Mohammed Shosanya

The Oyo State Governor,Engr Seyi Makinde,has approved the deployment of additional 16 new luxury buses to Saki, Iseyin, Ogbomoso, Oyo and Ibarapa areas of the State to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal on the citizens.

The new buses complement the already 30 buses that were deployed for the same purpose within Ibadan about two weeks ago by the state governor.

The total buses now captured under SAfER to cushion the effects of subsidy removal within the State is now 46.

A member of the 15-man Sustainable Action for Economic Recovery (SAfER),who is also the Chairman, sub-committee on Transport services, Alhaji Gafar Bello,disclosed these while paying on the spot-assessment to the Pacesetter Transport Service (PTS) where the new buses were inspected ahead of their deployment to the other zones of the State.

Bello,who expressed the commitment of the SAfER committee headed by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Otunba Segun Ogunwuyi to the timely delivery of action plan conceptualised by the Governor to cushion the effect of subsidy removal and make life worth living for the masses, stressed that the committee on Transport including those of Food Security; Food Palliatives; Healthcare Services and SMEs were working round the clock to make the plan of the Governor a reality.

He said the governor approved immediate deployment of 10 buses for inter-State movement of commuters from those towns to Ibadan at a very reduced price.

He added:“Already, the residents of Ibadan are presently enjoying these new buses as movement from Iwo-road interchange to Orita-Challenge and those of Amuloko-Beere which used to be between N400 and N500 now goes for just N100 only. Many of our people are already appreciating the Governor for this gesture as a number of our people now jettisoned their personal vehicles for these buses.

“The feedback we are getting has shown that our people are enjoying the intervention of His Excellency in the transportation sector. And this is why the Governor on Wednesday approved immediate deployment of additional buses to commute residents traveling to and from Saki, Iseyin, Ogbomoso, Oyo and Ibarapa areas to Ibadan. Two buses each of 56-seater and 40-seater have been deployed to each of these major towns.

“And it is also expected that by the middle of next week, additional six would be available for movements of passengers at short distances within these towns and environs.

“All these efforts are just a tip of the iceberg as food palliatives to 200,000 vulnerable household; 100,000 healthcare services; food security where grains and N500million would be given to deserving farmers and another N500million for Small and Medium Enterprises are all in the offing and our people would start benefitting from them before this month runs to an end.”

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has named controversial Nigerian singer, Azeez Fashola, a.k.a Naira Marley, as Advocate of the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA).

The agency disclosed this during a visit by the singer to the headquarters of the anti-narcotics agency in Abuja on Thursday.

The agency shared photos of the singer with its chairman/chief executive officer, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), on its official X platform (formerly known as Twitter)

Naira Marley visited the agency’s headquarters along with members of his team; Sam Larry, Dami Marshal and Chuddy Naira, who also posed with the agency’s director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi.

Speaking,the singer implored his fans popularly known as ‘Marlians’ to stop the abuse of drugs.

According to the singer, the abuse of substance is not healthy and can lead individuals to crimes.

He disclosed that he keyed into the anti-drug campaign because of his intention to see the streets cleansed of drug abuse.

He added:”I will like to urge my fans, the Marlians, all Nigerian youths to stop doing drugs because it is not good for your wellbeing, let’s all stop substance abuse in every form, I have keyed into this campaign to support NDLEA to stop drugs in the streets. Please join us. It is really not good; it makes you go back into crime.”

Mohammed Shosanya

The Dean, Faculty of Law of the University of Calabar (UNICAL),Prof. Cyril Ndifon, has been suspended by the school’s management for alleged violation of the provisions of the extant laws and policies of the institution.

His suspension takes effect from Thursday, August 17, 2023,according to a letter by the University Registrar, Mr. Gabriel Egbe.

The action came days after some law students protested alleged sexual harassment against the dean.

The letter reads : “Please refer to our letter Ref UC/REG/DISC.45A dated August 14, 2023 on your alleged violation of the provisions of the extant laws and policies of the University and your response to the said letter which was dated 16th August, 2023.

“The Vice-Chancellor has gone through your written representations and is not satisfied with your explanations. She has therefore directed that you should be relieved of your position as Dean, Faculty of Law and placed on suspension while the matter is referred to a panel that will be set-up to investigate these allegations.

“The relief of position as Dean, Faculty of Law and suspension from official duties takes effect from August 17, 2023. You are to hand over all university property in your possession including all official responsibilities presently handled by you to the Sub-Dean of the Faculty before vacating office.

“You are to stay away from the university premises except while responding to an invitation from the panel investigating these allegations.”

The female law students,had accused Ndifon of sexually assaulting and harassing them.

They had,on Monday, August 14, 2023, stormed the office of the UNICAL Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Florence Obi, with claims of alleged sexual harassment by the Dean as well as extortion by their lecturers.

Armed with placards with inscriptions such as “We are tired of sucking d..ks”, “Ndifon Must Go For Our Sanity”, “We Are Tired of Buying Law Journals”, “We Are Tired of Lecturers Not Attending Classes”, and “Law Girls Are Not Your Bonanza, Prof Ndifon Should stop grabbing us”,the female students appealed the management of the university to address their concerns.

The dean,who debunked the allegations, described the protest as the handiwork of his colleague whom he defeated in the faculty election.

He said: “Since I defeated some persons in an election that was keenly contested, to emerge as Dean of the faculty, it hasn’t been easy. I had skipped several booby traps. These allegations are baselessly masterminded by my detractor, who had vowed to ensure that my image is dragged to the mud just because I won the faculty elections twice.

“If you look at the placards you will discover that the placards have one person’s handwriting. Again how come the protesters know that we were holding a meeting with the Vice Chancellor if it is not the handiwork of an insider.

“We were supposed to hold a meeting with the Vice Chancellor to enable us iron out important issues troubling us in the faculty. While the meeting was on-going, we were told that some students were outside with placards, protesting against me, demanding that I should be unseated.

“From what I am told, LAWSAN President, Benedict Otu, cajoled some students that they were to go for a meeting with the Vice Chancellor at her office, only to dish out placards bearing false representations about the Dean, and asked his colleagues to chant slogans that berated my personality.

“This won’t work. Colleagues of mine who are bent on tarnishing my reputation just to destroy me. The question is: where are the victims of sexual harassment? Can someone harass girls without the ladies coming out to raise the alarm that they were sexually harassed?

“For Christ sake, I don’t teach Year 2 B or Year one students, so I don’t know why they have chosen to drag my name to the mud. This was why I said earlier that the allegations were lies, cooked from the pit of hell, just to destroy a reputation that I had spent decades building.”

Mohammed Shosanya

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,says his administration will ensure that every kobo of the nation’s revenue counts.

The President spoke on Thursday in Abuja through his Special Adviser on Revenue, Zacch Adedeji at a one-day hybrid sensitisation workshop on the published “Guidelines for Private Sector Response to Illicit Financial Flow (IFF) Vulnerabilities in Nigeria” organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

Adedeji, according to a statement by Azuka Ogugua, Spokesperson of the ICPC stated that the “President believed in fiscal discipline and would ensure judicious utilisation of the country’s revenue and resources.”

He said: “The President believes in fiscal discipline which rests on the accurate prediction of revenue. If the government can’t count your money, the government can’t allocate it and if the government can’t allocate it, it can’t manage it. The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will make every kobo of our revenue count.”

In his earlier keynote address at the sensitisation workshop, the special adviser pledged that the government would strengthen the country’s fight against illicit financial flows (IFFs).

He noted that the IFFs had significantly eroded domestic revenues and hampered government’s efforts to mobilize resources, thereby threatening economic stability and sustainable development.

“In Nigeria and across the African continent, we continue to suffer various forms of IFFs, including tax evasion and other harmful tax practices, the illegal export of foreign exchange, abusive transfer pricing, trade mispricing, mis-invoicing of services, illegal exploitation and under-invoicing of natural resources, organized crimes, and corruption,” he added.

He emphasised that stemming illicit financial flows would address its negative impact on global development agenda as well as governance challenge.

The special adviser commended the Chairman of the ICPC, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, for the successes so far recorded by the anti-corruption agency in the fight against IFFs.

He added:“Some level of progress and successes have so far been recorded in the fight against IFFs through the concerted efforts of the ICPC’s sensitization and capacity building of major players in the various sectors of the economy as well as citizenry on the menace of IFFs.

“These efforts have yielded great results and benefits as the nation through these robust engagements has plugged identified leakages/loopholes that enable IFFs by the relevant circulars issued by the Federal Government,” he stated.

He advised the private sector stakeholders and operators at the sensitisation workshop to key into the government’s efforts to tackle IFFs.

“The published guidelines will set a new trajectory in the fight against IFFs in the Private Sector, thereby putting Nigeria at the forefront of African countries to achieve this great feat.

“The purpose of the published Guidelines is to further assist, guide and strengthen the private sector operators in curbing IFFs. The aim of this publication is to set the path for more interventions in the fight against IFFs and IFF-related activities,” Adedeji said.

Speaking, the ICPC Chairman, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye,noted that IFFs was a drain on Nigeria’s potential revenue accretion and foreign exchange reserves.

This, according to him, has resulted in exchange rate depreciation, inflation and increase in cost of servicing external debts in addition to negatively impacting on the cost of imported goods like petroleum with its attendant radical consequences on daily livelihood experience of ordinary citizens.

He advocated the need for diverse measures to tackle the menace in all its forms and in order to improve Nigeria’s quest for domestic revenue increase relative to the size of her economy and in spite of the volatile global economic and financial system.

He assured that the Commission would continue to focus attention on practical measures to enhance Nigeria’s ability to stem IFFs, reduce capital flight and enhance the country’s capacity for domestic resource mobilisation by identifying vulnerabilities and other weaknesses in the systems and processes of agencies and institutions within the public and private sector and advising reforms to mitigate losses.

Prof. Owasanoye explained that the sensitisation workshop was necessitated by the need to get the feedback of the private sector constituency on any possible challenges towards implementation of the recommendations in the guidelines.

He added that a similar platform would be created for public officers and other stakeholders to ventilate the Guidelines for Negotiation of Contracts and Agreements.

The Programme Director (Africa) of Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), Mrs. Lola Adekanye, gave an overview of the published guidelines while the Chief Compliance Officer and Company Secretary of Oando Plc, Mrs. Ayotola Jagun outlined the private sector response to the guidelines.