Monday, July 9, 2018

58 MONDAY, JULY 9, 2018
news
States owing salaries can’t finance state police – Transparency Int’l
Olaleye Aluko, Abuja
The Transparency
International has said
state governments owing
salaries and failing in
education and primary health
care will not be able to finance
the proposed state police.
The Head of ti Nigeria,
Musa Rafsanjani, who stated
this on Sunday, said as good as
the objectives of state police
were, state governments must
first be able to pay workers’
salaries, provide health
care, manage primary and
secondary education as well
as other basics of human life,
before the police institution
could be committed to them.
The Senate and the House
of Representatives had last
week Tuesday expressed
their readiness to amend
the constitution to make the
state police legal in order to
contain persistent killings
in the country, declaring the
country’s security system as a
failed architecture.
The House of
Representatives had
thereafter passed a resolution
backing the establishment of
the state police.
The Speaker, Yakubu
Dogara, had received a bill
seeking to amend the 1999
Constitution to accommodate
state police.
The Kwara, Abia, Osun,
Ondo and Ogun state Houses
of Assembly had also backed
the National Assembly’s
decision to initiate moves
aimed at the creation of the
state police, which was to
stem the escalating killings
in the country.
But the TI Head,
Rafsanjani, said on Sunday
in an interview with our
correspondent, that many
state governments were
presently unable to finance
the state police, as they
were still owing workers’
salaries and failing in primary
education and health care.
He added, “Secondly, in
Ade Adesomoju, Abuja
Two of the panels set up by
the National Judicial Council
to probe the allegations levelled
against three judges by the
Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission have concluded
the exercise in respect of two of
the cases, The PUNCH learnt on
Sunday.
Multiple sources, including
lawyers involved in the probes,
told The PUNCH that the panels
led by Justice Emmanuel Ayoola
(retd.) and the Chief Judge of
the Federal High Court, Justice
Abdu Kafarati, had concluded
their investigations of two of
the judges.
The third panel led by the
Chief Judge of Borno State,
Kashim Zanna, it was learnt, had
yet to conclude.
So far, our correspondent
learnt that the panels had
concluded investigations
view of the actions of the
state governments, most
governors can personalise
the state police and use them
as an instrument to oppress
Oladimeji Ramon
Justice O.A. Obaseki-
Osaghae of the National
Industrial Court in Lagos has
asked anti-graft agencies to
probe alleged corrupt practices
and mismanagement of funds at
the Yaba College of Technology,
Lagos.
The judge said she could
not shut her eyes to the scale
of fraud allegedly perpetrated
in the Federal Government’s
polytechnic.
She said recommending
the probe of the institution’s
management was the least she,
as a member of the judiciary,
could do to support the Federal
Government’s ongoing war
against corruption.
Justice Obaseki-Osaghae,
therefore, asked the Economic
and Financial Crimes
Commission; the Independent
Corrupt Practices and other
related offences Commission;
concerning Justice Rita Ofili-
Ajumogobia and Justice
Hyeldzira Nganjiwa, of the Lagos
and Yenagoa Divisions of the
Federal High Court respectively.
It is now left for the third panel
to deal with the case against a
judge of the Lagos Division of the
Federal High Court and Justice
Agbadu Fishim of the National
Industrial Court.
The three judges, according
to the charges instituted against
them, were accused of receiving
gratification from lawyers in
the course of discharging their
judicial functions.
Our correspondent learnt
that the NJC’s hearing takes
the format of court proceedings
where both the petitioner and the
judge accused were represented
by lawyers and called witnesses.
On the conclusion of the
probes, the panels are expected to
submit their reports containing
their recommendations to the
perceived opponents. So, we
have to be very circumspect
while putting the state police
in our constitution. The state
police should be some idea
Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice
Walter Onnoghen, who doubles
as the Chairman of the NJC,
who will convene a plenary of
the council to deliberate on the
reports, a source said.
The NJC, which had its
quarterly meeting in May this
year, is expected to meet soon.
But it is not certain when the
next meeting would hold because
the council’s activities usually
slow down during the annual
judges’ vacation which its 2018
edition begins Monday.
“But it cannot be ruled out that
the council will meet during the
vacation of judges to consider
the reports of the panels that
had concluded their probes,” a
source said.
The EFCC had reportedly sent
petitions against three judges it
was already prosecuting after
the Lagos Division of the Court
of Appeal delivered a December
12, 2017 judgment prohibiting
in our long-term, which will
manifest when we are more
mature in our political process.
But presently, I am not sure
the states are ready to take on
• L-R: Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Mrs Aisha Abubakar; a former Director General,
National Pension Commission, Mr Muhammad Ahmed; and Executive Director, Fate Foundation, Adenike Adeyemi, at
the 4th Fate Foundation Policy Dialogue Series on Entrepreneurship in Abuja... on Thursday. Photo: Sam Adeko
Judge asks EFCC, ICPC to probe alleged
fraud at Yabatech
as well as the police to, as a
matter of urgency, probe the
institution’s management.
Justice Obaseki-Osaghae said
any official of the institution
found wanting at the end of
the investigation should be
prosecuted “so as to restore
sanity, accountability and
financial probity in the college.”
The judge made the call while
delivering judgment in a suit,
marked NICN/LA/473/2015,
filed by the Bursar of the
institution, Olu Ibirogba, to
challenge his dismissal by the
school’s management on April
30, 2015.
The defendants in the
suit were the Council of the
Yaba College of Technology,
the institution’s Rector, Dr
Margaret Ladipo, and Registrar,
Mrs. Biekoroma Amapakabo.
In the judgment delivered on
June 7, 2018, a copy of which
our correspondent obtained,
Justice Obaseki-Osaghae held,
“I must state that from the
bundle of evidence before
the court during the trial of
this matter, there is an urgent
need for a forensic audit and
investigation into the affairs
and the allegations of corrupt
practices and mismanagement
of funds at the Federal
Polytechnic, Yaba, otherwise
known as Yaba College of
Technology.
“The Federal Government
has waged a war against
corruption and the judiciary
must play its role in ensuring
that the war against corruption
succeeds.
“In this regard, therefore,
this court cannot shut its eyes
to the allegations of corruption,
mismanagement of funds and
NJC concludes probe of EFCC’s petitions against two judges
law enforcement agencies from
investigating or prosecuting
serving judges until they were
disciplined by the council.
Leke Baiyewu, Abuja
The Committee on Public
Accounts of the Senate has
vowed to ensure proper utilisation
of the $600m being spent by
the Federal Government on the
construction of four new airport
terminals across the country.
Chairman of the committee,
Senator Matthew Urhoghide,
stated this when he led members
of the panel on an oversight visit
to the new Nnamdi Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja
terminal.
Urhoghide urged the Ministry of
Transportation and the contractor,
China Civil Engineering and
Construction Company, to submit
relevant documents on the project
the responsibility of the state
police. I rather advocate that
the way to improve security
should be a proper financing
of the police.”
fraud.
“By this judgment, the
Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission; the Independent
Corrupt Practices and other
related offences Commission
and the Nigeria Police Force
must, as a matter of urgency,
commence investigations into
the allegations of corruption and
mismanagement of funds at the
college to unravel the truth and
the veracity of the allegations.
“Officers of the Yaba College
of Technology found wanting
should be prosecuted so as to
restore sanity, accountability and
financial probity in the college.”
The judge not only faulted
and voided Ibirogba’s dismissal,
but also ordered the defendants
to pay him the sum of N20m
“jointly and severally as
punitive damages for the unjust
termination of the claimant’s
employment and deliberate
attempt to subvert the course
of justice.”
Though Ibirogba had prayed
the court to order the defendants
to pay him N10m as the cost of
fighting the legal battle, Justice
Obaseki-Osaghae awarded
N1m in his favour against the
defendants.
to the committee’s secretariat by
Monday (today). He said this
would enable the lawmakers
to ascertain if the funds were
judiciously utilised.
The project is being funded
with a $500m loan from China
and an additional $100m
counterpart fund from Nigeria.
The $100m counterpart fund
was obtained as a loan from the
Debt Management Office at an
interest rate of 5.37 per cent for
the expansion of the terminals at
the Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt
and Kano airports.
Urhoghide also noted that the
panel would pay similar oversight
visits to the three other airports
before submitting its report to
the Senate.
Force doesn’t
resolve crisis,
says Ekweremadu
Leke, Baiyewu, Abuja
The Deputy President
of the Senate, Ike
Ekweremadu, has called for
justice, dialogue and tolerance
as key instruments for building
peace at all levels of society.
Ekweremadu said mankind
was “besieged by a groundswell
of intolerance, injustice, racial
discrimination, and ethnic
hatred, leading to violence,
conflicts, extremism, terrorism,
insurgency and all forms of
restiveness.”
The lawmaker spoke at the
first procedural session of the
International Parliament for
Tolerance and Peace, which
was launched in Valetta, Malta,
at the weekend, according to a
statement by his Special Adviser
on Media, Uche Anichukwu, in
Abuja on Sunday.
Ekweremadu, appointed by
the Global Council for Tolerance
and Peace as a founding
member of the IPTP and
Nigeria’s representative at the
parliament, urged governments
to always employ dialogue,
rather than force, in resolving
issues.
He recalled that the use of
force to quell militancy in the
Niger Delta failed until dialogue
and amnesty were applied.
Ekweremadu also recalled
the controversial death of the
spiritual leader of Boko Haram
sect Mohammed Yusuf in 2009,
which led to the ascendancy of
a highly radical leadership that
transformed the sect into a fullblown
terrorist organisation.
Ekweremadu said, “Dialogue,
tolerance and soft power are
not only capable of averting
conflicts, they win the peace
and win people over. Even when
nations and societies resort to
violence and military force, they
ultimately end up around the
table to agree to peace terms
or sign the instruments of
surrender. Besides, winning the
war is not the same as winning
the peace.
“Importantly, whatever we
do, we must bear in mind that
justice is a bedrock and natural
enabler of peace. Justice is so
central to peace, security, and
prosperity of the human society
that the oath of office contained
in most constitutions seek to
ensure that leaders do justice to
all manner of people.”
Senate probes FG’s $600m spending on new airport terminals
He said, “This committee came
on oversight to establish value
for money; the project that we
have here in Abuja and three
other airports, namely Kano,
Port Harcourt and Lagos. We
have come here to ascertain the
expenditure of $100m which
is counterpart funding that the
Nigerian government entered into
with China Exim Bank. This is the
first airport we have visited.
“We have asked for the technical
details concerning this project visa-vis
the funds that have been
allocated to this project and the
status of job completion. We have
asked for the details concerning
the design, bills of quantity and
other details so that we will be able
to ascertain that there is value for
money in this project.”