N500b SURE-P funds unaccounted for by NNPC – Senator

A member of the Senate Ad hoc Committee on the Subsidy Re-investment Empowerment Programme, Senator Kabiru Marafa, has raised the alarm over N500 billion SURE-P funds that are unaccounted for by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation.

Marafa (PDP Zamfara) made the disclosure at a meeting of the committee on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to him, records made available to the committee shows that so far the money realised from the subsidy funds is up to N800 billion.
He said: “This committee wrote to the relevant organisations that benefit from this SURE-P programme when it was inaugurated.
“It was said that the subsidy regime was going to be N32 per litre.
“This committee wrote the NNPC to ascertain the quantity of fuel being imported from the time this subsidy programme started.
“The NNPC replied and gave us a breakdown of the quantity per month from January 2012 to December 2013, which, if you calculate, it will give about 21 months.
“When you sum up everything, it comes to roughly about 25 billion litres.
“Now, if you multiply 25 billion by N32, you get about N800 billion.”
Marafa, however, said the officials of the SURE-P told the committee that they had collected only N300 billion so far for the Programme.
Marafa added: “SURE-P told us, when we invited them, that they collected about N300 billion at N15 billion flat rate per month.
“So if you multiply 21 by N15 billion, you will get about N315 billion.
“So what we are talking about is the amount involved which is 500 billion.
“Where is it?
“That is what we want NNPC to tell us.
“They are the ones importing the fuel.
“They are the custodian.”
However, the Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison-Madueke, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and officials of the NNPC failed to show up at the meeting to explain the shortfall.
The CBN sent in deputy directors as representatives but the committee insisted that they would take presentations from only a Deputy Governor or a more senior official.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP-Bauchi), said the committee and the Senate would use every legitimate opportunity in calling to order those who were treating them with impunity and disdain.
Ningi said that several Nigerians were dissatisfied with the implementation of the SURE-P programme, which was why the Senate wanted to give the implementors the opportunity to clarify the issues.
He said: “I think what this tells us is that this SURE-P programme, which seems to be for me a cardinal programme of this government, is being undermined from the inside.
“I have no doubt in my mind that the non-appearance of these agencies confirm our fears and reservations of Nigerians on the secrecy of the implementation of the SURE -P programme.”
The chairman said since the mandate of the committee was to unravel the details of the implementation of the programme, nothing would make it lose its focus.
He added: “We will not be provoked into not continuing with this job.
“Our job is to keep inviting them.
“We will not succumb to this unfortunate attitude because we are elected directly by the people and all of them are appointed by the president directly.
“They are therefore accountable to us and we are accountable to the people.
“The National Assembly will not continue to give legitimacy through appropriation to our collective inheritance where the individuals who run it will not come to give account of the monies.”
He said that a new date would be communicated to the CBN, the NNPC and the minister to appear before the committee.

Four-storey building collapses in Lagos

A four-story building collapsed in Lagos State on Monday.

Several persons, mainly artisans, were trapped in the building located on Muri Okunola Street, Victoria Island.
The building collapsed at about 3.30pm. Those trapped were yet to be rescued as at press time.

Immigration officer dies while presenting a paper in Niger State

It was a shocker on Monday when an Assistant Comptroller of Immigration, Abdulrazak Umaru Ruma, slumped and died while presenting a paper at a Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum organised by the Federal Ministry of Police Affairs in Minna, Niger State.

Our Correspondent gathered that Ruma was healthy when he arrived the Justice Legbo Kutigi Conference Centre to represent his boss, the State Comptroller of Immigration, and that he slumped few minutes into the presentation of the paper.
He was rushed to the Minna General Hospital where a doctor confirmed him dead.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Niger State Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police Richard Oguche, while confirming the incident, said Ruma was asthmatic.
Oguche said: “The preliminary investigation revealed that the deceased had a case of high blood pressure and he is an asthmatic patient.
“The Immigration Officer slumped while he was delivering his paper.
“We rushed him to hospital where he was confirmed dead.”
Oguche added that the State Police Command was pained by the loss of the officer while in active service and prayed God to grant the family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
He also commiserated with the officers and men of the Nigeria Immigration Service, particularly those of the Niger State Command, over the sudden death of Ruma.

Fire guts 22-storey Great Nigeria House in Lagos

Hundreds of tenants and traders wept on Monday as fire engulfed the Great Nigeria House along Martins Street on Lagos Island, Lagos State, which served as their offices and warehouses.

The fire brought commercial activities in the Balogun area of Lagos Island to a standstill.
Many of the traders were seen scrambling to salvage few of their goods from the burning building.
The 22-storey Great Nigeria House, acclaimed as the fifth tallest building in Nigeria, accommodates Mainstreet Bank and also served as warehouses to some traders.
According to an eyewitness, the fire started at about 5am and was first noticed on the first floor.
He said that as at 10:30am, the fire had taken over the first four floors.
The eyewitness said the Federal Fire Service was quick to respond to the distress call of traders and more than five fire engines were lined up to battle the blaze.
However lack of adequate access to the building hampered the activities of the firemen as the building was surrounded by some other shopping plazas.
A staff of Mainstream Bank, who pleaded anonymity, said there was nobody in the building because the fire started before resumption of work.
Efforts to get the situation report from the officials of the Fire Service proved abortive as they were still battling to put out the fire.
An official of the fire service, who spoke with the agency in a rush, said the cause of the fire could not be ascertained yet, but that traders had been told to vacate the neighbouring buildings.
As at 11am, the firemen were able to contain the fire and also prevented it from spreading to other floors and shopping plazas around the skyscraper.

Enugu council poll peaceful, orderly

The local government election held in Enugu State on Saturday was peaceful and orderly but witnessed low turnout of voters in many polling stations, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
NAN correspondents who monitored the elections across the state report that few voters came out to cast their votes in some areas while others witnessed large turnout of voters.
At Amechi ward in Enugu South Local Government Area, Abakpa Nike in Enugu East and Agbani in Nkanu West, many voters, particularly women, cast their votes in an orderly manner.
It was, however, a different situation in Awgu, Enugu North, Udi, Oji River and Nsukka local government areas, which witnessed very few voters while many people went about their normal businesses.
NAN also reports that security agents, including the police and civil defence, were at the polling booths to ensure orderliness.
Speaking with journalists after casting his vote at Udi, Governor Sullivan Chime attributed the seeming apathy to the fact that most candidates were unopposed.
According to Chime, all the 17 chairmanship candidates were unopposed while very few wards like Eke in Udi have candidates contesting for the councillorship positions.
Chime explained that those who cast their votes did so to confirm the acceptability of the unopposed candidates.
He said: “What we have here is a ‘Yes or No’ voting to show that the people accepted or rejected the unopposed candidate.
“This is in accordance with the law establishing the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission.”
An electoral officer in Udi/Agbudu ward, Ernest Chime, said there was no election for unopposed councillorship candidates because they were automatically elected in line with the ENSIEC law.
Some of the voters and election observers in separate interviews expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the election but regretted the low turnout of the electorate.
Emmanuel Nnaji, a voter, told NAN that sensitive materials for the election arrived late but commended its peaceful conduct.
The Secretary of the Youth and Media Network, an Enugu-based NGO, Chuks Udeh, also regretted the non participation of the opposition parties in the elections.
A woman leader, Dr. Ngozi Agu, who also expressed dissatisfaction with the low turnout of voters, commended the women for their participation.
NAN reports that the biennial election was the fourth under the administration of Chime since he assumed office in 2007.

No amnesty for Ombatse militia - Al-Makura

Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State on Thursday denied reports that his administration was considering granting amnesty for the outlawed Ombatse militia.
Al-Makura said this when he briefed newsmen in Abuja.
He said the statement credited to him, when he delivered a lecture on October 29 at the Institute for Security Studies, Bwari, FCT, was calculated at dragging his administration to the mud.
The governor said the report was an attempt to rubbish the efforts by the state government towards finding a lasting solution to the activities of the group.
He said: “I feel really worried about this misrepresentation because nothing can be further from my views and mindset that I and my administration are bent on bringing the criminals and perpetrators to book.
“The statement credited to me will amount to preempting the work of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
“The committee was set up by the state government to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the killings of security personnel at Alakyo, who were on routine duty, and also to unmask their sponsors.”
The governor explained that he only implored security agents to intensify efforts at recovering arms that were illegally in the possession of the militia and other unauthorised persons.
Al-Makura regretted the inconveniences the report might have caused the public, especially the victims of the attack and the commission investigating the killings.
He added: “This administration will continue to maintain peaceful coexistence among the diverse ethnic groups in the state.
“It will leave no stone unturned to bring the perpetrators and their sponsors to book.

Oduah to Reps: You approved my purchase of security vehicles

There was a stunning revelation on Thursday as the embattled Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, finally appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation investigating the purchase of two BMW 760Li Series bulletproof cars by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.
The suppliers of the controversial cars, bought at a highly inflated cost of N255 million, Coscharis Motors, denied ownership of a particular car with a chassis number completely different from the one it supplied to the NCAA.
During questioning, Coscharis Motors boss, Cosmas Maduka, insisted that what it supplied to NCAA were top notch vehicles, the best available anywhere in the world.
Maduka denied knowledge of any BMW bulletproof vehicle in the possession of NCAA, which bore chassis number DW68032.
He said the cars it delivered to the NCAA had chassis numbers DW68044 and DW68011.
Oduah, who read a prepared speech, apologized to the committee for not attending the hearing last week.
However, she told the committee pointedly that the purchase of two number security vehicles was provided for in the 2013 budget and duly approved by the lawmakers.
Defending the purchase, the Minister told the lawmakers that they approved it in the 2013 budget, saying: “The two numbers security/safety vehicles are provided for distinctively.”
Oduah added: “I draw attention to this fact because of the erroneous belief in some quarters that, because in the course of the NCAA defending its budget proposal for 2013, it had to return to the National Assembly a few times to explain their proposal, therefore, the purchase was never appropriated.
“This may not be totally correct as two numbers security/safety vehicles were provided for.”
She added that it is erroneous to say the cars were purchased by NCAA without following due process as the BPP does not have any guideline for lease financing, which the NCAA engaged in.
She denied directing the NCAA to purchase the cars for her use and also denied ever taking a ride in the vehicles.
The Minister also distanced herself from the claim of the NCAA Director-General, Fola Akinkuotu, who had at a press conference said the vehicles were procured for the minister and international guests’ use during conferences.
Oduah also insisted that the purchase was not out of budgetary approval by the parliament, adding that the 56 vehicles bought by the NCAA was in order as it was backed by the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, which was a planning tool for the budget that extended to 2015.
Speaking specifically on the BMW, the Minister also confirmed that they were not bought outrightly with NCAA’s fund but through a lease agreement.
Justifying the purchase further, Oduah insisted the NCAA is under obligation to take proper care of the security of the Very Important Personalities and other international guests from the aviation sector whenever they visit Nigeria.
While admitting granting approval to the request of the NCAA to purchase the vehicles as required in the memo of request sent to her office, she however said she put a caveat stating: “Approved. Kindly do the needful.”
The Acting Director-General of the NCAA when the transaction took place could not provide convincing answers to all the questions posed to him.
He was evasive on questions bothering on due process and whether the NCAA board approved the purchase prior to seeking ministerial approval.
Also, he could not provide answers to what informed the increase in the number of vehicles approved in the budget from 25 to the eventual 56, which the agency purchased through the loan taken from First Bank.
He however said the bullet-proof cars were part of the various cars in the pool and available for use by the agency.
The chairman of the investigative committee, Hon. Nkiru Onyejeocha, assured Oduah of fairness in its report.
Onyejeocha said all documentary evidences submitted would be taken into consideration.