All Posts in "Day: June 29, 2023"

Immigration Promotes 7000, Redeploys 12 Comptrollers

Mohammed Shosanya

The Acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service,Wuraola Adepoju, has approved the release of about 7000 officers and men recently promoted across board by the the Immigration, Civil Defense, Correctional and Fire Services Board.

The Secretary of the board, Alhaji Jafaru Ahmed had through a letter announced the promotions in the different services of the Interior Ministry.

Acting Service Public Relations Officer, Mr Kenneth Kure, who was also elevated to the rank of Assistant Comptroller,said in a release that the number of promoted officers and men included both senior officers who sat for the regular exams as well as junior staff who were upgraded as a result of acquiring additional qualifications.

Besides,the Ag Comptroller General, Wuraola Adepoju has approved the appointment of the erstwhile Service Spokesman, Tony Akuneme as FCT command Comptroller.

Comptroller Joseph Dada was also elevated by the CG as new Principal Staff Officer to the Comptroller General.

Dada, a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, had served in various commands in the NIS and was until his recent appointment, the Comptroller in charge of Marine Border Corps in the Service Headquarters.

Twelve Comptrollers were recently redeployed to different states, including FCT, Kano, Jigawa, Ondo, Ogun, Mfum Border Control , among others.

In her address to Officers and men of the Service during their monthly parade, the CGIS implored them to put the image of the job above personal interests as the NIS was one of the most noble professions and indeed the first agency that any visitor to Nigeria would accost upon arrival.

She promised to prioritize personnel welfare and vowed that henceforth promotion must be based strictly on seniority as it was indeed disheartening to see some older officers stagnated while newly recruited ones were moving over and above the older ones.

admin by — June 29, 2023 in Next Level 0

Mohammed Shosanya

MultiChoice Nigeria has unveiled prolific Super Falcons striker, Asisat Oshoala, as brand ambassador.

The partnership is part of the ‘Here For Her’ SuperSport campaign in support of female sports.

At the unveiling in Lagos, Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, Mr. John Ugbe, said the choice of Oshoala as brand ambassador was due to her passion and dedication for the game, which continues to inspire millions across the globe.

He said:”I am especially excited about our partnership with Asisat Oshoala, as I pride myself as an advocate for women, leading a team that comprises an equal split of men and women. We are patterning with Asisat as our brand ambassador, as part of our ‘Here For Her’ SuperSport promise supporting female sports, because she has proven to be a strong dedicated advocate for the sport, and has inspired millions with her skills, athleticism and grace – on and off the pitch.

“With this brand partnership, we will continue to tell our truly authentic stories and sports forms a key part of that narrative, especially with the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup from July 20-August 20, 2023, across our SuperSport channels. We are here for the Super Falcons, we are here for Asisat”

Oshoala said the partnership is about giving hope to the younger generation. “I really hope this will be a long term because I can see a lot of positivity at the beginning. This is not about me, but about the younger generation coming, the kids that will be hopeful for the future. I didn’t have the opportunity to watch a lot of matches while growing up, but here I am, a MultiChoice ambassador.

“It’s amazing how female sports have grown. We need to acknowledge the power of the media at promoting talents, and that is what MultiChoice has brought to us. I appreciate everyone that made this happen. The World Cup is here, MultiChoice will be showing all the matches, and I urge you all to support the Super Falcons,” she said.

Oshoala has enjoyed a wonderful career with loads of trophies and personal awards to her name. She was crowned the African female Football Player of the Year for 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2019; won the Golden Ball at the 2014 African Women’s Championship and the Golden Boot at the 2016 Africa Women’s Championship.

Her awards include 2014 U-20 Women’s World Cup Golden Boot and Golden Ball; 2017 Chinese Women’s League Top Scorer; Queen Of The Pitch Award 2014; BBC Footballer of the Year 2015 and Aiteo Award for Best CAF Player 2017.

OIL AND GAS

Tinubu Should Probe Crude Swap Deals-Policy Alerts

Mohammed Shosanya

A civil society organisation, Policy Alert,has implored President Bola Tinubu to commence a thorough investigation of all crude swap deals entered into by the Nigerian government with commodity traders since 2010.

The group said such investigation would help expose and bring to book those who facilitated or benefited from the corruption-prone regimes.

In a release endorsed by head of the NGO’s Media Unit, Nneka Luke-Ndumnwere, recalled that he group chief executive officer (GCEO) of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, had announced recently that the company has commenced the termination of crude oil swap deals and the national oil company will now pay for its purchases in cash

In a public conversation on the theme, “Beneficial ownership and Nigeria’s crude swaps – priorities for the new administration,” organised by Policy Alert on Twitter Spaces yesterday, the group said that while the decision of the NNPCL to end crude oil swap deals is commendable, it would only amount to half-measures if the corrupt and inefficient system underpinning the swaps was not investigated, lost revenue recovered, culprits punished, and safeguards instituted.

“It would be counter-productive to allow politically exposed persons who were involved in corrupting the present regime to continue presiding over fresh transactions under the new administration” the organisation noted in a communique issued this evening after the Twitter Space.

“This is long overdue and would plug the massive revenue leakages suffered by the Nigerian state over the years due to under-delivery, unpaid tax liabilities, importation of dirty fuels, and other violations by oil traders. The swap deals, whether in its previous forms as the Refined-Product Exchange Agreement (RPEA) and Offshore Processing Agreement (OPA), or in its most recent form as Direct Sales Direct Purchase (DSDP), have been poorly regulated, opaque, and prone to corruption resulting in billions of dollars in losses to government.

“But ending the swaps is not enough” the organisation said. “This should be followed by a thorough investigation of all the swap deals up to now to expose and bring to book those who facilitated or benefited from the corruption-prone regimes.

“The NNPCL owes it to the Nigerian public to publish the traded volumes, payments received by government and status of outstanding liabilities owed the federation from its oil-for-product swap deals with oil and gas commodity trading companies particularly between 2010 till date.

“The company must ensure that, going forward, transparent criteria are set for selecting the private importers to avoid a repeat of past mistakes, and this must include the disclosure of beneficial owners of the contracted firms.

“Meanwhile, we urge the Tinubu administration to leverage the recently launched register of Persons with Significant Control as an inter-agency tool to pass a strong signal to those who have been ripping off the country’s oil resources that it is no longer business as usual.”. the release added.

admin by — June 29, 2023 in Sports 0

Mohammed Shosanya

Stakeholders in the nation’s economy have proffered ways to stop illicit financial inflows,which bleeds Nigeria a whooping $18billion annually.

They said transparency of ownership and control of companies, partnerships, trusts and other legal entities that can hold assets and open bank accounts is critical to the ability to determine where illicit funds are moving to and who is moving them.

They conveyed this in a communique issued at a two-day training organized by the Accountability in Extractive Sector (AES) Cluster in partnership with the Niger-Delta Open Government Partnership Observatory (NOGO) cluster and the Media Initiative for Transparency in Extractive Industries (MITEI),

Nigerian government marked significant progress in the implementation of beneficial ownership transparency reforms by signing the Companies and Allied Matters (Amendment) Bill 2020 into law, the launch of an Open Central Register of Beneficial Ownership (known as the Persons with Significant Control (PSC) for disclosure of all beneficial owners of corporate entities in the country and the adoption of Beneficial Ownership Data Standard for the register on 25th May 2023,they said.

According to the participants,tackling corruption and financial crimes should be seen as a multi-agency task that cannot be implemented by only one government institution.

They reasoned that these institutions also need beneficial ownership information in order to efficiently handle the investigation and prosecution of those that hold ultimate responsibility in financial and economic crimes.

They emphasized the need for wider public engagement on the existence of the Beneficial Ownership register and its relevance to extractive and corporate sector transparency and accountability.

The also stressed the need to deepen capacity of tax and customs authorities, policing and prosecution authorities, as well as the media on the use of the register is crucial as a veritable tool for tackling corruption and financial crimes.

There was also need for strategic collaborations between the CAC and relevant agencies like the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) towards collective impact.

They added:”The interoperability of data between government agencies, linked to a central procurement portal, as beneficial ownership declarations should be required of all parties entering into government contracts. Expedite process of updating and rectifying beneficial ownership information that is duplicated, inaccurate and/or incomplete in the register”

They also suggested the need to deploy an approach that clearly defines roles and responsibilities of various relevant stakeholders in defending the system or preventing misuse.

Participants were acquainted with the concept of beneficial ownership (BO) and the basis for existing complexities in different types of company ownership structures and associated risks.

They were further equipped with skills and tools to identify and analyse BO data with other publicly available information to inform their investigations, advocacy analyses and journalistic reportage.

admin by — June 29, 2023 in News 0