ICPC quizzes Okiro over alleged N275m scam

Former Inspector-General of Police and Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Mr. Mike Okiro

A former Inspector-General of Police and Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Mr. Mike Okiro, was on Thursday in Abuja quizzed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission over an alleged N275m fraud.

The PUNCH learnt that the ex-IGP arrived the ICPC at 9:51am, accompanied by three other officers of the PSC and went straight into the investigation department of the commission.

When one of our correspondents contacted Okiro on the telephone, he did not respond to calls. He also did not reply a text message that was sent to his telephone.

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In the SMS sent to him, he was asked to respond to the report that the ICPC quizzed him on Thursday over an alleged N275m fraud.

When he got to the ICPC, the former IGP was dressed in ash coloured Niger Delta attire with a cap to match.

He came in a convoy of a black Toyota Land Cruiser Jeep, with registration No: T98 01 FG (PSC) and black Toyota Camry, marked T98 12 FG (PSC). Okiro was accompanied by three PSC officers.

His interrogation was sequel to a petition by a member of staff of the PSC, Aaron Kaase, to the ICPC, claiming that Okiro allegedly siphoned N275m out of the N350m that was obtained by the commission from the Office of the National Security Adviser to train PSC staff.

PSC staff were scheduled to partake in the monitoring of the conduct of men and officers of the Nigeria Police in the last general elections.

In his petition, Kaase alleged that Okiro had made bogus claims to train highly inflated number of his commission’s staff in Lagos, Abuja and Kano.

According to him, the trainings were roughly carried out to a few staff in Mararaba, a satellite community of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

He also alleged that Okiro and others claimed some millions of naira for separate overseas trainings, which they never attended.

The petitioner had said that Okiro and others allegedly siphoned the said amount, claiming they would train 500 staff in Abuja; 200 in Lagos and another 200 in Kano, when the combined staff strength of the commission nationwide was not more than 400.

Kaase also stated that in Kano where 200 members of staff were said to be trained, the staff strength was merely 10.

President Muhammadu Buhari: One week after

 Fola Ojo

He was crowned as the set-man in charge of all of Nigeria in a fanfare just one week ago. The lives and destinies of Nigerians home and abroad are now under the presidential control of one man, Muhammadu Buhari, for the next four years. Although piercing thorns may not necessarily be the adornments of his presidential crown, his route for the next four years will be laced with botheration.

The Nigerian economy we all know is as not as peachy and perky.   Unfortunately, it is the pivot which will determine how far Buhari can launch out to effect the CHANGE he has promised.   But how has President Buhari fared in his first week in office? It depends on who you ask.

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Pain is pervasive and at an all-time high. There is no major city spared of agony in Nigeria and we see it daily on the street. Citizens are crying endlessly, businesses are sighing heavily, and some state governors who can’t pay workers’ salaries are still wailing; times are just too harrowing for them and their agenda for the people. But I am still very hopeful that Buhari will alleviate our pains and sufferings to the best of his efforts.

The President by now must have caught a close glimpse of where Nigeria is across the board. A bulk of the information and some misinformation have already been tossed in the public domain for our perusal. One sitting governor told me one-on-one on Monday that Nigeria needed a lot of prayers because, according to him, “the economy is very weak, and the road ahead of us is rough. Among other things that will have to be done, oil subsidy has to be removed…” for the Nigerian economy to be far removed from turbulence. Based on facts available, prudent decisions will be made in coming days.

The business of leadership is not designed to satisfy a clique and class but to guarantee relief and opportunities for ordinary people to get ahead. During his inauguration, the President made a statement that immediately roared into a buzz all over the world. “I belong to everybody, and I belong to nobody”. It was a sonorous and mellifluous music that many ears had been itching to hear. Handclaps which went slam-bang and ear-splitting were more for the last part of the line: “… I belong to nobody.”

The monster that has messed up Nigeria to date is the cabal called “NOBODY” whose modus operandi of doing business is always sinister and anti-people. Some of the “NOBODY” we probably know; and many of them are faceless. But what does it mean to “belong to nobody”? It only means that President Buhari is audaciously announcing that he will not be controlled, pushed and shoved around by special and cabalistic interests domestic or foreign. “NOBODY” is ANYBODY who may be trying to control EVERYBODY including Buhari. They are lawless, evil agenda-driven and unscrupulous elements special interests. 

They are those who specialise in frauds, frivolities and deliberate acts of disorderliness. They are those who will lobby and pressure to put square pegs in round holes; driving to make unqualified people hold lofty positions; and with outstretched arms aggressively press for returns on their “investments”. “NOBODY” steals EVERYBODY’S money and makes EVERYBODY’s life become miserable.

It was the band of “NOBODY” that crashed our economy, crashed our refineries, crashed NEPA, crashed Nigeria Airways and crashed the railways; and loves to crash some more as long as he is not affected. 

“NOBODY” drains our foreign reserves, and depletes our domestic savings. “NOBODY” is an arch-enemy of Nigeria’s progress, and Buhari’s statement was a warning shot to them. Whether they are family members or friends who donated to his campaign, “NOBODY” should not expect any special treatment from this President. He’s made it clear enough that he belongs to everybody, but owned by NOBODY. This statement for me is a sign of good things to come.

When some overzealous security operatives at some of our airports harassed some vacationing members of Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Buhari immediately pulled back the leash on the dogs hunting in their own self-designed games. 

Even if anyone of those fellas travelling out was the “NOBODY” Buhari was talking about, due process of the law will have to be pursued to compel them to answer some questions; not just a reengineering of some arbitrary, jungle-justice shenanigans that violate people’s rights and freedom. Buhari’s subtle message was that this is not a season for revenge, but for rebuilding of a nation with big cracks in its walls. For me and many Nigerians, this is another sign of good things to come.

When the Presidency announced Femi Adesina and Shehu Garba as its spokesmen, some voices including those of some avowed and unapologetic Buharists pilloried the move calling it wasteful and unnecessary duplication of duty. 

My friends who don’t appreciate the move must understand that the world has changed immensely, and the office of the President cannot be manned by just two people. Media arts have gone beyond issuing press releases, organising sporadic press conferences where men speak endlessly in bombastic postures, or tottering around in unbridled Facebook journalism. Public and media relations, from my 30 years experience, is a lot of work that helps in building the public perception of a government. Any administration that loses the perception war will lose all wars. Media and communication guru and ex-chief of The SUN newspapers, Mike Awoyinfa, told me in Lagos that the appointments of Adesina and Shehu are very intelligent moves. 

“These are not appointments made as favours for political supporters; these are sensible moves. This President needs an army of internet and media support and whatever is done in developed countries of the world should be replicated here to help President Buhari. Adesina and Shehu are very trusted hands who will do a good job”, Awoyinfa told me.

I don’t know what the vision of Buhari’s media team is; I suspect that the social media will be a sizeable gulp of new internet-savvy hands because of its vastness and temerity. Any government can be built up and pulled down through the social media. Barack Obama’s White House a few years ago had about 19 people running the social media arm alone. Internet-savvy aides were drafted to produce a series of videos, digital op-ed, Facebook and Twitter posts to capture a larger audience than the mainstream media’s shrinking number of viewers and readers. These appointments, for me, are signs of good things to come.

During the electioneering, Buhari had promised that he alongside his deputy would decl0are their assets publicly. But when the declaration came in a one-liner press statement, I was unhappy. That was not what many of us had expected. The Code of Conduct Bureau tried to cool down the heat a bit when it said that even though the constitution makes it clear that the agency should make available to the citizens the assets declared by public officials, the same law vested the National Assembly with the power to decide the terms and conditions for making such materials public. 

I trust Buhari and Osinbajo that they have nothing to hide now, or trying to shield some information in the future. The President and the deputy should go one step further by making their assets truly public; and it will only reinforce a lifestyle of transparency for which Buhari is known. This should also qualify as a sign of good things to come, but the signs are too fuzzy and hazy. In this area, I score the Presidency just an ordinary pass. Buhari and Osinbajo will lose nothing by letting all his assets hang out for all to see.

Mark, Ekweremadu left N’Assembly without convoy

 President of the Senate, David Mark

The outgoing Senate President, David Mark, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, did not drive back to their homes with the usual convoy of exotic vehicles after the valedictory session on Thursday.

The vehicles were parked at the parking spaces allocated to the offices of the principal officers as of 7.05pm while Mark and Ekweremadu were driven away in their personal vehicles without siren.

There are five vehicles each in the convoy of the two principal officers. They included two principal vehicles, two security vehicles, two pilot pick up vans and two power motorbikes each.

A clerk attached to a senate committee, told our correspondent on condition of anonymity, that the it was normal for the principal officers to drop the fleet of vehicles and power motorcycles in their possession since their tenure had ended with the valedictory session held on Thursday.

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He said, “The vehicles are property of the National Assembly and the Clerk of the National Assembly, being the chief accounting officer, would account for all the vehicles, hence the man waited after the session to take possession of the vehicles.”

CBN slightly adjusts naira-dollar foreign exchange rate

The Naira and dollar

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday made a slight adjustment to its naira-dollar exchange rate peg, data on its website showed.

The bank adjusted the rate at which it sold the United States dollar from N197 to N196.95, Reuters reports.

Prior to Thursday’s action, the rate had been oscillating between N197 and N199 for a few months.

Economic and financial analysts said the action might indicate that the CBN was beginning to think about how to loosen its currency regime.

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They noted that the change was too small to be called a revaluation, particularly in the face of dwindling foreign reserves.

The naira had traded on thin volumes at 198.95 to the dollar on the interbank market on Thursday, before two large sales totalling $36.4m were done at N196.95 towards the close of the forex market, foreign exchange dealers said.

The dealers attributed the sale to the central bank. The naira is trading between 215 and 218 against the dollar at the parallel market.

An economist said the move might suggest that the bank was testing out the market to see whether it was ready for a looser currency regime.

“Small changes in the rate could possibly allow the central bank to gauge the changes in demand and supply dynamics, which will inform decisions on when and how best to start lifting forex restrictions,” an analyst at South Africa’s NKC Independent Economists, Cobus de Hart, said.

The CBN, however, described Thursday’s rate movement as a simple reflection of the state of dollar supply in the market.

“We are not fixing rates. The present rate is a reflection of the level of dollar supply in the market,” the CBN spokesman, Ibrahim Muazu, told Reuters.

Head, Investment and Research, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, an investment research and advisory firm, Mr. Ayodeji Ebo, said the CBN’s action might be linked to the relatively reduced pressure on the external reserves.

“It is a rate adjustment but it is too small to be called a revaluation. The adjustment is too small to cause any pressure on the naira. The CBN feels the action will not affect its defence of the naira,” he said.

A currency strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the adjustment was too small to cause any change in the market.

“It is just about five kobo difference. That is not much. Nothing has changed in the market really,” the analyst said.

Another economist, however, said the move would hurt the country’s precarious forex reserves position.

“By lowering the central bank rate offered to banks albeit very moderately, the central bank is adding to pressures on forex reserves …equivalent to around 4.9 months of imports,” the Head of Research at Ecobank, Angus Downie, said.

The nation’s external reserves had fallen to $29.4bn as of June 2, down 20.1 per cent from a year ago as the central bank burns cash to defend the local currency.

The naira has lost 8.5 per cent of its value since the start of the year after sharp falls in the price of oil. That forced the central bank into a de facto devaluation and fixing of the exchange rate in February in order to protect its dwindling foreign reserves.

The regulator also banned commercial lenders from re-selling central bank dollars among themselves, which was an attempt to curb speculation on the naira.

No N3.2bn severance pay for Jonathan, others till 2016

 Former President Goodluck Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan; his deputy,   Namadi Sambo; immediate past ministers and presidential aides as well as non-returning federal lawmakers will wait till next year before collecting their severance allowances, investigation by The PUNCH has shown.

Their severance allowances as contained in the remuneration package put together by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission is valued at about N3.24bn.

Sources at the Ministry of Finance in Abuja confided in our correspondent on Thursday that the allowances of the political office holder, who  left office last Friday, were not captured in this year’s budget.

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The 2015 budget, which was passed by the National Assembly and signed by Jonathan on April 28, makes a provision of N2.3bn for “entitlements of former Presidents/Heads of state and Vice Presidents/Chiefs of General Staff.”

Explaining the reason why the severance pay was not captured in this year’s budget, the official said as of last year when the 2015 budget was being prepared, the outcome of the April 2015 elections could not be ascertained.

He said since the outcome of the elections could not be predicted, there was no way the Budget Office could have determined the number of political office holders that would not be re-elected.

The official added,   “You will recall that the 2015 budget was prepared sometime last year and during the budget preparation, the elections had not been held.

“So it would be wrong to include the severance package of political office holders in the budget because as of the time the budget was prepared, these people were still holding political offices.

“Secondly, including their severance package before the elections were conducted would mean that we were pre-empting the outcome of a political process.

“So what we do is to wait for the outcome of   elections and on the strength of this, we can know the number of people that have left office and those   re-elected.

“As for those political office holders that are leaving office this year, their severance package would be included in the 2016 budget, which will be prepared later in the year.”

Under the severance package put together by RMAFC, Jonathan is entitled to 300 per cent of his annual basic salary.

The President’s annual basic salary is put at N3, 514,705 and therefore his severance allowance will be N10, 544,115 after May 29.

The severance allowance is without prejudice to his other constitutional entitlements as a former head of government.

Similarly, Vice-President Sambo, who left office the same day as Jonathan, is   entitled to 300 per cent of his annual basic salary put at N3, 031,572.50. This means that his severance allowance after May 29 is N9, 094,717.50.

For having held the office of vice-president, Sambo also has some constitutional entitlements and perks.

About 76 senators are not returning to the National Assembly either because they did not stand for election or because they lost their bids to return. They are however entitled to N462,019,200 at the expiration of their tenure on June 5.

Like Jonathan and Sambo, they are entitled to 300 per cent of their annual basic salaries as severance allowances. This amounts to N6, 079,200 per senator.

In the House of Representatives, about 290 members are not returning to the 8th National Assembly to be proclaimed into existence by Buhari on June 5.

Each of the members is entitled to N5,955,637.50 as severance allowance. This means that the 290 members   will be paid N1,727,134,875.

The former ministers, on the other hand, will collect a total of N253,967,212.5. There were 42 ministers in Jonathan’s cabinet. Thirty one of them were senior ministers and 11   ministers of state.

Each of the former senior ministers is entitled to N6,079,200 as severance allowance while each of the ministers of state   will receive N5,872,740.

This means that collectively, the senior ministers will get N188,455,200 while collectively, the erstwhile ministers of state will receive N65,512,012.5 .

The aides to the former President, comprising special advisers, senior special assistants and special assistants,   will   get   N775,207,125.

They were 23 of them that worked with the president as special advisers. Apart from this number, however, there were several others estimated at 110, who worked with the vice-president, the wife of the former President and special advisers that were designated either as senior special assistants or special assistants to the President.

This means that there were about 133 aides to the president and each of them is entitled to 300 per cent of their annual basic salary which amounts to N5,828,625 each.