Boko Haram Terrorists Killed 25 People In Adamawa, Say Victims' Relatives

Suspected Boko Haram extremists attacked a village in Adamawa in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 25 people who had just returned home from a wedding, victims’ relatives say on Tuesday.

Rebecca Malgwi says two of her brothers-in-law were killed in the attack on Kuda-Kaya village in Adamawa on Monday night.
She says the attackers went from house to house. She says many people could not escape because the shooting came from all directions.
Former local government official Yahaya Muhammed confirms that 25 people were killed.
While there is no immediate claim of responsibility, Boko Haram is known for attacking villages in the area. The insurgent group is also active in neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

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Nigerian Lawmakers Seek To Spend 23.7 Bln Naira On Severance, Gratuity, Increased budget deficit for 2019

Nigerian parliament has approved 23.7 billion naira as gratuity and severance package for its outgoing members, this was contained in the 2019 budget passed on Tuesday by the National Assembly.

The amount which would also cater for the allowance of the incoming parliamentarians were contained in the service-wide votes.
However, detail of how it would be disbursed was not disclosed by the lawmakers in the approved bill.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the 2019 Appropriation Bill and increased the estimate by 80 billion naira to 8.92 trillion naira.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Dec. 19 presented a budget proposal of 8.83 trillion naira before the joint session of the National Assembly.
The chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Danjuma Goje gave reasons for the increment.
Presenting the committee’s report on Tuesday, Goje said such package gratuity and severance allowance) only comes up once in every four years.
“There is a slight increase in the budget deficit. This is as a result of the provision for severance benefits of the outgoing legislators and legislative aides, the induction/orientation and inauguration of new legislators, all of which occur once in four years, but were inadvertently not captured in the 2019 budget proposal.
“There was also the need to provide more fund for the security and intelligence agencies to deal with additional, emerging, unforeseen challenges in the country,” he said.

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Nigeria's Sovereign Wealth Assets Hits 617.7 Bln Naira in 2018

Assets of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) grew 16 percent in 2018 to 617.70 billion naira compared with 533.88 billion in the previous year, the manager of the country’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF) has said.

Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer established its Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) in 2011 with a seed capital of $1 billion and later injected additional $500 million as part of measures to invest the excess proceeds of earnings from oil imports above the budget benchmark.
NSIA, which was described by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recent as the worst transparently run SWF said in its latest report that its total equity reserves have grown to 543.38 billion naira in 2018 versus 501.05 billion naira in the previous year.
The SWF manager said that it posted a total income of 57.73 billion naira last year, boosted by foreign exchange adjustment against 30.41 billion in the previous year.
Nigeria's currency exchange against the dollar at 175 to the dollar at the time the Fund was established by the government while currency adjustment means the NSIA now use an exchange rate of 325 naira to the dollar against 305 naira per dollar used in the previous year to reflects its forex transactions.
Africa's biggest economy is one of the continent's major oil producer operating SWF as a vehicle to manage its revenue from crude oil exports.
Angola another major oil producer in the continent has about $5 billion in its SWF, but corruption has been a major issue in its management.
Jose Filomeno dos Santos, son of the former Angolan president was recently charged for illegal transferring about $500 million part of the country's Fund for personal use.
Libya and Morrocco are two other African countries operating SWF, the story of loss and corruption remains the same across the continent in the management of the Fund.
A leak recently showed that the daughter of Chief of staff to President Mohammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari was employed as a senior staff of the NSIA through the backdoor, in a country where many youths are unemployed and thousands of government job opening are filled by relatives of top government officials.
NSIA was mandated to play a leading role in driving sustained economic development for the benefit of all Nigerians through building a savings base for the Nigerian people, enhancing the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure and providing stabilisation support in times of economic stress.

NSIA operates three mandate funds: the Stabilisation Fund, the Future Generations Fund and the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund.

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PDP Says INEC Replacing Servers To Conceal Rigging

Nigeria's main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of replacing electronic servers in its headquarters and state offices in a bid to conceal malpractices in the last election.

The party, which has gone to court to challenge the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the February 23 election, said INEC is replacing the servers to obliterate the actual presidential election results transmitted from the polling centres.
In a statement,  the party spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, described the development as “completely reprehensible”, saying it further exposed INEC’s culpability in the alleged manipulation and rigging of the 2019 presidential election.
“The PDP has been well briefed on how INEC’s leadership and officials of the Buhari Presidency became jittery and resorted to the desperate measure, after they realised that the servers have information of Atiku Abubakar’s victory at the election.
“Our party also has details of how INEC leadership and the Presidency agents procured and detailed computer experts to the commission’s offices to switch the servers, mutilate vital information in the system and attempt to erase all trails of transmitted results to the main server.
“Moreover, our party has been informed about how INEC’s leadership, several weeks after the election, used some compromised officials to manipulate voters register in some states by ticking names of individuals who did not participate in the election as having voted. This is to use such to cover the fictitious results it wrote for the APC.
“What INEC and the Buhari Presidency do not understand is that computer software and applications leave traces, signatures as well as footmark. Forensic investigation of the system will reveal the real votes transmitted from the polling centres, which show Atiku Abubakar as the winner of the election.
“The PDP has, therefore, insisted on forensic examination of all relevant documents and equipment used for the presidential election. Our party will continue to be at alert as we stand with Nigerians to reclaim our stolen mandate at the tribunal, and no amount of manipulation by INEC will detract us from this national resolve.”
But Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, described the allegation as baseless and uncalled for. He also urged the party to allow the legal process to run its full course.

“The allegation is baseless and uncalled for. The commission has maintained that it will not join issues with the PDP on a petition that the party had already filed in court in respect of the presidential election.
“Rather than issuing statements and addressing news conferences on the same petition, the PDP should allow the legal process runs its full course.”

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Warning Against Purchase Of ‘Poisonous Ponmo’ In Lagos Markets

The Lagos state government has warned consumers against buying some cowhide, known as “ponmo,” being sold in some markets in the state.

A statement by Adeola Salako, director of public affairs, Lagos ministry of health, said three persons involved in the sale of the “poisonous ponmo” in Ojo and Iba local government areas of the state have been arrested.
Salako said the cow-skin was seized in large quantities, adding that samples of the confiscated ponmo had been sent to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to test their suitability for consumption.
“The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who disclosed this in his office today (Sunday) while reviewing report of preliminary investigation and enforcement carried out on the sale of the toxic ponmo in the areas, stated that the three persons involved have been charged to court, while samples of the confiscated ponmo had been sent to the NAFDAC laboratory for suitability test analysis for human consumption,” the statement said.
The commissioner noted that the attention of the state government had been drawn to the activities of traders who deal in the sales of the poisonous cow-skin at odd hours in different locations in the two local government areas.
“Preliminary investigations and suspects tracing revealed that the traders were very active in the early hours between the hours 4.00am and 6.00am at various locations such as Volkswagen bus stop, iyana iba, Afolabi Ege Markets, all within Ojo local government and Iba local council areas of the State,” he said.
“Furthermore, a company said to be located at ijedodo area of Iba LCDA was indicted as source of supply of this toxic Ponmo and has subsequently been put under surveillance.”
Salako called on the public to be vigilant and report any sales of unwholesome foods and food products to environmental health officer in their nearest local government or to the ministry of health.

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Shell, Total, Aiteo Declare Force Majeure On Nigeria's Bonny Light Export

Four major oil exploration and production companies have declared force majeure disrupting the ability of Nigeria to export Bonny Light crude due to the sabotage of the country's main two export pipelines.

Royal Dutch Shell on Monday declared force majeure on exports of Nigeria’s Bonny Light crude while Amenam, operated by oil major Total, is also under force majeure, trading sources said.
Aiteo, an indigenous production company had also declared force majeure on April 25, due following the closure of one of two export pipelines.
Both grades of crude are light and sweet, typically suitable for gasoline production.
The Bonny Light-exporting Nembe Creek Trunk Line closed on April 21 following a fire, operator Aiteo said, and Shell said it had declared force majeure on April 25.
Bonny Light exports had been planned at 222,000 barrels per day (bpd) in June and 184,000 bpd in May, but trading sources said they were awaiting new loading plans. Shell said the export terminal continued to run.
A port source told Reuters that oil-well shutdowns had reduced Amenam’s daily production and led to force majeure. Exports of Amenam are typically around 100,000 bpd, and trading sources said loadings had been delayed by roughly 25 days.
Operator Total did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two Shell oil workers were kidnapped last week in Rivers state, an escalation that helped prompt state police to step up security operations.

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Four States Generated 2.7 Trln Naira IGR In Five Years, Lagos, Rivers Top List

Four states in the country accounted for more than 60 percent of Nigeria's internally generated revenue in the last five years.

Lagos, Rivers, Ogun and Delta generated a combined 2.71 trillion naira in internal revenue between 2013 and 2017, an investigation has shown.
Total internally generated revenue by the 36 states of the federation amount to 4.5 trillion naira with the five years period under review.
The top four states accounted for 60.22 percent of the total IGR. while the remaining 32 states generated 1.79 trillion naira or 39.78 percent for the period.
Lagos state top the list of states with highest IGR collection with 1.72 trillion naira, accounting for 38.22 percent of the total IGR generated by the 36 states of the federation.
Lagos generated 236.2 billion naira in 2013, 276.16 billion naira in 2014, 268.2 billion naira in 2015, 302.43 billion naira in 2016 and 333.97 billion naira in 2017.
Rivers State came a distant second with a revenue performance of 433.9 billion naira in the period. The state accounted for 9.64 percent of the total IGR collected by the states in the five-year period.
Rivers State generated 87.91 billion naira, 89.11 billion naira 82.1 billin naira, 85.29 billion naira and 89.48 billion naira in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Ogun State cam third with a total of 286.67 billion within the period of five years. The state accounted for 6.37 percent of the total IGR that the 36 states of the federation collected within the same period of time.
The state generated 13.78 billion naira in 2013, 17.5 billion naira in 2014, 34.6 billion naira in 2015, 72.98 billion naira in 2016 and 74.84 billion naira in 2017.
On the fourth position in IGR is Delta State, which generated 273.84 billion naira in the five-year period. The state accounted for 6.09 percent of the entire IGR collected by the subnational governments in five years.
The state generated 50.21 billion naira, 42.82 billion naira, 40.81 billion naira, 44.06 billion naira and 51.89 billion in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively.

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Nigeria and Saudi Arabia To Sign MoU On Oil And Gas Development

Nigeria and Saudi Arabia plan to draft a memorandum of understanding on an oil and gas partnership that could lead to the construction of a new refinery and investments in liquefied natural gas, Nigeria’s petroleum ministry said on Friday.

Nigeria imports the bulk of its petrol, despite being Africa’s biggest crude oil producer, due to its dilapidated refineries. Last month, Nigeria’s state oil company said it was in talks with different consortiums to overhaul its refineries and save billions of dollars on fuel imports.
Nigeria’s petroleum ministry, in a statement issued days after oil minister Emmanuel Kachikwu held talks with Saudi energy officials, said an early draft of a memorandum of understanding would be ready in the first week of May.
“Areas of interest will cover the existing refinery revamp, building of a brand new refinery, LNG investments and product supply trading in crude and refined products,” the ministry said in the statement.
It added that Saudi energy minister Khalid Al-Falih had reiterated the possibility of establishing an independent refinery in Nigeria, considering it the best hub from which to reach other African countries.
Saudi Aramco is expanding its downstream operations such as refining and petrochemicals production as part of its drive to become the world’s largest integrated energy firm.

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Army Kicks Out NYSC DG, Kazaure, appoints Ibrahim

The Nigerian Army on Friday announced a new shakeup with the posting of the Director General, National Youth Service Corps 9NYSC0, Major General Suleiman Kazaure to Army Resource Centre.

Seven other Brigadier-Generals were also affected by the shake-up in the Arym.

Kazaure, according to a statement by the acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sagir Musa, will resume as Senior Resource Person at Army Resource Centre. 

The statement said Kazaure would be replaced by Brigadier General S Ibrahim from the Nigerian Army University Biu in Borno State.

“The Nigerian Army has approved the postings and appointments of some of its senior officers. “Those affected by this include, Major General SZ Kazaure who has been posted from NYSC to Army Resource Centre and appointed as Senior Resource Person, Brigadier General CA Bossman from Nigerian Army Archives to Command Schools Services and appointed as Director Command Schools Services, Brigadier General E Angaye is appointed Acting Director Veterans Affairs Department (Army) and Brigadier General BA Tsoho is posted from Army Headquarters Department of Civil-Military Affairs to Nigerian Army Language Institute and appointed as Commandant. “Others affected in the postings are Brigadier General AA Goni from 82 Division Education to Army Headquarters Department of Civil-Military Affairs and appointed Director Information, Brigadier General FC Onyeari from Headquarters Nigerian Army Supply and Transport to Defence Headquarters and appointed as Acting Director Catering, Brigadier General S Ibrahim from Army University Biu to National Youth Service Corps and appointed as Director General, Brigadier General SS Ibrahim is now appointed Registrar Nigerian Army University Biu. “The postings and appointments are with immediate effect.”

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Nigeria Targets 4 Mbpd Crude Output, Triple Refining By 2025

Nigeria plans to pump 4 million barrels of crude oil a day by 2025 and increase refining capacity to 1.5 million barrels daily, a move to revive its previous pledges that turned out to be too ambitious.
According to the Chief executive of the state-run oil firm Maikanti Baru, “Nigeria needs to unlock new barrels as quickly as possible.”

 

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) chief said the state-oil giant will work with private investors to achieve the increase capacity in the sector.
Africa’s biggest oil producer pumps 2.2 million barrels a day and previously set a 4-million target for 2010, before successively delaying it.
The West African country, where output peaked near 2.5 million barrels a day in the middle of the last decade, has grappled with militant attacks, leakages and theft at its oil installations.
Baru said part of the additional refining capacity would come from a 650,000 barrel-a-day complex being built in Lagos by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person.
NNPC, which pumps crude from the country’s fields in partnership with international oil companies (IOC) like Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp., returned to profit in 2018 after reporting losses in at least the three previous years, according to statements on its website. That was mainly due to the strong performance of its oil and gas production unit. Its refineries had a $365 million operating loss.

“Targets such as these are not new to NNPC,” said Cheta Nwanze, an analyst at Lagos-based SBM Intelligence. “Nigeria has not met a single production target for at least a decade now, in many cases because of security concerns.”
“The desperate need for an improvement in local refining capacity has been obvious for decades,” Nwanze said. The 2025 plan is “extremely optimistic.”
Nigeria also wants to be self-reliant in meeting its fuel demand and cut imports that put a strain on foreign reserves. Oil Minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu told the BBC in 2017 that he’d step down if the country doesn’t achieve that goal by the end of this year. The target is likely to be missed as the four state-owned refineries struggle to fully utilize their combined 445,000 barrel-a-day capacity following years of neglect and mismanagement.

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Goje, Ndume May Defile APC Directive On Senate Presidency, Lobby Opposition Party For Support

Danjuma Goje, former Gombe State Governor may throw his hat in the ring as the contest for the Senate presidency reach a high pitch against the dictate and wish of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) for a straight coronation on its anointed candidate.

The ruling APC has since winning majority seats in the parliament anointed the present senate leader, Ahmad Lawan as its preferred candidate for the position of Senate president.
However, the ruling party seems not to have been able to achieve consensus among its rank both Goje and Ali Ndume have since indicated interest in the position and are have shown willingness to defile the instruction of the party leadership.
Sources close to Goje said the senator may officially announce his intention to vie for the position shortly after the passage of the 2019 budget next week.
Goje, who is Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, is scheduled to defend the committee’s report submitted last week on the Budget Bill next Tuesday.
A close ally to the lawmaker, who is also an APC Senator from the North, disclosed in an interview that processing the National Budget has been Goje’s major preoccupation and as such he does not want to combine his work with his aspiration.
Also yesterday at a press conference in Abuja, Northeast APC youth wing noted that the APC under the leadership of Adams Oshiohmole had caused the party so much damage because of his vested personal interests.
They argued that the last straw that would break the camel’s back is Oshiohmole’s desperation to impose leaders on the Ninth National Assembly.
Secretary of the group, Abubakar Maigari, at a media briefing in Abuja, pointed out that the threat by Oshiomhole and former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu to send away members of the National Assembly, who opposed the imposition agenda, was appalling.
The APC youths noted that Tinubu’s and Oshiomhole’s leadership style has created unmanageable confusion and eventual loss of some states to the opposition in the 2019 gubernatorial and Assembly elections.
“It is irreconcilable that Tinubu who orchestrated the removal of a winning team led by John Odigie-Oyegun and foisted Oshiomhole on the party, is Oshiohmole’s alter-ego and partner in destroying the APC.
“Several members of APC have been lost to the opposition since Oshiomhole became APC National Chairman on June 23, 2018, yet the looming Ninth National Assembly leadership election crisis may threaten the party’s corporate existence.
They added that barely a month after Oshiomhole assume chairmanship of APC, 15 senators and 37 House of Representatives members defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday, July 24, 2018, just as Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara followed suit afterwards.
“Ndume and Omo-Agege were suspended for 90 legislative days, while defending APC and Buhari administration policy, yet Oshiomhole wants those who have been partners with Senate leadership in sabotaging Buhari’s government to be rewarded,” the group added.

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President Buhari Flies To London Today On Private Visit

President Mohammadu Buhari will travel to London on Thursday after he spent Wednesday in Lagos commissioning some landmark projects of the outgoing governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Although presidency sources said the visit to the United Kingdom by President Buhari was private, in the four years, the president has visited London regularly for medical attention to an unnamed ailment.
Femi Adesina presidential spokesman said in a statement on Thursday that President Buhari would leave Nigeria after a visit to Maiduguri, the Borno capital.
“Further to the official visit by President Muhammadu Buhari to Lagos Wednesday where he commissioned a number of projects executed by the State Government, the President is scheduled to depart for Maiduguri, the Borno State capital for another official visit Thursday.
“He is expected to commission developmental projects especially in the sectors of education, healthcare and roads.
“At the end of the visit, President Buhari will be proceeding to the United Kingdom on a private visit. He is expected to return to Nigeria on May 5, 2019.’’
This trip will be the first private visit by the President this year after the rigorous election campaigns for his re-election.
Between 2017 and last year, the president has frequent London hospital for medical attention, hampering his effectiveness in discharging his duty, leaving the task in the hands of his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo.

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Supreme Court Never Ordered AMCON To Pay Bi-Courtney N132b

Nigeria's 'bad bank' Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has debunked the claim by a newspaper that it was ordered to pay 132 billion naira to Bi-Courtney, saying the publications was erroneous and failed to represent the judgment of the Supreme Court.
In a statement by the corporation's head of Corporate communication, Jude Nwauzo there was never an issue of any liability of AMCON before the Supreme Court.
According to Nwauzo, the decision of the apex court never dealt with the merits of an appeal before the court nor the substantive cause resulting in the exparte decision of the Federal High Court (FHC).
He said the appeal before the supreme court was in respect of the leave granted to AMCON by the Court of Appeal to appeal as an interested party and for which the Apex court held that the application ought to have been filed in the FHC first before the Court of Appeal.
"This was the sole issue submitted and determined by the Supreme Court whilst the substantive matter is still with the lower court.
"More so the appeal against the judgment of the Federal Government/FAAN who are parties to the substantive cause given rise to the enforcement Order is still pending at the CA. The said appeal is strictly between the Federal Government/FAAN and Bi- Courtney and has nothing to do with AMCON.
"The whole matter of N132billion is strictly a case between Bi-Courtney Limited and the Federal Government of Nigeria/FAAN. Bi-Courtney is struggling to tie the matter to their debt obligation in AMCON.
"The only import of the judgment is that AMCON seeks the leave of the FHC first to appeal the enforcement Order before approaching the Court of Appeal. The net effect of the above is that AMCON was never ordered to pay Bi-Courtney 132billion nor any other amount. AMCON has never been a party to any of the proceedings pending at the court of Appeal
AMCON said Bi-Courtney, owned by Wale Babalakin remains a debtor of the corporation to the tune of 119 billion naira and the Corporation would continue to explore every legal avenue to recover the said sum in the national interest and interest of the bond owners.

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Investors Oversubscribed Nigeria's Debut 30-Year Bond With Yield At 14.8 Pct

Nigeria sold its first 30-year tenor domestic bond on Wednesday at 14.80 percent marginal rate with investors bidding more than the amount offered at the auction by the debt office, results of the tender showed.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) sold 53.16 billion naira of the 30-year paper at the auction, more than the 20 billion naira initially offered for sale at the auction against 80.41 billion subscriptions submitted by investors.
The debt office announced last week that it plans to raise 100 billion naira in domestic bond at an auction, with a proposal to raise 20 billion naira in the debut 30-year paper and 40 billion naira apiece in the 10-year and 5-year debt.
However, at the auction on Wednesday, the debt office sold just 37.43 billion naira in the 10-year paper and 6.81 billion naira in the 5-year debt.
While investors asked for 52.28 billion naira worth in the 10-year paper, they only asked to buy 16,61 billion naira in the 5-year debt.
The 5-year paper attracted yield of 14.50 percent while the 10-year paper which was also a new issue attracted 14.55 percent yield at the auction.
Dealers said, investors were asking for higher returns on the paper, but the debt office decline to raise its marginal rate.
Yields on the 5-year and 10-year paper at the March auction was 13.50 percent, which means the DMO raised the bar at this month's auction.
At the close of the auction on Wednesday, the debt office was only able to raise 97.4 billion naira worth of bond, short of the 100 billion naira initially offered.
The government had targeted the life insurance premium and pension fund with the 30-year paper.
According to the head of the DMO, Patience Oniha, the issuance of the bond will meet the needs of annuity funds and other long term investors while also developing the domestic capital market and reducing the re-financing risk of the federal government.
“Another area of focus will be the management of risks associated with the debt stock to mitigate debt service costs," Oniha said at a briefing on April 4, 2019.
She noted that the 30-year issue would enable government raise long-term capital for infrastructure, serve as benchmark for private sector raising of long-term investment capital.

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MTN Nigeria Transforms To Public Company Ahead Of Local Listing

MTN Nigeria has completed its conversion from a private company to a public company ahead of its plans to list on the local bourse, the telecoms giant said on Wednesday.

The local unit of South Africa's telecoms firm in a statement said the conversion to a public company was a legal requirement and key milestone in the preparatory process for MTN’s listing by introduction on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
MTN said the proposed listing on the NSE would create a new telecoms asset class for investors and provide a wider group of Nigerians with a chance to participate in the MTN investment opportunity.
The statement quoted MTN Chief Executive Officer, Ferdi Moolman as saying the conversion is a major step towards listing by introduction on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in the first half of 2019.
“It is a reaffirmation of our long-term commitment to expanding investment opportunities for Nigerians, in addition to providing everyday services to them.
“We look forward to continuing our engagement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and NSE to take forward the listing process,” Moolman was quoted to have said in the statement.
In March, MTN announced its earnings for the 2018 financial year, recording growth above inflation in full-service revenue of 17.2 percent and the addition of nearly six million new subscribers to the network.
The company announced Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation of N453.1bn and expanded EBITDA margins to 43.6 percent (excluding the CBN resolution amount).
The company added 4.5 million active data customers in 2018, delivering data revenue growth of 39.3 percent and expanding to 18.7 million the number of people that it connects to the possibilities that the Internet provides.
According to the telecoms company, the upcoming listing is a key milestone for the MTN group and is part of its commitment to localisation in the markets in which it operates.
MTN said it was engaging with the SEC and NSE on its planned listing.

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Nigeria Says Poor Revenue Collection Hinders Budget Performance

Nigeria has attributed the slow pace of development and executes its annual budget effectively to weak revenue generation profile of the West African country, its finance minister ha said.
A statement by the media adviser to the minister said Zainab Ahmed acknowledges and points out the challenge of revenue generation by the country.

“What we have is revenue problem and when revenues perform at the aggregate rate of 55 per cent it hinders the ability to operate our budget. So it hinders our ability to service all categories of expenditures including salaries, allowances, capitals as well as debts.
Ahmed said the finance ministry was not resting on its oars with regards to boosting the nation’s revenue.
“What we are doing at the Ministry of Finance is concentrating and enhancing our revenue and collection capacities.”
The finance minister was however happy that Nigeria’s borrowing still remains at 19 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“In the borrowing, we are still at 19 per cent to GDP, our borrowing is still low. What is allowed by our Fiscal Responsibility Act is the maximum of 25 per cent of our GDP compared to other countries like; Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Angola and Brazil and we are the lowest in terms of borrowing.”
With regards to the alleged planned removal of subsidy, the finance minister was quoted to have said that the “difference on the issue of subsidy as compared to previous regimes where subsidy was paid to marketers, but this time around
“NNPC is the sole importer of petroleum products, and so when they import, they deduct that cost of business before they remit the little money to the federation account. So that is completely different.”
She also added that “It is more cost effective, it is cheaper and what is being done now is easier to monitor.”

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Huawei Gets British PM Nods To Build 5G Network For UK

British Prime Minister Theresa May has given the go-ahead for China's Huawei to help build a 5G network, shrugging off security warnings from senior ministers and Washington, the Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

The country's National Security Council, which is chaired by May, agreed Tuesday to allow the Chinese technology giant limited access to build "non-core" infrastructure such as antennas, the report said.
The decision was made despite concerns raised over May's approach by Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt.
Downing Street declined to comment but Huawei welcomed the newspaper report.
"Huawei welcomes reports that the UK government is moving towards allowing Huawei to help build the UK's 5G network," it said in a statement.
"This green light means that UK businesses and consumers will have access to the fastest and most reliable networks thanks to Huawei's cutting edge technology.
"While we await a formal government announcement, we are pleased that the UK is continuing to take an evidence-based approach to its work and we will continue work cooperatively with the government, and the industry."
The United States has however banned Huawei's 5G technology from its territory and urged allies in the so-called Five Eyes intelligence-sharing collective -- which also includes Australia, Britain, Canada, and New Zealand -- to follow suit.
Huawei is the leading manufacturer of equipment for next-generation 5G mobile networks with almost instantaneous data transfer that will become the nervous system of Europe's economy, in strategic sectors like energy, transport, banking and health care.
The technology titan faces pushback in some Western markets over fears Beijing could spy on communications and gain access to critical infrastructure.
Last month, Britain identified "significant technological issues" in Huawei's engineering processes that pose "new risks" for the nation's telecommunications, according to a government report.

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Zenith Bank Repays $500 Mln Eurobond Issued In 2014

Nigeria's Zenith Bank on Tuesday said it has fully redeemed the matured $500 million Eurobond issued in 2014 and due by April 22, 2019, from its cash reserves.

According to the bank in a statement to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the debt was issued under its $1 billion Global Medium Term Note Programme. The first tranche was issued at a tenor of 5-year and a coupon of 6.25 percent on April 22, 2014.
"The Bank, leveraging on its strong and highly liquid balance sheet as well as its outstanding treasury management capability completely redeemed the note using the Bank’s available cash reserves," Zenith Bank said in the statement.
It said over the years, it has continued to maintain its deep understanding of the market to sustain its consistent operational metrics of strong liquidity, capital and asset quality ratios which reflects the Bank’s robust risk management practices, strong corporate governance culture and a well-articulated corporate strategy.
The bank said the outstanding balance of $500 million of the $1 billion Global Medium Term Note issued in May 2017 and will mature in May 2022.

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Soyinka Says President Buhari Failed On Security

Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has slammed President Muhammadu Buhari for his “slow response” in dealing with the terror caused by Fulani herdsmen across many parts of Nigeria.

He said Buhari has failed on the security threat posed by herdsmen, adding that he was repeating the mistakes of his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, in not dealing with the Boko Haram menace in a timely and adequate fashion.
“The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny”, he said.
Soyinka appeared on the BBC’s Hardtalk programme and anchored by Zeinab Badawi.
Reacting to Badawi’s question that he backed Buhari in 2015 describing the ex-army general as a “reformed democrat”, Soyinka said Buhari “won by default” in 2015 because it was difficult to back Jonathan and which meant supporting a continuation of the corruption associated with that regime. Nigerians were caught “between the devil and the deep blue sea”.
Soyinka criticized Jonathan’s ineffective response to Boko Haram, but placing the blame for failing to nip the problem in the bud at the feet of Olusegun Obasanjo, who was president from 1999 to 2007.
“Obasanjo contributed to the emergence of Boko Haram by not preventing the first governor in one of the northern states from establishing a “theocratic state”.
Soyinka said that the president failed to act because he was “compromised” by his ambitions to continue in office beyond the second term limit.
He was however silent about why Buhari’s response to the killings of the herdsmen was so inadequate and said little about how the problem could be tackled effectively.

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Nigerian Stock Exchange Fines Access, Diamond Bank For violating Disclosure Rules

The Nigerian Stock Exchange has fined Access Bank, Diamond Bank and First Aluminium a total of 8.12 million naira for violating its disclosure rules.

The local bourse in its latest X-Compliance report said Access Bank and Diamond Bank were fined for failing to disclose the resolutions passed at the meeting of their board of directors relating to the merger of the two institutions.
Access Bank was fined 4.41 million naira, while Diamond Bank was fined 3.23 million naira, according to the report, which brings the total amount to be paid by the two banks to 7.64 million naira.
Access Bank acquired Diamond Bank in a deal the two institutions described as merger this month, operating under the Access Bank franchise.

The merger process was initiated last December and concluded this month, with Access Bank becoming the largest bank by customer base in the continent.
As part of the deal, Diamond Bank said its shareholders would receive 3.13 naira per share, comprising of 1.00 naira per share in cash and the allotment of two new Access Bank ordinary shares for every seven Diamond Bank ordinary shares.
Diamond bank has been managing its capital since 2016 after huge loan losses worsened by a weak economy forced it to sell its foreign subsidiaries.

First Aluminium was fined N476,280 for non-dispatch of the notice of its Annual General Meeting and annual reports to shareholders 21 days before the date of the meeting.

The NSE said every listed company was required to provide the Exchange with timely information to enable it efficiently perform its function of maintaining an orderly market.

It stated that in accordance with the provisions of Appendix III: General undertaking (equities), the rulebook of the Exchange, 2015 (issuers’ rules) and the Exchange’s circular no. NSE/LARD/LRD/CIR3/17/05/12 on publication of announcements or press releases via the issuers’ portal, listed companies were required to obtain prior written approval from the Exchange before publications that affect shareholders’ interest were made in the media or via the issuers’ portal.

The NSE said in addition, companies were also required to disclose material information to the Exchange and publish the information in their annual reports.

The report read in part, “Access Bank, Diamond Bank and First Aluminium breached certain provisions of the listings rules and were sanctioned accordingly.”

So far in the year, Only Access Bank, Diamond Bank and First Aluminium have committed disclosure violations and have been fined accordingly.

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Singapore's Olam Group To Acquire Dangote Flour Mills In 130 Bln Naira Deal

Olam International Limited, a Singaporean agro-allied firm has offered to acquire Dangote Flour Mills Plc, majorly owned by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote in a bid worth 130 billion naira, the flour mills company said on Tuesday.

Olam was established in 1989, and now listed on the Singapore Exchange and the bids could be a move by the firm to expands its franchise in Nigeria.
Tiger Brands, a South African firm had in 2012 bought a 63 percent stake in Dangote Flour and pasta maker, but few years down the line the Dangote Group bought back the company after the new owners sustained losses repeated on its operations.

Olam, through its subsidiary Crown Flour Mills currently, owns over five million shares of Dangote Flour Mills and its bidding to take over the entire company.

In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Dangote Flour said the total consideration offered by Olam is to acquire the five billion shares of the flour mill which worth about 130 billion naira.
The deal, according to Dangote Flour would be on the basis of debt free, cash free at the end of the transaction, which means working capital and debt value would be net out at the end of the transaction.
The transaction will be executed through a Scheme of Arrangement under the company and allied Act and other relevant laws.
Also, the deal will be subjected to the approval of the shareholders, regulatory authorities and the court, the flour mill majorly owned by Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote.

Tiger Brands, a South African firm had in 2012 bought a 63 percent stake in Dangote Flour and pasta maker, but few years down the line the Dangote Group bought back the company after the new owners sustained losses repeated on its operations.

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Nigerian Financial Institutions Help Criminals To Evade Justice ~ICPC

Nigerian banks have been accused of aiding crime and corrupt practices in the country with some of them opened accounts for criminals and offered them services to helped criminal acts.

According to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), unethical investors are undermining the ethics of the banking industry. Bolaji Owasanoye, head of the commission spoke during his visit to the Bank of Industry (BOI)in Abuja.
A spokesperson for the commission, Rasheedat Okoduwa, said in a release that Owasanoye said the ICPC would ensure continuous clampdown on corrupt elements in the industry.
“The ICPC chairman has pledged the commission’s commitment to working together with financial institutions in order to rid them of corrupt elements. The chairman expressed concerns at the complicity of a few of Nigeria’s financial services industry in the ruination of the country, stating that one bad apple can ruin the entire bunch,” said the statement.
“He described how some financial institutions condone unethical conducts by opening accounts for criminals and how they use innuendos to make suggestions of criminality to lure customers. He also pointed out that unethical investors undermine the ethics of the industry, and promised to deal decisively with the likes of them who infringe the law,” it added.
While calling on stakeholders in the industry to work with the anti-corruption agency, the ICPC boss noted that doing so would help in isolating the corrupt elements in the system.

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Aiteo Energy Says Suspects Sabotage On Its Operations At Nembe Creek

Aiteo, a local indigenous energy firm has declared a force majeure at its Bayelsa operations after fired gutted Nigeria's Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NNCTL) on Sunday,

According to the company, Nembe trunk line is one of the two major lines transporting Bonny Light crude oil to the export terminal.
Thought the fire has been put off, the company said it suspected that the inferno was as a result of sabotage and that it was working to “facilitate a quick return to full functionality.”
The line was operating smoothly before the incident, fuelling suspicion that the fire could have been caused by a third party breach on the pipeline, Aiteo said.
The causes of the fire are being investigated, a company spokesman said in a statement. Aiteo did not provide details of any disruption to oil exports.
Royal Dutch Shell said that operations continued at the Bonny Light terminal, but did not comment on whether the NCTL closure had slowed exports. The Trans Niger Pipeline also carries oil to the terminal.
The shut pipeline was one of two lines exporting Bonny Light crude oil, Nigeria's prime crude.

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Minimum Wage In Nigeria Now 30,000 Naira As President Buhari Signs Bill To Law

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law a bill to increase Nigeria’s minimum wage with immediate effect, an aide said on Thursday.

The change means the minimum monthly wage will rise to 30,000 naira ($98) from 18,000 now, said aide Ita Enang, a senior special assistant to the president on the National Assembly.
The cost of living has become a key issue for many in Africa’s most populous nation, where most people live on less than $2 a day. Unions went on strike last year over the minimum wage, initially demanding a rise to 50,000 naira a month.
Inflation in Nigeria stood at 11.25 percent in March.
“The implementation of the law takes effect from today, April 18,” said Enang.
The government had previously argued that many of Nigeria’s 36 states struggle to meet existing salaries. Unions said when launching industrial action last year that a review was needed, however, as none had been carried out in seven years.

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Nigerian chief justice sacked for false asset declaration

The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) has convicted the Chief Justice of Nigeria Walter Onnoghen for false declaration of assets and proceeded to sack him from office.

In a judgment delivered on Thursday, the Tribunal found the Chief Justice guilty of hiding the extent of his wealth contrary to the code of conduct for public officers and removed him from office.
Onnoghen was suspended by President Muhammadu Buhari in January, weeks before the last presidential election, in a move that triggered accusations of interference in judicial matters.
The CCT said it had also banned Onnoghen from holding public office for 10 years and ordered any assets he could not account for to be forfeited to the state.
Meanwhile, Onnoghen has appealed the tribunal’s decision.
In a notice of appeal, filed at the Registry of the CCT, shortly after the judgment on Thursday, Onnoghen raised 16 grounds on which he faulted the decision and urged the Court of Appeal to set it aside and discharge and acquit him.
The appellant want the Court of Appeal to hold that the CCT lacked the jurisdiction to hear the charge and that the tribunal ought to have recuse itself from the trial.
He also prayed the tribunal to set aside all the orders made by the tribunal in the judgment, including that for assets forfeiture.
The appellant argued, among others, that the tribunal erred in law when it refused to abide by existing judicial precedents in refusing his applications, challenging its jurisdiction and asking it to recuse itself.
“The lower tribunal erred in law when it refused to recuse itself from the proceedings in view of the open declaration by the Chairman of the tribunal that he is only accountable to the President, who appointed him and nobody else, because he is not a judicial officer and thus, occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice.
“The lower tribunal erred in law when it held that the appellant confessed to the charges framed by admission and used that as a basis to hold that the appellant did not declare his assets from the year 2005 when he became a justice of the Supreme Court and thus occasioned a grave miscarriage of justice.
“The lower tribunal erred in law when it held that the appellant is guilty of counts 2 – 6 of the charge in view of the fact that the appellant made an admission that he did not declare the Standard Chartered Bank account numbers in 2014.

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Buhari Says Far More Educationally Qualified Than Atiku

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has challenged his main challenger in the last presidential election, Atiku Abubakar to produce his educational certificates and tell the public name of schools attended.
President Buhari of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) who won the last election accused the candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of not possessing the statutory educational qualification to contest the February 23, 2019 election.
He dared Atiku to produce his “educational certificates, indicating the schools attended by him, with dates,” before the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal.
The APC candidate was declared the winner of the last election by the electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with 15, 191, 847 votes against his closest rival Atiku who scored 11, 262, 978 votes.However, Abubakar and the PDP filed a petition before the tribunal seeking an order nullifying Buhari’s victory and another order declaring them as the true winner of the poll.
The petitioners alleged, among others, that Buhari gave false information about his school certificate in the Form CF001, which he submitted to INEC.
They had alleged that Buhari did not possess secondary school certificate he laid claim to in the form.
But in a reply filed on his behalf on Wednesday by his lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), the President said he possessed more than the constitutionally required educational qualifications to contest the election.
He said it was Atiku who lacked the required educational qualification and challenged him to contradict the assertion with proof.
Buhari said he was “head and shoulder above” Atiku in terms of educational qualifications, training and courses attended, both within and outside Nigeria.
He also said he surpassed Atiku in terms of acquisition of knowledge, certificates, laurels, medals and experience.
“The respondent (Buhari) avers that he is far more qualified, both constitutionally and educationally, to contest and occupy the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria than the 1st petitioner; and that in terms of educational qualifications, training and courses attended, both within and outside Nigeria, he is head and shoulder above the 1st petitioner in terms of acquisition of knowledge, certificates, laurels, medals and experience.
“Respondent states further that it is the 1st petitioner who is not qualified to contest the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and challenges the educational credentials and certificates of the 1st petitioner.
“The 1st petitioner is hereby given notice to produce and tender his educational certificates, indicating the schools attended by him, with dates.”
Buhari denied submitting false information to INEC in respect of his educational qualification.
He quoted his resume as reading, in part:
“Elementary School Daura and Maid’adua – 1948 to 1952;
“Middle School, Katsina – 1953 to 1956;
“Katsina Provincial Secondary School (now Daura Government College, Katsina) – 1956 to 1961.”
The reply added, “He (Buhari) did not, at any time, provide any false information in the Form CF001 submitted to the 1st respondent, either in 2014 or 2018.
“The affidavit of compliance to the 2019 Form CF001 was correct in every material particular.
“In filling Form CF001 in 2014 and 2019, the respondent was not oblivious of the constitutional qualifications stipulated in Section 131 of the Constitution and interpreted in Section 318 of the same Constitution.
“Petitioners themselves are also not oblivious of the fact that the respondent possesses far more than the constitutional threshold expected of a candidate contesting for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Buhari asked the tribunal to dismiss the petition, saying that it contained more of pre-election issues, which the Court of Appeal, sitting as a tribunal lacked jurisdiction to entertain.
He argued that the petitioners’ claims were self-defeating.

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Nigeria To Issue 1st 30-year Bond Next Week, To Raise 100 Bln Naira Debt

Nigeria plans to debut with its first 30-year local bond next Wednesday at an auction where it plans to raise 100 billion naira from the domestic market, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has said.
A data posted on its website showed that the debt office will issue 20 billion naira worth of local bond with 30-year tenor on April 24, in addition to 40 billion naira in 5-year paper.
The debt office will also raise 40 billion naira in 10-year bond, making a total of 100 billion naira to be raised from the domestic market next week.
Head of the DMO has revealed last month that the West African country intends to issue its first 30-year paper this year without disclosing the time.
The 30-year and 5-year bond are fresh issues while the 10-year paper are reopening of the previously issued debt.
Patience Oniha, head of the DMO said two weeks ago said the new 30-year bond would be attractive to long-term investors and would help in “developing the domestic capital market and reducing the re-financing risk” of the government.
Nigeria plans to borrow about 1.649 trillion naira this year to plug the gap in the 2019 budget, half of the money is expected to come from foreign debt while the balance will be raised from the domestic market.

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Court Orders Arrest Of Adoke, Dan Etete, Four Others Over Malabu Oil Scam

A High Court in Abuja has issued a warrant for the arrest of immediate-past Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dan Etete, and four others over the sale of offshore oilfield OPL 245 by Malabu Oil and Gas in 2011.
According to a tweet by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday, the two ex-minister “are to be arrested anywhere they are found.”
The $1.3 billion deal has spawned legal cases spanning several countries and involving Nigerian government officials and senior ENI and Shell executives.
The six are named in the charges filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in relation to the Malabu Oil scam.
Others affected by court’s arrest warrant issued on Wednesday are, Raph Wezels, Casula Roberto, Pujato Stefeno and Burrato Sebastino, and Aliyu Abubakar.
Justice Senchi issued the arrest warrant against the suspects following an ex parte application by the EFCC on Wednesday.
The commission through its lawyer, Aliyu Yusuf, informed the judge that it had not been able to apprehend the suspects since 2016 and 2017 when it filed two sets of charges against them before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
According to the EFCC, the charges bordered on fraudulent allocation of the Oil Prospecting Licence 245 and money laundering involving the sum of about $1.2bn, forgery of bank documents, bribery and corruption.
The alleged $1.3 billion scam involved the transfer of the OPL 245 purportedly from Malabu Oil and Gas Limited to Shell Nigeria Exploration Production Co. Limited and Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited.
The three companies are defendants in the charges pending before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

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Nigeria's Finance Minister To Visit FIRS As EFCC Investigates 6 Bln Naira Scam

Nigeria's finance minister Zainab Ahmed is expected to visit the Headquarters of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Thursday in the wake of allegations of corruptions against top officials of the service.
Ahmed is expected to hold meetings with the chairman of the service, Babatunde Fowler and other top officials of the service on the issue of fraud and other issues related to the statutory function of the service.
The nation's anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) had detained nine of the service top officials over allegations of fraudulently paying about 6 billion naira into accounts of some staff for no justifications.
The fraud was said to have been committed by some top officials of the service through the transfer of huge money into accounts of some staff in the form of duty tour allowance payment.
Many of the staff who got the alert for duty tour payment were alleged to have been instructed to transfer substaintail part of the money to a certain account and then keep the balance.
Operatives of the EFCC are currently interrogating some of the staff involved in the scam payment, which blew open through an insider, who wrote a petition to the anti-graft agency on the issue.
One of the top officials said to be involved in the scam is said to be on medical vacation abroad and may not be returning soon, according to a source close to him.
Peter Hena, who is one of the most senior directors of the agency is said to currently hospitalised abroad and may not be able to respond to the EFCC question on his culpability in the crime.
Another source was trying to link the chairman of the service to the fraud, but no concrete evidence to link him as at the time of writing this report.
The ministerial visit was said to be part of instruction from President Mohammadu Buhari to the minister on a fact-finding mission to unravel the real issue behind the scam and report back to the cabinet.
Top presidency sources disclosed that head may roll at the agency at the end of the EFCC investigations as more issues are being thrown up, which could lead to the unearthing of more scam in the service.
"The presidency is waiting for the outcome of the ongoing investigations by the EFCC and the fact-finding mission of the finance minister to the agency," our source told us on Wednesday.
The FIRS reported over 5.32 trillion naira revenue collection last year, the highest in history of the service, with the closest collection of 5.07 trillion recorded in 2012.
The service has been credited with a lot of reform, with improvement in revenue collection methods, however, allegations that the service has an overbloated cost of revenue collection, higher than its counterparts in other countries.

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Nigeria Customs To Recruit 3,200 Officer, Opens Portal For Applications

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Tuesday said it plans to recruit about 3,200 officers into the service as it officially opens its portal to the public for applications.
Acting Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Human Resources Department, Umar Sanusi said this at a news conference in Abuja.
“Following the necessary approval from the Federal Executive Council (FEC), NCS is now set to recruit officers and men to fill existing vacancies.
“Application for recruitment will be open to all eligible Nigerians, who meet the requirements irrespective of their tribe, religion, state, or any other consideration," Sanusi said.
Sanusi explained that 800 would be recruited to fill vacancies in the Support Staff for Superintendent Cadre Category, and 2,400 would fill that of Customs Inspector and Customs Assistant Cadre in the General Duty Categories.
He said that the service’s portal for the recruitment would be opened 12 midnight on Tuesday and would be closed after three weeks.
According to him, a web portal to receive and process all applications has been created as a sub-domain of the NCS website; www.customs.gov.ng.
He said the portal “is a user-friendly one that prospective applicants from all parts of the country and even outside Nigeria can log in to submit applications and upload documents.
“The URL is vacancy.customs.gov.ng, the specific requirements established for the vacancies.
“Shortlisting of candidates will be done and such candidates shortlisted will be notified, invited for the continuation of the recruitment process.
“In our bid to ensure equal and fair opportunity to all applicants, we are working every step of the recruitment process in compliance with the requirements of the Federal Character Commission.
“We are actively engaged with the commission to ensure that the process will earn a certificate of compliance on merit,” he said.
Sanusi said that customs would deploy help desk for applicants to handle complaints, and offer support service.
He said the help desk could be reached through the email address — helpdesk@customs.gov.ng, adding that a detailed Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) was also populated on the application portal for further clarification.
The Deputy Comptroller-General disclosed that more details of the recruitment would be advertised on seven national newspapers on Wednesday, April 17.
“We are determined to conduct an exercise that is credible, fair and transparent and we will deploy all machinery within our powers to ensure that the integrity of the exercise is not compromised.
“We will like to emphasise that participation in this exercise is free for all eligible applicants, any demand for or solicitation for any payments to process, facilitate, or influence the process under any guise is illegal and should be reported to customs’ office.
“We are aware that some criminal elements may want to take advantage of this recruitment to scam desperate job applicants.
“Some of them are reported to be operating illegal sites and portals, collecting various sums of money from applicants.
“I want to reiterate that the portal for this exercise can only be accessed through the official service web site, where no fees will be demanded,” he said.

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Women Better At Hiding Infidelities Than Men ~Research

Scientists in Australia have revealed that women can judge whether a man is likely to be unfaithful just by looking at his face but men are less able to spot a cheating woman, debunking the universality of the notion that one can’t hide one’s lying eyes.
The researchers at the University of Western Australia took a group of 1,500 people and showed them pictures of 189 Caucasian adults (101 men and 88 women), having first asked them if they had been unfaithful to their partners.
Respondents were then asked to rank these faces on a scale of one to 10, where one is “not at all likely to be unfaithful” and 10 is “extremely likely” to play the field.
The result, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, was that “both men and women were accurate in assessing men’s, but not women’s, likelihood to cheat and poach.”
The scientists wanted to examine not only whether men and women could spot potential infidelity in each other but also whether it was possible to detect a possible “poacher” of the same sex.
They cited research showing that 70 percent of people across more than 50 cultures report an attempt to poach someone else’s partner and 60 percent saying they were successful.
The results were “not as expected”, the scientists admitted. Men were able to spot potential poachers among other men but even when other women were judging, the female of the species was inscrutable.
“Taken together, both men and women showed above-chance accuracy for men’s faces but not women’s faces. Therefore, perceived unfaithfulness may indeed contain some kernel of truth in male faces,” the scientists wrote.
What makes women suspect men might sleep around?
According to the survey, it mainly boils down to perceived masculinity, although the researchers came up with another unexpected result, suggesting it’s not the best-looking men that play away the most.
“Surprisingly, even though more attractive men were rated as more unfaithful, they were less likely to engage in actual mate poaching,” the study said.
Despite the findings, one of the scientists involved in the report cautioned against jumping to conclusions on a first date.
Although men are marginally more likely to betray infidelity with their features, it is still difficult to spot possible cheats from one individual’s face, said Yong Zhi Foo.
“If we are to rely solely on our first impressions to detect cheaters/poachers, then we will make substantial errors,” Foo told AFP.
“Our results must not be taken to mean that first impressions can be used in any everyday situations,” he added.

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Atiku To Invite Microsoft, IBM Experts To Support His Claims On Election Result

Experts from Microsoft, IBM and Oracle have been invited by Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to support his claim that the servers belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) proved that he won the last election.
INEC had declared President Muhammadu Buhari as the winner of the last presidential election, defeating his closest rival Abubakar by scoring 15,191,847 votes against Abubakar's 11,262,978 votes.
However, in his petition before the Presidential Election Tribunal, Abubakar is claiming to have defeated President Buhari by over 1.6 million votes. His claim was predicated on the result he said was posted on the INEC servers.
The PDP candidate provided link to the said servers where he claimed the results are kept as INEC_PRES_RSLT_SRV2019 and its unique Mac address as 94-57-A5-DC-64-B9 with Microsoft Product ID 00252-70000-0000-AA535.
Abubakar, who also was Nigeria's former Vice-President claimed to have polled a total of 18,356,732 votes to defeat President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling APC who he said scored 16,741,430 votes.Atiku and the PDP will also be expected to tender INEC’s training manual on elections, a printout of the votes of candidates from smart card readers and a printout of the forensic audit report on INEC’s server as evidence.
However, INEC’s Director, Information and Communications Technology, Chidi Nwafor, in his witness statement on oath attached to the reply, specifically denied the “server results” which the PDP and Atiku were laying claim to.
He said all the results were collated manually and were never transmitted electronically.
Atiku, in his fresh response to the INEC claim, said the figures he claimed to have scored were genuine.
The reply read in part, “The servers from which the said figures were derived belong to the 1st respondent (INEC). The figures and votes were transmitted to the 1st respondent’s Presidential result’s server 1 and thereafter aggregated in INEC_PRES_RSLT_SRV2019 whose physical address or unique Mac address as 94-57-A5-DC-64-B9 with Microsoft Product ID 00252-70000-0000-AA535. The descriptions are unique to the 1st respondent’s server.”
On how the case would be argued, the PDP and Atiku stated, “The petitioners will at the trial of this petition rely on experts on Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, amongst others.”
The PDP candidate and his party said one of the spokespersons for the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Festus Keyamo, even attested to the fact that the election data was in INEC’s servers when he wrote a petition to the Inspector-General of Police calling on him to arrest Atiku.
“The spokesperson for the second respondent’s campaign organisation (Keyamo) openly admitted that the data in question was in the first respondent’s server when he wrote and submitted a petition to the IGP and the Director of the Department of State Services asking the security agencies to investigate the second petitioner (the PDP) for allegedly hacking into the server of the first respondent (INEC) and obtaining the data in question.
“Specifically, Festus Keyamo claimed in the petition that it was the first petitioner (Atiku) who smuggled the data into the server. The petitioners (Atiku and the PDP) hereby plead the said petition to the security agencies and the second respondent is hereby given notice to produce them at hearing.”
The PDP and Atiku said INEC’s claim that the transmission of results was purely manual was a lie.
They made references to several press statements issued by INEC insisting that there would be an electronic component of results collation.
Atiku and his party said there was nothing in the Electoral Act that barred INEC from transmitting results electronically.
They said INEC also lied when it claimed that its directive on election day was that card readers should only be used in areas where they worked.
“The petitioners shall at trial lead evidence to show that the first respondent (INEC) stated on several occasions before and after the elections that the use of card readers was compulsory.”

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Court Acquits Ex SEC DG, Gwarzo Of Fraud Charges

The former director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo on Tuesday was discharged and acquited of fraud charges by a Federal High Court in Abuja.

Also his co-defendant, Zakwanu Garba, who was the Executive Commissioner of SEC was also discharged and acquitted of the same charges.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had arraigned the two officials before Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf on a five-count charge bordering on fraud.
Gwarzo was suspended as SEC DG in 2017 by the former finance minister, Kemi Adeosun over allegations of corruption.
A panel was set up to investigate the alleged issues, after which the ICPC arraigned the DG and Executive commissioner in court.
In his judgment, the judge held that the prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused persons committed the offence for which they were charged.
The judge said by its own admission, the prosecution through its witnesses and evidence confirmed that the action of the defendant was by a decision of the governing board of SEC, which is the highest decision-making body of the commission.
Ruling on the first count of a five charge of use of office for personal enrichment against Gwarzo, the judge said the ICPC did not prove its allegation.
He held that while the first prosecution witness did not implicate the first defendant in her testimony, the remaining witnesses who are operatives of the ICPC contradicted themselves.
“Furthermore, exhibit 19, which is a memo from the governing board of SEC, has clearly demonstrated that the decisions of the board of SEC as the highest decision and policy-making body of commission is legal.
“As a result of this, the first defendant is acquitted on the first charge,” the judge ruled.
The judge also absolved Gwarzo of the allegations that he used his official position to corruptly enrich himself by using the monies paid to him as car grant as the DG of SEC.
Baba-Yusuf held that: “The burden of proof was on the prosecution but through its own exhibit, which includes a board resolution which approved the car benefit for an executive director who had spent more than two years in office, the charge against Gwarzo has not been established,” he said.
He said the fourth witness under cross-examination agreed that the board resolution was lawful and that the car grant was non-refundable.
Baba-Yusuf held that the testimony of Prosecution Witness Two clearly showed that the first defendant had no role in deciding what he was entitled to and as such could not have used his office to enrich himself.
The judge, however, concluded that the evidence as a whole cannot be used by any court or tribunal to convict him.
He, therefore, discharged and acquitted him.
The court in the fourth count also discharged Garba on the grounds that the evidence that he aided the suspended director-general of SEC to use his office to corruptly enrich himself was not proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
The judge then held that no prima facie case was established against Garba who acted based on a decision of the governing board of SEC, which is the highest decision-making body of SEC.

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Nigeria Consumer Inflation slows To 11.25 Pct In March Vs 11.31 Pct In Feb

Nigeria’s consumer inflation slowed down to 11.25 percent in March from 11.31 percent in February, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Tuesday.
A separate food price index showed inflation at 13.45 percent in March, compared with 13.47 percent in February.
On month-on-month basis, the bureau said the Headline Index increased by 0.79 percent in March, indicating 0.06 percent higher than the rate recorded in February.
The Report said the percentage change in the average composite CPI for the period of 12 months ending in March over the previous 12 months was 11.40 percent.
Urban inflation rate increased by 11.54 per cent year-on-year in March against 11.59 per cent recorded in February.
NBS said rural inflation rate increased by 10.99 percent in March from 11.05 percent in February.
Also, it said the rural index rose by 0.77 per cent in March, up by 0.06 from the rate recorded in February (0.71) per cent.
According to the report, the corresponding twelve-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index is 11.78 per cent in March.
This is less than 11.95 per cent reported in February while the corresponding rural inflation rate in March is 11.08 per cent compared to 11.23 per cent recorded in February.
The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day living.
The construction of the CPI combines economic theory, sampling and other statistical techniques using data from other surveys to produce a weighted measure of average price changes in the Nigerian economy.
The weighting occurs to capture the importance of the selected commodities in the entire index.

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Aliko Dangote Interview with Mo Ibrahim

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Nigeria To Take $1 Bln Naira World Bank Facility To Fund Power Supply

Nigeria top officials are discussing the possibility of accessing a $1 billion Performance Based Loan (PBL) from the World Bank.
Zainab Ahmed, Nigeria's finance minister said the meeting witth the World Bank power sector team is all involving.
“We met with the World Bank Power Sector team and discussed the way forward on the proposed $1 billion PBL. We agreed to bring relevant MDAs together to ensure that we advance this operation in a timely manner. 

"We will also discuss the Country Portfolio Performance of Nigeria, which currently stands at $9.8 billion, with the Nigerian Country team at the World Bank and how we could manage the portfolio for optimum results," Ahmed said.
She also spoke of plans by the Debt Management Office (DMO) to issue 15 billion Green Bond to fund agriculture, power, health and water amenities to make life better for the people, saying the Green Bond will be the second one and would be used to finance agriculture, power sector – mostly solar projects – as well as some projects in the water sector.
She pointed out that the projects for which the funds will be applied “must be green. They must be projects that are not contributing to carbon dioxide emissions to the society. The first green bond issuance was successful and all the projects that were scheduled to have been financed have been done and the projects are at various levels of completion.”

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