09042018 - AS APC'S NEC MEETS TODAY: Oyegun, Tinubu's ‘soldiers’ head for showdown

VANGUARD, MONDAY, APRIL 9, 2018—9
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FG orders EFCC, ICPC to probe
breaches of Public Procurement Act
•Jail term awaits defaulters — Magu
By Emmanuel
Elebeke
ABUJA—THE Federal
Government has ordered
Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, EFCC,
and Independent Corrupt
Practices and other related
Ofences Commission, ICPC,
to investigate cases of
infractions against the Public
Procurement Act, 2007, with
the hope of punishing any civil
servant found to have
colluded with contractors to
subvert the Act.
Secretary to the
Government of the
Federation, SGF, Boss
Mustapha, who dropped the
hint at the 2018 Procurement
Retreat for Chief Executive
Officers of Federal
Government agencies and
parastatals in Abuja,
weekend, vowed that any
CEO found to have conspired
with contractors to sideline the
procurement process and
procedures contrary to the act,
would be dealt with.
He said: “The ICPC and the
EFCC are currently
investigating cases of
infractions which is against the
Public Procurement Act (PPA),
2007, with the hope of
punishing any civil servant
found to have colluded with
contractors to subvert the rules
of the Act.
“Any CEO who defaults or
colludes with contractors or
found to sidelined the
procurement process and
procedure, contrary to the
provisions of the PPA, 2007
would be sanctioned.”
The SGF, who was
represented by Permanent
Secretary for General Services
in the Office of the SGF,
Olusegun Adekunle, also said
the Federal Government had
ordered all its agencies and
parastatals to adhere strictly to
the 2007 Procurement Act in
contracting projects.
The retreat was organised
by Bureau of Public
Procurement, BPP, in
conjunction with the Office of
the Secretary to the
Government of the
Federation, entitled: "Public
Procurement for Sustainable
National Development."
Mustapha said the CEOs
of the parastatals, being the
accounting officers of
implementing agencies, had
a crucial role to play in
national infrastructure
development, building skills
and competencies that were
critical for the execution of
transparent and efficient
public procurement that
guarantees good value for
money.
He warned the CEOs not
to do business with any
government contractor
without proper registration on
the national database hosted
by the BPP, adding that every
government agency must
henceforth have a full-fledged
procurement department
manned by BPP trained and
certified officers.
In her goodwill message,
the Head of Service of the
Federation, Mrs. Winifred
Oyo-Ita, said a good
procurement process was
critical to transparent and good
procurement processes.
Oyo-Ita, who was
represented by Permanent
Secretary in the Office of the
Head of Service, Mr.
Ndubuisi Osuji, said officers
must stand firm and commit
to play by the rules for a more
efficient, transparent and costeffective
contracting and
execution of projects, urging
them to be very thorough in
applying the rules with high
sense of responsibility.
Jail term awaits
defaulters —Magu
In his remarks, Acting
Chairman of Economic and
Financial Crimes
Commission, EFCC, Ibrahim
Magu, warned all public and
civil servants, especially the
heads of government agencies,
to adhere strictly to the 2007
Procurement Act in award of
contracts and procurement
processes or risk jail sentence.
He said: “For us everybody
has a duty to fight corruption.
I want to warn that only strict
adherence to 2007
Procurement Act will save you
from jail term.
“Nothing will stop us in the
fight against corruption,
nothing. I say nothing, nothing
at all. Nobody can stop the
fight, it has come to stay and
we are determined."
60TH BIRTHDAY: From left, Dr. Awele Elumelu, Group CEO,
Heirs Holdings; celebrant, Emmanuel Nnorom; wife of the celebrant,
Mrs Florence Nnorom, and Chairman, Heirs Holdings and United
Bank for Africa Plc, Tony Elumelu, at the 60th birthday celebration
of Emmanuel Nnorom, in Lagos, weekend.
Emefiele emergesThe Guardian Economic
Personality of the Year
By Emmanuel
Elebeke
ABUJA— GOVERNOR
of Central Bank of
Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin
Emefiele, has emergedThe
Guardian Economic
Personality of 2017, in
recognition of his contribution
to stabilizing the Nigerian
financial sector amid
recession as well as the
bank’s effort at development
financing.
Presenting the award to
Emefiele during a ceremony
held at Eko Hotels and
Suites, Victoria Island,
Lagos, weekend, President
and Chairman of Council,
Chartered Institute of
Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN,
Prof. Segun Ajibola,
commended him and his
team at the CBN for their
efforts at managing the
Nigeria's financial sector and
intervening in critical sectors
of the economy, particularly
agriculture.
In his acceptance remarks,
Emefiele expressed
appreciation to The
Guardian for selecting him
for the award and
commended the outfit for its
foresight and thoughtfulness
at publishing the report on
“Financing the Economy.”
Speaking on the economy,
the CBN governor noted
that the exposure of the
Nigerian economy to global
shocks was a reflection of the
fact that Nigeria was unable
to sufficiently produce what
its people consume, hence
the huge dependence on
foreign goods.
He attributed the inability
of the country to sufficiently
produce what it consumed
to heavy dependence on the
oil sector to provide the
foreign exchange needed to
finance the country’s
imports and the poor
diversification of the
economy and low factor
productivity in key non-oil
sector.
Emefiele said: “The CBN
and the banks in Nigeria
would continue to be
catalysts to development,
particularly as it concerned
the vulnerable and needy in
the society.
‘’The level of credit in the
domestic economy
channelled to productive
private sector was critically
below the levels required to
place the Nigerian economy
on the path of balanced,
sustainable, and inclusive
growths."
Redeploys
Nnanna, deploys
new DGs
Meanwhile, the CBN
governor has approved the
redeployment of Dr. Okwu
Joseph Nnanna, from the
Financial System Stability,
FSS, Directorate to the
Economic Policy Directorate.
A statement by Acting
Director, Corporate
Communications
Department of the CBN,
Isaac Okorafor, also
disclosed that the governor
equally approved the
deployment of Mrs. Aishah
Ahmad to the Financial
System Stability, FSS,
Directorate, while Mr.
Edward Lemetek Adamu
Our accounts are up to
date — NNPC
By Michael
Eboh
ABUJA— NIGERIAN
National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC,
yesterday, said it has
completed the audit of its
financial statements up to
December 31, 2016,
assuring that its accounts
were up to date.
The NNPC, in a
statement in Abuja, said
audited backlog had since
been formally approved by
the board of the corporation
in line with extant laws
governing the operations
of the national oil
company.
Chief Financial Officer/
Group Executive Director,
Finance and Accounts of
the NNPC, Mr. Isiaka
AbdulRazaq, said the
delivery of the audited
financial statements would
help foster better relations
with stakeholders and
further promote
transparency and
accountability in the
corporation
has been assigned the
portfolio of Deputy
Governor, Corporate
Services.
The statement read:
“Following the assumption
of duty of the two new
Deputy Governors of the
Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) on March 28, 2018,
the Governor, Mr. Godwin
Emefiele, has approved the
redeployment of Dr. Okwu
Joseph Nnanna, from the
Financial System Stability
(FSS) Directorate to the
Economic Policy
Directorate.
“The Governor equally
approved the deployment
of Mrs. Aishah Ahmad to
the Financial System
Stability (FSS) Directorate,
while Mr. Edward Lemetek
Adamu has been assigned
the portfolio of Deputy
Governor, Corporate
Services.
“Mr. Adebayo Adelabu,
however, retains his
portfolio as Deputy
Governor, Operations
Directorate. All the affected
principal officers have since
assumed duty in their new
offices."
AbdulRazaq said the
drive to achieve the clean
slate dated back to August
2015, when the current
management of the
Finance and Accounts
Directorate took over the
mantle of leadership and
inherited a total of 65
unaudited financial
statements for NNPC
Group Corporate and its
subsidiaries, covering 2011
- 2014.
He, however, exonerated
the past management of the
NNPC from any
wrongdoings, saying their
inability to audit the
accounts as at when due
maybe due to
circumstances beyond their
control.
He said: “There were,
undoubtedly, challenges
that led to the backlog,
which may have been
beyond the control of the
previous managements.
However, the important
factor was not to look to the
past. We saw an
opportunity to challenge
the problem and resolved
to clear the arrears in the
shortest possible time."
FG to release another
looters' list soon —Lai
Mohammed
By Demola
Akinyemi
I LORIN—MINISTER
of Information and
Communications, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, has said
very soon, another list of
looters would be released
by the Federal
Government.
According to him, no
amount of intimidation
from any side will stop the
release of the list.
Mohammed said this in
Ilorin, yesterday, in an
interview with journalists
on his way to Abuja after
his condolence visits to
Governor Abdulfatah
Ahmed, the people of Offa,
Kwara State police
command and the victims
of armed robbery killings in
Offa last Thursday where
seven police officers and
many civilians were killed,
with several others
wounded.
Speaking on the release
of the alleged looters' lists,
he said: ”We are not going
to ask anybody not to go to
court,but what we are
telling them is that they
should re-examine
themselves because when
the government came out
with its list, it was confident
of the evidence it has.
”No government worth its
salt would be challenged
and would not come out to
prove that what its saying
is correct.
‘’When it comes to
evidence, its for the courts
to decide, but we want to
make it clear that no amount
of intimidation from any
side would prevent
government from releasing
the next batch of looters' list
and what you have seen so
far is a tip of the ice bag
when the list comes out."