Reps to probe illegal helicopters’ sale by NCAT

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Assets has resolved to probe alleged sales of two training helicopters by the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, Kaduna State. The Committee Chairman, Hon. Ademorin Kuye said this in a statement in Abuja on Monday. The chairman said the committee attention was drawn to the development through media reports on July 30, 2023, on the purported sale of 2 Bell 206L-3 helicopters. He said the helicopters were public assets acquired for training pilots by the NCAT for N1.2 billion. “The Sale of the helicopters under the pretext of under-utilisation by the authorities of the College of Aviation in March 2023 has now become a symptom of the worrying trend of asset stripping.” This according to him cut across all sectors of the economy by all MDAs toward the twilight of the last administration. “This is in spite the offer of Nigerian Navy to acquire same and possibly use to address the security challenge facing the country in the area of oil pipeline vandalisation and crude oil theft.” He said the committee equally felt the assets could have been converted to the use of Nigerian Police to fight banditry and insurgency in the country. He said the urgency in the sales and concession of public assets at the twilight of the last administration called for suspicion since the supposed approval was gotten from that administration. He said it was only right that the new administration is allowed to be part of the completion of the sale process if there were no hidden agenda. He said the committee would investigate the sale of those important training national assets to ensure that due process was followed and that the country was not shortchanged in the deal. The Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria, Kaduna State, had said it auctioned two helicopters at 556,200,322USD (₦1.2 billion), because of under-utilisation. The Rector and Chief Executive Officer of the institution, Capt. Alkali Modibbo, told newsmen on Sunday in Zaria that the two Bell 206B – III model helicopters were disposed after satisfying all due diligence. Modibbo explained that a Federal Government licenced auctioneer, Messrs Tresmo Nigeria Limited, was appointed to dispose the affected helicopters sequel to the approval and valuation reports obtained from the Federal Ministries of Aviation and Works, respectively. According to him, the auctioneer paid $275,782,661.25 and $280,417,661.25 (totalling ₦1.2bn) vide FGN Remita receipts bearing reference numbers 3008-4333-3046 and 1008-4304-1098, accordingly.

Nine states yet to implement Fiscal Responsibility Act -Chairman

The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) has said that many states in Nigeria are yet to implement the Fiscal Responsibility Act. The Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Victor Muruako, said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja. He said that some states had passed the law, but were yet to set up fiscal responsibility agencies. “Some did not exactly pass the law, they just tried to have it, and even some that passed it just have it on record and are yet to implement the law. “As we speak about 26 states have adopted the law and are at various stages of implementation. “For some states, their Governors have not signed the law, some that have signed it into law are yet to set up the agencies, so as we speak it’s s a work in progress,” he said. He said the domestication of the Fiscal Responsibility Act was necessary to promote prudence in the management of resources in states. “When the need arose for the Federal Government to bail out states, there was an agreement of two conditions that must be met. “Part of which is the need for the sub-nationals to engage in reforms; one of the reforms is to pass the fiscal responsibility law, Audit law, and Procurement law at their level,” he said. Muruako commended the Nigerian Governors Forum for creating an enabling platform for peer review at sub-nationals. He said that the Commission was engaging the Forum to ensure that all states adopt and implement the Fiscal Act. “The forum has been a veritable forum to assist and they have done a lot to ensure that states engage in reforms,” he said.

Advocates call for transparent measures in combatting sports corruption

Sports enthusiasts have called on stakeholders in the sector to uphold the virtues of transparency and accountability in the fight against corruption in the industry. They spoke at a one-day International Conference on Corruption in Sport, Whistleblowing, and Transparency in Abuja on Saturday. The conference was organised by the Africa Centre for Media Information and Literacy (AFRICMIL), Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), HEDA Resource Centre, and PLAY!YA Nigeria. Beverly Agbakoba-Onyeijanya, a Sports, Entertainment, and Technology legal practitioner, said that the sports industry had been so heavily politicised which has led to corruption in the sector. She said that member states of various Federations are involved in wars over who has the right to vote, with elections being a major source of contention and disputes in the sports industry. “We’ve seen the rancour that has torn apart the Basketball Federation in Nigeria with factions, and of course with this comes the possibility of bribery, corruption, and inducements,” she said. She said that given the amount of money involved in the prosecution of sports, there was a need for the anti-graft agencies to focus attention on financial crimes in the sports industry. According to her, the establishment of an anti-corruption sports desk in agencies such as the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and ICPC, would checkmate the excesses of sports administrators in the country. In a remark, Usman Kaltungo of the EFCC explained that the commission’s powers to fight sports-related corruption cases in the country were been hindered by undue interference from International Sports organisations such as FIFA, FIBA, and others. Francis Obih, President, the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), said the issue of favoritism and sentiments must be stamped out from sports. “As far as I am concerned, it doesn’t matter where you are coming from, once you are going out to represent Nigeria, you are representing the country and not any ethnic group or a particular religion. “So, such things should be taken away from sports, it doesn’t matter whether you are my brother or not, it should be purely based on merit and competence. “Also one of the disturbing areas is also the sexual harassment of female athletes by their coaches. “This is a no go area for me and the height of indiscipline to have officials, the coaches or technical personnel to have any sexual relationship with their athletes. “We must do everything to stop it because it hampers the performance of the athletes,” he said. He said every stakeholder, be it administrators, ministry, journalists, must come together, join hands and set certain ethical standards. “These standards should guide the growth and development of sports in the country, in order to bring corruption to its barest minimum. “No one person cannot do it alone, all hands must be on deck and in agreement, even though in every group, there are always some bad eggs and that’s the truth. “However, we must find a way of isolating those elements and minimise the damage that they can do, so that the whole body is not seen in a bad light,” he said. Also speaking via Zoom, an Investigative journalist based in Germany, Grit Hartmann, said that journalists outside the shores of Africa were not ignorant of corruption stories from the continent, especially Nigeria. She called for synergy and transnational corporation among stakeholders, adding that the issue of corruption in sport in Nigeria and the African continent at large was a systemic problem. Stanis Elsborg, a Senior Analyst also based in Germany, said that corruption in sports was not limited to Africa. He said that Europe and other parts of the globe are also susceptible to corruption tendencies in the area of sports. Joshua Umeifekwe, a professor at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said the essence of measuring and managing multiple sports governance crises was to maintain the credibility and transparency of the sector. “Transparency as you know, ensures trust and so what we are saying is that there is a need to measure the nature of the crisis that we have. “For one to talk about ways of managing the crisis, you need to have an assessment of these crises. “Some of the ways include; collecting qualitative data, running a survey, and interviews, to mention a few. “Having done this, we must ensure we manage the crisis by ensuring transparency and ethical standards are followed and maintained,” he said. Chido Onumah, Coordinator, AFRICMIL, and Oluwashina Okeleji, a sports journalist for BBC Sports, among others, said that the role of whistleblowers in the sector cannot be overemphasized. They said for sports to grow, there was a need to have whistleblowers to expose some of the ills and corruption going on in the sector. They also called for the establishment of legislation to protect whistleblowers, as well as investigative journalists in the country. 

Auctioning of FG’s Properties: Reps to probe NPA, NIMASA, others

The House of Representatives has resolved to probe what it regards as the illegal auctioning of Federal Government properties by the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). Others agencies allegedly involved are: the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) River Basin Development Authority (RBDA) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) This is sequel to the adoption of a motion moved by Rep. Oluwole Oke (PDP-Osun) during plenary on Thursday in Abuja. In his motion, Oke said the procedure for the disposal and auctioning of government assets in Nigeria was well spelled out in Financial Regulations, 2009 and Public Procurement Act 2007 among others. Oke said the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) provides that all revenues realised from the disposal or auctioning of public property be remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. He alleged that NPA, NIMASA, NRC, NCS and others RBDA had been auctioning public property not only at a ridiculous price but also without following due process. He advanced that partial remittance or non-remittance of revenue realised from the auctioning of public property into consolidated revenue fund was a breach of the constitution. He expressed concerned that if the practice continued, coupled with dwindling crude oil revenue in Nigeria, the government might not cope with the rising demand for accelerated infrastructure Following his submission, the House thereafter resolved to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the disposal of public property by the affected agencies. This, according to the House, would cover the period between 2010 and 2022 with a view to establishing the extent of the alleged illegal auctioning of public property and the non-remittance of revenue realised into the consolidated revenue purse. The committee would report to the House within four weeks for further legislative action.