Reps summon Oduah to appear on Thursday

The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation on Wednesday re-issued its summon on the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, to appear at its investigative hearing on October 31 (today).

Oduah is expected to clarify issues relating to the controversial purchase of two BMW bullet proof cars by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.
The committee also stressed that failure to honour “this last invitation” would be viewed as deliberate.
It added that she would therefore be made to face the consequences of her action according to the provisions of the law.
Oduah was to appear before the panel on October 24, but wrote to the committee that she was out of the country for the signing of Bilateral Air Services Agreement between Nigeria and Israel.

Senate uncovers purchase of another four armoured vehicles for Oduah, FAAN MD

FAAN buys four armoured cars, 202 vehicles illegally

As the controversy over the purchase of two BMW 760Li Series armoured cars by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority rages on, another illegal purchase has been discovered.
The Senate Committee on Aviation on Wednesday confirmed that the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria also purchased illegally 206 vehicles, including two armoured Lexus Limousine cars and two armoured Toyota Prado jeeps.
It was also discovered that two of the four vehicles are said to be for the embattled Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, and another two for the Managing Director of FAAN, George Uriesi.
Some of the vehicles were also bought for the use of directors of the agency.
Uriesi told the Senate committee that the limousines were bought for N60 million each but could not however confirm the cost of the Prado Jeeps, adding that the vehicles are in the custody of a bank.
Asked to name the bank that funded the purchase of the vehicles as claimed, Uriesi declined.
He also disclosed that Oduah approved the purchase but added that he did not sign.
According to Uriesi, who was spoke at a public hearing convened to address the crisis in the aviation sector, somebody signed on his behalf.
He equally declined to mention the person.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Hope Uzondinma said: “Investigation is still ongoing and it will not be fair for me to pre-empt it.
“FAAN did confirm that among the operational vehicles they purchased, four of them are armoured vehicles, two for the MD and two for the minister.
“And we told them to go back and put everything in writing and make a comprehensive statement on all vehicles purchased.
“That they bought a total number of 202 vehicles for different operations.
“So until they come back on Monday, we cannot rush into conclusion.
“The MD FAAN said they did a funding arrangement with a commercial bank.”
The chairman assured Nigerians of a thorough investigation of extra-budgetary spendings by the aviation parastatals.
His words: “This investigation will be a very deep one so that at the end of the day, we do a holistic approach and look at how the sector will be repositioned so that all anomalies will be corrected.

N225m BMW cars: Finance ministry granted N10.1m import waiver to Coscharis Motors

The Nigerian Customs Service on Wednesday said that the Federal Ministry of Finance granted a waiver of N10.1 million to Coscharis Motors for the purchase of the two BMW cars by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority.

The NCS told the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation investigating the alleged importation of the cars by the NCAA for the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, that the said waiver was to import 300 vehicles, including the controversial two BMW cars.
Representative of the Comptroller-General of the NCS, Manasseh Jatau, a Deputy Comptroller of Customs, disclosed this in his presentation at the public hearing of the case on Wednesday in Abuja.
Jatau said the point of entry of the cars was Tincan Port in Lagos, adding that no import duty was collected from the owner of the goods (Coscharis Motors) as a one-year duty waiver for 300 cars was granted in the name of the company for importation of cars for Eko 2012 Games in Lagos State.
Jatau said the exemption on the two BMW cars along with 298 others was at the expense of the Lagos State Government, who would have been the beneficiaries of the payment.
Documents presented to the committee by the NCS showed that the Import Duty, VAT, ETLS, CISS and Port Charges Waiver Certificate was issued by the Ministry of Finance on November 20, 2012.
The document was signed by the Director of Revenue, Rose Ngozi-Maranzu, on behalf of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Jatau also disclosed that it is contrary to earlier reports that the Office of the National Security Adviser duly issued an approval for the purchase of the armoured cars.
He said a signed copy of a pre-shipment inspection end-user certificate issued by the NSA on June 6, 2013, showed that due approval was gotten from the office for Coscharis Motors to import three armoured cars valued at $223,653.48 into Nigeria for commercial purposes.
The document, identified as “Form A”, had the stamp of the Office of the National Security Adviser appended on it.
Members of the Committee were engaged, for over 30 minutes, in a heated argument with Coscharis Motors in a move to ascertain the market price of the vehicles.
While the committee insisted that the current price of the vehicle should not exceed N50 million each, Coscharis outrightly refuted this position, saying it could never be the case with a BMW B7 series anywhere in the world.
Coscharis, represented by the company’s Chairman, Cosmos Maduka, alleged that the NCAA demanded an increase in the prices of the controversial vehicles over what the company had submitted earlier.
“NCAA told us that the initial price is not proper,” Maduka, said.
He also said the cars were sold to NCAA as used vehicles, following the delay encountered when the company sought clearance from the office of the NSA.
But the committee insisted that Coscharis deceived the public and the government by saying that the cars were bought for NCAA when actually they were purchased on behalf of the Lagos State Government.
The committee also accused the company of ripping Nigerians off.
According to the committee, the change in the prices of the vehicles from the initial N70 million to N127.5 million, even when the company had admitted that it got waiver from the government not to pay customs duties on the cars, cast aspersion on the company’s position on the prices.
The hearing later took a dramatic turn when the committee discovered that the company supplied different make and type of vehicles.
A member of the committee and spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Hon. Zakari Mohammed, said that the chassis number of one of the vehicles inspected by a delegation from the committee read DW68011.
Mohammed argued that the number differed from what Coscharis gave in its correspondences with the office of the NSA.
But in a swift response, Maduka refuted this, quoting the chassis numbers as 68044 and 68432 respectively.
He, however, promised to send the certificate issued by the NSA for the purchase of to the committee.
Earlier, the company had requested to play a video to demonstrate how exotic the cars were in a bid to justify the prices, but the request was turned down by the committee.
Also the former Acting Director-General of the NCAA, Joyce Nkemakolam, told the Committee that he approved a leasing agreement rather than a loan, with First Bank Plc on the purchase of the cars because of an advice he received from his colleagues.
A member of the committee, Hon. Raphael Nnanna-Igbokwe, had asked why the NCAA insisted on going on with the leasing agreement after being informed by First Bank Plc that it was not disposed to leasing facility but loan facility.
Nkemakolam said: “I signed the agreement based on advice from my colleagues that leasing and loan facilities are the same.
“I thought the templates are the same.”
The Committee was shocked when the acting Director-General said though as the Chief Executive Officer during the period under investigation, he was not aware of the details of the delivery of the two vehicles.

Nigeria narrows gap to global good practices in business regulation

A new International Finance Corporation and World Bank report finds that in the year from June 2012 to June 2013, Nigeria is closer to the global good practices in business regulations than any time since 2009.

In the past year, Nigeria has had positive developments in such areas as trading across borders, where the time to export and import has been cut, thanks to continued impact this year from previously implemented reform efforts.
Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises finds that Nigeria already implements some of the global good practices in the areas of Dong Business.
For example, Nigeria allows a general description of collateral, which makes it easy for local entrepreneurs to get credit.
Since 2005, Nigeria implemented 10 business regulatory reforms making it easier for local entrepreneurs to do business.
The biggest impact was in the area of getting credit, where Nigeria improved its credit information system through a central bank guideline defining the licensing, operational and regulatory requirements for a privately owned credit bureau.
Thanks to this, Nigeria is among the ten economies in the world that made the biggest improvement in getting credit since 2009.
“Business regulatory environment requires strong and sustained actions,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Director, Global Indicators and Analysis, World Bank Group. “I look forward to Nigeria’s continued commitment to make the regulatory environment easier for the local entrepreneurs in the coming years.”
Singapore tops the global ranking on the ease of doing business.
Joining it on the list of the top 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulations are Hong Kong SAR, China; New Zealand; the United States; Denmark; Malaysia; the Republic of Korea; Georgia; Norway; and the United Kingdom.
In addition to the global rankings, every year Doing Business reports the economies that have improved the most on the indicators since the previous year.
The 10 economies topping that list this year are (in order of improvement) Ukraine, Rwanda, the Russian Federation, the Philippines, Kosovo, Djibouti, Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Guatemala.
Yet challenges persist: five of this year’s top improvers – Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, the Philippines, and Ukraine – are still in the bottom half of the global ranking on the ease of doing business.

Four burnt to death in Jigawa auto crash

Four persons were burnt to death in a ghastly motor accident on Tuesday in Malammadori Local Government Area of Jigawa State.
Eight other persons sustained injuries in the accident, which occurred along Hadejia-Gumel Road.
Muhammad Gidado, the state Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, confirmed the accident.
Gidado said the accident occurred when a bus with registration number XB 846 AGB collided with a lorry.
He said that the lorry was conveying goats from Gashua in Yobe State while the passenger bus was travelling from Gumel to Hadejia, also in Yobe State.
Gidado explained that the two vehicles burst into flames as a result of which the four persons were burnt to death.
He said: “We could not ascertain the cause of the accident and the lorry driver was burnt to ashes.
“Our men and a team of fire fighters have conducted rescue operation.
“Three corpses have been deposited at the General Hospital, Gumel.”
Gidado further stated that eight other wounded passengers were currently receiving treatment at the hospital.

Boko Haram: Security, humanitarian conditions deteriorating - UNHCR

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has called on the governments of the countries that border North East Nigeria to leave the borders open for people fleeing Nigeria, who may require international protection.
Briefing newsmen on Tuesday in Geneva, the UNHCR spokesperson, Dan McNorton, said with the renewed escalation of attacks by the dreaded Islamist sect, Boko Haram, there was the need to uphold humanitarian and asylum principles, hence the cooperation of neighbouring countries.
McNorton said: “With the recent escalation of violence in Northeast Nigeria, UNHCR is today advising States against forced returns of people to the region.
“We are also urging that borders be kept open for Nigerians fleeing the country and who may be in need of international protection. Our recommendations are contained in a newly issued Return Advisory, which seeks to ensure that humanitarian and asylum principles are upheld in light of the worsening security situation in north-eastern Nigeria.
“Conflict between the Nigerian army and insurgents in Nigeria’s north-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe has led to deteriorating security and humanitarian conditions in the region, which has been under the a state of emergency since May.”
The UNHCR said no fewer than 5,000 people have been displaced in the North East region, lamenting that humanitarian access has been hampered by the attacks, noting that the number could be higher.
It said: “Some 10,000 Nigerians have also crossed into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger in recent months. Most – around 8,100 – have sought refuge in Cameroon, according to local authorities who say that Nigerians are continuing to arrive. The number of Nigerian refugees in Niger is 2,700, and in Chad 150.
“UNHCR has been alarmed at reports of the attempted forced return of 111 people from Cameroon to Nigeria on 5 October. They were expelled from the village of Amchidé, in the Far North region of Cameroon, to Adamawa state in Nigeria. During the incident 15 people were killed and another seven wounded.
“The remaining 89 individuals immediately fled back to Cameroon and were detained. UNHCR is working with the Government of Cameroon to assess whether there are people in the group in need of international protection.
“In light of the security situation in north-eastern Nigeria, people fleeing are likely to meet the criteria for refugee status as outlined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and the OAU Convention. UNHCR’s Return Advisory will remain in effect until the security and human rights situation in north-eastern Nigeria has improved sufficiently to permit a safe and dignified return.”

Man commits suicide in lover’s room, chairman assassinated

Otovwodo community in Warri axis of Delta State has been thrown into shock following the death, by suicide, of a 24-year-old man and the assassination of the town’s Vigilante chairman.

While the young man, simply identified as Emmanuel, hung himself on a ceiling fan in the room of his lover, Esther, 23, the vigilante head died, alongside two others, in a clash between two rival cult groups.
Prior to his suicidal death, Emma, as he was fondly called, lived in Ukpokiti (Agbassa), Warri while his lover (Esther) hails from Oron in Akwa-Ibom State.
The relationship between Emmanuel and Esther was said to be “stronger than death” until a misunderstanding, which lasted till midnight, allegedly broke out between them.
The squabble soon assumed a dangerous dimension, forcing Esther to vacate the room for him and passed the night elsewhere.
Meanwhile, The Eagle Online gathered, it was Esther, who is a hotel attendant in a popular inn at the nearby Igbi Street, that has housed Emmanuel for years.
Disturbed that he must have been jilted by his lover, Emmanuel allegedly took his life, leaving Esther to her fate.
A source said: “She however got the greatest shock of her life when she came back the following morning and saw the unpleasant scene in her apartment.
“She actually forced the door open through the window.
“While she did not raise the alarm immediately over what she saw, she quietly called a female tenant in their compound who advised her to run as far as her legs could carry her before she is mobbed angrily.”
But Esther soon ran out of luck.
A co-tenant overheard their discussion.
The co-tenant swiftly reported the matter to the landlord’s brother, who wasted no time in chasing Esther who was about to board a fast moving ‘Keke’ and brought her down to explain her involvement before the police.
As if that was not enough, the following day, the Chairman of a Vigilante group, Omonigho Okudeje, popularly known as Omones, 47, in Otovwodo’s nearby village, Ginuwa, was assassinated.
Before he was assassinated, Okudeje was known as a “popular, hard-working crime buster”.
He was killed along with his friend, who is fondly called Pender, by yet-to-be identified gunmen in front of his compound along Ginuwa Road.
The assailants were said to have stormed their victim’s compound in a blue colour car and killed Okudeje, who was on a motorbike with his friend.
Okudeje, who hails from Ofuoma Ughelli, was said to have been invited by persistent phone calls from the hotel where Esther (the lover of the young man who committed suicide), was working before he was shot in front of his house.