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$148m Consultants’ Pay: Buhari, Govs Meet, Oct Revenue Sharing suspended

Published

2 years ago

October 26, 2021

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There were strong indications on Monday that state governors would soon meet with the President Muhammadu Buhari, over the Federal Government’s decision to debit local government accounts.

It was gathered that the governors decided to meet the President after Friday’s Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting ended in a deadlock following the states’ opposition to the commencement of deduction of $418m from the local governments’ accounts to pay private consultants for the Paris Club refund.

It was learnt that commissioners of finance had briefed the governors and that the states would take up the matter with the President last week.

A top official of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, who confided in one of PUNCH correspondents, said, “The governors’ meeting with the President is expected to hold this week, because of the urgency of the matter. Without the allocation, the states cannot pay salaries.”

The states were irked at Friday’s last meeting when they were informed by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance that deductions from local governments’ allocations had started in order to pay the Paris Club consultants.

The Federal Government had in 2006 paid $12bn to get an $18bn debt write-off by the Paris Club of international creditors.

After realising that the payment was made directly from the revenue accruing to the entire federation, states and local governments that did not owe the Paris Club demanded a refund.

Some consultants claimed that a percentage of the refund as payment for services they said they rendered to the states and local government councils.

Some of the contractors also claimed that they executed projects across the country for the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria.

Governors, who strongly opposed the deductions, insisted that the projects said to have been awarded by ALGON turned out to be mostly non-existent.

The governors, therefore, insisted on a forensic audit, while the contractors and consultants went to court.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, negotiated an out-of-court settlement with the contractors and consultants.

The sum of $418,953,670.59 was agreed on as the judgment debt.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum subsequently went to court to stop the payment of the controversial sum to the consultants.

In a letter dated September 3, 2021 and signed by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, P. H. Ogbole, the governors said the money should not be deducted from the local governments’ accounts.

It was learnt that there was confusion at the FAAC meeting on Friday when the states were informed that deductions had commenced despite a subsisting court case on the matter.

When contacted on Monday, the Chairman of the Forum of Commissioners of Finance and Benue State Commissioner for Finance, David Olofu, told one of our correspondents that the new date for the suspended FAAC meeting had not been announced.

He also confirmed that state governors would meet with the President over the controversial deductions.

Olofu disclosed that the commencement of deductions forced FAAC to suspend the revenue distribution for the month of October indefinitely.

The forum chairman recalled that the governors’ forum had objected to the deductions and requested that a forensic audit be carried out to ascertain the true position of things.

Olofu expressed dismay with the commencement of deductions even though the governors objected to such.

According to him, the deduction is illegal because the issue is in court.

He said the deduction should be put on hold until the litigation was discharged.

Olofu stated, “We went to the FAAC meeting for the month of October and noticed that the Paris Club deductions had commenced.

“The assignment is in respect of local government councils though I don’t know the nature of the assignment (work done in local government areas), but it is in respect of consultancy on the Paris Club loan refund.

“The decision was to suspend the distribution of revenue for the month of October pending the resolution of this issue. Recall that the governors’ forum objected to the deductions.”

Speaking on the planned meeting between Buhari and the governors on the issue, Olofu added, “We expect that the Nigerian Governors’ Forum will be meeting with the President to find solutions to this. It is not at our level that the issue can be handled; we are only representing the governors at FAAC.

“I understand that there is litigation on the issue; one would have expected that the deductions would be put on hold until the litigation is discharged.”

Olofu listed other deductions by the Federal Government from the states’ allocations to include bailout and budget support facilities.

Asked when the meeting might be reconvened for revenue distribution, the finance commissioner said there was no definite date yet.

According to him, states may be invited any moment an agreement is reached on the distribution.

“We may be called at any moment; if we are called this evening, it means tomorrow morning we will all meet, but as I am talking now (4.23pm on Monday), I don’t have any information,” he stated.

Another member of FAAC and Delta State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Fidelis Tilije, said in an interview with The PUNCH in Asaba on Monday that the NGF would meet the President on the matter.

He said, “The issue hasn’t been resolved and we are hoping that the NGF will have a meeting with Mr President and we will take it from there.

“As for the allocation for the month of October, Delta State has not received it.”

Responding to the development, the spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Yunusa Abdullahi, asked one of our correspondents to refer all inquiries related to the allocation of funds from the Federation Account to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

When contacted, the Director, Information, Press and Public Relations, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Henshaw Ogubike, said there was no update on the issue from his end.

“There is no update; if there is any update on the issue, I will send it,” he simply stated.

When asked when the next FAAC meeting would be held, Ogubike said, “Don’t ask me for an update, because normally I send the update if there is any; if there is any press release, I will send it.”

But a top official of the finance ministry said a new date for the FAAC meeting would be announced today (Tuesday).

(PUNCH)

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Naira Abuse: EFCC To Arraign Cubana Chief Priest Wednesday

Published

1 hour ago

April 16, 2024

Editor

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, arraign a businessman and socialite, Pascal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest, before the Federal High Court in Lagos, over allegations of abusing the naira.

Cubana Chief Priest will be arraigned before Justice Kehinde Ogundare on a three-count charge of allegedly spraying and tampering with the naira notes at a social event contrary to the provisions of the Central Bank Act of 2007.

In the charge filed on April 4 by the EFCC’s prosecutor, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Rotimi Oyedepo, and seven other lawyers representing the chairman of the anti-graft commission, it was alleged that “Okechukwu Pascal on February 13, 2024, at Eko Hotel, within the jurisdiction of the court, while dancing during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 notes issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same for two hours, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.”

In count 2, it was alleged “that you, Okechukwu Pascal sometime in 2020, in Lagos during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying same for two hours, and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.”

In Count 3, it was alleged: “that you, Okechukwu Pascal sometime in January 2024, in Lagos during a social event, tampered with funds in the denomination of N500 issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria by spraying the same and you thereby committed an offence, contrary to and punishable under Section 21(1) of the Central Bank Act 2007.”

The EFCC, on April 5, secured the conviction of popular cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye, also known as Bobrisky, on similar charges for which he was sentenced to six-month imprisonment.

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JUST IN: Kaduna Assembly Sets Up Committee To Probe El-Rufai

Published

4 hours ago

April 16, 2024

Editor

The Kaduna State House of Assembly has set up a fact-finding committee to probe all finances, loans and contract projects awarded under the former Governor Nasiru El-Rufai administration.

The PUNCH reports that Governor Uba Sani, during a town hall meeting on Saturday, lamented the huge debt inherited from his predecessor, El-Rufai, on May 29, 2023.

Sani had said the state was left with a few amounts, not enough to pay salary, adding that his administration inherited a total of $587 million, N85 billion, and 115 contractual liabilities from the ex-governor.

“Despite the huge debt burden of 587 million dollars, 85 billion naira, and N115 billion in contractual liabilities sadly inherited from the previous administration, we remain resolute in steering Kaduna State towards progress and sustainable development.

“We have conducted a thorough assessment of our situation and are sharpening our focus accordingly,” the governor had said.

However, on Tuesday, the state’s Assembly set up a fact-finding committee during plenary, among others, to also investigate the former governor’s top associate and Senior Counsellor on Investment, Jimi Lawal.

Besides, the panel would probe financial dealings, loans and grants and other project implementation from 2015-2023.

The State Assembly also mandated the committee to invite notable personalities including the former speakers of the 8th and 9th Assembly, commissioners of finance, former Managing Directors of Kaduna Markets, and Commissioners of Budget and Planning, among others.

News

JUST IN: NCAA Suspends Three Private Jet Operators For Operating Commercial Flights

Published

4 hours ago

April 16, 2024

Editor

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has suspended the permit of three private jet operators for engaging in commercial flights.

This was according to a Riot Act on the NCAA’s website on Tuesday, signed by the Acting Director General, Captain Chris Najomo.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had on Monday warned private jet operators unlicensed to operate commercial services that their activities were causing the Federal Government a huge loss of revenue.

The minister issued the warning in an interview on Channels TV programme, Newsnight, on Monday.

Keyamo said, “Almost all these private jets are operating commercially resulting in a huge loss of revenue for the Federal Government because the licence to fly a private aircraft privately and the one to fly it commercially is so much.

“When it is commercial, the money paid to the Federal Government is so much. So, people now take licences from us to say I have just bought a private jet and I want to be using it for my business or to fly my friends and family, and we give them at a very low fee.

“However, the moment they are given, they carry passengers all over Nigeria doing six or eight flights a day. This is a notice to them on camera, I am coming for them because the president has given us a marching order, and we are not going to allow it.

“First, in terms of passengers’ safety, the regulation is low. Second, it is economic sabotage and I won’t allow that to happen. People who are my friends or the president’s friends, we will come down on them and, perhaps, ground all their planes. We will come very hard on them. In a matter of days or weeks, we are going to come down on them because we have to raise revenue for the Federal Government, ensure that the laws are kept and ensure the safety of Nigerians.”

However, expediting action on the warning issued, the acting DG of NCAA in a Riot Act on Tuesday, suspended three jet operators found guilty of engaging in commercial flights.

The acting DG disclosed that despite several warnings, these jet operators continued to engage in commercial flight operations, hence their suspension.

The message read, “Back in 2023, the use of private jets for commercial purposes had gotten the attention of the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, who issued marching orders for the cessation of such acts.

“Subsequently, in March 2024, the NCAA issued a stern warning to holders of the permit for non-commercial flights, PNCF, against engaging in the carriage of passenger-cargo or mail for hire and reward.

“The Authority had also deployed its officials to monitor activities of private jets at terminals across the airports in Nigeria. As a consequence of this heightened surveillance, no fewer than three private operators have been found to be involved in violation of the annexure provision of their PNCF and Part 91.14 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations.”

Najomo noted that suspending the jet operators for flouting several warnings was in line with the Authority’s zero tolerance for violation of regulations.

He continued, “In line with our zero tolerance for violation of regulations, the Authority has suspended the PNCF of these operators. To further sanitise the general aviation sector, I have directed that a re-evaluation of all holders of PNCF be carried out on or before the 19th of April 2024 to ascertain compliance with regulatory requirements.”

The statement further directed that all holders of the Permit for Non-Commercial Flights should submit relevant documents to the Authority within 72 hours.

It added, “All PNCF holders will be required to submit relevant documents to the authority within the next 72 hours.

“This riot act is also directed at existing Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holders, who utilize aircraft listed on their PNCF for commercial charter operations.

“It must be emphasised that only aircraft listed in the operation specifications of the AOC are authorised to be used in the provision of such charter services. Any of those AOC holders who wish to use the aircraft for charter operations must apply to the NCAA to delist the affected aircraft from the PNCF and include it in the AOC operations specification.

“NCAA wishes to reiterate to the travelling public not to patronise any airline charter operator who does not hold a valid Air Operators Certificate issued by the NCAA when they wish to procure charter operations services.

“Finally, the NCAA encourages the legitimate players in the aviation industry to report the activity of such unscrupulous elements to the authority promptly for necessary action.”