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Corruption: SERAP calls on FG to probe UBEC, SUBEBs
Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP) has called President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Auditor-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN to work with appropriate anti-corruption agencies to probe allegations of corruption in UBEC and SUBEBs between 2004 and 2020, including missing N3.84billion documented in the 2017 annual report by the AGF.
The nonprofit, nonpartisan, legal and advocacy organization also urged AGF and the anticorruption agencies to make public the outcome of any investigation, and to prosecute suspected perpetrators if there is relevant admissible evidence, as well as fully recover any missing public funds.
SERAP in a statement on Sunday stated that allegations of corruption in UBEC and SUBEBs violate the right to education of millions of Nigerian children who continue to face unsuitable learning conditions, as shown by the poor learning and boarding facilities at the Government Science College, Kagara, Niger State .
According to SERAP statement, “We would be grateful if your government would indicate the measures being taken to address the allegations and to implement the proposed recommendations within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter If we have not heard from by then as to the steps being taken in this direction, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel his govt to implement these recommendations in the public interest, & to promote transparency & accountability in UBEC and SUBEBs.
“Allegations of corruption in UBEC & SUBEBs undermine public confidence in the education sector, lead to the erosion of education quality & access, & if not urgently addressed will lead to an increase in out-of-school children, & exacerbate educational inequalities in the country.
“According to the 2017 Annual Report by the Auditor-General of the Federation, UBEC spent N7,712,000.00 to engage external solicitors between January to December, 2015 without due process and the approval of the Attorney General of the Federation.
“UBEC also reportedly failed to explain the nature of the legal services rendered. The Auditor-General is concerned UBEC may have engaged ‘unqualified solicitors
“The Plateau State Universal Basic Education Board also reportedly failed to account for N37,200,000.00 despite repeated requests by the Auditor-General.
“The Plateau SUBEB also spent N9,709,989 without any payment vouchers. The SUBEB spent N1,607,007,353.72 Special Intervention funds by the Federal Government without any documents.
“The Plateau SUBEB also paid N10,341,575.00 to various contractors without evidence of advance payment guarantee. The SUBEB paid N70,569,471.00 through cheques to a staff, in violation of the Federal Government e-payment policy.
“The SUBEB also failed to explain the purpose of the payment. It spent N120,948,000.00 on professional development of teachers but failed to retire and account for the money.
“The Imo State Universal Basic Education Board reportedly spent N482, 560,000.00 as mobilization fees to some contractors without due process, and any advance payment guarantee. The contracts were funded from the Matching Grant Account.
“The Auditor-General stated that the contractors selected lacked ‘the financial capacity to handle the contracts.’ The SUBEB has also failed to account for N140,774,702.12 of project fund since 2015
“The Kano State Universal Basic Education Board reportedly paid N71,263,000.15 to contractors without due process and without open competitive bidding.
Similarly, the Ebonyi SUBEB paid N569,758,938.00 to ‘unqualified contractors and companies’ for the reconstruction and renovation of classrooms. The Ebonyi SUBEB also spent N10,123,892.46 to buy store items but without any documents.
“The Gombe SUBEB paid N31,822,600.00 to a staff from its teachers’ professional development funds but failed to account for the money. The Auditor-General is concerned that ‘the payment is fictitious’, and that ‘the funds did not benefit the intended beneficiaries.’
The SUBEB also reportedly paid N41, 277,983.00 as cash advance to staff to ‘buy some materials and for press coverage but failed to account for the money.
“SERAP is concerned about allegations of widespread and systemic corruption, misappropriation and mismanagement within UBEC and several SUBEBs, the failure to investigate these allegations, and to recover any missing public funds.
“The Federal Government bears responsibility for ensuring that every Nigerian child has access to quality education in conducive learning environment, and to safeguard education as a public good, govt’s responsibility to guarantee & ensure the right to quality education for every Nigerian child is interlinked with the responsibility under Section 15(5) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 [as amended] to ‘abolish all corrupt practices & abuse of office.’
“This imposes a fundamental obligation to investigate the missing public funds from UBEC and SUBEBs, to prosecute suspected perpetrators, recover the money, and to remove opportunities for corruption in these institutions.
“Access to quality education would empower children to be full and active participants in society, able to exercise their rights and engage in civil and political life.”
SERAP warned that any failure to promptly and thoroughly investigate the allegations and prosecute suspected perpetrators, and to recover the missing public funds would breach Nigeria’s anti-corruption legislation, the Nigerian Constitution, the UN Convention against Corruption the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Nigeria is a state party.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria on Sunday said the national power grid has been restored following Saturday’s collapse.
The TCN Public Affairs General Manager, Ndidi Mbah described the collapse as partial, saying that “there was a partial disturbance of the grid at about 15.09Hrs yesterday, 6th July 2024.”
According to her, the incident “brings to three, the partial grid disturbances, with one total disturbance this year.”
The TCN spokesperson said the grid collapse is suspected to have been triggered by the unexpected tripping of three units of a power-generating station which she said suddenly removed 313MW from the grid, causing system instability that led to the loss of bulk supply to a section of the national grid.
“Meanwhile, the system operator reacted to the sudden drop in generation which led to a dip in frequency by islanding a section of the grid which includes the Ibom Power Station through which the company continued to feed Uyo, Aba, Itu, Eket, Calabar, etc. even when the other section of the grid had no supply.
“Also, the operators commenced grid restoration efforts immediately after the incident. At about 21.57 hrs yesterday, the entire part of the grid that was affected by today’s incident was successfully restored,” Mbah said.
Meanwhile, electricity consumers have condemned the repeated collapse of the national power grid.
A check by our correspondent confirmed that power generation from all power plants dropped to a paltry 70MW at 3 pm after it peaked at 3916MW around 10 am on Saturday.
It was observed that the distribution companies got zero allocation as of Saturday evening.
This grid collapse came barely three days after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission approved a tariff increase for Band A customers, from N206.80 per kilowatt-hour to N209.50/kWh.
While speaking with our correspondent, the Executive Director, Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre, Princewill Okorie, regretted that the grid keeps collapsing despite the hike in electricity tariff.
Okorie lamented that unmetered customers would still be made to pay for the period of the collapse, wondering what the government has been doing to stop the incidents.
“What are the causes of these grid collapses? Are the materials used in building the grip of good quality and standard? Who is managing the grid? The players in the sector are more interested in collecting money from the consumers rather than making the system stable. What you hear more about the power sector is payment. The money that the international communities are bringing to the industry and the money that is unlawfully collected from the consumers, where are they being utilised? The operational expenditures of the DisCos, and how do they spend them?
“In the past few months, they keep increasing tariffs yet there is inefficiency in the power sector. They are interested in collecting money, but whether the money is judiciously utilised or not, nobody cares. They keep overbilling customers. The desperation to collect revenue from customers for services not delivered is a challenge. Now that the grid collapsed, the unmetered customers will still be made to pay for darkness. That is injustice. The government should address this issue of grid collapse once and for all,” Okorie warned.
Also, the Convener and Executive Director of PowerUp Nigeria, an electricity consumer right and power sector policy advocacy organisation, Adetayo Adegbemle, said everyone involved in the electricity value chain should be embarrassed by their inability to stop grid collapses.
Adegbemle held that some people should be shown the way out to fix the situation.
“I think everyone involved in the value chain should be embarrassed by the regular occurrence and inability to put measures in place to avoid this constant grid collapse. It is unfortunate because everyone throws the blame on others
“And I believe if heads had been rolling for people not taking responsibility for it, someone would have stood up to fix this problem,” he stated.
Suggesting the way out, Adegbemle said, “There’s a need to align the value chain, this was something the Siemens deal boasted to achieve. I expect that if the head of TCN, for instance, is to lose his job tonight, the next MD would be more willing to work with other subsectors to ensure this does not happen again.
“From whatever we need to forestall this grid collapses, it is definitely in the hands of the leadership of the TCN, especially.”
Commenting on the grid disturbance on Saturday, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company said its TCN stations are out of supply, saying it is unable to provide services to customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States.
By Matthew Denis
In a bid to enhance economic growth, President Ahmed Tinubu has promised to inject a whopping sum of N2trillions into the economy.
The President stated this while inaugurating a 31-man Presidential Economic Coordination Council (PECC), drawn from different sectors of society and the economy
The inauguration comes three months after the President established the committee on March 27, 2024.
After inaugurating the council, President Tinubu presented the outcomes of his review of the accelerated stabilization and advancement plan, which seeks to inject a total of N2 trillion into the economy in the next six months.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, who led selected members of the council to brief journalists after the briefing, gave a breakdown of the areas to benefit from the emergency funding including Health, Agriculture, Energy/Power and other areas.
“The president has just inaugurated the Presidential Economic Coordination Council and that is a body that is made up of the President’s Economic Management Team, the Legislature, represented by the leaders of the National Assembly; the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as well as very importantly, the sub-nationals, represented by the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, and, of course, the elite of the private sector.
“They were presented with the outcomes of Mr. President’s review of the accelerated stabilization and advancement plan and that was an emergency plan to cover the next six months, which Mr. President had directed that a combination of his own Economic Management Team and the sub nationals, the governor’s level, and the private sector put together for his consideration.
The sum of that very important exercise is that a N2 trillion package involving N350 billion funding for Health and Social Welfare; N500 billion funding for Agriculture and Food Security; N500 billion for the Energy and Power sector and general business support of about N650 billion.
“In addition to a range of policy measures and tax measures, there is a range of executive orders which Mr. President has signed and which are being gazetted to ease the cost of doing business at this particular time”, he said.
President Tinubu announced the constitution of the Council, which he personally chairs, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, of March 27, 2024.
Other members of the PECC are Vice President Kashim Shettima, Vice-Chairman; President of the Nigerian Senate; Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum; Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Ministers of Agriculture and Food Security; Aviation and Aerospace Development and Budget and Economic Planning.
The song of that very important exercise is that a N2 trillion package involving N350 billion funding for Health and Social Welfare; N500 billion funding for Agriculture and Food Security; N500 billion for the Energy and Power sector and general business support of about N650 billion.
“In addition to a range of policy measures and tax measures, there is a range of executive orders which Mr. President has signed and which are being gazetted to ease the cost of doing business at this particular time”, he said.
Recall that Tinubu had announced the constitution of the Council, which he personally chairs, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, of March 27, 2024.
Top members of the PECC are Vice President Kashim Shettima, Vice-Chairman; President of the Nigerian Senate; Godswill Akpabio, Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum; Abdulrahkan Abdulrasaq , Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance; Wale Edun , Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Yemi Cardoso, Ministers of Agriculture and Food Security; Aviation and Aerospace Development and Budget and Economic Planning.
The council also comprises 13 persons drawn from the organised private sector including the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; UBA Chairman, Mr. Tony Elumelu; BUA Founder, Abdulsamad Rabiu, among others.
The members of the organised private sector would serve on the council for a one-year tenure.
They include Ms. Amina Maina, Mr. Begun Ajayi-Kadir, Mrs. Funke Okpeke and Dr. Doyin Salami, Mr. Patrick Okigbo, Mr. Kola Adesina, Mr. Segun Agbaje, Mr. Chidi Ajaere, Mr. Abdulkadir Aliu and Mr. Rasheed Sarumi.
The move is “in furtherance of his administration’s efforts at re-engineering the nation’s economic governance framework,” the Presidency said in a statement signed by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, in late March.
The statement is titled ‘President Tinubu establishes comprehensive economic coordination and planning system for Nigeria.’
It came weeks after the President created an economic advisory committee comprising the federal government, sub-nationals, and the private sector, on February 25.
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#BigSamBigImpact: Old students to inaugurate, name library after NewsDirect Founding Publisher, Samuel Ibiyemi
…Ex-Ogun NUJ chairman calls for annual program to honour late NewsDirect publisher
By Omobolaji Adekunle
The Olode Grammar School Old Students Association has announced plans to rename the school library after Late Dr Samuel Folorunsho Ibiyemi, a renowned journalist and founding publisher of Nigerian NewsDirect in recognition of his contributions to the school and the community.
Ibiyemi who was a past president of the Rotary Club of Ota has donated over 200,000 books to the school library, which has been a valuable resource for students and teachers.
This was disclosed on Thursday by the National President of the Olode Grammar School Old Students Association, Dr. Salau Dauda Folaranmi, during the first year remembrance of the late publisher at his residence.
According to the National President, “We will renovate the library and dedicate it to his memory. He loved people, assisted people, and donated 200,000 books to the school, which has been beneficial to teachers and students.”
Also, Engr. Niyi Adegoke, a Rotarian of the Rotary Club of Ota, suggested the idea of renaming the library after Ibiyemi, saying, “Late Samuel Ibiyemi was a very active member of the club, and he lived his life for humanity. He was a philanthropist, and we will support the initiative to ensure that the project comes to reality.”
In the same vein, Former Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Ogun State Chapter and current Senior Special Assistant to the National President of the NUJ, Wole Shokunbi, has paid a heartfelt tribute to the late Samuel Ibiyemi, a renowned journalist and publisher.
Shokunbi, who described Ibiyemi as a mentor and brother, recalled their close relationship, which spanned over two decades.
He praised Ibiyemi’s commitment to developing people and bringing joy to others, even at his own detriment.
Shokunbi called for Ibiyemi’s immortalisation, suggesting that the NUJ and the Guild of Editors come together to organise an annual program in his memory.
He also promised to take action to support the family, saying, “We will get back to the family soon.”
Yusuf has achieved alot in Kano – NNPP Chairman
Osun: Ooni lauds Oyetola for repaying close to N100 billion inherited debts as Governor
