, Mr. Lawal alone regularly signed checks for withdrawals of funds from the two accounts, contrary to civil service rules.

The elaborate scam that Mr. Lawal allegedly orchestrated involved the setting up of fake companies, opening an account for them and then the transfer of huge sums into the accounts purportedly for either supplying food or executing contracts.

Some of the companies investigators said he established to defraud the system are Oris Fish Industry Nigeria Ltd, SOG Best Concept, Oris Farms and Food and Toyinlolu Gbade and Sons.

Checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission show that none of the companies was registered to do any kind of business.

The companies received various bulk sums of money from the suspect at various times between February 2014 and March 2015 for undisclosed jobs.

While the elaborate fraud was going on, developmental projects were stalled at the three schools due to lack of funds to pay the relevant contractors.

The schools also could not subsidize the feeding of their students and staff due to financial difficulties occasioned by the diversion of funds allocated to them by the federal government.

When officials of the schools approached the suspect to know why they were not receiving monies due to them, they were told by Mr. Lawal that the government had not remitted the statutory funds into the pay office accounts.

Investigations revealed that whenever the bursars of the affected schools raised vouchers for the schools’ financial needs and sent same to Mr. Lawal to credit the institutions’ accounts as was the usual practice, Mr. Lawal always claimed that he had not received any funds from the federal government.

Matters, however, got to a head when contractors started abandoning ongoing projects due to the inability of the schools to fund such work.

Perhaps, unconvinced by the weak explanations given by Mr. Lawal, the principal of one of the affected schools was said to have made independent investigations to find out why the schools were no longer receiving funds via the pay office.

She was said to have also travelled to the Federal Ministry of Education and later to the Accountant General of the Federation, AGF’s office in Abuja where, curiously, the AGF’s office initially did nothing until the pressure and complaints from the schools became unbearable. That was when the office forwarded a petition to the ICPC, which launched an immediate investigation into the alleged scam.

The initial findings of ICPC revealed a shocking scheme whereby the suspect regularly moved funds meant for the three schools from the pay office account and the CBN dedicated account into account owned by fictitious companies.

This led to his subsequent arrest by the operatives of the commission.

He was said to have confessed to the crime while promising to refund the looted funds.

As at last week, the ICPC, it was learnt, had recovered about N50 million from the suspect.

Investigations reveal that the suspect has equally paid N26, 237, 603.40 into the Federal Pay Office account, using one of his companies, SOG Best, to issue the payment.

With a total amount of N76, 237, 603.40 already refunded by the suspect, he is yet to account for the balance of N27, 433, 843.35.

Mr. Lawal has been granted administrative bail by the ICPC to enable him pay back all the money he allegedly stole. Even as officials try to recoup the stolen funds from him, there are so many questions still begging for answers.

What kind of system allows a civil servant divert so much funds for so long without raising suspicion? How did a key signatory to an account be transferred from his/her post without being replaced? So many questions but few answers.

Attempts to get the principals of the schools to speak on the matter were fruitless as they declined comments. A. N. Bassey – Duke, the principal of the Federal Governement College, Odogbolu and A.A. Owolabi, principal of the Federal Government Girls College, Sagamu, said they were civil servants and directed the reporter to the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja.

When our reporter visited the ministry to seek explanations, he was directed to meet the deputy director, Press and Public Relations, Olu Lipede, who however was not available for comments.

However, an assistant in the Press/Public Relations Unit of the ministry, who simply identified himself as Abubakar, said he was not aware of the details of the case so could not comment.

“I can’t comment on a case I don’t even know anything about. And certainly I can’t even issue an official statement without the express permission of my boss or the ministry,” he said.

The reporter also made efforts to get officials of the office of the Accountant-General to comment on the matter and explain the delay in acting on the initial petition it received but no one was ready to talk to him.

The deputy director, Press and Public Relations, Kenechukwu Offie, took down the reporter’s enquiries and promised to get back to him.

In a telephone interaction a few hours later, she said the office would not comment on a matter still under investigation.

She added that at the appropriate time, when investigations have been concluded by the ICPC, the OAGF would issue a statement if it deemed it necessary.

Protect Nigeria from Global Economic Crisis-IMF tells FG

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Christine Lagarde, has advised that the Federal Government should take further steps to protect Nigeria from the adverse effects of the crises in the global economy.

Lagarde, who gave the advice on Monday in Abuja while meeting President Goodluck Jonathan however informed the President that the feedback she had received from the IMF team which recently undertook a review of the Federal Government’s economic programme was “very positive”.

The IMF Managing Director said that the IMF team had been very impressed with the Government’s prioritization of job creation, agriculture, power supply, education and health-care.

President Jonathan had said his Administration remains totally committed to engineering a positive transformation of the Nigerian economy that will ensure that the country becomes a much bigger player in the global economy as envisioned in its Vision 20:2020.

He said that the team established to oversee the implementation of the administration’s economic agenda will receive all the political support it requires to ensure that the objective of significantly improving the national economy is attained.

“We are totally committed to changing things in Nigeria. Our vision is that by the year 2020, Nigeria will have become a much bigger player in the global economy.  We have established a good team and we will give them the full political backing they need to succeed,” the President said.

Noting that Nigerians had become wary and skeptical of dealings with the IMF in the aftermath of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), President Jonathan said that he believed that the IMF was now a changed institution which could contribute positively to the economies of Nigeria and other developing nations.

“I believe the present IMF is different. Our emphasis is on poverty alleviation and job creation. We are also looking at ways of improving education and health-care delivery.  I believe we can work together constructively,” he said.

Reviewing international developments with Ms. Lagarde, President Jonathan said that he believed that the IMF had a key role to play in resolving the ongoing crises in the global economy, noting that events in the developed economies were bound to affect developing countries.

Nigeria has highest number of displaced persons – UN

The highest number of displaced people in the world are in Nigeria, the United Nations has said.

According to the UN, the continued rise in the number of displaced persons in Nigeria was largely due to the destructive activities perpetuated by the terrorists, Boko Haram, in the North Eastern part of the country.

The UN Resident Coordinator for Nigeria, Mr. Daouda Toure, revealed that over 1.5 million people were displaced in Nigeria, adding that there was an urgent need to realise the great extent of responsibility that was associated with this development.

Toure spoke during the 2015 World Humanitarian Day programme organised by the National Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said, “We need to remind everyone that 1.5 million displaced people is one of the biggest figures as we speak today in the world. So the highest number of displaced people today in the world is in Nigeria. It is not in Iraq or in any other part of the world, it is here in Nigeria and we need to do something about it.”

He noted that out of the 1.5 million displaced persons in Nigeria, almost 90 per cent of them were living in displaced persons camp, adding that they need humanitarian assistance from people that were not directly affected by the activities of insurgents.

Toure said, “We need to come and help them have a better future for their children. Many of them have lost their sources of livelihood and it will be difficult for them to find their feet. This is one reason why we should mobilise ourselves and resources to assist those directly affected by the activities of insurgents and is one of the key reasons for the World Humanitarian Day.”

In his address, the Director-General, NEMA, Mr. Sani Sidi, stated that in Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency in the North Eastern region constitutes the most challenging crisis for government and humanitarian actors in the recent history of Nigeria.

Sidi, however, observed that to guarantee the safety of the humanitarian workers during service delivery in the North-East, NEMA in liaison with the military had created safe corridors for movement by humanitarian service providers.

He explained that the universal event scheduled for 19th August of every year had been set aside by the UN General Assembly since 2008 to celebrate the gallantry of humanitarian services providers.

“These are people who have lost their lives or survive different threats to live while providing humanitarian services to persons caught on the web of natural or human induced disasters especially in violent conflict situations,” Sidi said.

He added that the August 19 date coincided with the 2003 anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Canal Hotel in Bagdad, Iraq, where 22 people lost their lives including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Iraq, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello.

“This marked the epoch of dastardly act by terrorists and brought to fore the risk faced by humanitarian officials in different parts of the globe. There is every reason, therefore, to celebrate these heroes of our time,” the NEMA boss added.

Trump narrows Clinton gap to just six points: poll

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is growing increasingly competitive in a general election matchup against Hillary Clinton, trailing the Democratic frontrunner by six points in a Wednesday poll that shows the race tightening.

Trump leads the broad Republican field by double digits. The political neophyte has dominated media coverage since he launched his campaign in June, steadily narrowing the gap against Clinton, according to a CNN/ORC poll which has tracked such matchups for months.

Clinton now leads Trump by 51 percent to 45 percent, a dramatically more competitive race than July’s 56-40 spread and June’s 59-35, the poll results showed.

The poll also has her ahead of conservative Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker by the same margin, while she leads former Florida governor Jeb Bush by nine points and Hewlett-Packard former chief executive Carly Fiorina by 10 points.

Trump registered gains among Republicans and Republican-leading independents, whose support surged from 67 percent in July to 79 percent now; men (from 46 percent in July to 53 percent now); and white voters (from 50 percent to 55 percent).

The results show the bombastic billionaire is not just resilient in the early stages of the race — he is improving his standing despite constant controversy.

He has been criticized for several brash statements, toxic criticism of his rivals and a plan for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants that a New York Times editor called “idiocy.”

While Trump gains, Clinton’s fortunes have slipped.

Democratic voters still have her leading in their party’s nomination race, but with just 47 percent support, down nine points since July and the first time her backing has dropped below 50 percent in CNN/ORC national polling on the 2016 presidential race.

Liberal US Senator Bernie Sanders is second with 29 percent — a surge of 10 points since July.

Vice President Joe Biden, who is not officially a candidate but is mulling jumping into the race, is third with 14 percent.

That support would likely migrate to Clinton if he does not run, but the poll showed that 53 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters say they believe the vice president should throw his hat in the ring, while 45 percent say he should not.

Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley has two percent support, while the remaining two Democrats have one percent or less.

While Clinton maintains the Democratic edge, the positive impressions of her are fading, driven largely by concern over the lingering scandal about her use of a private email account and private server while secretary of state.

The poll shows 44 percent of respondents hold a favorable view of her, compared with 53 percent unfavorable, her lowest rating since 2001, according to the poll.

In March, her favorability rating was 53-44.

Group commends govt, JAMB over admission policy modification

Following the modification of the recent controversial admission policy by Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), the National Association of Tutorial School Operators, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Yemi Osinbajo, for their intervention, which led to JAMB shifting ground.

President of the association, Mr. Oludotun Sodunke, who spoke on the issue said the association expresses it delight and commended JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde for showing compassion and giving a listening ear to candidates’ outburst.

It would be recalled that under the new policy, JAMB took the liberty to appropriate some candidates to universities other than the ones they chose, in a step it said was done to satisfy the needs of “needy universities.”

The ceded students were barred by their universities of choice from registering for the post-UTME.   Sodunke whose group mobilised candidates, parents and even went to court to protest the policy, said “We couldn’t have survived the struggle but for the assistance of all parties. And so, we appreciate President Buhari and his vice, Prof. Osinbajo for stepping into the matter.

Also to the members of the association, parents, dogged students and members of the fourth estate of the realm for their watchdog role.”   “We are also commending Ojerinde for showing compassion to us. The policy was not totally bad, but it was ill-timed.

It came as a rude shock and that was why we reacted the way we did. All we asked was that individual candidates be given equal opportunity to compete for the available slots. And we are glad that the policy was overruled.”

He advised Ojerinde to always engage key stakeholders and consult widely when formulating policies of such magnitude, as many candidates were destabilised with the news.   “If this policy was introduced earlier when candidates were buying JAMB forms, we would have sensitised over 350,000 candidates whom we are responsible to. We would have advised our students on how best to go about it.

It was not right to deny a candidate who scored 280 the opportunity to write post-UTME in his/her university of choice and then give those that have lesser marks the opportunity to do so.   “So, we came out that it was unfair. Let those that scored 200 and above be accorded the opportunity to write the post-UTME.

If for instance, the carrying capacity in our universities is 3,000, and one million candidates are competing… give them equal opportunity to compete. If they did not succeed, then JAMB can redistribute them.

Reflate the economy, create jobs

WHAT should advisedly be the thrust of fiscal policy as we await the full take-off of President Buhari’s administration to complement monetary policy in view of the existential challenges that currently confront the nation? My answer is that we should go for a policy that would attempt to deliberately reflate the economy and risk an increase in price levels as we do so.

Monetary policy should be similarly deliberately targeted at growing the economy as it is currently the case.

We recommend an expansionary fiscal policy that would be targeted at achieving rapid economic growth which would result in the creation of employment opportunities to get the idle and under-employed population of the country back to work, boost purchasing power and hopefully catalyse a massive enough momentum which ultimately would allow us to spend our way out of the inflationary pressure that is bound to result.

The President in a paper he presented at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) declared: ‘We have no illusions about our challenges. …As we ramp up our efforts to defeat Boko Haram, we know that winning this battle sustainably will require that we expand economic opportunities and create jobs for our teeming young population.’ We do not have the diversified economic base to replicate the American feat in this regard and some have even questioned where the funding is going to come from. The Government could of course borrow; nation states in such predicaments have other known and recognised sources for finding such monies!

The example of Barack Obama is not easy to replicate. When he assumed office in 2008 the American economy was in similar dire straits. When the bubble bursts on the sub-prime mortgage market resulting in widespread loan defaults followed with massive job losses; mortgage firms went bankrupt and the budget deficit ballooned.

The rest of the world literally went into recession but President Back Obama doggedly stuck to what he now characterises as ‘middle class economics,’ adopted expansionary fiscal policy and bailed out companies that were moribund particularly car manufacturing companies; in the process saving potential massive job losses. That President Obama did not encounter a major opposition in the renewal of his tenure is proof positive that his administration has been a success.

On the Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to delist some 41 items from access to official foreign exchange funding, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) argues that such a step is constraining of the economic space and might result in some company closures as some of the excluded items are intermediate products for some of its membership.

On an NTA Good Morning Nigeria programme anchored from Abuja, a manufacturer of tomato puree regaled us with how following the announcement of this policy his operations suddenly gained traction resulting in him having to recall One Thousand workers he had previously laid off because of lack of demand while he was full of effusive praise for the President and the Governor of the Central Bank for this laudable policy. And the explanations which the authorities at the Central Bank gave in justification of this measure is that in addition to the fact that reserves are dwindling and therefore there was no option but to attempt some demand management, the extant free for all regime only resulted in the exportation of badly needed jobs.

LCCI had engaged with the Central Bank to share perspectives on this matter and despite this development the LCCI would want the CBN to toe its recommended line of action of policy reversal even if the organization is alone amongst the other organised bodies such as Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) to be championing this course of action.

Attempting to reflate the economy would result in allowing the budget deficit to go beyond the current target of 3% of GDP specified as a limit in the Fiscal Responsibility Act even if this thrust would necessitate a review of the law in this regard. For comparison, in Ghana, the deficit this year is at the level of 7.3 per cent of GDP up from an initial estimate of 6.5 per cent as Ghanaians attempt to deliberately stimulate the growth of their economy. The deficit in budget 2015 is of the order of 1.4 per cent of Nigeria’s rebased GDP. Reflating the economy would also entail that we deliberately avoid any measure that would result in the layoff of workers.

We should avoid throwing more people into the job market. We should expand the taxation net to capture those who are currently not paying any tax and also make the rich amongst us to contribute a bit more through the levying of luxury tax, to bridge the yawning inequality gap in the country. The volume of tax revenue to GDP indicated that it is 7.8 per cent for Nigeria while the same statistics for France, UK, U.S. and Tanzania stand at; 45, 39, 27 and 12 per cent respectively.

We might not have any option but to in due course terminate the subsidy regime. As at last count the subsidy amount of about One Trillion Naira a year trumps the budget provision for capital expenditure for 2015 and most certainly this is not sustainable. The subsidy regime in this country is hallmarked with all manner of sleazy including unearned payments. Who are the beneficiaries of this misallocation of resources? Studies show that only about 8 per cent of the subsidy payments reach the poorest 20 per cent of the population. It is not realistic to attract private capital for the construction of refineries under a regulated regime.

Wizkid,Chidinma, Pasuma headline Ibadan Star Music Trek

Starboy Wizkid and Fuji Icon Pasuma will headline the Star Music Trek concert at Trans Amusement Park, Samonda, Ibadan on Saturday, August 22, 2015.

Other artistes billed to perform at the Seventh leg of the national concert tour sponsored by Star Lager include Sound Sultan, Chidinma, May D, Wande Coal, DJ Xclusive, DJ Nana and host Gbenga Adeyinka.

The event is preceded by a beer carnival, which is currently holding at the Park and has music fans making merry, winning prizes and also winning ticket to the big concert.

Speaking on the Ibadan concert tagged #IbadanRocks! Wizkid remarked,

“I’ve been going all around different African countries performing to their delight. It feels good to be performing back home and at the largest city in Africa. Big shout out to Star for this opportunity and I want my fan to come out and have a ball”

Following #IbadanRocks on Saturday, August 22, the concert will make its final stop with a spectacular grand finale in Lagos on August 29th.

Lagos Airport Customs Command generates N22.5bn in 7 months

The Murtala Muhammed Airport Command of the Nigeria Customs Service says it has raked in N22.5 billion from January to July this year.

The command’s Comptroller, Mr Folorunso Adegoke, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos that the highest revenue figure of N5.2 billion was recorded in July.

NAN reports that the revenue was an improvement over the N18 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2014.

“From Jan. 1, 2014 to July 2015, the figure has been showing a steady rise apart from the drop that we had during the election period.

“This was because a lot of people thought Nigeria was going to divide and there would not be any Nigeria after the election but thank God we are still in one piece.

“Apart from that time, our revenue has been going up,’’ Adegoke said.

He noted that the July revenue was the highest since the inception of the command.

“We had about N5.2 billion. This is the highest that has ever been generated by any comptroller in this command.

He said necessary checks had been put in place to monitor cargo clearing.

Adegoke said:“The operators have been told that the music has changed, the dancing steps have also changed.’’

He said several meetings had been held between the terminal operators and the customs management to ensure sanity in the system and correct payment of import duty.

“We held meeting with the terminal operators and asked them to work with us; if they allow these people to take away their goods without payment of duty, we would collect the duty from them.

“They are now cautious and have been cooperating with us.

“They (terminal operators) are supposed to collect their own terminal charges after duty must have been paid.

“Anytime there is any Airway bill that is not utilised they know who to deliver the bill to.

“We pick them and ask them to come and account for it.’’

Buhari Appoints Ahmed Kuru As AMCON Managing Director

President Buhari has appointed Ahmed Lawan Kuru, as managing director of AMCON. Before his appointment as Managing Director of AMCON, Kuru was the Group Managing Director of Enterprise Bank Limited.

He started his banking career with Habib Bank in 1985 and rose through the ranks to become an Executive Director of Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank) in 2005.

Announcing the appointment which took effect immediately, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, said, “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the dissolution of the Executive Management Team of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).”

“President Buhari has also approved the reconstitution of the management team of the corporation as follows:” Kola Ayeye as Executive Director, Eberechukwu Uneze as Executive Director and Aminu Ismail -Executive Director.

The appointment of Mr. Kuru and the three new AMCON Executive Directors is with effect from today, August 18, 2015.

Pedro to join Chelsea

Premier League champions Chelsea have pipped Manchester United to the signing of Spain winger Pedro Rodriguez from Barcelona, according to British press reports on Wednesday.

Pedro

The BBC reported that Chelsea had agreed a fee of £21 million (29.8m euros, $32.9m) with the reigning European champions and that the 28-year-old was on a flight to London to finalise the terms of the transfer.

If completed, the deal will bring an end to a summer-long transfer saga surrounding Pedro, who had been linked to Manchester City as well as United, although it was the Old Trafford club who appeared most likely to sign him.

Pedro scored the winning goal for Barcelona in last week’s dramatic 5-4 extra-time defeat of Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup in Tbilisi.

However, he has fallen down the pecking order at the Camp Nou under Luis Enrique, who has preferred the all-star front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez and has used the Canary-Islands born player more sparingly.

Buhari orders probe on how ISIS leader got Nigerian visa

The Nigerian government has ordered a full investigation into how a wanted terrorist was granted Nigerian Visa in Lebanon to visit the country.

An official of the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign affairs told Vanguard in Abuja, Tuesday evening, that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate the circumstances surrounding the issuance of Visa to the wanted terrorist‎ who has been on the wanted list of several governments.

It would be recalled that a radical Muslim cleric, Ahmad al-Assir was arrested by Lebanese authorities as he attempted to leave Lebanon to Nigeria via Cairo.

He was said to have arrested while attempting to travel with a fake Palestinian passport with a valid Nigerian Visa‎ at the Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport early Saturday, August 15, 2015 in Lebanon.

According to the official of the ministry of foreign affairs who spoke with Vanguard on the condition of anonymity, the ministry of foreign affairs has been directed to explain how the wanted terrorist was able to get Nigerian Visa.

“The reported‎ arrest of the wanted terrorist is a huge embarrassment to Nigeria and the President has directed that the matter should be investigated. The embassy in Lebanon has been directed to furnish the ministry with details of how the man got the visa. The National Intelligence Agency Officer has been directed to provide details of what happened” the officer said.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/buhari-orders-probe-on-how-isis-leader-got-nigerian-visa/#sthash.5WUpnxb3.dpuf

Senate summons CBN governor over falling Naira

The Senate on Wednesday passed a resolution summoning Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to appear before the lawmakers and brief them on the status of the Naira.

In the resolution which followed a two-prayer motion by Nazif Suleiman (APC Bauchi North), the senate also charged the Federal Government to step up efforts at diversifying the economy.

The president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, urged the government to focus on other revenue sources like taxes, agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and solid minerals.

Mr. Saraki, who commended the mover of the motion, said the senate, and indeed all Nigerians, must contribute in the defence of the Naira against all other currencies.

“The naira is being subjected to speculations and the only way to defend it is to know that government policy makers are firm in the defence of the naira.

“It will not be easy because speculators are relentless, but if we give all the support and stay on course, our naira will indeed stabilise.

“Nobody would have believed that we could stop the importation of cement; I think we can do that for rice, palm oil, wheat, and other products that we can produce in Nigeria,” he said.

Mr. Saraki said that although some policies may seem to be adversely affecting Nigerians, all citizens should exercise patience, noting that good economic policies would be beneficial.

In his remarks, the sponsor of the motion, Mr. Suleiman, expressed worry over Naira depreciation in the last few months, especially due to activities of speculators.

He said that illicit money flow and laundering in the country had contributed to the problems and called for a review of CBN’s foreign exchange processes.

Other senators who contributed said that the nation’s over dependence on importation rather than manufacturing was a major factor for the depreciation of the Naira to the dollar.

According to Usman Nafada (APC Gombe North), depreciation of the Naira is due to pressure arising from expenditure on imported products.

He said that the amount of dollars stashed away by some people in their houses and farms also increased the pressure on the naira.

Olaka Nwogu (PDP Rivers South-East) said “our dependence on only one source of revenue whose value has dropped by half is part of the problem.

“My suggestion therefore is that we need more industries so that people can get employed.”

Mr. Nwogu accused 90 per cent of those in the senate as contributors to the problems and therefore urged them to begin the industrial revolution with their constituency projects.

He sought a legal framework that would compel the establishment of at least one industry in each senatorial zone.

“We cannot keep consuming in this hard times,” she said.

In his contribution, Philip Aduda (PDP, FCT) urged the APC-led Federal Government to put its house in order and appoint economy managers.

He also said that state governments should focus more on establishing industries to create jobs rather than awarding contracts with monies meant for salaries.

Buhari fires all NNPC Group Executive Directors

President Muhammadu Buhari has fired all Group Executive Directors (GED) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The sack of the top echelon of the corporation, which takes immediate effect, followed Tuesday’s removal of the NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Joseph Dawha.

Mr. Dawha was replaced by Emmanuel Kachikwu, a former Vice Chairman of ExxonMobil Africa.

The sacked Group Executive Directors (GEDs) are Ian Udoh, who was in charge of Refining & Petrochemicals; Adebayo Ibirogba, who supervised Engineering and Technical; and David Ige, in charge of Gas & Power.

Others are Aisha Abdurrahman, who headed the Commerce & Investments directorate; Dan Efebo, who was in charge of Corporate Services, Attahiru Yusuf, the GED for Business Development and Bernard Otti, head of Finance and Accounts.

Mr. Dawha, headed Exploration & Production unit in addition to being the GMD.

I promise to pay backlog of salaries – Aregbesola

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun has promised to pay the backlog of salaries owed civil servants.

This promise was contained in a statement issued by the governor’s media aide, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, in Osogbo on Wednesday.

The statement said Aregbesola made the promise when Ijesa Society, a social group, visited him.

Aregbesola, according to the statement, expresses his displeasure over the delay in payment of workers’ salaries.

The statement said every government initiative in the state represented the fulfillment of campaign promises made to the people.

“The visit of the group comes at a time when some people are being sponsored to rubbish my achievements,” Aregbesola is quoted as saying in the statement.

President of the group, Chief Tunde Aluko, commended Aregbesola for rapid development of the state.

Aluko expressed belief that the financial challenge confronting the state will soon be over.

NYSC may soon be voluntary — DG

President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged that his administration will take all necessary actions to maintain and improve the National Youth Service Corps scheme as a functional vehicle for the promotion of national unity and integration.

Mr. Buhari gave the assurance after receiving briefing from officials of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, led by the Permanent Secretary, Rabi Jimeta.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of NYSC, Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawumi, also told the President that there are plans to make the scheme voluntary so as to reduce the corps population and sustain it.

The president affirmed his confidence and trust in the scheme, saying that the objective for which the scheme was established in 1973 was still very relevant for national development.

He said, “I firmly believe in NYSC and I think it should remain a national programme to promote integration.

“Whenever I go home to Daura, I look out for corps members from Lagos, Aba and other parts of the country.

“I am always thrilled to learn that except for the NYSC, some of them have never left their states of origin to visit other cities in the country.”

Ms. Jimeta had informed the president that the increasing number of NYSC members was a challenge to the scheme due to dwindling revenue from the national budget to cater for their needs.

She also told the president that the annual enrollment of corps participants had increased from 2,364 at inception in 1974 to 229,016 in 2014.

She added that “given the increasing number of tertiary institutions, our projection is that the number of participants may rise to300,000 by year 2020″.

Tips and Tricks on Saving More

Saving money isn’t easy, especially in this economy where we are barely keeping it together and paying all the bills on time (if we’re lucky). We all know that it would be smart to save money, especially in the long run, but many of us struggle with doing it successfully. However, it can be easier than you think, because saving more money doesn’t just mean spending less, but slightly changing some of your habits so that you don’t need to spend so much money – for example beginning to shop smart, taking care of your clothes more effectively or making some other seemingly small changes that will keep the money inside your pocket rather than spreading it unnecessarily and going broke. Here are some tips and tricks to help you save more without stressing out.

1. Banking

The first thing about saving money is deciding on where you are going to save it. You should find a bank that looks out for your best interest (or as much as possible), which means no ATM or overdraft fees. Then, you should consider dividing your paycheck immediately after receiving it between your savings and checking account (if there is enough to divide), and make sure you always know what’s happening with your bank account, so you can gain control over your spending. Finally, when you withdraw money from an ATM, see that it is an affiliate of your bank, so you don’t have to pay fees. Losing money on such a simple thing is just silly.

2. Beauty

If you can’t even consider waxing yourself or doing your own hair, there are some salons on sites such as Groupon and Living Social where you can get discounts for these kinds of services, while not lacking in quality. By using these coupons, you can save a lot. You also don’t need to go to a hairdresser every time your hair needs to be washed – do it yourself sometimes and you will see how much money will be left for your savings account.

Next, taking good care of your health (meaning eating healthy, taking vitamins, sleeping enough, taking good care of your personal hygiene, etc.) will help you delay and minimize your visits to the doctor, which can, we all know, be very costly. So this is actually a good savings plan. To stay healthy and fit, we need to exercise, right? Right – but that doesn’t mean you need to spend tons of money on some fitness classes in a fancy gym. There are a lot of free fitness classes that you can sign up for, at least for the first month or so, so take advantage of that opportunity. If not free classes in fitness centers, you can choose to exercise with free online exercise videos and take care of your body in the comfort of your home. But if you don’t like exercising alone – invite some friends to join you, and it will never get boring.

4. Lifestyle

Drinking, smoking and taking drugs is not healthy. No kidding, right? But besides being damaging to your body and mind, these habits are also very damaging to your wallet. Think about how much money you would save if you stopped smoking or didn’t go out as much (or did go out, but cut back on tequila). Think about all the things that the money saved could buy. When you put it on paper, you will see that you should give up expensive, bad, unhealthy habits in order to save money.

Also, instead of going to the cinema often, you can occasionally play a movie at home and watch it with your family. The experience might not be the same, but it will save you some money and you will still get to spend time with your loved ones.

5. Taking care of your home

You can save a lot of water if you, for example, turn it off while scrubbing the dishes. You can first get your dishes wet, and then scrub them with a sponge and detergent, and then rinse them. By doing this, you can save up to 500 gallons per month. This is an enormous amount of water, and saving it you will contribute to the protection of the environment, while at the same time having to pay less money for your water bill, which directly translates to more money in your pocket.

If you want to save money, leaving the lights on all over the house is not the smartest choice. Instead, whenever you are going to another room and leaving the one you were in empty – turn off the lights. This will not save you much money right away, but switch by switch, you might end up with a much cheaper electricity bill at the end of the month. Another thing you can do to save more, regarding the lighting, is to buy energy efficient light bulbs. They really are more expensive, but they will pay off, because they need less energy to function and they break less often.

You see, making these changes might seem boring or difficult to you right now, but you will become a pro very soon. When you realize how much you can save by doing so little, changing some of your habits will come very easy to you and you will be delighted with the change and with the balance in your account.