N3.1bn Fraud: Witness In Court Testify How Ex-Gov Suswan Laundered N1bn

The trial of Gabriel Suswan, a former governor of Benue State and his Commissioner of Finance, Okolobia Okpanachi, continued on Monday, February 15, 2016, with a prosecution witness, Brijid Shiedie, managing director and chief executive officer, Benue Investment and Property Company Limited, telling Justice A. R. Mohammed of the Federal High Court Abuja, how the sum of N1bn was allegedly paid to Elixir Security Limited, after a meeting with Okpanachi.

Suswan and Okolobia are facing a nine-count charge bordering on diversion of N3.1 billion during his tenure as governor.

At the resumed hearing today, Shiedu, who was led in evidence by prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, further told the court that Elixir was invited by the state government to carry out a check of where the state’s shares were domiciled and consolidate them in one stock- broking firm.
She added that the state government consequently needed BIPCL, as the custodian of the shares, to sign, in order to enable Elixir achieve the mandate of consolidating the shares.

She also told the court that both Suswan and Okpanachi directed BIPCL to pay Elixir the proceeds of Benue State shares, into two accounts, provided by the ministry of finance letter head.

However, she said that no specific amount was indicated in the correspondence.

‘‘When Elixir called me to find out what was to be paid into each of the accounts, I said that since the money was going to the Benue State government, a request should be forwarded to the Commissioner of Finance. It was communicated on the Company’s letter head,’’ Shiedie explained.
The court had earlier admitted in evidence, the certified copy of Certificate of Incorporation of BIPCL from the Corporate Affairs Commission.

The defence counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, asked for an adjournment to enable him cross-examine the witness, saying she is crucial to the case.

Consequently, the case was adjourned to February 16, 2016.

President Buhari Sacks And Appoints News DG Budget, Special Adviser Planning

Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria President

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Mr. Tijjani Mohammed Abdullahi as the Director-General (Budget).

Mr. Abdullahi, a fellow of the Certified National Accountants of Nigeria, and a banker of repute with experience in managing public finance, will replace the current Director-General (Budget), Mr. Yahaya Gusau.

The new Director-General (Budget) is expected to work with the Minister of Budget and National Planning to efficiently deliver on the mandates of the Budget Office of the Federation.

President Buhari has also approved the appointment of Mr Ben Ifeanyi Akabueze as the Special Adviser on Planning to the Minister of Budget and National Planning.

Mr Akabueze who is the immediate past Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget in Lagos State, has worked in senior management positions in Citi Bank, Fidelity Bank, United Bank for Africa, NAL Merchant Bank, Sterling Bank and BIA Consulting Limited, among others.

He is Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers; Fellow, Institute of Credit Administrators and Honorary Fellow, Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Buhari appoints Abike Dabiri as SSA on foreign affairs

President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Abike Dabiri-Erewa as Senior Special Assistant on Foreign and Diapora Affairs.

Dabiri-Erewa, a former member of the House of Representatives from Lagos, received her appointment letter at the State House in Abuja few minutes ago.

She was born in Jos, Plateau State and a former member of the Nigeria Federal House of Representatives representing Ikorodu Constituency in Lagos State.

She was the Chairman of the House Committee on Media & Publicity. She was also the former Chair of the House Committee on Diaspora Affairs.

She was elected for the first time in 2003, and re-elected in 2007 and 2011.

Dabiri-Erewa worked for the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) for fifteen years, anchoring the weekly NTA Newsline programme and taking a particular interest in poverty and social justice issues.

She retired from her position at Nigerian Television Authority to stand for election in the House of Representatives, winning with a substantial majority. While in this role, she stood against the third term bid of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Dabiri-Erewa sponsored a number of significant bills that were passed by Parliament, including:

1. The Freedom of Information Bill

2. A bill for an act to ensure full integration of Nigerians with physical disabilities and eliminate all forms of discrimination against them.

3. The Nigerian Infant Health Welfare Bill (ensuring every child under five receives free medical care)

4. Nigerian Diaspora Commission Bill

5. A bill to repeal Nigerian Press Council Bill and replace it with the Nigerian Press and Journalism Council Bill (strengthening the NPC and promote responsible journalism and protect the welfare of journalists in Nigeria).

The appointment takes immediate effect.

With AIT News

NCC may regulate use of WhatsApp, BBM, Facebook, Skype in Nigeria

The Nigerian Communications Commission is considering a framework for the regulation of over-the-top services in the Nigerian telecoms market, according to a report by Premium Times.

Over-the-top services, otherwise known as OTT, are services carried over the networks, delivering value to customers, but without any carrier service provider being involved in planning, selling, provisioning, or servicing them.

OTT services are offered through Internet communication.

In Nigeria, the most common OTT services are WhatsApp messenger, BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, and Skype which are classified under social media applications.

In other words, telecom operators such as MTN, Etisalat, Glo, and Airtel lack direct control or influence over WhatsApp messenger, BBM, Facebook or Skype.

Internet telephony and live streaming are also part of OTT services.

The growth of OTT services is encouraged by the access to 3G and 4G networks which offer mobile broadband and high speed IP data.

A report, ‘An Overview of Provision of Over The Top [OTT] Services’ published recently by the Policy, Competition & Economic Analysis Department of the Nigerian Communications Commission, says OTT services were becoming a threat to the traditional telephone network operators.

This development, the report said, is a global issue.

The threat, according to the NCC report, comes from the fact that Internet telephony is not only cheap, and free in some cases, but it also offers many features previously unavailable with telephones, therefore making it more attractive to consumers.

And unlike the traditional telephone network operator, the operators of Internet telephony don’t pay tolls for their services.

The report also stated that since telecom operators such as MTN, Etisalat, Glo and Airtel do not have control over WhatsApp, BBM, Facebook and the rest of the social media applications, they (the telecom operators) do not generate revenues from services offered through these applications.

The report said, “Many traditional telecom service providers are of the opinion that traditional telephony and SMS revenues are under threat from newer, IP based alternatives like WhatsApp, Skype, Viber etc.

“Similarly, third party web content and social networking companies such as Google and Facebook are increasingly generating huge revenues and driving high levels of data traffic which ride on the broadband networks of traditional telecom operators’.

“To further worsen this issue, the traditional operators still have to make significant investments in upgrading their networks to handle the increasing volume of data generated by the same providers of OTT services.

“Most traditional telephone network service providers therefore argue that unless there is a revenue flow to them from such services, they do not have an incentive to continue to maintain or upgrade the networks,” the report said.

The NCC also believed there is need for some kind of regulation because OTT services portend security risks to the country.

“Because VoIP relies on your Internet connection, it may be vulnerable to many of the same problems that face computers,” the report said.

“Attackers may be able to perform activities such as intercepting communications, eavesdropping, taking control of phones, making fraudulent calls from an account, conducting effective phishing attacks by manipulating one’s caller ID, and causing service to crash.”

With AIT News

Boko Haram militants trained in Somalia: President

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, President of Somalia, speaks at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, February 14, 2016. (Reuters)

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says Nigeria’s Boko Haram militants have been trained in his country before going back to West Africa.

Mohamud said at a security conference in Germany that militant groups in Africa are associated and that the African states need to be organized to be able to deal with their threats.

He noted that his country, which is plagued by attacks by al-Shabab militants as well as corruption and political infighting, has only made limited progress in setting up a working political system.

Somalia has not had a functioning central administration since civil war erupted a quarter of a century ago.

"Without a stable Somalia, the whole region of the Horn of Africa will remain unstable and by and large, the African continent. There are proofs and evidence that (for) some time Boko Haram has been trained in Somalia and they went back to Nigeria," Mohamud said.

"The terrorists are so linked together, they are associated and so organized, (that) we the world we need to be so organized," he added.

Al-Shabab militants, which have link to al-Qaeda, have frequently staged attacks against government officials and civilians over the past years.  

Boko Haram, on the other hand, has pledged allegiance to the Daesh Takfiri group, which is wreaking havoc in Syria and Iraq.

Boko Haram terrorists have killed more than 1,650 people since the inauguration of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in May 2015, and claimed the lives of over 17,000 people since the start of their insurgency in Nigeria in 2009, AFP figures show. They have since forced over 2.6 million others to flee their homes.