Publisher Urges Youths To Embrace Education, Entrepreneurship

Alhaji Mohammed Idris-Malagi

By Mohammed Baba Busu

Alhaji Mohammed Idris-Malagi, the Chairman and Publisher of Blueprint Newspapers, has advised youths to embrace education and entrepreneurship skills, to contribute meaningfully to national development.

Idris-Malagi gave the advice when he visited his country home, (Malagi in Gbako Local Government Area of Niger State) to celebrate Eid-el-Kabir with the community.

“Most youths can become great if they pursue their career with proper planning, passion and focus,” the emir said.

The publisher enjoined the youth to always exhibit good conduct and desist from acts that could hamper their progress in life.

Idris-Malagi noted that no nation could develop without functional and ambitious youths.

He urged Nigerian youths to exploit their talents for the social, economic and political development of the country.

He urged them to develop positive attitude to life, so that they could grow to become responsible leaders, fathers and future guardians.

The chairman further advised the youth not to be instruments of division, selfishness and mayhem in the society.

Idris-Malagi explained that he was in his country home to as well inspect electrification project and other development projects he initiated for his community.

"As you can see , I just decided to come to celebrate sallah with my people and I am glad that all of them are happy that I am back home.

"I thank them for their audience  and I thank them for their support and we will be there for them by God's grace.

"To whom much is given, much is expected. This is my community; this is where I was born and this is where I came from.

"I have decided that I should give back what God has given to me, hence this development projects that I have embarked upon will be accomplis

"But for now, charity begins at home; we will start it here and we will extend it to other places God willing", Idris-Malagi said.

On the raging global Corona Virus Pandemic ( COVID-19), he urged Nigerians to continue to  pray fervently for urgent divine solutions, as well as strictly observe all the laid down protocols.

The chairman urged Nigerians to continue to use face masks, wash their hands with soap regularly, use hand sanitizers , consume enough water regularly, as well as maintain social distancing, among others

He also admonished Nigerians to strive to live in peace with each other, irrespective of any religious , political, cultural and ethnic affinity.

According to him: " We should also continue to be our brothers' keepers, to collectively bolster peace, unity and the even socioeconomic development of the country.

Nasarawa To Partner Tailors Association To Train 1,300 Youths On Tailoring

Engineer Abdullahi Sule

Nasarawa State Government said it will collaborate with the Tailors Association of Nigeria (TAN), to train 1,300 youths from across the state, 100 each from each of the 13 Local Government Areas. 

The State Governor,  Engineer Abdullahi Sule, disclosed this while hosting members of the TAN who came on a courtesy call at the Government House,  on Tuesday. 

Engineer Sule said his administration is willing to collaborate with any group or association that is seeking to promote self reliance through skills acquisition,  especially for Women and youths.

The Governor commended members of the Tailors Association of Nigeria, for recognizing the significant role they play in the society, especially with their decision to support the efforts of government by their decision to train 100 youths from each of the 13 local government areas of the state.

Engineer Sule said government will collaborate with the association on the training, stressing that his administration is willing to provide sewing machines to some of the trainees, in order for them to set up their businesses.

He promised that his administration will carry along members of the tailoring association in government activities, while thanking them for their support.

Engineer Sule promised to support the TAN host its national conference in the state.

In his opening remarks,  Nasarawa State President of TAN, Abubakar Sufuyan,  disclosed that the association has decided to support the effort of government towards the provision of employment by training 100 youths each from across the 13 local government areas. 

Sufuyan expressed gratitude for the Governor agreeing to host members of the tailoring association,  as according to him, this was the first time members of the association are being hosted at the Government House since the creation of the state.

He solicited for the support of the state government for the association to host the TAN annual Congress in Nasarawa, as according to him,  hosting such national events will bring lots of opportunities to the state. 

The TAN, Nasarawa State chapter thereafter appointed Engineer Sule its Grand Patron TAN

AMAC Giving Out 50% Tax Incentives To Cushion Effect Of COVID-19 On Businesses

AMAC Chairman,  Hon. Abdullahi Candido making his opening remarks

The Abuja Municipal Area Council is giving 50% incentives and up to three months to tax payers in the Area Councils as part of its Palliative to business owners.

This was made known by Mr. Awoje Danlami; AMAC Head of Revenue Division during a Virtual Dialogue on Taxation and Post COVID Challenges  for Businesses held on Tuesday, 4th August, 2020.

Speaking during the dialogue, the Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council Hon. Abdullahi Candido also reiterated his administration concerted effort to mitigate the doen economic impact of COVID-19 especially to ease the burdens on businesses within the Area Council.

"As a result of our sensitivity to this plight being faced by everyone., the council amongst strategies has opened up a citizens'engagement and feedback mechanism through an e-governance system to enable us navigate through the pandemic, Candido said.

The webinar moderated by Hon Abiodun Shoyemi-Essiet, SA to the Chairman on ICT, Donor Agencies and Civil Society Organisations and Mrs. Patience Olaloye  - Head of Information Unit - AMAC had four presentations.

AMAC Officials making their presentations

The first presentation was done by Mr. Awoje Danlami; Head of Revenue Division who spoke on "Taxation and IGR". He said that the Council has given Tax payers 50% incentives and up to three months to pay their taxes as a Palliative to business owners. Also speaking in the same direction, the Divisional Head, Tenement Rate, Ann Ibrahim who spoke on "All you need to know about Tenement rate" said that Tenement rates are paid by the tenants and not the landlord  where the occupiers such building is not the owner of the building. She also reiterated that Ground rent is different from Tenement rates  as most people mixed  them up. 

She reiterated that Government building, buildings owned by Embassies and Diplomatic missions are exempted from Tenement rates.

Mr. Victor Aletor from Remita who spoke on "Payment Platform For Taxes, Post COVID-19 Challenges To Businesses" said that AMAC has adopted the Remita online payment platform to streamline all its tax collections via multiple channels to make payment of taxes much easier  for the payers.

"To facilitate the effective and efficient  processing of transactions, Remita makes use of Remita Retrieval Reference, a unique code that is generated for each transaction after the payer has completed the appropriate online payment forms, Mr. Aletor said.

He also emphasized that payment can be made online, through AMAC offices, POS, Digital Wallets, Cash Agents and NIBOX terminals which is able to accept cash payment.

In her presentation, Executive Director, Digizens Collaborative, Ms. Jayne Abuo who spoke on "AMAC’s Future Digital Trajectory" reiterated that  both AMAC and businesses should embrace new opportunities open by COVID-19 by considering Digitization for organizational and services efficiency which will save expensive cash; support new tech ventures targeting existing under performing industries, education, health, transportation and Agriculture among others.

AMAC Supervisory Councillor on Finance the Hon. Gabriel Oluohu

The last speaker, Mrs. Niles Pyelshak; CEO, Cyber Alliance, USA who spoke on "Building Transparency and Accountabilities through Digital Innovations" said her organisation is directing its focus on Africa, especially Nigeria so as to attract foreign investment and business relationships; address misnomers about Nigeria and build global confidence; identify cyber risks that could prohibit global attractiveness; reduce cyber attack occurrences that will negatively impact the economic brands across industries spanning the entire country and position Nigeria as a leader in connecting cyber policy, corporate governance and human behaviour. 

In his closing remarks, the AMAC Supervisory Councillor on Finance the Hon. Gabriel Oluohu, thanked all the partners that made the Virtual Dialogue a huge success. 

He reiterated that all revenues generated by the Area Council will be judiciously put to use while calling on Tax payers to pay their tax on time.

The Webinar powered by Cisco Webex was organised by the Abuja Municipal Area Council in collaboration with Swift Reporters and Digizens Collaborative Platform.

Embattled Dr Marilyn Amobi, NBET MD/CEO Committed Gross Misconduct- Auditor General for the Federation

In a report exclusively obtained by our online newspaper, the Auditor General for the Federation has dragged the embattled Dr Marilyn Amobi who has about 10 days to bow out of office before the leadership of the National Assembly for final determination on established gross misconduct, fraudulent activities, disrespect for due process and extant circulars. All the shoddy deals were successfully perpetrated by Dr Amobi under the supervision of the treasury staff from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation posted to NBET- Mr Ibrahim Salihu Otaru and Mrs Hauwa Bello, after the forceful removal of whistle-blowers in 2017.

By Provision of Section 85(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Auditor General for the Federation does not conduct full audit of the Federal Government Parastatals, Companies, or Agencies, NBET inclusive. However, the Auditor General is empowered to carry out periodic checks on Parastatals and Agencies in line with Section 85(4) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and make comments on their Audited Financial Statement. We wonder where the Accountant General of the Federation derived its power to post treasury staff to head NBET’s Finance and Internal Audit departments if not to assist in committing fraud. The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC- the Regulator) consistent with other parastatals/agencies and Federal Universities have no presence of OAGF staff in their Finance and Internal Audit department based on our findings.

A twist was recently introduced by Dr Amobi when she started biting the fingers that fed her so as to distract the stakeholders who monitor whether the government of President Muhammadu Buhari would allow her to go scot free despite established corruption activities on her neck.  She sued the Minister of Power, Ministry of Power alongside the whistle-blower- Mr Sambo Abdullahi whose salary and other emoluments were stopped since December 2017 till date for raising audit queries on her fraudulent activities at the Abuja Court of Appeal in a suit No CA/ABJ/CV/278/2020.

Dr Amobi has expended about N500million taxpayers’ money in the pursuit of one libel case or the other to redeem her image. Just recently, we gathered that GTBank London denied Dr Amobi a bank guarantee due to several reported and established fraudulent activities against her which were being investigated in both the UK and Canada. Time shall tell whether Dr Amobi is above the law in Nigeria!

The report which was signed by Mr A. M. Ayine, FCA, the Auditor General for the Federation noted that because of the public interest generated in NBET’s affairs, “I hereby issued a Special Audit Report having duly considered the entity’s responses to our earlier Management Report”. This has corroborated the position of the reports of the BPP, EFCC and ICPC of which prosecution was not carried out for whatever reason.

The agency under the watch of Dr Marilyn Amobi did not submit annual audited financial statements for six (6) years: 2014 – 2019 in violation of Financial Regulations 3210(v) which requires the Chief Executive Officer of each Government Parastatals, Agency or Company to submit both Annual Audited Accounts and Management Report not later than 31st May of the following year. This online newspaper had earlier reported how Mr Babatunde Fashola approved the appointment of one Aminu Ibrahim & Co (Chartered Accountants) in 2017 to audit the agency’s account of 2015 and 2016. Dr Amobi resisted the accounting firm from carrying out the annual audit despite emerging from transparent procurement process because the firm is from the Northern part of the country and she cannot manipulate the outcome of the report.

Amobi was also indicted for payment for contract worth N21million which was not executed. The contract was awarded for the review of NBET’s Audit Manual. Insider source who crave anonymity for fear of been punished  confided in us that the contract was actually for Mrs Hauwa Bello (OAGF staff posted to Head Internal Audit of NBET) after the forceful removal of Mr Sambo (who exposed the fraudulent activities in NBET running into billions) by Dr Amobi. The initial development of the audit manual was carried out by one of the leading accounting firms in Nigeria- KPMG for a fee of N14million, how can a road side accounting firm now review the same document for N21million and yet contract was not executed. The Auditor General has recommended that the MD/CEO should refund the amount if the reviewed audit manual is not presented for their scrutiny. This and many more are what the incoming MD/CEO will have to battle with upon his assumption of office July 25, 2020.

The Auditor General noted in the report a contract variation of N4.8million from the initially approved amount of N136million for the partitioning of office space awarded to Julius Berger which thereby brought the total contract sum to N141million without the approval of the appropriate Tenders Board. Dr Amobi however responded that the variation amount of N4.1million was within her threshold. The MD was however overruled by the Auditor General and she was asked to refund the N4.1million

This online newspaper had reported in the past how Dr Amobi connived with one Prof Larsen of Aarhus University, Denmark who is a partner in ESL Economics and Management Associates Ltd with RC No 751030- a company in which Dr Amobi holds 80% shares and which also arranged a fruitless training for NBET staff and none staff in Denmark for hundreds of millions of naira. Despite the public outcry and the specific directive from President Buhari placing embargo on international travel/training for civil servant, Dr Amobi was reported to have expended another N66million on foreign training. The Auditor General has requested the leaderships of the National Assembly to sanction Dr Amobi in line with Financial Regulation 3129 which says any officer who violates any other provisions for which no sanction is specifically recommended shall be taken to have committed gross misconduct and shall be disciplined accordingly.

The Auditor General’s report also noted that Amobi acquired 12 vehicles for N355million between June 2017 and June 2018 despite the fleet of cars she inherited in 2016 when she assumed office. A member of NBET finance team conversant with Amobi’s atrocities confirmed to this online newspaper that several cars were bought between June 2018 and date which the subsequent Auditor General’s report would reveal. Some of those cars were issued out to none staff of NBET by Dr Amobi in appreciation of covering up her dirty deals while several other vehicles were parked unused as at the time of this report. Whereas one of the cars bought with the taxpayers’ money is one BMW 2019 model being used by her, Dr Amobi maintained that procuring luxury vehicles rather than operational vehicles did not constitute frivolous spending of Government funds. Auditor General has however recommended to the leadership of the National Assembly that Amobi should be sanctioned in line with Financial Regulations 3129 and other extant rules and regulations. We have gathered that Dr Amobi who bows out from the company on the 24th of July 2020 is planning to take along most of the cars as her parting gift.

Attached is the detailed Auditor General for the Federation’s report on NBET.

Saudbi Arabia And Nigeria Reiterate Their Firm Commitment To The OPEC+ Agreement

The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva had a phone discussion with HRH Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Al Saud, the Saudi Minister for Energy on Monday, 13th July, 2020.

In a press release signed by the GGM/SA Media to Hon Minister of State Petroleum, Garba Deen Muhammad, he said that the discussion between the two ministers focused on developments in the global oil markets, the improvement in demand for oil, and progress towards full implementation of the OPEC+ agreement.

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At the end of the call the two ministers issued the following joint statement: “Saudi Arabia and Nigeria reiterate their firm commitment to the OPEC+ agreement and to the level of production cuts to reduce output.

HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the chairman of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee of OPEC+, emphasized the importance for all OPEC+ participants of meeting their production stated in the agreement, in order to accelerate the rebalancing of the global oil market.

HE Minister Sylva confirmed the commitment of Nigeria to the OPEC+ agreement. He clarified that his country has not yet met the terms of that agreement, and is currently below the level of the agreed cuts, as reported by the secondary sources that monitor the market.

HE Minister Sylva also confirmed Nigeria will raise its level of conformity to 100 percent, and will compensate, during the months of July, August and September, for the over-production in May and June.

At the end of the call, the two Ministers stressed that efforts by OPEC+ countries towards meeting production cuts as stated in the agreement will enhance oil market stability and help accelerate the rebalancing of global oil markets.

MURIC Asks Sahara Reporters To Apologize To Pantami

An Islamic Human Rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has declared that the Minister of Communications, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, deserves an apology for the wrong accusation from Sahara Reporters.

In a press release signed by the Director, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Professor Ishaq Akintola, he said that Sahara Reporters accusation of Dr. Ali Isa Pantami of purchasing three houses within the period that he became a minister is a highly defamatory and malicious allegation.

It will be recalled that Popular Nigerian tabloid, Sahara Reporters, recently published a story in which it alleged that the Minister of Communications, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, has purchased three houses within the period that he became a minister. The Minister last week denied the allegation with solid facts but nothing has been heard from the newspaper after the minister’s rebuttal.

The statement read, “The Muslim Rights Concern is deeply concerned that Sahara Reporters has picked on an innocent Islamic scholar of international reputation for yellow journalism. Minister Pantami is a rare product of Islamic scholarship. We are proud of him and we frown at any attempt to stain his name.

“The fact that many Nigerians go into politics and hold public office for ulterior motives does not mean that all Nigerians are thieves. There are still a large number of honest Nigerians at home and in diaspora. We have no scinttila of doubt that Dr. Pantami stands tall among the latter group.

“We have remained quiet all this while hoping that Sahara Reporters would withdraw its statement particularly after the minister had successfully defended himself. Facts are known to be sacred in journalism and we expect the newspaper to restrict itself to facts only. We know that the press is powerful but no media house has the moral right to abuse that power.

“It is our honest belief that Minister Pantami has been wronged by Sahara Reporters. He deserves an apology. Therefore the newspaper should do the needful otherwise it will lose the respect of the general public.

“MURIC appeals to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to take necessary steps towards ensuring that journalists uphold the ethics of the profession. Freedom from malicious damage is the fundamental right of every citizen and NUJ has a duty to protect innocent citizens from antagonistic journalism.”

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello Expresses Shock Over The Demise Of A Former Commissioner In Niger State, Dr Ibrahim Babamini Sule

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State has expressed shock over the demise of Dr Ibrahim Babamini Sule a former Commissioner of Health in the State.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary Mrs Mary Noel-Berje, the Governor described the deceased as a committed, dedicated and hardworking personality who has carved a

niche for himself in the Health sector. 

He said having served the State together with Late Dr Sule as Commissioners in the immediate past administration; no doubt the deceased has played a significant role towards the development of the state.

The Governor stated that indeed death is an inevitable end of all mortals but the wealth of knowledge and experience of Late Dr Sule will be greatly missed.

He then prayed for the repose of the soul of the deceased and for Allah to grant him Aljannatu Firdaus as well as the courage for the family to bear the irreparable loss.

Late Dr Sule until his death was the Chairman of a 7-man committee appointed by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello to investigate the high rate of deaths occurring in private hospitals in the state.

A renowned consultant gynecologist, who served the state in the previous administration as Commissioner for Health and Hospital Services, Commissioner Works and Infrastructure Development, and Commissioner Water Resources.

As then Commissioner of Health, late Dr Sule started the agitation for the establishment of the College of Medicine for Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai.

He left behind a wife four children and grand children