Dons EzeEFCC DIRECTS ZONAL COMMANDS TO AUDIT EXHIBITS IN THEIR POSSESSION
EFCC DIRECTS ZONAL COMMANDS TO AUDIT EXHIBITS IN THEIR POSSESSION The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has directed all its commands to audit exhibits in their possessions,. The directive followed reports of recent theft cases in Lagos and Kaduna states. It was further gathered that Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency had launched a manhunt for an officer who allegedly stole over $30,000 and other valuable exhibits from Kaduna Zonal office. The officer involved, identified as Polycarp, reportedly fled when he could not account for the money and other exhibits. According to Daily Nigeria, among other exhibits missing are gold bars worth over N1 billion as well as over $180,000 and about GBP 140,000. Also, a significant amount of cash and valuables had disappeared from the Lagos Zonal Command of EFCC. It was further gathered that between $350,000 and $400,000 had gone missing, along with expensive jewellery and other valuable items. Prior to reports, the commission had dismissed 27 officials for misconduct and fraudulent activities. According to a statement issued by the agency, the dismissal followed recommendations from the EFCC Staff Disciplinary Committee, which were ratified by Chairman Ola Olukoyede. Following the theft of exhibits, the agency announced that 10 officers in Lagos State Command had been detained over theft of operational items they could not account for. Sources, however, revealed that following the recent theft cases, the authorities of the commission have directed all zonal commands to carry an extensive audit of the exhibits in their care. “All zonal heads have been directed to carry out an evaluation of exhibits in their custody and report back to the National Headquarters,” one of the inside sources said on Wednesday. The source revealed that some properties recovered from a suspect in Enugu had been stolen at the state zonal office of the agency. “For instance, EFCC operatives seized vehicles and money from one Mr Patrick Shanchi Nwokike, owner of Let’s Partner With You, a financial institution. He was accused of operating without a license. After confiscating his property and money, sued him at the Federal High Court. “Sometime last year, the court discharged and acquitted him but up till today, EFCC could not produce the cars seized from him. EFCC took some money. They even went to people who had some money from him based on records they have and took away the money but did not record same when they (EFCC) sued.” “The EFCC operatives also went to his in-law and collected several millions of naira from him and some other people. They even went to the bank and forced the bank to give them money. At the end of the day, the money and vehicles disappeared,” the source said. “That’s how bad EFCC operatives have become. I hope someday the man would be able to muster the courage to tell his story. I am not holding brief for him.” Efforts to reach the EFCC spokesman, Mr Dele Oyewale, on his mobile phone for comment failed as his line suggested it was not available to receive calls.
WHY UPLOAD OF 2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION FAILED – INEC
WHY UPLOAD OF 2023 PRESIDENTIAL POLL FAILED – INEC Unanticipated system error was responsible for the glitch that affected upload of the Presidential election result on the INEC Result Viewing (IREV) during the 2023 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission has explained. The Commission said a review of the system during the upload process showed that the system was encountering an unexpected configuration problem in mapping the presidential election results uploaded into the system to the participating Polling Units. The INEC explanation is contained in the report of the commission’s stakeholder engagements and retreats carried out by the commission between July 11 and August 5, 2023 to review the conduct of the general elections. Those at in the stakeholders’ engagements include: leaders of the registered political parties, civil society organisations, Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and Administrative Secretaries, security agencies under the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security and media executives. The report said: “During this review, many stakeholders repeatedly sought explanation for the technical glitch that affected the upload of the 2023 Presidential election results. During the review, details of the problem were provided by INEC’s technical experts. “In a nutshell, the challenge of uploading the PU presidential election results on the IReV after the presidential and National Assembly elections on February 25 of 2023 was unique.” Giving an insight into the problem which appeared to have cast some doubt on the credibility of the election, the report said: “As voting ended across the country and POs began the process of uploading the images of the PU result sheets of the elections for the various constituencies around 4pm, the commission began to receive reports that the upload of presidential election result sheets was failing. “Following these reports, the commission immediately engaged with its field officials for details to understand and trace the origin, source, scale and magnitude of the problem across the result management ecosystem to devise appropriate solutions. “In the troubleshooting process, it was established that there was no issue in uploading the PU result sheets of the Senate and House of Representatives elections through the Election Result Modules. However, there was a problem with uploading the presidential election results to the system. “Attempts to upload the results were generating internal server errors, which refer to a significant impairment that usually originate from within an application due to problems relating to configuration, permissions, or failure to create or access application resources correctly. “Further interrogation of the Election Result Modules indicated that the system is encountering an unexpected configuration problem in mapping the presidential election results uploaded into the system to the participating PUs. “Due to the complex, sensitive and critical nature of the systems and the real potential for malicious cyber-attacks, the commission immediately put in place several strict security and audit control measures to prevent any unfettered or elevated access to the Result Upload System.” The report, copies of which have been made available to the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, also revealed that “in the process of resolving the challenge, it was discovered that the backend system of the IReV was able to query and detect the base States for uploading the PU result sheets based on the mapping of all senatorial district and federal constituency elections to the respective 36 states of the Federation and the FCT as established in the database structure deployed within the system. “In configuring and mapping the election results for the presidential and National Assembly elections, the commission created 470 election types consisting of one presidential constituency covering the entire country, 109 senatorial districts and 360 federal constituencies. “Each senatorial district and federal constituency election on the database was mapped to their respective states. However, the presidential election result…
FG, 21 STATES TO EYE N2.5TN VAT REVENUE IN 2025
FG, 21 STATES EYE N2.5TN VAT REVENUE IN 2025 Nigeria’s federal government and 21 out of the 36 states in the federation have targeted a combined Value Added Tax revenue of N2.5 trillion for 2025 in their respective budget estimates. This figure was derived from financial reports released by the Federation Account Allocation Committee between October 2023 and March 2024. An analysis of the 2025 budget documents from the Federal Government and 21 states revealed a combined VAT revenue projection of about N2.53 trillion, representing a significant increase of N1 trillion (65.8 percent) compared to the N1.527 trillion projected in 2024. This projection excludes additional funds that may accrue from the implementation of the contentious tax reform bills. The 21 states include Kebbi, Kaduna, Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Enugu, Borno, Ondo, Kano, Katsina, Ebonyi, Gombe, Anambra, Abia, Niger, Jigawa, Bauchi, Akwa-Ibom, Adamawa, and Delta. Budget documents for the remaining 14 states and the Federal Capital Territory were unavailable. In 2024, available data from the Federation Account Allocation Committee showed that the federal government’s share of VAT revenue was N512.8 billion, but it is projected to rise to N972 billion in 2025. Similarly, Kebbi State, which received N41 billion from VAT in 2024, anticipates N87.3 billion this year. Kaduna State’s VAT revenue is projected at N57.8 billion, up from N48.2 billion in its 2024 budget. On the part of Ekiti State, it plans to generate N54.9 billion in VAT revenue this year, compared to N52.6 billion in 2024. Oyo State, which earned N78.8 billion from VAT in 2024, projected N144 billion for 2025, while Osun State expects N78.1 billion, up from N45.3 billion last year. Other states such as Ogun, Enugu, Borno, Ondo, Kano, Katsina, Ebonyi, Gombe, and Anambra have projected VAT revenues of N85bn, N74.9 billion, N87.3 billion, N71.5 billion, N97.3 billion, N85.9bn, N50.8bn, N39bn, and N92.4bn, respectively, for 2025. In comparison, their 2024 projections were N57.7bn, N44bn, N49.4bn, N30.3bn, N76.6bn, N46.9bn, N36.5bn, N30bn, and N58.4bn, respectively. Similarly, Abia, Niger, Jigawa, Bauchi, Akwa-Ibom, Adamawa, and Delta have projected VAT revenues of N60.6bn, N64.6bn, N80bn, N78.5bn, N70bn, N52.5bn, and N46.6bn, respectively, for 2025. Their projections for 2024 were N40bn, N50.6bn, N45bn, N45bn, N45bn, N47bn, and N45.7bn.
ATIKU, OBI HAVE LEARNT THEIR LESSONS, AIDE HINTS ON MERGER
ATIKU, PETER OBI HAVE LEARNT THEIR LESSONS – AIDE HINTS ON MERGER Paul Ibe, the spokesperson to the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has said that his principal and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, have learnt their lessons in the last general election and would unite to kick out the “incompetent and clueless” administration of the All Progressives Congress, APC. Ibe, a media to Atiku, said this as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday. Atiku and Obi scored over 12 million votes combined in the 2023 presidential election won by APC’s Bola Tinubu who got over eight million votes. Obi, a frontline member of the PDP and a longtime ally of Atiku, left the PDP for LP prior to the 2023 general election, when it was clear he would not get the party’s ticket. Analysts believe that with their combined efforts, either the PDP or the LP would have removed the APC from power. However, Ibe said that Atiku and Obi have learnt their lessons and won’t allow a repeat of their mistake in 2023 going forward. “Nigerians deserve better than what they are getting. It’s never been this bad in this country and there is no hope,” he said “The truth of the matter is that Atiku Abubakar has promoted opposition parties to work together, to come together; that is the only way they can kick out this incompetent and clueless government. And I believe that discussions have been going on. “Lessons have been learnt from 2023 by all parties including Atiku Abubakar and I believe that it is on the basis of the lessons that have been learnt that they are moving forward and having discussions. “They have learnt that lesson and want to be united and go forward,” he stated. He said for Atiku, “all options are on the table”, but refused to provide an answer to the question of whether the former Vice President would step down for Obi in the 2027 election.
SENATE SACKS CCT CHAIRMAN, DANLADI UMAR
SENATE SACKS CCT CHAIRMAN, DANLADI UMAR The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, sacked Danladi Usman as the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).The sack of Danladi follows the closed-door session of the lawmakers in which 84 out of the existing 107 serving Senators, signed for his removal The Senate invoked section 157(1) of the 1999 constitution which stipulates that 2/3 of the membership of the Senate can remove the head of any statutory body alleged to have indulged in gross misconduct and misdemeanour in office. Earlier in a motion, which was sponsored by the Senate Leader, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, cited Section 157(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended to remove Justice Umar as Code of Conduct Tribunal Chairman. Opeyemi urged the Senate to rely on the Constitutional provision, saying that there are a plethora of petitions against the Chairman. To have a seamless and raancour free debate, he said there was a need for a closed door session to clear grey areas before opening the Chamber for debate. Meanwhile, the Constitution stipulated the two-third majority of the joint Chambers before a Chairman of CCT can be removed from office. The removal of Justice Danladi Umar will pave way for one Mr Abdullahi Usman Bello to be sworn in as a substantive Chairman,.